On Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:46:02 +0000, mmarif4u wrote:
> Also raised here:
>
> ‘New category proposal: security - openSUSE Forums’
> (http://tinyurl.com/newkm6)
>
> 1 vote from me for solved threads.
> Whatever the consequences are, but we have to accept it will help users
> somehow. It has no -ve points, except +ve points it have.
Well, if you think it’ll help, of course I won’t stop you (not as if I
could). I just don’t see the point unless everyone does it (or a
majority of threads do it) because it ends up doubling the work that
those who would search (who are pretty much a minority anyways) have to
do to find an question that has a known solution.
May be you are right, but lets say, we use it.
I am a new user, and trying to solve a problem and planning to do search 1st in this forum.
I do search, and my keyword return 30 records. 6 are with solved threads. So i think i will go 1st to the solved threads to see the solution there, either its 2 pages thread or 5.
And in this way, i can find the solution to my problem quick than going through all the 30 records. And may be its boring to go through all threads with multiple pages. The possibility of skipping the pages is higher in this case than solved one.
Indeed, I thought about that when recently starting a thread.
Then we hear the argument about not finding untagged solved threads when searching with the tag. My answer is to then search without the tag. Searching in the forum often requires more than one attempt anyway with varied criteria, and reducing the number of search words on rerun is normal.
when a questioner receives an answer which solves their
problem…their next action should be to craft a posting to the
“Unreviewed How To and FAQ” forum like this:
------------------EXAMPLE-------------------------------------
Subject: Missing ID/Password for v11.1 Live CD ::SOLVED::
Message body:
I downloaded and tried to install openSUSE 11.1 with KDE4.3 RC (from kde.org) and could not log in because no one here would tell me the
fricking password for the Live CD!
With NO help (thanks a LOT!!) from the openSUSE forums I ::SOLVED:: my
own problem by reading the information given .iso producer, on this
page: http://home.kde.org/~binner/kde-four-live/
------------------END EXAMPLE----------------------------------
by doing that, then anyone could easily search either subject lines OR
message bodies for the string “::SOLVED::” and other, relevent key words…
assuming, of course that the NEXT frustrated microsoftie eye-candy
chaser knows how to and/or will launch a search…
There seems to be a general assumption in this thread that a vast majority of people who come to this forum don’t search. I disagree with that sentiment.
Not that I have hard numbers to back it up, but think about it:
If everyone who came to this forum didn’t search a **** thing and just posted a topic, there would be a helluva lot more repeat topics than there already are.
I think more people search for and find solutions than others in this thread give credit. Its not like we’re aware of the people searching; they search, find an answer, then leave, with no other user any wiser of their existence.
If it is possible, perhaps some statistics could be compiled that measure how many searches are done, and possibly some other metrics that could enlighten us as to whether a solution-marker would be a useful addition.
If collecting statistics isn’t possible, for the time being I am content with asking a moderator to mark a thread as solved by changing the topic title. Maybe if the frequency of this increases, this topic could be revisted and a more permanent solution could be put in place.
> when a questioner receives an answer which solves their
> problem…their next action should be to craft a posting to the
> “Unreviewed How To and FAQ” forum like this:
Well, sure, if people do that then that’s useful. But I think that not
many people will do that.
On Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:46:01 +0000, srschifano wrote:
> There seems to be a general assumption in this thread that a -vast-
> majority of people who come to this forum don’t search. I disagree with
> that sentiment.
Well, I’m just going on years and years of doing online support. In
general, people tend to ask rather than search because (a) they feel
they’re getting their needs met faster (even though it’s not necessarily
true), (b) they feel there’s something unique about their setup that
makes it impossible that someone else has had the same issue (also
generally untrue), or (c) they just don’t think about searching, instead
preferring to ask a question because they can tell their boss (most of my
online support time was for commercial products) “yes, I’ve asked a
question and am waiting for an answer”.
On Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:16:01 +0000, mmarif4u wrote:
> May be you are right, but lets say, we use it. I am a new user, and
> trying to solve a problem and planning to do search 1st in this forum. I
> do search, and my keyword return 30 records. 6 are with solved threads.
> So i think i will go 1st to the solved threads to see the solution
> there, either its 2 pages thread or 5. And in this way, i can find the
> solution to my problem quick than going through all the 30 records. And
> may be its boring to go through all threads with multiple pages. The
> possibility of skipping the pages is higher in this case than solved
> one.
That’s a slightly different idea, where instead of including “solved” in
the search, the results coming back indicate whether the question in the
thread is definitively solved or not. That might actually work better
because it doesn’t depend on the searcher changing their search terms as
well as the OP in the solved thread marking the thread as solved.
I saw an idea on a travel forum that was quite good I think. Whenever you posted a followup in a thread, you were then asked if you felt the answer you had just posted was worthy of being a tip. If so the system would also file the posting as a tip. So it was just a couple more clicks to turn all that typing into something much more likely to be read.
Now I’m not sure how this would work in these forums. You’d want to keep the forum the same. Maybe it would simply be a “tip” tag or a flag on the posting that would make it easier to find. Perhaps we could put out collective heads together and come up with something workable?
> Well, sure, if people do that then that’s useful. But I think that not
> many people will do that.
i agree, most will not (sure, some might, but i’d bet less than
half, far less than half):
search before asking
use “solved” in the search string (if they did search)
post that the problem was solved
use that word (solved) in the message text (so that it could be
searched on) even if they do post a “thanks, that fixed it” message
press the “Solved” button (if management here decided to include one)
come back (after their problem is solved) to either push a “Solved”
button or say “thank you” or “it works now”…
click on the “Search only for SOLVED threads” button even if
management added one to the Advanced Search page and gave each
thread originator a “Solved” button to press and every person who
could press that button, did.
understand that a thread marked “Solved” for openSUSE 11.1 might be
worth diddly squat to the person seeking a fix for 11.3
come back and push the Button marked “undo Solved” button and write
“I thought it was solved but it really wasn’t” (even if management
added such an ‘undo Solved’ button)
(there are more, but my coffee is finished and life is short)
>Now I’m not sure how this would work in these forums.
Anyone is able to tag and edit tags on any message/thread. There is
already a “solved” tag (and a “solved!” tag that should be removed if this
method is seriously considered). You can do a search on that.
so, someone should QUICKLY tag this problem as ::SOLVED:: so the next
guy/gal with the idea can easily find the thread and know he doesn’t
have to suggest it, again.
ken yap adjusted his/her AFDB on Friday 07 Aug 2009 02:26 to write:
>
> I saw an idea on a travel forum that was quite good I think. Whenever
> you posted a followup in a thread, you were then asked if you felt the
> answer you had just posted was worthy of being a tip. If so the system
> would also file the posting as a tip. So it was just a couple more
> clicks to turn all that typing into something much more likely to be
> read.
>
> Now I’m not sure how this would work in these forums. You’d want to
> keep the forum the same. Maybe it would simply be a “tip” tag or a flag
> on the posting that would make it easier to find. Perhaps we could put
> out collective heads together and come up with something workable?
>
>
devils_advocate -on
Not a bad idea Ken but how would that work for the nntp user?
devils_advocate -off
–
Mark
Caveat emptor
Nullus in verba
Nil illegitimi carborundum
> Anyone is able to tag and edit tags on any message/thread. There is
> already a “solved” tag
apparently i am not smart enough to figure out how to do that (tag a
thread) using openSUSE Default forum skin…
i used the forums advanced search to learn how, using this string:
tags solved
and found one thread, which didn’t help…just said: “When you’re
reading a post, the tags show at the bottom. On the far right
of the tag list, there is a link to edit the tags and tags can be
edited/removed there.”
>Not a bad idea Ken but how would that work for the nntp user?
It doesn’t. There’s a lot of things the NNTP user doesn’t get to use.
It’s a trade off for the convenience of your interface of choice. The web
interface is primary and the NNTP interface is secondary.
