OK I’ll go first…
WHAT???
IMHO it would be good to have a Sticky at the top of Swaylocks that encourages folks who have questions to search the archives prior to asking a question. It is very common to see a question appear over and over again that has been answered numerous times. The must be some way to help direct folk in the right direction easily.
Just a thought.
Some kind of heading that reads along the lines of –
"Before you ask a question –
please search our archives – thanx!"
No Worries, Rich
…the problem is: archives are not organized… its better to go to ´search the forum´
So the sticky should read:
Before you ask run a forum search!
Right?
No Worries, Rich
As well as a sticky at the top of the main forum page, I reckon Mike could add an extra dialog box during the “Post New Message” sequence. At some point during the sequence, a dialog could appear that asks “Before posting this new message, have you searched the archives and ensured that this particular question has not been asked before?”, the poster would then have to click yes to continue and post the message. One problem with stickies is that people don’t have to read them, where as if the poster had to specify that they had already searched it should reduce the number of repeat questions.
Also, the archives may be a bit disorganized, but that’s no excuse to waste other users time and server bandwidth just because you’re too lazy to spend some time searching the archives.
Kind Regards,
Matt.
something mike may want to think about…
in a key word search, the search engine doesnt seem to search those key words in the subject/title of the post…i recall many times when i would remember a key word in the subject, but if that word is not in the post/body it makes it more difficult to find the subject matter…just a thought…thx mike…
someone pointed out the stick theory site to me …
i was amazed to see it had information under headings so a user could easily indentify what specificly he wanted to know …
while it looks like its still under construction and growing …
it seemed like a good format to me …
maybe it could be incorparated or combined …
most of the information is from here anyway …
regards
BERT
Quote:
Before you ask run a forum search!
Maybe just add to the forum rules that are already sticky at the top “read before you post” or make sure that the forum rules are read in the registration process, but let’s face it, how many people actually read the disclaimer when they register on something on the net? On the other hand, how can we ensure that new information from new members are added to the collective information of swaylocks if new members (or old for that mattter) are not allowed to ask stupid questions that may or may not be answered before. There is always that little detail…
The search engine on the forum is odd to say the least…
regards,
Håvard
I don’t like too many rules and I think ‘stupid’ or redundant questions should be encouraged and dealt with respectfully. When your first getting started building your own boards how do you know your question has been asked a thousand times? You don’t. When I came aboard my first question was probably keel fin placement on a fish. How many times have you seen that one? I got several good answers from fish experts and from there discovered the archives. Let’s not get too elitist here thinking," I’m too f-in smart to answer that question again." Treat em all like they were groms.Mike
who cares if a question has been asked repeatedly for those who don’t spend everyday on the LOCK and need some help from fellow mowers.
Hey Pierpontscott,
OK, think of it this way ~ You’re walking down the street and you have a question so you start asking whomever comes along for an answer. If you’re luck you’ll get some good info but you have to come across the right person to get some straight and pertinent info otherwise you end up misinformed. At the end of the street is a library full of all the answers and a huge variety of opinions too. You could walk down there and check things out but better yet because of modern technology you don’t even have to walk to the end of the street cause you have the plenty of information and misinformation at the tip of your fingers cause you’re plugged into Swaylocks.
There are good answers and bad answers here. It’s up to you to choose which approach suits you and how to get the straight poop. Searching cuts straight to the chase if that’s your preference.
In every cyber-field your’ve got your grazers and browsers; both need to to do a little ruminating, which can be a good thing, but if you bring up the cud too many times it looses it’s flavor.
No Worries, Rich
no questions are stupid or asked to much, for their will always be somebody that is just getting started and the veterans that know a different way to boil water .
Hmmmmmm…new way to boil water???
Add 3 oz. of fast hardener to 4 oz. epoxy resin. Mix well in 8 oz. plastic cup. Wait for it to start smoking, then set in shallow bowl of water. Voila! Now add pasta.
Guys,
I like threads like this because they help me figure out how to make Swaylock’s better. Believe it or not, I get very little constructive feedback with the way things work on this site, and when I do, I eat it up. Often, I implement it right away.
I am a usability fanatic but most of the time instead of user testing I simply follow my instinct, and assume that if I don’t hear any thing things are working ok. Not too smart I guess.
For example, meecrafty pointing out that the basic search doesn’t search titles. I wasn’t aware of that and I’m going to look into it.
And Matts’s recommendation of a gentle reminder just before you post. I like that.
I am with many of you that there is “no such thing as a stupid question” and I’ll stand by that. On the other hand, you want to create a way and an ethic on Swaylock’s to encourage people to dig up the info themselves. And to take a step beyond that, I’ve been seeking (unsuccessfully) as Bert is suggesting a way for folks to go a step further and take the info they have tracked down and compile it into a meaniful knowledgebase. I created the glossary (renamed last week to Swaylopedia) to do just that. Keith and Doc have done an OUTSTANDING JOB kicking it off and compiling over 300 information records.
Any registered user can add onto any glossary record or create one of their own. My vision has always been for the glossary to be the categorized knowledge base that compiles all the great info on this site. To no avail. You can lead a horse to water but…
Perhaps I need to provide more gentle nudges peppered around the site and notifications for people to contribute to Swaylopedia. I’m working on it though.
thanks for all the suggestions. Keep 'em coming!
mp
Weird, I’ve actually been thinking about this one lately.
I feel like " This cannot possibly be the first time someone has asked about this - yet I can’t find it in a search" - getting no matches for my query, or too many.
So I post hoping its not hopelessly redundant - the same old thing with a different title.
I think maybe this is because so many threads use the same few dozen fundamental terms over a wide range of diverse discussions, so much so that every thread is about everything, at least as far as a search engines ability to understand it goes.
so where “epoxy resin cure” yields excellent results in resources and forum - the more sophisticated and theoretical discussion becomes more difficult to pin down.
Maybe there could be a way to create crude divisons, like say catergories:
-
design forum
-
materials
-
construction techniques
-
fin theory (and halcyon)
-
shape dynamics hydrodynamics
-
first time shapers questions
-
historic board fetish
-
community chit chat
-
ranting raving and argument
you get the idea.
I guess this would ultimately require a post-catergorization of (oh my god)
ALL EXISITING THREADS
yikes - I would not wish that on anyone.
Maybe general discussion needs to eventually get archived to be replaced with a new, sub-categorized forum.
I think tthis would aid searches immensely…
Hope this is more helpful than crazy…
I like where you guys are going with this but I have often read threads started with a re-run question and got some new insight. I try to check archives first but I am also guilty of asking without looking first.
Ray
Quote:
I like where you guys are going with this but I have often read threads started with a re-run question and got some new insight. I try to check archives first but I am also guilty of asking without looking first.
TRUE!!! This must be taken into acount! For the swaylocks ‘book of design’ for future foam hackers it could be rather benificial.
Personally I don’t really mind repetidive questions, if you get frustrated just don’t read them, no-one’s forcing you too.
----------------in reply too------------------------------------------------------
For example meecrafty pointed out the basic search doesn’t search titles, i wasn’t awar of that and will look into it.
USE INVERTED COMMORS LIKE THIS
EG: epoxy resin compatabilities = where is flex important.
try “epoxy resin compatabilities” = Epoxy resin compatabilities.
the key is the " "
Hope it helps,
“Josh.”
Maybe new members shouldn’t be allowed to post until they’d visited x number of existing pages on the site? Or spent 4 hours logged in & clicking about? Something - just a get-to-know-it period before everything’s active…
I think some people here enjoy telling newcomers to search the archives, and those people enjoy getting a response. It is a forum after all and people want the active exchange.