posting links,

[NORMANTHEDOG]

i think the posting of links should be banned.people are not answering questions from their knowledge or experience,but from the web,which i think is wrong.

[kempie]

What is the point of the Internet? - surely it is to gain access to billions of pieces of information. Why limit this site to a puddle of knowledge instead of the vast ocean which exists within the World Wide Web? (A hell of a mixed metaphor there!)

Anybody can answer any question but what guarantee is there that the answer they give is correct or that actually know anything about the subject at hand?

Links are very useful to corroborate the answers given and to stave off the occasional response of "that answer is wrong" when clearly it is correct.

There are also questions where the answer could be found more easily and quickly if the poster had used a search engine to find the link in the first place.

[alijangra]

So would you prefer people giving shady advice? I have seen people offering their experience and knowledge on health related subjects which is a pile of nonsense. I often back up my posts with links to useful websites.

[B00]

As long as the link provides an answer what does it matter?

Seriously normanthepooch, there's worse things on AB to get your knickers in a twist about.

;-)

[Suzyboo]

A link to further info is often a good thing I think

[Coldicote]

I agree with these replies, but it's pleasing to feel you are corresponding with fellow Abers who might just say a few words - if only Hello - instead of responding like robots.

[BBWCHATT]

Norman - some of us answerers wonder why when the answers to some of the very simple questions are so easily found on the internet they are being asked on AB - but we try to help with them anyway.

[THECORBYLOON]

How do you know that a poster's knowledge is correct? I work for the DWP and have had to correct answers given about benefits because they are what the posters think are correct. I can give links if need be to back up ma answers and it also saves having to write great screeds masel.

[NORMANTHEDOG]

yes kempie the internet is very useful and it holds a vast amount of answers,but people are so lazy,i answered a guys question today, WHAT IS THE PRICE OF 6 MONTHS TAX ON MY CAR. i told him to check out the dvla website.if he had done that in the first place hed had saved a lot of times,but someone would have posted a link for him,thats what i mean.

[THECORBYLOON]

If I had said the car tax was �120 and someone else said �100, how would you know which was correct if not by providing a link?

[THECORBYLOON]

Before anyone else says it, I know neither is correct-they were only examples...

[NORMANTHEDOG]

you dont get it do you,if your on the computer and you want to know the price,you look on the dvla site,not ask on here,in certain cases,yes ,links can be good,but pure lazyness.

[CT]

Sometimes people don't have time to go and find stuff out themselves. That's why they come. After all, this is the answerbank.

[gen2]

This site isn't a test of members' knowledge. It is a site to provide answers to the questioner so what does it matter where those answers come from. It is far easier to post an answer as a link to the web rather than copy out a whole paragraph from the reference books in the bookcase. What does it matter as long as it is correct?

[BBWCHATT]

Norman - we all "get it" - we just don't happen to agree with you!!!

[dot.hawkes]

in the genealogy section, it is infact the link to a particular site, like ancestry.com or genesreunited that is the answer, or at least where the people need to go to find the answer, how can they be answered if we were not allowed to post the answer? we would have to say, 'sorry, we are not allowed to answer that question on here because the answer is a link to another site.'

[NORMANTHEDOG]

your all bloody wrong.

[THECORBYLOON]

What is yir problem? No-one is forced to post answers, if you think folk are being lazy, don't answer. There's been thousands of questions I've not answered, it's not that difficult, honestly!

[kempie]

The irony of telling someone to look on the DVLA website to find their car tax answer is that, since that site no longer holds useful vehicle and driver information, they will be redirected by a LINK to where the information really resides...

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVe hicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/index.htm

I seem to recall DVLA data having been migrated to Directgov about a year ago.

[ne2]

If I don't know the answer to a poster's question I usually post a link and I would'nt mind if anyone did likewise for me NORMANTHEDOG. I agree with the other's as, sometime's reply's are not from personal experience whereas, a link is more reliable.

[joko]

nowhere on this site does it say that posters can only reply with answers that they already have in their heads.

you have made this assumption and decided it is a rule. that is not your decision to make.

well i for one would prefer a link to a professional, up to date site, than a half-baked, barely literate attempt to explain a concept by someone who learnt about something from their great auntie edie 20 years ago, but weren't really listening properly at the time...

i agree many people are just lazy and can't bothered to look in a dictionary or something... it is a bit crap - but then the only answer they will get from me, and most others is 'look in a dictionary' - they will soon realise that it is their own time they are wasting, and go direct next time.

i know i certainly wouldn't waste my time researching some basic, simple and easily found piece of information just to save someone else the bother - especially when in the time they used up coming on here to ask the question, they could have found the answers themselves, and more.