[wp-forums] Changing things

[Lara at Anubis Marketing]

I proposed last month that the structure of the forums could be changed:
http://comox.textdrive.com/pipermail/wp-forums/2006-August/003004.html
Nothing came of that so I take that as being that overall we are generally
happy with how things are in that respect.
If you think different, what should we do and why?

 - I still think we need to add a "General HTML/CSS Help" thread in the
forum. Fact of the matter is, some people know general HTML/CSS very well,
but are still learning PHP and WP. I knew a ton of it before I came here, as
I'd been designing with HTML/CSS for years before I found WP. At first,
those were the only types of questions I could answer with confidence. Aside
from the SEO ones, of course. ;) But I think that having a forum thread for
that would help a number of things... a) it would keep those questions in
one spot, so people could look there for previously answered help, b) it
would give "newbies" a place where they could feel like they're helping out,
if they're anything like I was when I started a year ago, and c) it would
give the more experienced WP users a way to "avoid" the inane questions
they're tired of seeing scattered all over the place. I wouldn't take this
any deeper than that, but I do think it's a good idea.

febwa1976 made a useful suggestion:
http://comox.textdrive.com/pipermail/wp-forums/2006-August/003138.html
So how about an FAQ per forum? An FAQ and Resources per forum?
Who wants to get the ball rolling and start to write one?
That way we avoid major structural changes but we do address some problems.

 - I'd think a FAQ and Resources per forum would be good. I'd like to see
the resources part utilizing the codex only, though... and not outside
links, for a multitude of reasons, but one being that "we" have no control
over those links - and isn't it best to just link to what we can easily
update or change? That said, I think the codex needs cleaning up and
organizing before we do anything else. And not for nothing, I think we need
to take the "wiki" aspect out of it. Just like a team was created to do the
install4free, there should be a team created to cleaning up the codex, and
maybe an application process or something to make it somewhat "open" to
people as time rolls on, with some sort of "people who make it into the
codex management team must be active, if you haven't made any updates or
changes in 60 days, your access will be terminated". (I say this with good
experience in human-edited directory management, and that's what they all
do. You have to fill out an application (often lengthy, and with examples of
what you'd add and how), and if you're inactive, you get an email notice
after 30 days, and after 60 days of inactivity, your account is deleted.
That's just how it is, and how they make room for people who DO want to be
active.) I'm sorry, but that codex is a mess, and it's full of pages that
are half-empty, started but never finished, or out of date. Unless there's a
dedicated "codex team", it's never going to be complete.

Mods can move posts that are not directly WP to the Misc. forum

 - Again, I don't think "Miscellaneous" is clear enough to people. Someone
looking for HTML/CSS help is NOT going to look there - that's a given
already, by the sheer number of those types of questions that get asked
elsewhere. Why is it so hard to add another topic or two?

We can also state - in the rules? - that non-wp questions may well not be
answered because our priorities are with wp users. That's not to say they
cannot be answered, just that for forum regulars those questions will be at
the bottom of the list.

 - That's like running a soup kitchen and telling people that we're only
going to guarantee food to those with 3 or more children. Not to say we
won't feed those with only 2, or none, but that our priority is feeding the
most children at once that we can. It's so much easier to just make another
line for those with less than 3 children. It'll MOVE faster! ;)

What about a link to install4free?

 - Brilliant idea, should be put in a box on the left hand side, above the
"views" list - in big, bold letters. Maybe even color them red! "Want your
WordPress to be installed for you... for FREE?! Click here!"

Search. A topic all of it's own :)

 - How difficult would it be to put checkboxes under the search box, rather
than defaulting them to the documentation search, and then make them
re-search?