Tuesday, April 26, 2011

What does Abby do that is effective? Do you think she gives good advice? http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/

60 comments:

  1. I really didnt find anything interesting about this advice column. I feel that she wasnt exactly responding back to them, i feel like she did give any advice persay just gave them a response but not a helpful one.

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  2. Abby agrees with the person seeking advice, which is what makes her column popular. However, she is biased. Especially in the article about the divorce, she says that the stepfather is childish and sad.

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  3. I think that Abby gives good advice because she tries to relate the readers to her life and to others lives which will comfort the readers into thinking that their not the only ones who feel that way.

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  4. Somthing that Abby does that is affective is, she shows the person with the problem, another leter that someone else had sent her. It shows the other persons point of view and how he or she is dealing with the same problem.

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  5. What Abbt did that was effective is when she saw the donations, she doesnt feel guitly about throwing them away anymore. She gave notepads and other enclosures to godwill and she shred the labels. She ironically got more labels now then she ever has before. I think that she gives good advice.

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  6. Abby gives unbiased advice about a question that thte reader asks, I think thats what makes her effective.

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  7. I do not think Abby really gives advice. It seems that people answer their own questions and Abby only moniters what they are saying. I do not think this advice column is effective at all.

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  8. Abby though, did not answer the question directly. She just showed the person other letters that other readers have sent. So she indirctly was solving it.

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  9. She also relates herself to the topic being discussed. This is also what makes her effective.

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  10. I feel that this Abby lady is a little hard to to understand.

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  11. I think Abby is very helpful. She doesn't judge the people that ask for help, instead she helps them analyze their sutation for the better. Abby is honest and a little blunt, which is sometimes what peolple need to hear.

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  13. I agree with her relating to the person seeking help is helpful, and some of the advice she gives is biased and i didnt see much of her showing both sides or how people can fix things. She just agreed with what they said.

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  14. In my opinion, I could get the same advice from a six year old, and it wouldn't take me days to recieve a response. Her advice is very simple, and not very good in my opinion.

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  15. I thought Abby's advice was pretty effective. She gives her biased oppinoin, and what she has done in simaler situations. She also shows it from diffrent perspectives and what not.

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  16. I think how Abby relates to the readers and shows other responses from other people on that same topic is effective and she will get more questions from more people. I think her advice is sometimes helpful to people but other times it doesn't really make sense or help people out in any way.

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  17. I agree wth jossalyn because I did not find anything interesting about the advice column either. She gave a responce back but it related to her, I do not think it was that helpful.

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  18. I think one of the best advice Abby gave was the option to check off "take me off the list" at the bottom. She successfullly connects to the readers with the problems about these charitable donations, but in my opinion there is some things she does not do right.

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  19. I agree with Gio about how Abby is hard to understand

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  20. I think it is helpful of Abby to put questions that are similar on the same page because this way not only can these people get advice from Abby, but also their peers.

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  21. I agree with Marta, it seems as thought the questions arent as in depth as they could be so Abby can't answer them effectively. She's basically just summerizing what the reader already said. Which isnt giving very good advice.

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  22. Nicolas...I think that the lady isn't really very clear in what she's talking about. Also, the question was really confusing too, so maybe that's why her advice was confusing. I'm still not sure what the question is totally about...Something about charities.

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  23. I think that Abby's honesty is what makes her successful. Her advice is honest and her popinions are often what's for the better. She helps people to realize that there are worse situations, but the most important thing is doing what's right for you in this situation. Even the idea of having an Abby is helpful, just knowing you have someone to talk to or someone that will at least give you an opinion, whether it's what you want to hear or not.

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  24. The question though, was not very intresting to read. It was a boring ineffective question that wouldnt really help other people solve their own problems.

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  25. I agree with Kaylee, her advice is simple and doesn't seem to help people out with their problems that much.

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  26. I agree with Marta, it seems as though people are answering their own questions and Abbeys just there. I also agree with Emma, Abbey doesnt judge but she doesnt give them advice except to look at other leters and things like that.

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  27. I think that Abby is effective because she has a youthful perspective on things. No matter what the situation is she will urge everyone to stay calm by being positive and offering numerous solutions.

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  28. Abyy's responses are effective because they answer the question being asked. In addition, she often gives alternate suggestions incase one does not work. She also stays positive and backs up her suggestions with reasoning. She explains why she is giving her advice. For example when she told one daughter to talk to her mother at a time where they were both calm. She told the daughter this because she explained communication is a big part of understandment.

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  29. Another thing that Abby does wrong is that she's biased towards her own opinion of a situation. She trys to relate each question to herself which sometimes readers dont want to here because they want help not similiar situations.

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  30. Giovanni.... i agree that she isnt really clear about what she is talking about. Yes, it is confusing..

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  31. While I think that some of Abby's advice is good and helpful, some of it is not. I feel as though a few of her columns were biased and judgemental. For example, there is one about a woman who has no friends. While this lady seems crazy, as an advice comlumnist, you shouldn't make them feel that way. Abby responded in an angry tone and I don't feel as though this was the appropriate way to respond. In many cases, her responses are very short as well. I suppose this could be good because it gets to the point, but if I was asking for advice, I would want to get a little more than three sentences in return.

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  32. I did not find her discussion topics very interesting, however, I do think that she gives good advice to those who need it.

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  33. I understand where Daphne and Marta are coming from, but often times the reader can't really be that in depth with their questions- often times situations are much too deep and complex to explain to a newspapre columnist, so it's important to be as simple as you can so Abby can find the basic roblem and help you deal with it the best. She can't analyze every possible angle of the situation. It's important for the person asking for help to be blunt and to the point, and for Abby to be blunt and honest back.

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  34. I agree with jossalyn, she dident realy give them advice. She told them what she did with the things but not what they should do. I dont find that the article is helpfull in anyway.

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  35. In some posts, Abby's advice was a little bit confusing. It is difficult to tell and I don't think she had an actual solution to the problem, and it sounds like she's just rambling on, and she just agrees with the person reading. LIke Daphne said, her advice was not very effective, and there were bad questions to blame.

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  36. I also agree with Emma when she said that
    Abby's honesty makes her succesful. If Abby were not honest, true and helpful advice would not be given. If people didn't want the truth then they would not ask her for advice because they want the best advice.

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  37. I read advice Abby gave to a man on April 4th, he doesnt know if he is the biological father of his yougest son because his wife had an affair with a relative and "Douglas" the son looks like a lot like the relative.
    I feel Abby is effective with some of the advice she gives although I feel she could say more than what she does.

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  38. I also agree with Gio on how Abby's advice column is kind of hard to understand.

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  39. I agree with Armaan in the sense that Abby connects to the readers, as well solves some of her problems. But like Armaan said some things she dosen't do right.

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  40. While in a few, she showed biased opinions, she did do somethings that are effective. For example, in the one about the daughter wityh loose clothing, she tries to make the daughter understand why her mother buys bigger clothing. This probably helps the daughter to understand the mother's position, which will only help the situation, making the response effective.

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  41. I agree with Gio and Kellyn some of the things that Abby says is difficult to follow.

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  42. The only issue I really have with dear abby is one letter she wrote to someone that wrote to her. The person asked for help and if what she was feeling was normal, and all Abby said back was "you need to see a counselor for more help". That should be a reccommendation after you already try to help- not a first resort without even giving a proper response.

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  43. Abby, in my opinion, is effective, becuase she relates the problem to her own life. Also not only does she try to answer the question, she tries to solve other problems the asker might have.

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  44. I do agree with Mckenzie and Emma when they say the Abby's honesty helps to make her advice column successful. If she weren't honest, she wouldn't be giving her true advice, however, in some instances, I feel as though her honesty is a bit brutal and she could word her columbns better. At times her honesty comes across as being biased.

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  45. I agree with Armaan, some of her advice is confusing and she is pretty much just saying stuff to fill the space. Now that I read some more advice I dont really think the advice she gives is really effetive.

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  46. Abby answers the question but It seems she just throws stuff out there just to answer their questions.

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  47. I agree with Jordan, the questions and responses were boring. Abby doesn't really seem to give advice, only deflect questions with other letters. I wouldn't ask her for help.

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  48. In one specific case, a man was worried about his son spending the enitre day that he is up in the sandbox, and asks Abby if he should be worrying. Abby responded "DEAR WORRIED DAD: Be sure to brush him off if he ever runs a marathon to prevent diaper rash." In my opinion this is not at all good advice if it is advice at all. She puts up a joke for this guy, when all he wants is help with his infant son. I think Abby did not have any valid advice to give him, it's difficult to say anything to this guy if she doesen't know what to do. That's where I don't know if it's Abby's fault that she cannot give good advice if she cannot relate to this guy.

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  49. True I agree that Abby has her faults. She almost gets a little too personal, and assumes alot of things. I understand it is right to do that...but only to a certain extent.

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  50. After reading some more of Abby's responses I don't think that she is very effective. She's very straight forward and to the point which seems to come off in a rude manner. As Emma said, the response "Loner to Toronto" was not very helpful at all she just suggested her to see a counsler and didn't bother to try and give much advice herself. The letter written to her was not a serious problem that needed professional help, Abby definitly could have attempted to give some better advice.

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  51. As others have said, some of Abby's responses are a little confusing, however, I have not saw any biased coments. Maybe her advice is not does not seem as efficent to us because we are just reading about people's situation. However, if we were in the situation of the pepople asking for advice I am sure we would feel as if Abby's comments are efficient beasue she is honest.

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  52. In some cases, I feel as though Abby's advice column is not effective. Some of her advice is good and effective, while some of it is not. If I was asking her advice, I wouldn't be too sure that I'm getting the proper response in return to my question. Some answers are brief and seem to have one side to it, and others are detailed and appear to have had alot of time spent on them.

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  53. I also agree with Emma, I feel abby is really honest and thats what makes her sucessful. I feel it is important that she is honest and it is okay to be "brutly honest".

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  54. I agree with Jessica, Abby is not very effective. She is straight forward and, like Jessica said, sometimes seemed to be rude. When Abby suggested that Loner to Toronto to see a consler it was rude.

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  55. I feel as though some of Abby's responses aren't a satisfying answser. Although she gives good advice, it's really simple and short. I don't think i'd be satisfied if she responded to me with one of her answers.

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  56. A women wrote in about how her long-term boyfriend recently died and she now discovered he was a con who used women and had numerous girlfiends. In her letter herself she says how she is stunned, hurt, and angry. When Abby responds she does not have any condolance for her at all.

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  57. I agree completley with Armaan, cracking jokes with peoples problems is definately not okay, and some of her advice is irrelavant.

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  58. Overall I think she was pretty decent...foran advice collumn.

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  59. Audrey, that is a good thing about this. She provides examples from her personal life, while giving logical solutions to the questions. I think its just this one particular question that was difficult to understand, i didn't really know what they were talking about.

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  60. After reading Armaan's comment about her response to the boy in the sandbox, I realized that some of Abby's advice is not helpful and can come off a little mean. However, I have read some very helpful responses for example :DEAR ABBY: We have been friends with "The Bickersons" for quite some time. They never have a kind word to say to each other. Mr. B. now has a terminal illness, and you would think they'd be kinder to each other at a time like this. On the contrary, their fights are more groundless and vicious than ever. It is becoming increasingly difficult to be around them. This is when they need friends more than ever, but they're driving everyone away! What can we do? -- LOVE IS ALL WE NEED
    DEAR LOVE: While you might imagine that when a spouse has a terminal illness it would bring the couple closer together, that is not always the case. Mr. B. may be frightened, angry, in pain and taking it out on his wife. Mrs. B. may be furious at her husband for being sick and dependent, and requiring her to have gone from being a wife to a caregiver. Also, they both may be settling old scores.
    This advice she gave is completely different from the sandbox situation. Thus, I feel that some of Abby's posts are effective while others are not.

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