I’ve been in the forum for about 4-5 months now and I can’t help but notice people (usually new) asking the same questions over and over. (note that I only view/post in the auto flower topic)
Any chance we can get a FAQ topic pinned/locked at the top of the board?
Things like:
How do I know when I’m ready for harvest?
How high should my light be?
Is this a male?
Why are my lower leaves turning yellow?
What’s LST? What’s topping? Safe to do on autos?
Best ways to germinate/start a seedling
Light schedules, how do they work with autos?
I dunno, just a thought I guess. Would save some time from repeating the same stuff over and over.
I like the idea too but, what seems like repetition to veterans is brand new to a newbie and the personal interaction is beneficial to both parties, it builds relationships and encourages innovation. Those who don’t want the interaction can just Google or YouTube their questions.
I’ll agree to both of your opinions. Both are valued, and have equally valid points.
We could pin the topics, but it seems most new members don’t even know a search function exists either. We could pin a topic, it’s definitely not a failsafe option that they’ll click on it.
Similar to OooWee1184, I’m also newer to the forum the past few months, and I have wondered the same thing, i.e. that there aren’t pinned/locked posts (or FAQ topics). Maybe make a new category?
Yes, not everyone will look there, and yes individual interaction with experienced members would often be desired/needed. However, perhaps pinned topics might also answer many questions so that new posters might have more knowledge to work with if/when asking questions to the forum.
Thanks to the mods here! I, and MANY others, really appreciate your work with this forum!
Please don’t think I was disagreeing with you. I do agree. I see the benefit of both. I appreciate your input it shows you value the info thats here.s what a great community. I read almost every post / conversation whether relevant or not and take notes and bookmark topics and replies. Always pickin up something useful or learning about some aspect of growing such as rso.I look to a time when we can have a ilgm grow convention where we can get together freely. what a party that will be!!!
Nooooo, you’re all good! I can appreciate another prospective
I too read just about ever post/topic in the autoflower section. Just thought back to when I was fresh (not that I’m pro haha) and def would’ve checked out a FAQ section before posting. If I had more questions after reading, then I would’ve posted.
Just think it could save us all some time. Either way, great group and I’m glad to be here
I have noticed lately that there has been a couple of posters that stand out in this regard. I get the feeling they do not like the advice they are given and go elsewhere to ask again or hijack a thread to get a different answer.
P.S. Thanks to the mods. Y’all do a great job herding the cats in here.
All of these questions are already answered in the grow guides too though. Better than we . explain them most of the time too. A link to those might suffice as a good starting point too. Or a sticky to them. 200+ Marijuana Grow Guides - Indoor & Outdoor Strains | ILGM
But people not willing to read these aren’t gonna read sticky posts either.
There will always be those that don’t want to put in the time to research and learn on their own. Either they’re impatient or they jumped in the deep end too soon. They need their hand held. But that’s why this forum was created because we will hold their hand until they sprout their wings if need be. We want to see them succeed.
Those that take the advice and find their own way in this sport end up becoming valued members here. Those that don’t, disappear.
There is actually a FAQ section on the forum, however it’s not used much or properly. We pretty much own that, sorry. Perhaps we can get together and lay the groundwork to get a little more organized there as Mr Covertgrower suggested.
You are correct that we don’t pin a lot. That is somewhat by design, in that we don’t necessarily want to decide what is most important for everyone. If we feel something is important enough that everyone should see it, we will absolutely pin it. Otherwise we are hopeful that members will use search function and find information they are looking for or take part in an ongoing conversation about whatever the topic is. If not, most of us are willing to answer any questions that we’re capable of, each and every day.
People are lazy. They don’t want to have to scroll an article to find their answer. They want quick answers. However, as you said, if they aren’t going to read grow guides, maybe they won’t read a FAQ.
Just thought if the pinned post had the title of “STOP - BEFORE POSTING, PLEASE READ OUR FAQ”
This sounds a little harsh though and I don’t want it to intimidate people from posting/discussing.
True but how many times do you see n00bs post a question, and never respond to any of the replies or even say thanks. Those that take the time to post AFTER seeing if their question has been asked are more likely to stick around I’d say.
I will admit the search function can be nice but a lot of time, the results are too broad. For example, if I wanted to find out why my buds aren’t getting dense and type in a keyword like ‘dense’ or ‘buds’ I feel like is going to pull up every post where someone mentions those words. Can be a lot to look through with most of it being non-relevant to their question.
Yes I see that. For shits and giggles I typed airy buds, fluffy buds, larfy buds, and why are my buds airy into search bar. I looked at the first 3 topics in each search and within the first couple of posts the number 1 answer is there in all but 1 topic. The 1 topic that poor lighting isn’t suggested, multiple members said the buds in picture looked pretty dense to them. So, could be just as reasonable to say that search terms may be too broad if you can’t find answer reasonably.
The other thing, is that there is all kinds of extremely useful information buried in some of these topics. Someone may not want to do a lot of reading, but it would benefit them to do so.
I can attest to that.
I can see a huge positive affect on my grows over the last couple of years from spending a bit of time reading.
Well worth the effort to take the time.
Not disputing the fact there’s TONS of useful info all over this forum. It’s just getting people to use the features provided, like the ‘search’ feature. I will say, the very first thing I did when I came to this forum/auto flower topic was to read the pinned post by the admin. Took someone pointing out the search function to someone else before I knew it was there. Even though it was right in front of me…haha
I was the opposite. I read through most of the guides till it was painful then came to the forum to read. They can get very text book, here not so much. But great information, just starts to feel like school after awhile. Lot of great research on youtube too including videos of training. All the information you could ever need is readily available.
Thanks for the input 
