[wp-forums] Resolved Threads

[TechGnome]

*woof!* Oops, sorry, wrong tree. This will most likely be my last 
thoughts on this matter. If I'm still not clear on my position and/or 
why.... well, sorry. I don't know how more plainly I can state things. 
I'm not a moderator, nor do I care to be one. I am a user. All my views 
are as such. I just thought for a minute that by making a couple of 
seemingly minor changes, it would make everyone's "job" a little easier. 
I... I.... I... don't know what I was thinking.

Michael B wrote:

> The original reason the resolved/unresolved box was put in place, if 
> my memory serves me, was not for the casual user, but for the 
> volunteer that wanted to help answer questions.  They wanted to be 
> able to come to the forum, quickly find threads that were not 
> answered, and help.  Thus the link for unresolved.  

That's not the "unresolved" I'm talking about. I'm talking about, at the 
top of the thread, where (if I were to pull up any thread that I am not 
the OP for it says "This topic is not resolved" .... for the OP it 
should say "Mark this thread as resolved." <--- This... that, right 
there.... THAT is what I think should be moved closer to the reply box. 
Take the moderators out of the equasion for just one second. THINK about 
it from a user perspective. ... more ...

> This feature is not being used.

Has anyone given ANY thought as to why not? Mmmm... could it be the 
location? You get 20 replies to a thread, the OP comes in, sees the 
answer he needs, replies "OK, thanks" and leaves. Maybe... and this just 
might be crazy talk, but maybe if the check box for "Mark as Resolved" 
was RIGHT next to the reply box, they, would go "Oh, hey, done" *click* 
and mark it. But as it is, an extra step has to be done... scroll 
allllllll the way back up, and click the llink to mark it resolved. It's 
not intuitive, and there's no cue to the poster that it's even there.

> It was never discussed on this list as a manner of making things 
> easier on the "end user".  Perhaps that would benefit if the searcher 
> found a thread that was resolved, but was not the reason.  As it 
> stands now, many threads are "resolved" but because no one wants to 
> check off the box, it could have an adverse effect on the person 
> searching, "oh, this sounds like my problem, no wait, says 
> unresolved", meanwhile the solution is clearly spelled out, but they 
> quickly go to the next thread.  So it's a catch 22.  If it's not going 
> to be used, then it should be removed.  Otherwise, someone needs to 
> take a proactive approach to making it work.  Perhaps if more people 
> see the resolved status, it might spark them to use it themselves.

That last sentence there.... I've seen it work on a massive scale in a 
forum before. And now it's second nature to us on that forum. And a lot 
of it had to do with making it easier and obvious to the posters how to 
mark things as resolved.

>
> I haven't seen anyone say that it's part of the "job" of anyone to 
> mark threads, it's been merely discussed that if something "seems 
> obviously resolved" mark it.  Likewise, put some sensible tags in 
> threads.  Simple housekeeping.  No different, IMO, than clearing SPAM, 
> or moving threads.
>
> steps down off soapbox
>
> I will agree that moving the box could spurn more to use it.  Not sure 
> if anyone is actively working on the code these days or not, or if all 
> time is being spent on WP beta. 
>
> On 11/22/05, *Moshu* <moshu at transycan.net 
> <mailto:moshu at transycan.net>> wrote:
>
>     I'd vote to have the "resolved" box moved somewhere closer to the
>     bottom. It makes sense.
>     And even having several mods now I don't think it should be our job to
>     mark them solved.
>
>     m.
>
>
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> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> ~Michael Bishop
>
> http://www.miklb.com     http://www.wpstation.com
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