Ubuntu support sites

[checoimg]

Hi Ubuntu community, I've been around for some time and the last years have got involved with the community. I would to discuss the situatoin between Ask Ubuntu and Ubuntu Forums.

My penny: A forums UI is suited for long posts and that translated is good for troubleshooting and complex problems like more than one variable to a solution. A Q&A site ir more suited for a simple question and an answer like: Where is the button for this action? in a complex settings program like CompizConfig. Anyone can read documentation and get confused and then, simple question simple answer. So I've been thinking that in the case of troubleshooting I should refer users to Ubuntu forums from AU.


I wanted to share this because users should not have to suffer a bad UI because it is designed for another use case and in the first place the design done for this two sites should be appreciated and understood in ti's own nature. And having to make an account in either site shoudln't be though as something bad, having an account on any of the two is a good thing and doing so is not a problem. It is a solution to different problems.

I think all this because I own what I offer to others through any site and this is the best way for those cases.

Why I want to discuss is why The forums or AU better for either Troubleshooting of Q&A so maybe you may understand me in my way of thinking.

[wildmanne39]

Thread moved to The Cafe for a better fit.

[yoshii]

What you said makes sense.
Personally, when I am trying to get an answer to a technical problem, I search as many relevant websites as I can, regardless of what type they are.
I find that the Q & A sites are usually a lot less professional and filled with exactly the type of irrelevant stuff they try to censor out. However, they usually have some useful extra info, so I often archive those answers to help me when I find the REAL answer on more technical discussion or article websites.

I find that the most important thing is to know how to use search engines well and to not rely upon the mainstream search engines too much. I don't use Google anymore, for example. The more popular the search engine, the greater the eventual tendency for them to lead people to advertisements instead of results. It's been that way ever since Lycos.com days.

[checoimg]

@yoshii

All I'm going to say about Q&A sites is: We all have to learn.

Also, please tell us some search engines I still use popular the popular ones.

[vasa1]

@yoshii

All I'm going to say about Q&A sites is: We all have to learn.

Also, please PM me some search engines I still use popular the popular ones.

Please do not solicit help via PM. Information shared by PM will not be accessible to other members or to visitors to the forums.

[checoimg]

Please do not solicit help via PM. Information shared by PM will not be accessible to other members or to visitors to the forums.

Ok, I thought that would be promoting a product

[inerstellar-cowboy]

Google I think is king, but 1 other good search engine is duckduckgo. I am just thankful that there are so many wizards on ubuntuforums

[ajgreeny]

Just as an example here is my custom google-search address that I use a great deal.
https://www.google.co.uk/cse/publicu...00:ukjniuf1wao

Anyone can create their own similar custom search by going to google at https://cse.google.co.uk/cse/all and setting up whatever is wanted.

[ian-weisser]

So I've been thinking that in the case of troubleshooting I should refer users to Ubuntu forums from AU.

I find the UF format much better for complex questions, troubleshooting, and generally teaching users how to fish.
I find UF to be a friendlier, more welcoming experience.
AU is great for the volume of simple questions.

I think referring an AU question that can be more appropriately handled in UF is a wise thing to do.

[mastablasta]

both are using same SSO.

for short questions Ask Ubuntu might be better format. There are also a couple of good tutorials or suggestions posted there.