[wp-forums] Highlighting great answers

[Mark Ratledge]

WPSE and Stack Exchange sites are not forums in the traditional sense of form and function. They were designed to be a repository of the best answers to specific questions, as their mission says.

People who come to wordpress.org need support many times in terms of simply help to find themselves questions they need to ask; it's tech help for the non-tech, who are many times confused on where to go, what they have, and are emotive about it at times. A back and forth forum discussion helps with those kinds of support, messy as it may be at times.

Taking good responses and making them copy/pasta boilerplate (which is already done) will help people who (sometimes) take the time to search the forums; but flagging the best answer will send non-techlies down the wrong rabbit hole.

-- songdogtech


On May 27, 2014, at 1:05 PM, Josh Lobe wrote:

> +1
> Great point, Chip.
> 
> (I know Chip has MUCHO experience with this type of system over at WPSE).
> 
> But.. over at WPSE... I hardly ever/never see other people saying "I have a similar issue......".
> All answers over there are... well... answers (albeit, some better than others).
> 
> Chip,
> How did WPSE get to this point where all topics are kept to the OP?
> 
> *Josh Lobe*
> WP Edit Pro <http://wpeditpro.com>
> Personal Website <http://www.joshlobe.com>
> 
> On 5/27/2014 2:44 PM, Chip Bennett wrote:
>> But then, the "best answer" is from the perspective of the OP - and even
>> with the WPORG support forums, topics are specific to the OP. Other people
>> with similar/related issues are asked to start their own topic. So, I think
>> it is fitting with such a model that the OP be able to identify a "best
>> answer". Whether that's feasible to implement is another matter, of course.
>> 
>> 
>> On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 1:27 PM, Josh Lobe <joshlobe at joshlobe.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> I do agree that models like "Stack Overflow" do help to find the best
>>> suited answer (has saved me much time in the past).
>>> However... I must also admit I've felt "not welcomed" when I post a
>>> suggestion which does not help/work for the particular issue.
>>> 
>>> I also think "best answer" might work for Joe... but it might not work for
>>> Jane.
>>> I think it places a higher burden on the person looking for an answer.
>>> Jane might thing Joe's solution will work for her... but when it does
>>> not... will Jane come back with attitude saying it doesn't work for her?
>>> 
>>> I'm all for the idea... I LOVE IT :)
>>> But... how will it affect the newcomers?
>>> 
>>> Just my $0.02.
>>> 
>>> *Josh Lobe*
>>> WP Edit Pro <http://wpeditpro.com>
>>> Personal Website <http://www.joshlobe.com>
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 5/27/2014 7:57 AM, Jan Dembowski wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I think it's a good idea but tagging those posts might be better for the
>>>> make/support P2 instead of the list or on the forums. Those answers as an
>>>> example could be worked into Jerry's idea about updating the handbook for
>>>> new contributors.
>>>> 
>>>> http://make.wordpress.org/support/2014/05/troubleshooting-support-
>>>> adding-troubleshooting-to-the-support-handbook/
>>>> 
>>>> Mark want to chime in on that post? ;)
>>>> 
>>>> It's not that anyone wants to discourage anyone from contributing to
>>>> support but some answers do standout and should be highlighted. Sometimes
>>>> members get enthusiastic and recommend a Not So Good™ solution over and
>>>> over again. The "edit your theme's style.css file" reply is a good example
>>>> of a not so good reply...
>>>> 
>>>> Jan Dembowski
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>>>> 
>>>> 
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