I find this inconsiderate

It's what the search button is for, you must be new. All forums have this argument....

In this day and age people don't think about searching on a web site? Really? Well the Internet is new, not many people can access it or know how to use it. I've heard of something called Google, what does that do?

Not using search is a lack of common sense of laziness. Why think for yourself and show initiative?

This thread has been posted before dude

I don't mind answering the same question more than once. It's called manners.

It is considered good etiquette to use search prior to starting a thread on a lot of message boards but I don't see that as a reason to flame someone and don't expect people to search prior to posting. We live in an imperfect world and I am not a control freak. Or a moderator.

I stopped reading one thread yesterday, it was full of self righteous trolls.

Conversely, I see threads in one of my groups where the people have the patience of saints and always take the time to answer the same question over and over again. I know which threads I prefer reading.

I don't mind answering the same question more than once. It's called manners.

It is considered good etiquette to use search prior to starting a thread on a lot of message boards but I don't see that as a reason to flame someone and don't expect people to search prior to posting. We live in an imperfect world and I am not a control freak. Or a moderator.

I stopped reading one thread yesterday, it was full of self righteous trolls.

Conversely, I see threads in one of my groups where the people have the patience of saints and always take the time to answer the same question over and over again. I know which threads I prefer reading.

And never miss an opportunity to prove how righteous you are.

It is common on internet forums. The ratio of askers to answerers tends to be high and you have to ask is it unreasonable to expect people to look for existing discussions before asking the same question again ?

The forum guidelines actually encourage repeat questions.

We explicitly allow members to post questions that have been asked previously by other members. If you see a member post a topic that you think has been asked before by another member, please respond politely or simply move on. However, the same member cannot ask the same question or post the same topic more than once.

This. All other opinions are now invalid.

Well said. I see that on every forum I'm a member of.
Not everyone knows how to use search engines to their full potential and look up previously discussed topics.
Some internet users can be snobs.

I tend to ignore the repeated ad-nauseum threads, and I try not to post anything rude to anyone, but I can understand peoples' frustration with it. And it does happen on all kinds of forums as others have said, not just here. I think the thing that frustrates people is not the question itself but that someone just discovered this site and joined and is all gung-ho about their new "journey" but doesn't even want to take the time to put in a basic amount of effort and research to see if their question has been answered before. Yes, maybe the question was asked by a different person, but many times it's the EXACT question that will get the EXACT same responses often from the same members. Like the ubiquitous "Should I really eat back my exercise calories?" threads. Someone's been on the site for a day and they are already questioning the methodology of the site's weight loss calculations when they could have gotten all the info they needed with a quick forum search. But instead, they think it's just easier to post the question and have other people take their time to reply (which I realize is voluntary). I think it's that "easy way out" mentality that frustrates some of the folks on here. And a lot of the "newbies" sign up for MFP, post a dozen threads of redundant questions that caring MFP members take their valuable time to answer, and then are never seen again after 3 days.

I bet I totally just did this and annoyed the crud out of someone by asking what NSV stands for. I didnt even think of using the search box, I am not particularly stupid either so it stands to reason that most people wouldnt think of it eaither, at least not initially.

NSV = Non Scale Victory

There are A LOT of rude people on this website...:grumble:

I think these forums would work a lot better if they stickied the most frequently asked questions or some nice user guides to most frequently asked questions.

The correct answers shouldn't change for many of the questions and therefore shouldn't require a new thread every two hours.

As far as getting a personal response from the community, well ask a more specific question?

People are idiots. That's why.

OK, here's something that bothers me.
These message boards are meant to be helpful to people on a journey to fitness. I have seen this happen countless times on here (and other weight loss boards, ie. weight watchers, ect.) Somebody will post a question that has been answered in the past. Some will answer it. But others will become annoyed or snarky - stating with great exasperation how this has been answered before, and "here we go AGAIN."
Why must people do this? Not everybody started their journeys at the same time as said person. People who say that should perhaps move on to myfitnesspal for the over-evolved ego. (MFP-OEE.)
Just my pet peeve for the day.
Sorry if this has been posted before.

Heck yes!! Rude!! Glad you said it.

I don't post the angry/snarky responses, but I definitely understand the frustration. To me, there are a few reasons.

In the case of certain threads, there has clearly been NO attempt whatsoever to look at the boards at all before posting. It doesn't even require the search function (which people seem to be unaware of for some reason) for some topics because they are always on the first page of the board, such as "TOM" posts (and there are often several per day). It's rather irritating that someone will come to the board and just start posting things without making any effort to see what's going on, how the community is, or what people are talking about. Lurk a little first.

In other cases, it's very hard to believe that someone is asking a genuine question. When I see a post about someone eating 20 calories over their goal or asking if it's okay to eat a single serving of candy (yes, I have seen both topics), I think that that person is looking for attention and for people to tell them how great they're doing. Bragging disguised as self-deprecation seems to be universally annoying to people.