Forum Tools Discussion

[richbarna]

Hi everyone,

I started a thread about new users using their sig to help eachother,
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=200626

and as usual the ideas developed and suggetions developed. and quite rightly Manicka suggested that the ideas should be posted here as they were now forum-related not sig-related.

Anyway here was a kind of joint idea that "dvarsam" and myself kind of thought up between us :-

Quote:
Another problem is that some people get their solution and don't come back and post to say that it has worked (not even a small thank you ), so sometimes I find myself looking for threads (the "help me" variety) to see if they got their solution or not.

Maybe the forum staff could put a "solved" button, so you click and then a little green tick appears on the thread (in place of the usual exclamation or question mark icon). That way when we are out searching for problems to solve, we can ignore the ones that have a green tick on them.

This is another fantastic idea!!!

The author of the Thread could click on the button named "solved" & instead of the usual "envelope" icon we currently see on the Beginners Forum (placed on the left-side of each new thread), the "solved" icon could show (maybe a green checkmark), which means that any person performing a "search" for his problem, will go ahead & read only the Threads that have been "solved"!

And thus:

Anybody who is looking for a solution to his problem, will always want to read the "solved" threads (hoping that he will also solve his "similar" problem).

And at the same time:

Anybody who is willing to provide help, will always want to provide help in "unsolved" threads!

Fantastic idea man!

Again, the question is:

Quote:
How can we tell the Moderators of these nice ideas, so that hopefully they will go ahead & implement these?


So that was the basic idea, maybe somebody from the forum staff could let us know what you think?

[aysiu]

It's been suggested before, and I think it's a great idea, but nothing's been done to implement it as yet. When I was a moderator, I tried to change titles to "solved" when the OP said it was solved. That didn't last long, of course.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=20395&highlight=solved#post20395
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=189413
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179448

[henriquemaia]

It's been suggested before, and I think it's a great idea, but nothing's been done to implement it as yet. When I was a moderator, I tried to change titles to "solved" when the OP said it was solved. That didn't last long, of course.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=20395&highlight=solved#post20395
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=189413
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179448

I have thought about that too, but since someone else can grab the thread and post a related question, the "solved" on the title wouldn't make sense anymore.

[richbarna]

It's been suggested before, and I think it's a great idea, but nothing's been done to implement it as yet. When I was a moderator, I tried to change titles to "solved" when the OP said it was solved. That didn't last long, of course.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=20395&highlight=solved#post20395
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=189413
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179448

I see the second link suggests that we PM the moderators to change the title to "solved".
Cool, so how many messages a day will they receive?
I'm sure that with all the extras that we have available on this forum, such as smilies, sigs, avatars etc, that it wouldn't be so difficult to add a button that once clicked would change an envelope icon to a green tick.

[richbarna]

I have thought about that too, but since someone else can grab the thread and post a related question, the "solved" on the title wouldn't make sense anymore.

Maybe people should start a "related" thread with a new question, possibly with a link back to the original thread.

[henriquemaia]

Maybe people should start a "related" thread with a new question, possibly with a link back to the original thread.

But in some cases that doesn't make sense, because the question is the same and the difference is just something on the hardware or configuration.

For example, it's not rare that I follow a long thread to search for a solution for a particular problem and the solution is not the original poster question but something someone else raises during the thread.

[richbarna]

I see your point, but the problem is, that second solution could buried three pages down in a thread.
Also if it is one of the badly titled threads ie "please help me guys i'm a noob", how does someone else find that same solution. Surely the best posts are well titled, the thread sticks to the main problem and the origanal poster comes back to say that it worked.
I see a lot of threads that go off on a tangent, I also see regular users suggesting that the person with a related problem should start a new thread because then everyone can find the same solution quickly.

[henriquemaia]

I see your point, but the problem is, that second solution could buried three pages down in a thread.
Also if it is one of the badly titled threads ie "please help me guys i'm a noob", how does someone else find that same solution. Surely the best posts are well titled, the thread sticks to the main problem and the origanal poster comes back to say that it worked.
I see a lot of threads that go off on a tangent, I also see regular users suggesting that the person with a related problem should start a new thread because then everyone can find the same solution quickly. I get your point. Maybe just testing we'll see how it works. I think that this will lead to an unnecessary increased number of threads, scattering info through huge number of places. When you search for something, instead of getting 1, 2 or 3 relevant threads, you'll get dozens. Is this good? Not sure.

If this go ahead, maybe people start using clever threads titles that will improve search. But on a forum with 100.000+ users count on peoples abilities for this is not very wise. Just a thought.

[aysiu]

This is what already happens, though. People don't tack on to other threads--they start new ones.

I already proposed we create megathreads, and the administration wasn't down with that suggestion (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=174298).

[henriquemaia]

This is what already happens, though. People don't tack on to other threads--they start new ones.

I already proposed we create megathreads, and the administration wasn't down with that suggestion (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=174298).
You're right. But this (I guess) would increase the trend to scatter things around more.

ps: on a second thought, maybe not. Maybe a test will prove this idea worthiness.

[aysiu]

I guess you're right. But this (I guess) would increase the trend to scatter things around more.
I'm all for consolidating, but I don't appear to have the majority opinion. I'm also all for letting people mark their own threads as "solved," but no one on staff seems to be biting that one either.

[richbarna]

I'm all for consolidating, but I don't appear to have the majority opinion. I'm also all for letting people mark their own threads as "solved," but no one on staff seems to be biting that one either.

I just want things easy to find and easy to read to help new users.
As for the "solved" idea, I'm no forum designer, maybe it would be technically too difficult, I don't know.

The consolidation idea is a thought, maybe if the beginners section had seperate hardware/ software sections and the new users were somehow forced into being specific in the title of the thread.

As you know, I'm relatively new to this forum, and you have already pointed out that these ideas have already been proposed.


I suppose new comers make the same suggestions over and over again thinking that they have come up with a great idea when really it's old news.

I'm still going to push the idea that new users try to use their sigs effectively though.

Notice my link to psychocats (4 Newbies 1) :)