Regarding 1+2, we do need to get something better setup than we have now...but it will take some thinking and some work. Just having it available via search would be quite confusing IMHO. As for #3 - the OP should be submitting the product and an actual review. They are two distinct entities. Thanks for the feedback.

--jeremy

And let me say that Jeremy gave me the go-ahead to write something and submit to him in regards to #1 some time back, and I haven't done that.

So, you've prompted me; and I will do it.

The folks that approve HCL items would know better than I whether duplicates are problematic. Maybe it's just as easy to delete the duplicates when they occur. But, as an errata to my #2, rather than including them in the search results, perhaps a "Pending Approval" section. Doesn't have to have any details, just a list of make/model. Maybe include the option of being notified via email when the product has been approved and is available to submit reviews against.

There currently a pending approval section, but it's only available to the HCL approvers. In a future version we make it available to the public, so people can see what's pending.

--jeremy

I've got a couple of thought for my 2c worth.

1. Make in mandatory for subscribers to fill in the section deatiling their distribution(s). Way too many posts fail to mention the distro used, and it's often pretty important for software issues.

2. Probably too contentious, but a profile field(a yes/no) as to whether or not English is the subsrciber's first language. I'd give more time to some of the incredibly poorly worded quaestions if I knew that the poster may be struggling to communicate. Alternative would be to force filling in location (actually I'd have a separate field to location, say country, that required subscribers to select from a list - there are a couple of subscribers from Pluto and places at present).

3. Have some sort of trashcan for the moderators to put all threads titled:

"Help!!!"
"Question"
"Urgent!!!!"
"Which distro"
etc.

Bin them and send a note to the subscriber saying something like "Please give your thread a meaningful title", or "We get 50 which distro posts per day, please search the archive", etc., etc..

4. Send all new subsribers an email with suggestions about how to frame questions, how to select which forum to use, etc. Would probably be ignored, but worth a try.


Bill

My 2c in reply.

The disadvantge of this is that many of us run multiple distributions. They would still need to indicate which distribution they mean in that post. And some of the new people may not yet have settled on a distribution.

No need to single them out. I can usually tell whose grammar and punctuation issues come from language issues as opposed to those who come from laziness.
We try to keep those cleaned up as much as possible, but we still want those users to find helpful answers. We try to teach them to use a meaningful title without destroying them.
Couldn't hurt. Good guidelines are always helpful.

In one shape or another, #3 and #4 are actually already in place. I'd agree that we shouldn't be singling out #2. As for #1, we have no plans to make in mandatory. Aside from people using multiple distros and changing distros - what about someone who signs up intending to research Linux, but who doesn't have a "distro"? Thanks for the feedback.

--jeremy

I thought 2 may be contentious as mentioned, but since we were chucking ideas around.


Rgds and thanks for the responses.

Not to overstep Jeremy's bounds here, but I believe all ideas are more than welcomed to be heard. It is a community, after all.

All ideas are absolutely more than welcome - the more feedback we get the better. We may not implement every idea we get, but we certainly listen closely to each and every one.

--jeremy

I am new to this site and am having trouble installing suse lineux and do not see how to post questions. Please help

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...st#faq_newpost

--jeremy

1. They must be running something, how did they get in here? It helps all to know if MS dumper, or a MAC lover. + It can always be changed later as user changes SW. I find it excellent to assist in determining if the replier really knows his stuff B 4 even reading a long post.

2. Add section to Profile for HW in use, I currently list the data in signature (learned it from other forums)!

3. On activation=directed to a slightly shorter version of `Asking questions the smart way', w/ a link to full version. Then if posts are not correct, reply =email w/ Full Link w/ violations highlighted. Post is then deleted if not edited and corrected w/i x# days. Only need to do it 1 or 2 times, as it makes for a quick learning curve!
STFW has too much junk now for a novice user, who may not even really know what the problem is, so how can they ask a good question in search of an accurate answer.
{As an aging member of multiple forums I may suffer from various Alzheimer precursors; CRS, WWT, WAIG, CRAFT; aka wdijr, WTFAIN, etc}

The problem with this being stored in the profile, as has been mentioned before, is people with multiple systems. I have ~6 computers running Linux, and I can only imagine how much of an eyesore that would be to people to read.
On this part, I don't even understand what you're saying.

Maybe you have this feature already somewhere. I saw this in the firefox forum. Unless you have this, maybe have some stickys indicating common issues and fixes, or what hardware is compatible, and have others look through that rather than posting new topics. I try to use the "search" feature, but a lot of times I'm not getting what I typed out.