[wp-forums] The "Changes" - PT2 - Let's get this together..

[Christopher J. Hradil]

here's my vote. 

- Forum structure
++1 - Move the list of specific forums above the recent posts.

--1 - Move/Remove/Replace the Latest Discussions section off 
the forums index page, with the actual forums themselves.

+1 - Fix the search on the Forums and Codex, for each search, 
to search each section specifically.

0 - Removing the Beta forum.

+1 - Fix the pagination issues/problems!

++1 - Make a good FAQ/Forums Rules, get a team together on 
this, and make it happen!

-1 - Make a drop down menu type deal for the "Tags".

+1(but with a footnote..below) - Make posting code and links easier for less technical 
users. Use the wordpress.pastebin.ca for people to paste codes, then post 
back the URL to it. Also, fix the bugs for placing links in the forums!

-1 - "When a thread gets marked as Resolved, close it too. 
If folks want to dredge up golden-oldies, let 'em refer to it by link. 
After 50 or more posts the topic has often drifted all over hell and back."

+1 Moderation
I think that getting more folks involved will help get things done in general, and provide more
coverage which is a good thing. Just in reviewing the subscriber list to the wp-forums mailing list
(which has been adding members with a reasonable amount of consistency), there seems to be plenty of
folks available to help out, so I think that's probably a good place to begin looking for additional
mod help. In the worst case if someone wasn't doing a good enough job or whatever, an admin Podz,
etc could easily just strip any new folks of their 'mod' status. 

++1 FAQs
The WP forums are hit hard enough (really both the .com and .org flavors, although I really only try
to contribute on the .org side when I have time), that a per forum sticky faq is in order if that
can be worked out easily from a technical standpoint (I have a bit older version of bbpress
installed on a couple of sites, so I'm not sure what's possible currently), I could be wrong but I
think if we tried to do a per forum FAQ/sticky they'd all show up at the top of the list since
bbpress functions a bit differently than some other forum stuff that's out there, which is OK, and
would end up meaning only 1 FAQ sticky to cover whatever is needed in the worst case. 

**** Code posting footnote. I don't think the pastbin thing is the best solution available. There
are a number of other 'code posting' solutions out there which I think would work better
(searchable/built in categories for types of code, etc, syntax coloring, ability to add notes/attach
files amongst other things). I've been a bit overloaded the past couple of weeks but if I have some
time over the weekend I'll shoot an email out to the wp-forums list with an example of the kind of
thing I think is a better fit. 

I know that there have been some hiccups lately (forums wise, mailing lists over the past month,
etc) but it's really looking like things are improving consistently, as is the number of mailing
list and forum 'helpers' and 'users', which is a really good thing, and so, as a final note I would
just say thanks to all of those working hard on things, as well as offer a warm welcome to those of
you new to either the wp-mailing lists or forums -- keep your suggestions coming and keep
participating, even if it seems like your contributions aren't acknowledged or folks disagree, your
participation is appreciated, and you're a valuable piece of what makes an OS project like wordpress
successful, so stick around, I think you'll like it here...




best to all....c


~~
Christopher J. Hradil
http://hradil.us