[wp-forums] Forum makeover

[skippy]

Matt Mullenweg wrote:
> IMO this will never be quite right. The forums themselves are pretty
> much useless, they're too broad for really browsing and if you're brand
> new there's a strong cognitive barrier to figuring out where your post
> should go. This was what tagging was supposed to address, eventually I'd
> like for there to be no forums at all.

Personally, I find it alarming that the project leader finds the primary
support mechanism for his project "pretty much useless".  I'm tired and
grouchy, with two kids with strep throat (and my own infection looming),
so I'm trying hard not to take umbrage at the implication that our
efforts in this useless forum are also useless.

Do I read "I'd like for there ot be no forums at all" to mean that you
want the primary support mechanism to be something other than a bulletin
board?  Or do you want the arbitrary hierarchy of our current forum
topics to be completely replaced with free-form tags?

I appreciate that WordPress is pushing several cutting-edge
developments, and dragging some people (kicking and screaming) into new
technologies / standards / etc.  I _do not_ think that an all-tags based
support mechanism will be appropriate for those of our users seeking
help.  People looking for help _want help_, they do not want to learn
some baroque new process.  Learning about tags is yak shaving for
someone who just wants help with their blog.

By using the arbitrary forum categories we have, we force users to at
least think about their problem, in order to decide in which category
they should post their question.  Many people screw up even this simple
task, so I cannot fathom how chaotic a free-form tags hierarchy might be.

If the floor is open for "pie in the sky" suggestions, I think that
composing a post requesting help should be a guided process, with form
elements to help define the problem:
* Have you installed WordPress?  Yes/No
If they select "No", a new prompt is available:
* Do you have a hosting provider? Yes/No
etc etc etc.

It need not be terribly thorough, but with a few simple prompts we can
at least ensure that most items get placed in the appropriate category
(or have the appropriate tags applied, if you insist on going this route).

-- 
skippy at skippy.net | http://skippy.net/

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