Some Questions: General/Desktop Support sections, Tags and RSS

[Jucato]

I'd like to ask some questions regarding the forum layout and features.

1. What's the difference between posting in the General Support section and in the Desktop Support sub-section? I can't seem to understand. Also, the Desktop Support section tags only show Ubuntu - GNOME, Ubuntu - KDE, Ubuntu - Xfce, etc. Am I to understand that Ubuntu - KDE means Ubuntu with kubuntu-desktop installed, or plainly Kubuntu?

2. Tags and RSS: RSS feeds are still down, at least on my end. Fortunately, I was able to login into Windows and get some of the old RSS links, and those still work. It seems that the working RSS link is:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=forum_id

where forum_id is the forum ID # of the specific section, like 73 for the Absolute beginner talk.

Anyway, I was wondering, since the DE-specific sections have been abolished, is there a way to integrate this tag feature in the RSS feed?

Thanks for your time! and Great job with the forums!

[kassetra]

I'd like to ask some questions regarding the forum layout and features.

1. What's the difference between posting in the General Support section and in the Desktop Support sub-section? I can't seem to understand. Also, the Desktop Support section tags only show Ubuntu - GNOME, Ubuntu - KDE, Ubuntu - Xfce, etc. Am I to understand that Ubuntu - KDE means Ubuntu with kubuntu-desktop installed, or plainly Kubuntu? well, if you install ubuntu and then install kubuntu-desktop or install Kubuntu, you still have KDE... so we kept it basic by just saying "KDE" ... same with Gnome and Xfce.

General Support is for all the issues you get when you're using your system, like maybe you want to install new software that isn't in a repository, or you want to make your system work with hand-built libraries, all kinds of unusual stuff. Desktop is for apps that are in the repositories, the desktop in general, X, etc.

2. Tags and RSS: RSS feeds are still down, at least on my end. Fortunately, I was able to login into Windows and get some of the old RSS links, and those still work. It seems that the working RSS link is:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=forum_id

where forum_id is the forum ID # of the specific section, like 73 for the Absolute beginner talk.

Anyway, I was wondering, since the DE-specific sections have been abolished, is there a way to integrate this tag feature in the RSS feed?

Thanks for your time! and Great job with the forums!
The RSS feeds will be fixed and hopefully enhanced, soon. This bugs us quite a bit, and we're waiting on some software fixes/upgrades to get it all fixed. :)

[Jucato]

Hmm.... let me check if I have gotten it straight

- General Support - support for things not found in the repositories, "unusual" stuff?
- Desktop Support - support for things found in the repositories, mostly software questions?
- "Ubuntu - KDE" = "Ubuntu + kubuntu-desktop" or "plain Kubuntu"?

Did I get those right?

And good luck with fixing the feeds. I'm sorry if I keep on asking about it, but it's one of the ways that I could easily check if someone needs help in a specific area that I know about (Kubuntu/KDE).

Thanks for all your wonderful efforts and patience in dealing with us! Keep up the good work! You're doing a great job! :D

[Jucato]

Hi! Just wanted to add two more things:

1. It seems that our members are not aware of the use of the new tags for the General Support sections. I have frequently encountered posts with wrong tags like threads asking for KDE/Kubuntu-specific help, using Ubuntu 6.06 or General Ubuntu tags.

2. When the RSS feeds are fixed, will it be possible to have a feed for the Subscribed Threads page? Or is it a bit impractical/useless because I've noticed that the RSS feature of vBulletin doesn't inform you if threads have been updated/modified. They only inform you of new threads.

Again, thanks for the wonderful forums. :D

[rcarring]

We must careful not to ghetto-ize posts by using the correct tags. People see the tag and avoid the question because they don't run that system. I do the reverse, I ignore the tags and try and answer if I can.

[Jucato]

We must careful not to ghetto-ize posts by using the correct tags. People see the tag and avoid the question because they don't run that system. I do the reverse, I ignore the tags and try and answer if I can.

That's one side effect. But then, what are the tags for, anyway? I usually answer general questions, or even GNOME-related questions that I know the answers to. But most of the times, I can't. I would only be doing the poster a disservice if I pretended I knew what he was talking about.

But that's usually only when I browse through the forum in a web browser. But most of the time, I interact with the forum through an RSS reader, so it's very inconvenient for me to filter out the things that I could answer more correctly than the things I know nothing about.

Anyway, the tags only apply to specific sections like General Support and Desktop Support. Absolute Beginner Talk and Ubuntu Cafe have no tags. These are the 4 sections I constantly monitor, and only 2 of them have tags.