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Well I have not been here for a while but joined in 2004. I am surprised that there are very small percentage of responses to posts on here. Where has everyone gone???  Considering the number of views, the percentage of responses is practically nil

I always got a quick response on here but I see how many people cannot even be bothered to help anyone anymore.

Sorry it went that way here.  Where has everyone knowledgeable gone.????  Back to Blighty????  (:

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Perhaps there are too many people who, like you, only log on when they want an answer to a question. That hardly helps to keep a forum going, and the "knowledgeable" people aren't just going to hang around talking to one another until someone comes along and asks a question! Perhaps if you and many others popped in and joined in on a more regular basis, you'd have made your own contribution to helping keep the forum alive, rather than just expecting people to be there for you when, by your own admission, you yourself haven't been on here for "a while"...however long that is. It's been Christmas and New Year. Many people have had better things to do than pass the festive season on forums.

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I think that on  factual issues we have a high level of expertise amongst those that answer which precludes the sort of bickering over inaccurate or ill-informed replies that marks some other Fora. Getting a quick and correct response cuts down the number of posts,  as the question is quickly settled.

Obviously opinions differ on things such as politics.

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[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Perhaps there are too many people who, like you, only log on when they want an answer to a question. That hardly helps to keep a forum going, and the "knowledgeable" people aren't just going to hang around talking to one another until someone comes along and asks a question! Perhaps if you and many others popped in and joined in on a more regular basis, you'd have made your own contribution to helping keep the forum alive, rather than just expecting people to be there for you when, by your own admission, you yourself haven't been on here for "a while"...however long that is. It's been Christmas and New Year. Many people have had better things to do than pass the festive season on forums.

[/quote]

To the point, as ever, Betty
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I have certainly posted more. Sometimes, as has been said above, the level of expertise here means that the answer to a question is often given very quickly. Also, I feel that there are far less expats still around, some of those that are still here are "stuck" so may not feel like contributing.

Its also disappointing to me when you go to the effort of replying to a serious post where one has real experience (for example childrens education) and the OP never comes back to the forum or gives an indication that they have bothered to read the answers.

Does not stop me helping if I can though.
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[quote user="Russethouse"]http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance/cs/forums/3038392/ShowPost.aspx

I think the real point is that no one has answered Geoginas other question....[/quote]

I wasn't aware it was compulsory to answer questions on here ... have the rules changed over Christmas ?

Sue

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[quote user="Georgina"] Where has everyone knowledgeable gone.???? 
[/quote]The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind [:D]

Seriously though, there does seem to be less activity on the forum these last few weeks. The direct questions are still be answered but there seems to be less discussion/debate threads just now.

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[quote user="Russethouse"] ...it just may be that no one has any knowledge to pass on regarding this topic.[/quote]

Quite so. I certainly couldn't help her as we don't have a boiler here and my UK experience was of a hopper-fed anthracite solid fuel Trianco boiler.

I still feel Georgina was expecting a bit much, it was as though she wanted us all to rush to her attention and became peeved when that didn't happen.

Sue

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Hence my own "rant". I certainly don't feel that anyone's reason for coming on here should be to be at the beck and call of people who never show up unless they want a question answered. Forums tend generally to be for exchange of information, assistance and views, and it really gets on my nerves when people only ever turn up to ask for help, then get quite rude when everyone isn't immediately rushing to provide answers. If you need an answer immediately, try Google. It operates 24/7/365 and you can be as rude to it as you like.

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I think the same thing has happened to quite a few forums, both those concerned with France and those concerned with other things. As to what's behind it... the rise of social media such as Facebook has taken away much the social aspect of forums and a lot of questions that can be asked have been asked and the answers are available online via a search without any really any need to post a question. So what is left? Some forums die off because they simply become home to a clique of insufferable know-it-alls whose pleasure in life seems to be the belittling of anyone showing any sign of ignorance. People can go elsewhere these days: they don't need to put up with that s**t.

It might help, perhaps, if this forum slimmed down a bit - the range of categories is bewildering. I don't bother much with French forums these days: after 11 years here I don't really need them for information. However, another forum I do use is Horse & Hound (can't abide hunting, but the horse management stuff is useful) and that is incredibly busy. It also has a mere 11 categories, which makes using & viewing it really straightforward.

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Except when initiating a thread I don't look at the categories too much, but use the active topics button.

But as I have to do a kitchen upgrade, I shall no doubt have need for advice soon enough.

What is frustrating, at this fascinating time in French politics, is the lack of discussion concerning what is going on. OK, most people may only be concerned by how they are affected, but it is frustrating to try and post themes that seem interesting, to have either no response, or just a chirp from dear old Norman hibernating in his barrel.
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Havn't been on here much either as I have a real life outside the PC world and that has been very hectic recently with so many new friends coming into my life and my children settling down with serious partners.I prefer to consult the french papers and news to find out what is going on, so many forums are full of things concerning the UK which is of no interest to me and one forum in particular is just full of morons asking stupid questions or wanting all things english (not this forum but Another sIte)
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"at this fascinating time in French politics"

????

Must admit I'm finding French politics depressing rather than fascinating at the moment. Electricity prices up, TVA up, more constraints on employing part time workers to make life even harder for businesses, still waiting for the long overdue confirmation of changes to AE, Hollande smirking because he created a load of artificial 'jobs' at the taxpayers' expense to get the chomage stats down, same old same old. Not really what most people want to think about over Christmas and the New Year, I'd have thought.

On the positive side there may be fewer posts on here than on the baconbythebox fanclub forum, but what threads there are, are more worth reading.

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Another reason I visit occassionally is to speak english as I don't speak it a great deal here now being as all my friends,neighbours and new people in my life are all french and I find myself often forgetting the english words or getting the spellings wrong as my brain works in reverse as it did previously. Some contributors are old cyber friends from years back so I also get to read what they are doing these days as well!
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"at this fascinating time in French politics"

Well there are two lots of elections coming up in at least one of which the FN could put up a very strong showing.

Hollande's New Year address was remarkable for changing direction and accepting that there is too much taxation and that competitity must be addressed (although whether he will DO anything remains to be seen)

There are power struggles at the head of the UMP and it looks as if Sarkozy may be back for 2017 IF he feels sure of winning.

Will Hollande have to dissolve the Government as his popularity plummets?

Will the PS jettison Hollande and turn to Valls for 2017?

Who will be the next Prime minister given the tensions

Where are the two old whorehorses Royale and Aubrey?

Most of all who and what can pull the French economy out of decline?

So yes, I find it interesting but I don't feel it is worth posting about since I don't get the feeling that anybody else does..

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What an interesting thread this has turned out to be.....especially considering that the original post is plaintive at best and contains a touch of entitlement at worst.

The stalwarts post, I suspect, on occasion, just to keep the forum going and, in summer or indeed this time of year, to keep in touch, ask the odd question, give the odd answer, start a bit of a debate, exchange a joke or two, alert readers to what might be new or strange or thought-provoking or merely to share something sad or glad.  A hundred and one reasons to post....I, myself, have been accused of having a "sad" life and not spending my time more fruitfully exploring France and "doing things" (what?) instead of always being on here.

Well, I have answered such accusations in the past and I don't need to justify why I post.

What I would say to the OP is this:  do you ever come on the forum, just to see what's happening and, if you see a question someone has posted, have you ever thought, well, I'll answer that one because the person surely is waiting for an answer?

Then lehaut, for example, says that people don't come on and give feedback when they HAVE had their answer.  That, too, is a legitimate view.  If you have had help or perhaps just a message of sympathy or even disagreement, why not come back and say "thank you" or even "sod off"?  It's not that anyone needs to be thanked (I am sure many post for the sole reason of trying to be helpful...) but most people do want to know if their reply has been USEFUL.  Sometimes, it's just to know whether you would give the same reply again to a similar question.

As Val2 has said, you could come here and see how your cyber friends are.  Admittedly, many of us will never meet each other in the real world (though some of us HAVE met and LIKED each other), but there is nothing to say you can't make virtual friends in a virtual world, is there?

Ask yourself, Georgina, who would be most inclined to answer your questions?  Why, your friends of course!  You come on the forum, you make some friends, you ask a question when you need to and, voila, your friends come to your aid?  Is that not so?

No good just coming on and ONLY asking for answers or just coming on to complain you haven't been answered!  Have you put in any personal spade work, have you tried to answer or console or rejoice with others?  Have you given of your time, your effort; have you checked answers for others?

Grrr...........Betty has answered you fully in her very first reply.  The rest of us are here to spend un bon moment (as the French like to say) with each other [:)]

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[quote user="NormanH"]"at this fascinating time in French politics"

Well there are two lots of elections coming up in at least one of which the FN could put up a very strong showing.

Hollande's New Year address was remarkable for changing direction and accepting that there is too much taxation and that competitity must be addressed (although whether he will DO anything remains to be seen)

There are power struggles at the head of the UMP and it looks as if Sarkozy may be back for 2017 IF he feels sure of winning.

Will Hollande have to dissolve the Government as his popularity plummets?

Will the PS jettison Hollande and turn to Valls for 2017?

Who will be the next Prime minister given the tensions

Where are the two old whorehorses Royale and Aubrey?

Most of all who and what can pull the French economy out of decline?

So yes, I find it interesting but I don't feel it is worth posting about since I don't get the feeling that anybody else does..

I find it all very interesting, but to be honest, I don't feel all that inclined to enter into a discussion about it. I have much more relevant (to me) chats with my neighbours about what it means to them, and we can laugh, sympathise and empathise without rancour..as we did the other day when we had a good laugh about the new rules governing the lists for local elections where there must be a 50/50 representation of male and female, and we joked about the "Blair babes" and what a complete sham it is.

[/quote]
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