[wp-forums] We need to be friendly.

[Roy Schestowitz]

___/ On Sat 08 Apr 2006 20:41:39 BST, [ Podz ] wrote : \___

> I just deleted a thread which had moved from the issue posted to 
> being personal. The problem was resolved and the thread served no 
> purpose hence it's removal. But what happened in the thread is 
> indicative of recent happenings.
>
> I have had more email in the past month about the forums than in the 
> last year and every one had the same concern - "the forums aren't 
> friendly".
> They need to be.
> I don't care if you've seen the same post 500 times, I don't care if 
> you think they haven't searched - answer them by pointing at a 
> correct answer or don't bother answering them. You don't _have_ to 
> answer, so if you do - for any question - please be civil at the very 
> least.
>
> If the response to every issue that had been posted once before had 
> been "SEARCH" then we'd not be much would we? Codex.. why bother - we 
> can search.
>
> Tags can be added, search can be improved - we should be looking to 
> give at least one model answer which we can then reference, which can 
> be added to the search form, which can be read by those who never 
> post but just read (because you made search better), which can be 
> used by someone to feel confident enough to start answering posts as 
> well.
>
> Bad news travels fastest and lingers longest - so one shouting match 
> in the forums can negate the effect of many many more good answers 
> and experiences. Calling people names ("Troll") also does nothing at 
> all but to attack and lower the tone. I have never yet seen anyone on 
> usenet disappear when called that so I don't see why it will happen 
> here. All this drags the forum down and starts to lower the bar of 
> what we should expect.
>
> The forums are not our playground. We will all move on at some point 
> and we should leave an environment into which we would be happy to 
> post. WP is free and so is our help but it doesn't mean that we 
> should be anything less than helpful and decent.
>
> The 'modlook' tag is something to be used against spammers and those 
> wishing to be destructive. It is also a tool others can use to make 
> sure than anyone's posts can be seen - that includes us. There is a 
> difference between using tools like editing/deleting/tagging to 
> manage the forums more effectively and abuse.
>
> I'm not perfect - I know that - but please - if you cannot be polite, 
> please do not post.

Despite my inarguably mere contributions to the forums, I feel compelled to
comment on the topic. Back when I was participating in the forums, I found
the form of messages (the continuous flow) quite hard to use in a way which
leaves the whole unambiguously polite. It may be fine as an archival
reference page, but the OP can feel like a real pain at times.

Threads are very succinct by nature and nobody signs the messages. At times
I was appending greetings (as I always do in newsgroups), but I felt as
though it was a misfit and was not truly appreciated. bbPress was not built
for it.

My advice would be that more people should be encouraged to append (even
repetitively/automatically) a personal pattern such as "with kind regards",
"hope it helps" (not HTH which is mechanised and has many interpretations),
or "best wishes". Additionally, any short response (such as a link-only
and/or one-liner) would appear offencive, much like RTFM, which stands for
Read The Fine Manuals (where F doesn't always/necessarily stand for
"Fine").

Best wishes,

Roy