Sorry, the forum went to the back-burner when life got busy... that's what always happens. Unfortunately, the ideas about QA kind of highjacked the thread. While I agree that something should be done there, it's probably a place for a different thread and (maybe) necessitates having a new QA group.
jmcgin51 wrote:
I've noticed your increased presence here on the boards lately, and it's made a very positive impression on me. I understand you have many other responsibilities, and I'd rather have you cranking on 2.0 rather than answering "how do I unpack a tarball" questions, but to know that you're there and that you care about your community is most excellent!!
Thanks. I agree that it really shouldn't come down to have the devs answer questions and police the place, but that's where our situation currently is. I'm trying to be selective in what I read and respond too, just to keep from burning out. It's amazing how fast that can happen -- I have extreme admiration for the people that are regular moderators on this or any large forum.
JeremyBASS wrote:
The one other thing I personally think would help out is a top question area, or better search.... most of the time the information is here, but it's hard to find...
Now THAT's an interesting idea. I agree, the search is a bit lacking. I wonder if a google based search would be better for our needs instead of the integrated one. It just seems like it's all over the place as far as results go. Might be worth testing out.
Pierre M. wrote:
Last year I have suggested to Ted to prompt this text before each forum thread creation :
Please check this list (forum rules) before posting :
-Is your topic CMSms specific ? Othewise post on another appropriate forum (Apache, MySQL, Microsoft, Google, your hosting provider...)
-Do you fit the requirements ? Otherwise you can't be supported.
-Have you read the documentation, even if you have not understood something ? Otherwise take some time reading it. It has lots of answered topics.
-Have you exhausted the troubleshoots ?
-Have you read the sticky posts in the boards ? The answer may already be there.
-Have you searched the forum using Google '+site:forum.cmsmadesimple.org' parameter and several combinations of (redifined) keywords ? They have [solved] issues.
-Have you written a usefull, issue specific thread title ? To help experts find your post.
-Have you provided all the relevant information ? (see how to ask...)
Please take some time to wellword your post to make it easy to understand and to answer.
This is an idea. Honestly, I think we need to take all the different threads that are created in various places on this forum in regards to posting rules and regulations, rewrite them and get them into one definite place. It's a little scattered right now -- and granted, a lot of this crap is common sense, but it needs to be stated.
Getting a topic solved mod is another must. I installed one for SMF a long time ago, but it didn't work right. I'm not totally sure why -- and I won't get into my rant about how hacking up source files is not a "mod", it's a "hack".
Might be something to look into again.
tyman00 wrote:
I think it's a good system, it will just have to be monitored to make sure it isn't abused. I will agree that it is a much better solution than relying on a users post count. Yes there are users with thousands of posts that have been nothing but helpful, but there are also other users that have hundreds/thousands of posts that may say a lot, but what they say isn't very helpful or valuable. We do not want to give new users a false sense of security. I know I get a sense of security by looking at a users post count when I am new to a forum. Sometimes it is correct and sometimes I find I shouldn't have listened to them because they are just really good at hitting the reply button, not really good at using that software. The Karma option should be more reliable (if monitored) because it requires feedback from others to increase/decrease not a click happy index finger.
Totally agree. Karma I think works -- because at least you can go back and see what people are doing. It makes for a bit of accountability. If someone goes around rating people down for no reason, we can see that they are and take appropriate action. There are probably more things we could do to properly rate people and posts, but this is a good start without us having to custom code a new forum.
Now to go a little off-topic...
I don't really like the idea of "official" mods, besides the ones that are distributed with the core download (and believe me, having an "official" TinyMCE module makes me a little queasy as it is). At that point, it comes down to expectations... and without a QA group, we can put ourselves in any bigger of a situation of needing to provide expectations on 3rd party code. Sure, a core dev works on FEU, but I still think of it as a 3rd party add-on. At this stage in the game, it should stay that way.
If people are interesting in putting together a QA group, I'll provide whatever resources are necessary. I don't personally want to lead it, as I already have too much on my plate. But i'm willing to guide and do what I can to make it easier for people.
JeremyBASS wrote:
GIT is nice to work with
Word.
