23meg
June 16th, 2006, 09:28 PM
http://i5.tinypic.com/14mf2xg.png
A feature I like on linuxquestions.org, which also uses vBulletin, is the presence of a "Click Here to Find Similar Threads" on the interface for posting a new thread. This way, users who don't have a habit of doing a search before asking questions get reminded once more to do so just before posting a thread and will often give up on posting the thread because they'll get to the answer without having to ask.
Reasons why this can be more attractive and beneficial to many users than the search feature:
- The search feature requires keywords from the user, which they may have difficulty figuring out, whereas the "Find Similar Threads" button does a title search for the whole title the user has already entered. Even a non-descriptive title will lead the user to other threads with similar non-descriptively titles where the answer they're looking for has already been given.
- The search feature may be unattractive to some users who have previously tried it with less than ideal keywords and have got bad results, thus they may stop using it after a while. The button, however, will be persistent each time they post a new thread.
- The user doesn't lose anything by hitting the button; it lists the results in a new window so the question they may already have typed remains intact and they don't have to navigate back to the posting page. Even if the user is very decisive on posting the thread, it doesn't hurt to hit the button once.
- There's a good chance that once the user has resorted to the button a few times and found lots of old threads that answer their questions, they'll become aware of the fact that many questions have already been asked and answered many times, and will give priority to searches.
Would the admins consider implementing this feature if it's practical to do so?
(Note: I'm aware that this has been requested before; It didn't catch attention and I thought listing the reasons why it would be beneficial and giving a screenshot would be good)
A feature I like on linuxquestions.org, which also uses vBulletin, is the presence of a "Click Here to Find Similar Threads" on the interface for posting a new thread. This way, users who don't have a habit of doing a search before asking questions get reminded once more to do so just before posting a thread and will often give up on posting the thread because they'll get to the answer without having to ask.
Reasons why this can be more attractive and beneficial to many users than the search feature:
- The search feature requires keywords from the user, which they may have difficulty figuring out, whereas the "Find Similar Threads" button does a title search for the whole title the user has already entered. Even a non-descriptive title will lead the user to other threads with similar non-descriptively titles where the answer they're looking for has already been given.
- The search feature may be unattractive to some users who have previously tried it with less than ideal keywords and have got bad results, thus they may stop using it after a while. The button, however, will be persistent each time they post a new thread.
- The user doesn't lose anything by hitting the button; it lists the results in a new window so the question they may already have typed remains intact and they don't have to navigate back to the posting page. Even if the user is very decisive on posting the thread, it doesn't hurt to hit the button once.
- There's a good chance that once the user has resorted to the button a few times and found lots of old threads that answer their questions, they'll become aware of the fact that many questions have already been asked and answered many times, and will give priority to searches.
Would the admins consider implementing this feature if it's practical to do so?
(Note: I'm aware that this has been requested before; It didn't catch attention and I thought listing the reasons why it would be beneficial and giving a screenshot would be good)