Questions about forums

---

Introduction

Although I wrote this blog post primarily for Amazon.com users, most of it applies to other Amazon websites too. Where there are known differences, these are noted.

Forum posters use some weird jargon.
Can you explain some of the terms?

I refer you to the blog post Questions about Amazon's reviewing system, where you will find a similar question about reviewers, which includes forum jargon.

Amazon's own forums help page

Click What are customer discussions? for the official answers to the following questions.

• What are Customer Discussions?


• Who can participate in discussions?


• What should I post?


• What shouldn't I post?


• How do I find and read a discussion?


• How do I reply to a discussion?


• How do I start a new discussion?


• How do I edit or delete my post?


• What if I find an inappropriate post, or one that detracts from the discussion?


• How do I get back to a specific post?


• How can I keep track of new posts in an interesting discussion?


• What do I do if my message was deleted?


• Do messages impact my Top Reviewer ranking?

Not being able to improve on the official answers, I won't expand on them here. However, while Amazon provide good answers to those questions, they don't answer all the questions that people ask. The remainder of this post attempts to answer at least some of those other questions.

How do I know which post somebody is replying to?

In the top right of each post except the opening post of each discussion, there is usually a message that begins In reply to. The rest of the message is a clickable link that will either say your post in orange or an earlier post in blue. If there is no message and the post is not an opening post, the poster did not use the reply option, but simply used the Add to discussion option.

Some posters use the Add to discussion option when they are replying to the most recent post. This is a mistake (whether deliberate or accidental) because

• While the poster is typing their reply, somebody else may finish posting their message on the same thread, so the intended reply does not immediately follow the post it is supposedly replying to.


• Even where the post follows the one it is supposedly replying to, it is not always clear that it is a reply to that post.

When should I use "Add to discussion" rather than "Reply"?

I only intentionally use the Add to discussion option when I know that I am not replying to any previous post in particular, and in these cases it is obvious what I am doing.

Some people create posts that include replies to several individuals in one post. Personally, I don't like these posts because if I want to skim a discussion for replies to me, I look for the orange Your Post link and may therefore miss the multi-reply posts. Other people prefer the multi-reply posts because they don't like seeing several consecutive replies by the same poster, whoever that poster might be. But do they understand the significance of the orange link? I can't answer that one.

Do Amazon answer concerns that are aired on forums?

No, except on very rare occasions when it suits them to do so, which may happen on one of their announcement threads. Even then, they don't usually bother. If you want a response from Amazon, always contact them directly by e-mail or telephone.

Where can I find a list of all the Amazon community forums?

Good question. I found the path to the complete list in the Spring of 2011 but the link was broken. It appears to be one of the casualties of the 2011 cutbacks. It is no longer possible to find such a list as far as I can see. Of course, Amazon might one day decide to restore the option to see the list.

The best one can now get is the Tag cloud, which contains a lot of tag links. Clicking on one of these links takes you to the main page for that tag, which allows you various options including these.

• Click on See all discussions or Start a new discussion in the Customer Discussions box (down the left-hand side of the page) to go to the forum associated with the tag.


• You will see a list of other tags down the left-hand side. These are provided so that if you are searching for tagged products, you can narrow your search, limiting the results to products tagged with the tag you now select as well as the one you arrived at the page with. (I haven't tested the tag software recently and offer no guarantee that it works that way.) You can use this option to navigate to less popular tags. The page you arrive at may also have a list of other tags down the left-hand side. When you find a tag name that appeals to you, click on one of the discussion links.

Why can't the forums be moderated?

It would cost Amazon too much money to moderate all the forums. They may occasionally intervene in a particular forum if things get really nasty, but they prefer not to.

Why can't different viewpoints be respected?

This is a question about life itself. I wish that people could respect other opinions. Some can. Some can't. It was ever thus. Traditionally, people used to kill those they disagreed with. That still goes on, but less so.

Do votes on forum posts ever mean anything?

For the most part, they aren't worth worrying about, but trends can usually tell you more than votes on individual posts. Remember that votes can be cast by anybody, not just those who post, so if the voting seems to be different from what you would expect based on the posts, the votes may tell you something about the lurkers.

Just occasionally, votes do give a clue. If I post something that I expect people to respond to, but they don't respond, I look at the votes on my post and if they indicate that people didn't like my post, I may delete it. Of course, if I feel that it was an important post, I'll leave it up.

Why do people vote against opening posts in forum discussions?

In no particular order of significance, these are the reasons :-

• It is an off topic subject that they feel doesn’t belong in the forum.


• It is a topic that has been discussed way too many times already.


• They don’t like the person who started the discussion.


• They don’t like the post itself, perhaps because of the stance it takes or because the post is aggressive or poorly worded.


• They accidentally clicked the wrong button and didn't reverse their vote.

Why are some posts replaced by an unhelpful message with an option to show them?

I assume you mean the posts that say :-

Customers don't think that this post adds to the discussion.

There is a mathematical formula to this - something like (Total NO votes) = (Total YES votes) times 5 - that has to be exceeded, with a minimum number of 5 or 6 NO votes in total. An increase in YES votes for a post hidden in this way may return the post to normal status.

Are my own posts ever hidden from my view?

Your own posts will never be hidden if you are logged in to Amazon. If you want to see which of your posts are hidden from other people and you aren't sure of the formula, visit the forum without logging in or after logging out.

Why is a question of how something works inappropriate?

There are thousands of forums on Amazon. You very likely asked the question in the wrong forum. For example, the place to ask for Kindle help is in the Kindle forum. I hear you say "Topic drift", but you have to establish your credentials within a forum before causing topic drift. When you venture into a new forum, you have to go with the flow. Again, this reflects real life. If you go somewhere that nobody knows you, you start by ingratiating yourself, or at least not annoying people.

What are permalinks on forum posts?

Permalinks exist all over the net, particularly on forums and blogs. They ensure a unique and permanent URL for each post that they apply to. On forum posts within Amazon's websites, the permalink is in the bottom left of each post. Unlike reviews, which each have a separate page, the forum permalinks merely point to the post's position within the page.

What is the quickest way to find a forum that you think should exist?

Two methods. The quicker method may depend where you are within Amazon's website at the time.

• Go to a relevant product page and scroll down until you come to the discussion list. Actually, as this is near the bottom of the page, you may be quicker to hit END and scroll up. Either way, it ought to list the most relevant forums.


• Go to any discussion forum. Remove the tick from the box Search only this forum or Search only this discussion. In the actual search box, enter the subject of interest and click Go. This gives you a list of posts containing the word(s) you keyed in, together with the titles of the discussion and the forum containing that post. The results may or may not be relevant.

If you try the second method, be careful what you enter into the search box. I suspect that being specific might produce better results than using general terms made up of common words. For example, if you are looking for a forum about a genre of books or music, you might try putting in the name of a leading author or artist within that genre rather than the genre description itself.

How can you see the full range of the most popular forums?

Amazon provide a list of the most currently active forums at the bottom of every page within a forum. These may not always be the most popular, but they usually are. Occasionally, a forum that is not normally among the most popular suddenly becomes very active for a brief period due to some topical event.

How else might I find a specific forum?

Two methods, both of which require you to know the exact name you are looking for.

• Go to any forum and change the URL, replacing the forum name with the one you are looking for, remembering that spaces are represented by %20. For example, the top reviewers forum contains top%20reviewers in the URL.


• Go to a product page relevant to the subject and add a tag, with the name of the tag being the name of the forum that you think should exist. If the forum didn't already exist with that name, your new tag creates it. You can now look up the forum to see if other discussions are already there. If not, start a thread and either hope that other people find the forum or actively encourage them to join in.

Do I have to stay on-topic?

This depends on the forum and the attitude of the regular posters. You will find some forums where people mainly stick to the forum topic, while there are other forums where people welcome off-topic discussions. Some forums are more akin to general chat forums where it seems that anything goes, sometimes to the exclusion of whatever the forum is supposed to be about. The gold box forum in America is an example of a forum where anybody who starts an on-topic discussion about gold box deals generally gets short shrift. You have to judge the mood of each forum individually. Sometimes, the mood of a particular forum changes gradually over time.

Personally, I don't mind some of the off-topic stuff and sometimes join in or even start such discussions, as illustrated in Fun on the discussion board. However, I normally go to forums to discuss particular topics, so I generally don't bother with forums that are dominated by general chat. Obviously, other people enjoy those forums, some of which are much busier than the forums I participate in. Each to their own.

Why am I expected to stay on-topic even though others don't?

On some forums, newbies are expected to stay on-topic when they first come to the forum and establish their credentials, before being accepted as contributors to off-topic discussions. Again, you need to judge each forum individually, but given that Amazon have thousands of forums, I wonder why anybody would visit a forum that is at least nominally devoted to a topic that does not interest them, unless it is known to be a general chat forum. OK, I am sometimes directed to another forum to see a specific thread, but I only stick around if the forum interests me.

Why do people confuse matters with topic drift?
Why don't people start new discussions instead?

In real life, if we have a conversation, it is likely to drift from topic to topic. Some people want internet discussions to emulate real-life discussions as closely as possible. I understand that up to a point, but it can often make it hard to search the archived discussions. Furthermore, there are people on some forums who deliberately hijack or derail threads that they don't like, steering them off-topic rather than simply ignoring those threads. Such tactics contributed to my decision to set out my thoughts on Amazon issues away from forums, allowing me to either post links or copy/paste paragraphs. This blog is the end result. While it contains some off-topic posts, those posts are separate from the on-topic posts as far as possible.

Why do people derail threads they don't like?
Why don't they just ignore those threads?

Because they are nasty. Derailing threads is not the same as topic drift. Derailing a thread is a hostile act, whereas topic drift isn't intended to be. As with so much else in life, there is blurring at the edges, but you come to recognize the basic difference with experience, then you can make up your own mind about the boundary between the two.

Where can I find the top reviewers forum?

From any reviewer's profile page, click View top reviewers near the foot of the page. This shows you the top ten in the new rankings. Scroll down to find the recent threads in the top reviewers forum, with options to See all discussions and Start a new discussion.

In America, there is also a direct link titled Review discussion boards from the left margin of review pages within a profile.

Where can I find the Vine™ forum?

If you are a member of Vine™, you can go to your local forum via your Vine™ home page, where there is a link at the foot of the page.

Whether or not you are a Vine™ member, you can access the UK and USA Vine™ forums via Wikipedia. Go to the Amazon Vine page, where you will find forum links near the foot of the page.

Where can I find the Amazon discussion feedback forum?

Here is the Amazon discussion feedback forum. Other than that link, I have only seen links from other forums and I found it from one of those.

Where can I find the Amazon help community forum?

Here is the Amazon help community forum. Other than that link, I have only seen links from other forums and I found it from one of those.

Where can I find the old DB?

From my links within Fun on the discussion board, or go directly to the customer reviews discussion board. There are no longer any links from within Amazon to the old DB. Links from Amazon.com reviewer profile pages that used to point there now point to the top reviewers forum instead.

You can invite people to participate in that forum via the discussion board invitation page.

The question I want answered isn’t here. Why?

One of the following reasons :-

• I don’t think it’s relevant.


• It's answered in Questions about Amazon's reviewing system.


• It's answered in Questions about this blog.


• I haven’t thought to include it.