FEEDBACK: Homework Help and Attachment Problem

[dekoi]

I have noticed that ever since the separate Homework forum has been established, not many advanced homework problems are being answered.

My latest question (which I would otherwise have posted in the Astronomy forum, if there was no Homework forum) is located https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=97424".

As you can see, no one has replied to it.
Another member and I have been continuously noticing this problem-- as no one is replying to our posts. Our questions are only from first year university courses, so I'm sure there are many people that visit this forum that know how to solve the problems.

We are following all the guidelines for posting homework questions: writing the full question, writing our answer (or attempted answer), and including any diagrams that would be helpful. We are not just asking for answers, yet we barely ever receive replies.

Even the members designated "Homework Helpers" are not of any use. Shouldn't these people be attempting to answer questions which have not been answered by any general members, since they are the ones designated to be helping with homework?

Also, as is the case with my latest question and with many others, the attachments are taking a long time to be approved. I've noticed that there are moderators online, but none of them attempt at approving the attachments. I have also noticed that the attachments do not require approval in the general forums-- only in the homework forums.

If a diagram/picture is necessary for other members to understand my question, how can I expect to receive any form of reply when the moderators won't even approve my attachment? I am hoping that someone will respond with an answer to inform me, and many others, of what is going on.
Thank you.

 

[ZapperZ]

So you are attributing the lack of responses to YOUR question as due to the new format for the Homework forum??!

Zz.

 

[dekoi]

This has actually been an ongoing problem with many of mine, and other member's, posts.

I would not base my opinion on only one example.

 

[ZapperZ]

This has actually been an ongoing problem with many of mine, and other member's, posts.

I would not base my opinion on only one example.

You didn't actually answer my question. You are blaming the new HW forum format for the LACK of response to yours and "other member's" posts?

How big of a sampling did you do?

Did you compare the number of questions that didn't get answered with the old format and compared it with the current format?

What is the reason for the current format that is causing yours and "other member's" questions not being answered?

Zz.

 

[Evo]

Even the members designated "Homework Helpers" are not of any use. Shouldn't these people be attempting to answer questions which have not been answered by any general members, since they are the ones designated to be helping with homework?

We really appreciate the fact that you have followed the homework posting guidelines, maybe we can help.

I think there is some confusion though. Members that have "homework helper" ribbons are regular members, they are not here for the purpose of answering or helping with homework, they are members that the staff at PF have recognized for their willingness to consistently try to help students out of the kindness of their hearts, they are not assigned to do homework help and have no obligation to do so. They help out voluntarily if they feel they know enough about the subject.

Also, as is the case with my latest question and with many others, the attachments are taking a long time to be approved. I've noticed that there are moderators online, but none of them attempt at approving the attachments. I have also noticed that the attachments do not require approval in the general forums-- only in the homework forums.

Attachments require approval in all forums. I don't normally check for attachments in homework, but if there have been delays, I will be glad to check and approve them when I am here.

It could be that there are no members that have seen your questions that feel they can be of help. If you think that perhaps your questions might be helped in another forum, pm a mentor and ask if they can move your questions.

 

[Integral]

Looking through the Advanced Physics homework help forum I see only 2 questions not replied to in the last several days, your telescope question (I have posted a reply) was one. It does not look to be a rampant problem. What questions get replied to is a result of several things. First a poorly stated problem (yours was not) will get passed over, simply because it takes time to interpret the meaning. Second questions which need but do not use LaTeX. Again yours was not of this class. Third someone with an interest must look at it. Perhaps this is why your question did not get a response. Keep in mind more advanced problems have a smaller set of members who can provide real help.

Again looking through the posts I simply do not see that many threads which are not replied to.

 

[Moonbear]

I have noticed that ever since the separate Homework forum has been established, not many advanced homework problems are being answered.

My latest question (which I would otherwise have posted in the Astronomy forum, if there was no Homework forum) is located https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=97424".

As you can see, no one has replied to it.

A few comments...some we might be able to correct, some maybe not...
1) It looks a bit more advanced than introductory physics to me. Perhaps it belongs in the advanced physics category to get better attention (but I'm not a physicist, so let's get that confirmed by someone who is).
2) At least the first part of your question refers to the answer of another question that is not mentioned. How can anyone help if we don't know the rest of the question it's referring to?
3) Perhaps the people capable of answering your questions are not around all day every day. How do you know it would have been answered had we not reorganized the forums? It probably would have been buried even further under the old structuring.
4) Have you looked at the number of homework threads posted per day? There are a lot to answer, sometimes it takes a while to get to them all. We definitely have more people around capable of answering the more basic questions than the more difficult ones. We reformatted the forums partly because homework questions were getting missed with more frequency, falling off the first page unanswered and unseen. I think the new format has decreased that somewhat.

One thing we can do to help, if your question has gone unanswered for a full day, as it was, or if you return to discover it has fallen off the first page with no responses, is to make a post in our homework helper's forum pointing it out as still needing attention in case one of them is around and can help with it. If it happens again (I see that Gokul has responded to get you started, but he's not around a lot lately, so be patient waiting for his follow-up), send a PM to myself or one of the HW forum mentors, and we'll notify the homework helpers via that forum. One thing that will help us catch it is actually if you don't try bumping it up with additional posts. I know I scan through for posts with 0 replies to find any that still need attention, so if I see multiple replies, I assume someone else is already helping and move on (not that your question is in my subject area, but all the more reason I would scan past without bringing its unanswered status to anyone's attention if it appeared to have replies).

You can also PM any mentor you see online if you have an attachment that needs approving that has gone missed. Any of us can handle that for you.

 

[dekoi]

A few comments...

Thank you very much for the help/advice.

 

[Integral]

Dekoi,
It was not intensional! I was attempting to clean up the mess you created by starting the same thread in 2 forums. Note that, that practice is against site policy could could have garnered you a warning. As it is during the process of merge and deleting extraneous (ie all your bumps) the entire thread vanished. I am not sure why, but it did...Sorry.

 

[dekoi]

That's okay.