[wp-forums] Drinking coke zero

Thu Aug 31 11:27:29 GMT 2006

A year ago I had no idea what html, php etc was being a non computer guy. I
have learnt a tremendous amount from the forums and by the way from all of
the people that have posted here.

I have also asked some really stupid questions not because I wanted to be
stupid but because I did not understand how software forums "work". I did
not understand how you can use google to search WP etc. I did not understand
what this word codex meant.

I am not qualified to say how accurate and updated the codex is cause
technically I am getting better but still somewhat challenged!

Perhaps instead of looking for huge leaps in improvement it would be better
to look for small incremental improvements.

One suggestion is that a FAQ is established at the top of the forum list
and, as with many other forums people are clearly but firmly (and nicely)
asked to read this before posting. The codex has several FAQ lists so
perhaps this could be refined and summarized to be a single and simplified
FAQ at the top of the forum. I do not know how good the FAQs in the codex
are by the way although they often help me.

If somebody posts a question then that has a direct answer in the FAQ it is
simple for the mods or others to simply refer them there with an invitation
to post back if they were not helped.

This is not an origonal idea but may help induce a culture of self help
which is usually the best because you learn more doing it that way.

Now for the 5 minute install headline comments: I think this is a worthy
challenge and speaks to the spirit of WP and should stay. It may frustrate
some people but then maybe those are the people that should be pointed
toward a fantastico host or install4free - or maybe - and now somebody is
going to shoot me - install4Afee.

F.

On 8/31/06, Handy <handy.solo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Oh yeah.  +1 for Coke zero.  almost as good as Diet Dew.
>
> I have other thoughts on the forum software, but haven't quite sorted 'em
> out yet.
>
> On 8/30/06, Handy <handy.solo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I think Moshu nailed it.  I think the volunteers are doing great with
> > restraint -- and I think the entry level is definitely lowering.  Good
> for
> > market penetration I suppose, but we do field more and more questions
> that
> > just aren't WP related except by a very then tangent.
> >
> > And frankly, some days I just avoid those.
> >
> > Where we could improve?
> > Volunteers probably need to watch the "herd" approach a bit.  If one
> > volunteer goes off on a poster or they are arguing, that thread rarely
> needs
> > all the other volunteers piling on.  Somedays we look like a big ol'
> game of
> > "kill the carrier" from gradeschool recess...big monkey pile.  But even
> that
> > doesn't happen all that often these days.
> >
> > I vote we lose the "5 minute install" phrase.  I'm too tired of eating
> > those words as non-geeks turn to WordPress.  :-p
> >
> > I'd give my left "man-part" to see the search, when in the forums,
> default
> > to searching the forums.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I just can't help but
> think
> > that would help people find stuff.  Face it, most users don't even see
> the
> > checkboxes to change what's being searched.
> >
> > And double-face it, the codex is just not all that helpful to the
> > newbies.  Lots of stuff in there, no doubt.  Some of it even still
> valid.
> > Some of it woefully out of date.  Put your newbie hat on and go to
> > http://codex.wordpress.org/Getting_Started_with_WordPress  Scroll
> through
> > that sucker.  No wonder some folks just don't quite know how to start.
> >
> > Time to pay/find/incent a Pro to document WP in my humble opinon.  Open
> > wiki's just tend to suck for useful documentation after more than 2
> > releases.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 8/30/06, Moshu <moshu at transycan.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > I don't think it is worse.
> > > I believe because of the growing popularity of WP more and more
> > > absolute newbies are turning to it - "users" that have never used the
> > > computer for more than writing email and documents in Word.
> > > For them the "easy" 5-min install "advertisement" is a huge trap!
> > > When opening the install instructions they realize that it is full
> > > with words ('terminology' as one of them put it in the forum) they can
> > > barely understand. So they panic and come to forum with naive -
> > > sometimes annoying - questions.
> > >
> > > I am not talking about special _knowledge_ here... I am talking about
> > > the fact that for some new users words like host, domain, ftp, html,
> > > css, unzip, upload are absolutely UNKNOWN words and notions.
> > >
> > > And let me add one of my old obsessions: I was asking for a long time
> > > to draw a line where the WP support ends and other issues start (like
> > > server setup for wannabe self-hosts, design, basic html etc). Now we
> > > arrived to the point that we have even questions for CSS and alike
> > > from people coming from the street - so to speak. People who don't
> > > even use WP but asking CSS and IE vs. FF and similar questions,
> > > _This_ will get worse and worse...
> > >
> > > m.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: wp-forums-bounces at lists.automattic.com
> > > > [mailto: wp-forums-bounces at lists.automattic.com]On Behalf Of Podz
> > > > Sent: 30-Aug-06 6:06 PM
> > > > To: wp-forums at lists.automattic.com
> > > > Subject: [wp-forums] Drinking coke zero
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > and it's damn good stuff.
> > > >
> > > > Okay.. the forums.
> > > > How bad is it / do you think it is / in comparison to times past?
> > > > Is it because we have less regulars possibly because of
> > > > summer but an
> > > > increasing number of people needing wise words?
> > > > Has the atmosphere actually degenerated?
> > > > Should mods kill threads faster and harder?
> > > > Is expectation exceeding reality?
> > > >
> > > > 1. Please keep this nice.
> > > > 2. If you want something said but you are shy, email me and I'll
> > > > cheerfully say it ;)
> > > >
> > > > This is not point/blame. That's the fastest way to be ignored.
> > > > It's how do we help things.
> > > >
> > > > P.
> > > >
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> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
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