[wp-forums] Forum makeover

[Vicki Frei]

Podz wrote:
> Some thoughts and proposals for the forums.
> Lots to read here ...please snip mercilessly when replying and we can
> try and pull it all together as an agreed view later.
> 

I didn't think I had much to offer, until I saw (and replied to) a couple of 
forum posts tonight.... *sigh*

> 
> Suggestions:
> - that WE make a list of what is and is not acceptable in each forum.
> After all, if we cannot do this, how can a new poster figure it out ?
> This list gets turned into a post called "What you can post in this
> forum". The same list gets posted to each forum, but where the item
> applies to that forum, it is in bold and at the top of the list. That
> way each forum has a complete list but the relevant details are highlighted.
> Making this list will be difficult - but we must try to get things right
> and in language that the majority of people will understand. We'll never
> get it 100% but this could help.
>

Acceptable:  anything which regards an IN-PLACE install of WP, WP itself, and 
wonkiness in WP installs; WP NOT installing correctly, breaking later, etc. 
depending on the forum under discussion, will vary of course.

Marginal:  another program or application which is NOT working with an in-place 
install - up to the point at which it's determined that WP has nothing to do 
with the breaking-point/broken situation.

Not acceptable:  No install of WP?  We can answer general questions (in 
Miscellaneous if that's where we wind up wanting to dump that sort of thing); 
we should NOT answer HOW TO MAKE ADSENSE WORK (or "I have a problem with my 
adsense...." etc.) since this may create liability in people's minds should they 
subsequently have trouble with google over their usage of the program (really, 
there is a HUGE liabilty if we answer questions like this:  the ONLY choice for 
people SHOULD be to ASK GOOGLE! There's money involved, and we shouldn't be 
dealing with that sort of problematic situation.... this is an increasingly 
litigious society:  here in SoUT, a man sued a bookstore clerk for pointing out 
a book on how to make money online.... when he didn't make money, he sued her - 
AND WON.... this sort of thing we do NOT NEED); need some help with some other 
php sort of app?  Sorry, we don't do that here, please refer to the 
forum/email/etc. for the program itself....

> So how about we throw them all at the Misc forum ? <snip> The Misc forum will 
< literally be for 'anything else'.
> 
> OR
> 
> - a new forum section. (Not a whole new forum, just a section in what we
> have). This would be for 3rd Party apps / integration. Want gallery help
> ? post there. Want WP and phpbb to share data - post there. Having a new
> forum means that we acknowledge these posts will be made and we provide
> a place for them - though of course like everything else we promise no
> answers. This 'new forum' is in some ways an easy answer, so we need to
> think things through to be sure that it will be an enhancement and not
> just extra fluff. I'm not sold on having one, but equally I think it
> could be useful. This means we still have a Misc. forum. Feedback /
> suggestions would be great.
> Thought - as these are non-wp issues (as such) should posts from this
> forum appear on the front page ?
> Yes - it's still a problem that needs sorting and more eyes = more help.
> No - it could keep genuine wp problems off and they are our prime focus.
> (If No, I would favour being open about this)
> 

I favor the "new forum", with a HUGE header stating, you can post here, but you 
MAY NEVER GET AN ANSWER.  If you post here and don't get an answer, DO NOT 
REPEAT YOUR POST ON THE "REAL" FORA - we will remove it.  Misc forum serves a 
different purpose entirely....  And no, not on the front page at all....

> 
> - attitudes from posters. We don't need to add to their frustration, and
> I feel that sometimes they already have their own agenda. Do we ignore ?
> Do we have a stock answer ?
>

Stock answer:  two-year-old tantrums will NOT be responded to; any posts in 
response will be deleted; the thread will be locked; if you repeat this 
situation, you will be banned.  And yes, some of us (moi at times, others as 
well) throw tantrums too - but we do try to help most of the time.

> - FAQ. I like FAQ's. If you have them, no-one reads them. If you do not
> have them, you get told off. But I like writing them more. The one
> previously posted comprehensive yet concise enough ? Do we have one per
> forum ? That viable / useful ? Want to write one ?
> 

I like FAQs too - but I'm not really good at WRITING them.  I am however very 
good at proofreading, cleaning up, tightening up, etc. already written ones, and 
I hereby volunteer to do just that.

> Overall what I'm after at the top is control. We need to regain control
> and we do that by putting up the pointers for people. Enforcing that
> will be the next step once we have agreed this part.
> 
> P.

100% agree.

V