I always go to unanswered questions first.

I only comment on postings that have photos or plans posted.

I only make suggestions on post that i feel are relevant to my design back ground.

I will not sit there and read a book, since this is free advice make the question clear and to the point.

I am not a Pro, but wanted to say I don't respond to posts where the subject title is one word, and the post isn't even a sentence, and has no punctuation. For example, subject title just says "sink". Post says "need new sink"

It's amazing how many posts like that there are, and how nice are some pros who respond with "hi, can you provide some more information about what you are looking for?". The thing is, posters like that never return. If they can't spend the time to write a few sentences, they also won't take the trouble to return.

friedajune, Yes, please. I am interested in everyone's opinion and should have stated that in my question. There seems to be a group of regulars - pro and not - who respond to questions. I just find it interesting (a meaningless word if there ever were one!) why some questions motivate people to respond, and others don't. What's the hook?

We only comment to questions that relate to our field.

One "hook" would be - and this is the other side of the coin to what I said in my post above - an interesting catchy subject title. Another hook would be a clearly written post with good questions.

I've seen some posts with catchy titles that get 100-200 responses.

Not a pro; I will respond to questions related to a project we've been working on in our house where I know something that might be useful to the poster.

We respond to a post when we have relevant professional knowledge and experience that would be helpful to the poster and further inform others regarding practices and standards within our industry. We avoid long threads that take too much of our time to assess (as our responses are most helpful if they are targeted to a specific issue). Occasionally there are "dark rooms" (too much negative energy in here as we prefer respectful conversations in the same way that we won't work in an adverse or hostile environment nor subject our employees to such) and move on. We also assess whether another qualified professional has responded, and therefore "has this". There are a couple in our field that we now know can adequately address the question. Not to say we might not have a snippet to add. Timely and appreciative responses from the OP might get another response from us.

If it's related to my area of expertise, I may respond. I won't help select paint colors via a computer monitor, nor will I design a whole room for free, based on minimal or disjointed information from the OP. Like Dragonfly and others said, if it's succinct and to the point, if it doesn't have a response yet, I will take a look and see if I can help, but if another pro "has this" as Dragonfly said, I see no need to add to it, unless it's to agree with the pro (I will also agree with non-pros!). Another note is that often when a Pro posts an opinion, a non-pro often will post an opposing view contradicting the pro. If the OP chooses to engage the non-pro in further discussion, that's fine, as many non-pros have a lot of valuable knowledge to share. However, I am not posting my answer to get into an argument, or to be knocked down as if I don't know what I am talking about, so I would just refrain from any further interaction, as it would appear that my opinion isn't valued or needed. Pros offer free advice as a service to others, and we do it willingly because we like to help. But we don't have time to engage in negative banter, and unfortunately, it does happen, which sours pros from answering dilemmas altogether.