hi, im sure new people to the site would really appreciate any easy to read info....as for everyone asking the same questions..if you are new on here its not easy to find things that you might need to help immigration simpler by looking at other peoples threads....if there is one place that is informative then surely it cant be a bad thing...good on Judy

Thats really good Judy it must have took you ages! I think thats whats needed, I've not been here that long but often find myself shouting at people to use the search function.

Sharon

As a newcomer not that long ago..I found that it was more helpful to have my questions answered properly and not by someone saying this has already been asked ten million times. Quite often a newbie doesnt realise they are asking a question that isnt "framed properly" or that has not been constructed to suit the "older "members of BE because of the very fact that they have just started on a very confusing, scary road of immigration which is a minefield to newbies. Judy's WIKI article will be useful in its right place, but I also think newbies should be allowed to ask what ever inane questions they like as this forum isn't just for those who have been there and done that a long time ago.

I fully agree it might seem a silly question to those who are living the new life,

But for me and wife and kids we have so many things to sort out and understand its scary and exciting at the same time


mick

There is a difference between inane questions and questions posed by people who probably need velcro straps on their shoes.

"Can I buy Walkers crisps in Toronto?" seems pretty inane but it's specific, can be answered and, for all we know, may be part of a process to convince a reluctant child.

"Hello. I want to move to Canada. Can you you please tell me where is a good place to live, how much a house costs and what my job prospects are?" is another matter entirely.

Although I would like people to search the forum, I have to admit that searching does have its limitations. The challenge is that a given key word may bring up threads that contain relevant information and heaps of threads that do not contain relevant information.

Quite some time ago I figured out a way of narrowing down the threads that would come up when one did a search for a popular expat destination like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary or Edmonton.

This morning I recalled that strategy, and I now have added the following paragraph to my web page:

Here is a tip about searching for information about one of the larger cities that currently are popular destinations for expats. I'm thinking of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton in particular. If you do a search for "Toronto," you will bring up every previous discussion thread in which Toronto has been mentioned. Some of those discussion threads will contain useful information about living in Toronto, but many of them will mention Toronto only in passing. It is daunting and frustrating to figure out which of those many threads contain detailed, useful information about life in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Sometimes you can tell from the thread title, but that is not always a reliable indicator. I have figured out a way to get around this problem. Instead of doing a search for the city, do a search for one of its satellite towns. People who ask questions about the satellite towns are seriously interested in living in the area. They rarely mention the satellite towns only in passing. Therefore the threads that contain the names of the satellite towns usually are threads that contain practical information about the area. Well, it's not a foolproof method, but it certainly does narrow down the number of threads that a search brings up.

I went on to name a couple of satellite towns outside of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. However, I don't want to mention their names here because, if I do, I will further "contaminate" the BE forum. That is, anyone who did a search for one of those satellite towns would then bring up this thread that does not contain any practical information about the relevant city and its satellite towns.

Well put, Souv - especially the velcro straps comment!

I don't think anyone (well, few people) minds if specific questions are asked again and again - while those of us who have been here (in Canada and/or on the Forum) for a while will see the same questions many times, we ought to remember that many new posters may be entirely unfamiliar with web forums in general, let alone this one in particular. And while we don't want to frighten them away, I think Judy's idea of a "help us to help you" sort of thing to encourage people to ask answerable questions in an answerable way is a good initiative.

Quite. Inane to us may not be inane to other people. I've asked some pretty inane questions in my time, simply because I didn't know.

Asking our office manager in London if she could get me some Spanish Euros and some Italian ones was rather inane.

inane, maybe (I couldn't possibly comment) but certainly possible... don't the coins have the same reverse but a different obverse dependent on the country of origin? Notes are all the same, though.

I emigrated before the euro was introduced and my trips back to Europe, until then, had only been to the UK. I really had no idea what a euro was or how it worked. People in the office sniggered when I asked the question.

Think this approach will be great Judy....you are full of good ideas. Next thing we know you will be starting an Ex-Pat forum of your own for us

Excuse me Souv.....I have a lovely pair of velcro trainers I bought quite recently from River Island(that is a high street fashion shop here BTW)

I was only making the point that we should let peeps ask whatever they want, it is still a free country...isn't it????

I recall asking a few of the 'repeat' questions when I first joined, car insurance being one that comes to mind - and which has been discussed to death before and since. I was completely new to forums (hence my unimaginative name 'cos I didn't have the experience or gumption to think of something interesting !!)

I think when you first log on, you dont 'see' all the headings and prompts and titles that could guide you better. You're so busy tuning in to the chunk (ie, Canada) that suits you that it takes hours or weeks to feel comfortable about navigating the whole BE forum. I think I was particularly wary and it took me weeks to go off into other areas to 'have a look'.

So - yes, I think people should feel free to ask what they need - but it is an excellent idea to be able to reply politely and with good grace and to guide them to a specific area for their answers ...

I think the small blue bar and pale pink bar at the top of the page are not particularly 'visible' but now that I know all about them better, they seem fine - so it's a graphics-type issue, which we are not necessarily in a position to amend.

Like many things, familiarity brings the comfort factor. I almost envy people who just dive in straight way with the first question that pops into their head. The naivity is endearing !

I think it's a great idea Judy. I hadn't got around to mentioning it yet but the company my husband is working for gave us a relocation booklet - similar to a wiki, with general info for people moving to the area and in it, they link to one of your articles on the Candian schools

Holy Toledo!

In one way that makes me go . It can be kind of scary when you first discover the power of the Internet and how far and wide something can travel once you've posted it online.

On the other hand, that's one of the great benefits of the time in which we live. My husband and I immigrated to Canada in 1977. Back then there was of course no Internet. With access to the Internet, expats now have so much more opportunity to research the area to which they will be moving.