[wp-forums] Long Time Lurker, Few Observations

[Andrea Rennick]

Yep, I think I nagged him before. :D

If not, maybe I can entice him with baked goods?

A.

On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 6:59 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:

> Oh, neat! :/
>
> I assume Otto is aware?
>
> Chip
>
> On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 4:57 PM, Andrea Rennick <andrea at ronandandrea.com
> >wrote:
>
> > "Following the support link provided in the
> > Plugin's (note: or Theme's) Extend listing page ensures that the subject
> is
> > pre-pended, and the topic is tagged, with the Plugin's name."
> >
> > This is currently broken. :)
> >
> > Go try one and see.
> >
> > A.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 6:45 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net>
> wrote:
> >
> > > On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 4:33 PM, Jackson Whelan <jw at jacksonwhelan.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Howdy,
> > > >
> > > > I've actively been trying to help in the forums whenever possible.
> > > Nothing
> > > > makes me sadder than an unhappy WordPress user.
> > > >
> > > > Kudos to all who have been doing this all along. It's a great way to
> > > teach
> > > > yourself to be patient with people.
> > > >
> > > > My few observations;
> > > >
> > > > - Code often gets scrubbed from the forum post after the fact, and
> the
> > OP
> > > > is unaware. If there was some way of alerting users to this so that
> > they
> > > > could use pastebin like they should, it would certainly help resolve
> > > things
> > > > for them faster.
> > > >
> > >
> > > While I would like to see a *bit* more leeway here (the "about 10 lines
> > of
> > > code" sometimes gets taken WAY too literally), there's not really much
> we
> > > can do. Just about the only viable option would be to have the
> moderator
> > > *move* the code to a pastebin - but that is asking entirely too much of
> > the
> > > mods.
> > >
> > > Perhaps a follow-up reply to indicate the code-moderation would be in
> > > order?
> > > That way, at least the people involved in the thread would get email
> > > notification.
> > >
> > > >
> > > > - Posts about specific plugins are often missing the [Plugin: Plugin
> > > Name]
> > > > from the title of the post, despite being tagged correctly. So you
> end
> > up
> > > > with generic post titles like 'Not Working', which upon closer
> > inspection
> > > is
> > > > about a specific plugin I know nothing about. Perhaps this is user
> > error
> > > but
> > > > it seems inconsistent.
> > > >
> > >
> > > There's a very specific reason for this (and it pertains to your next
> > > point): the way that the Topic subject gets pre-pended with [Plugin:
> > Plugin
> > > Name] is by posting the topic through the Plugin's specific support
> > forum,
> > > rather than in the general forum. Following the support link provided
> in
> > > the
> > > Plugin's (note: or Theme's) Extend listing page ensures that the
> subject
> > is
> > > pre-pended, and the topic is tagged, with the Plugin's name.
> > >
> > > If a post is tagged, but doesn't have a pre-pended subject, that's
> > because
> > > someone has tagged the post after the fact.
> > >
> > > >
> > > > - People don't read instructions. This document is well written -
> > > > http://codex.wordpress.org/**Forum_Welcome<
> > > http://codex.wordpress.org/Forum_Welcome>- but I'd be willing to bet
> > that
> > > maybe 2 out of 10 new visitors to the forum
> > > > actually read it. I think more painfully obvious instructions on the
> > new
> > > > topic form would help. Something to the effect of 'Help us help you.
> > Make
> > > > sure to read the Forum Welcome before posting. State your problem
> > clearly
> > > > and the steps to replicate it (ie: "It doesn't work" will not cut
> it).
> > > > Include a link to your site. Use wordpress.pastebin.com to share
> > code.'
> > > > You get the idea...
> > > >
> > >
> > > At the very least, the sticky posts should be made a LOT more prominent
> -
> > > as
> > > in, obnoxiously prominent. (And perhaps, culled from time to time.)
> > >
> > > ...and if I can have another $0.02: thanks again to all the mods; you
> all
> > > do
> > > amazing work!
> > >
> > > Chip
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > wp-forums mailing list
> > > wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> > > http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > --
> > Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com
> > Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio
> > _______________________________________________
> > wp-forums mailing list
> > wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> > http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums
> >
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-- 
-- 
Andrea Rennick, http://wpebooks.com and http://ronandandrea.com
Co-author of WordPress All-In-One For Dummies http://rml.me/aio