Starting to think there should be some limits...

Nurses General Nursing

Published

....on what a new AN member can do. For instance, you must be a member for 6 months before you're able to post a question. The homework issue is really getting out of hand!

Students don't even beat around the the bush or try to camouflage what they're doing. They just flat-out demand homework answers. Somewhere, it must be written that AN.com is the place to get your homework done.

Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
If a student posts a homework question, or I need to interview a nurse plea under the general forum, rather than the nursing student assistance forum, is that considered a violation of the TOS?

Is it appropriate to use the report button for these type of posts?

You can report to alert the mods a thread is in an inappropriate forum so that it can be moved.

Oh dear . . . . I'll admit to having my nursing cohort from my RN to BSN program use AN to ask nurses' opinions regarding nursing theorists. It wasn't a homework question per se .......... just a way to get opinions on the relevance of studying nursing theorists in school. This was about 10 years ago.

There have been threads about this before but we were interested in a current response. We did have some nice folks who did respond for us.

I hope anyone reading that thread I made wasn't rolling their eyes . . "oh no, another homework question!". :sarcastic:

;)

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Also, not as easy to overlook as implied. I've remarked before that it is very cumbersome to find 29 of 30 thread titles on a page to be about the same general subject, in this case "student", when I am looking for nursing content. When I brought up that years ago when the break room was introduced that it had been mentioned that a separate student's site was in the works, it was stated that the idea was abandoned. Not everyone comes to this site to read about student topics.

And I miss that the off topic posts are now in a separate forum that gets less traffic than this one. I used to love it when they popped up on the "latest" lists!

I'm new and I asked a question about APA style writing about a month ago, and everyone was really nice and helpful.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Why not just close the threads in which the student is not showing the work they've done before asking the question?

I asked for, and received, help understanding the cardiac cycle a while back. Not only were my questions answered, I was given very helpful links that solidified the topic for me.

It would be a shame to be blocked from asking questions when you're actively trying to learn.

Maybe I should patrol the student forums more often to relieve some of the burden from the more experienced posters.

Now that's a "homework" question that most are happy to help with, if we can. I don't even really consider that a homework assignment. That's just asking for help in wrapping your mind around a complex system or process.

The only real complaints arise when first-time (usually) posters flat out copy their homework question and without so much as a "I think the answer is A because......" they say "ANSWER THIS!"

And I miss that the off topic posts are now in a separate forum that gets less traffic than this one. I used to love it when they popped up on the "latest" lists!

No Stars in My Eyes posts mostly on The Blue Side, so I'll make the trek over there, because I like her.

Actually, if you push that last point, you will eventually come up against the wall that says, "AN is for entertainment value only." AN is a for-profit business, and a very profitable one indeed. It doesn't take advanced algebra to multiply annual membership fees x #of members (now over 850,000, if memory serves). Add advertising revenue from for-profit "schools" and others. Quantity definitely rules.

Those of us who have fought to improve quality (e.g., by getting rid of bogus "research") have had our wrists slapped definitively, even though many of the mods and admins privately agree with us and some of the more egregious examples have been toned down or removed.

I agree with the 15-posts rule, though, and it would be congruent with many reputable online communities.

Then it could be said that AN could benefit from having a policy that encouraged its members to be more invested in the discussions (and arguments) that take place here.

After someone has made several posts, I feel like they are probably much more likely to come back and see what other people have had to say to them, and then keep returning. I have a feeling that 90% of people that start those threads that get on our nerves never even come back to see how people responded!

Specializes in PCT, RN.
Who said anyone was upset? I just posted something that was on my mind. Last I knew, that was part of the fun of an online forum. However, no matter what is posted there will be critics who want to spoil the fun.

This whole statement is flawed.

Your wording on the original post implies that you were upset/angry/irritated/whichever adjective you want to describe your tone.

"I just posted something that was on my mind....that was part of the fun of an online forum."

You mean......like the people who post things you're not interested in reading (but do anyways)?

And "no matter what is posted, there will be critics who want to spoil the fun."

But isn't that what you're doing, too? Posting something and putting others down for they way they're using an online forum?

I do not agree with the posting of homework in hopes of straight answers from others, but I also don't feel like creating a whole new thread complaining about it is totally necessary.

Also, unfortunately, this is something that is to my interest so that last re-quote of mine was a little superfluous.

We may be friends on one post and dislike each other's opinions on another, that's just how it goes. Nothing that is said is meant to be taken personally and we'll all forget about this as soon as it disappears from the "Trending" category :up:

I'm done here, off to catch up on the new daily posts.

Have a good day!

A note about posting on student threads, or skipping over them: I happen to like assisting students, and am one of those who frequently will respond to students and new grads on NCLEX-related questions and concerns. I don't wish to skip over them, I wish to offer assistance.

That said, it DOES get frustrating when after posting a detailed, very easy-to-understand explanation to someone's question, someone else will come onto the VERY SAME THREAD and ask the VERY SAME QUESTION without having bothered to even READ the thread they posted on! And when they are told "please scroll back through this thread and you'll have your answer, I just wrote it to someone else" you are met with "why r u being so mean? cant u just tell me?" I even had someone say that while my post was informative, it wasn't helpful as it didn't answer HER SPECIFIC inquiry. :wideyed: And then went on to say she didn't have the time to read through the responses, she wanted her question answered right there....as though MY TIME to write it was of less value than HER TIME to read it! :cautious:

So yes, it can get frustrating. Does that mean I will stop helping the great majority who appreciate my help? No. I will even answer the ones who PM me, privately; sometimes they are embarrassed to post publicly, and sometimes they just want to say 'thanks' for something I've done to help them, when it was clear that others were only interested in "using and abusing".

I won't avoid the students' posts, but I BEG of them to do at least the minimum research on the site so that the time I spend isn't wasted.

Oh, and here's a tip to everyone who posts on the NCLEX Discussion Forum: please don't entitle your thread "nclex" or "pvt". REALLY just too vague to know what it is we're clicking on! :)

Specializes in Cardiology, Cardiothoracic Surgical.

Some other sites I participate in have a "so you're new here?" section where new members' posts are restricted to these forums for a period of time, then they are let loose into the main forums. These sites are more heavily moderated, but I think the idea is pretty clever. Sort of a graduated driver's license for commenting.

the point of not doing that, is that the ad revenue is based on the number.

"And send it to me the fastest possible way". I snorted my coffee on this one.

To Camillus - I don't think this is a democracy.

I have a printed pillow from my bossy sister that says "You can agree with me or you can be wrong". 'Nuff said.'

There may be almost 900,000 members but I wonder how many of them have passed away, moved on (and don't care to post anymore), or haven't posted since they enrolled (and maybe didn't even post once). If they haven't posted in 3 yrs, just inactivate them. I'd bet the membership would drop SIGNIFICANTLY.

Specializes in Labor and Delivery.
the point of not doing that, is that the ad revenue is based on the number.

I have some experience running a message board forum for moms in my local area (it's a smaller chapter of a national organization) and we had to do regular "pruning" (removing) of members who were inactive in order to have accurate numbers to give to advertisers and such. I believe we did a prune every 6 months and it was for anyone who had not logged in for 6 months. Those who logged in but never posted were not pruned.

Anyways, my point is I would assume AllNurses would have to do a prune of some sort as well because those who pay for advertising want accurate numbers of currently "participating" members (and participating may mean just browsing the forums, not actually posting).

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