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Hagar Delest

Is it possible to add a sentence in bold just before the text area when a post is created saying for example : 'First run a search in this forum before asking a question, thanks' with the search word as an hyperlink to the search form ?

That's incredible how people don't use the search and ask for issues heavily discussed.
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noranthon · Super User Joined: 07 Jul 2005 Posts: 3318

Something similar is in effect in that part of the OOo site where issues are posted. Good idea. (Except that means we have one less excuse.) Shocked

PS. You have not voted. Exclamation

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Hagar Delest · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:38 am Post subject:

RonIA · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:49 am Post subject:

I had just thought of this yesterday answering a newbie question about a language pack. I got wacky and even thought about running a search on certain text entered into a new thread that would automatically take people to a screen having a list of possible solutions and a button, "If none of these topics resolved your issue, please click here to post your question."
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Hagar Delest · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:17 am Post subject:

That's a great idea if we can spot the keywords !
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RonIA · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:53 am Post subject:

If we could pull the keywords from the FAQ that would handle part of the issue. Just some thoughts. We know there are a handful of questions that are asked frequently if we could focus in on those keywords... Or just pop up the FAQ instead of the results of a search.

I don't mind helping people, but it does get tedious answering the same questions over and over. Maybe we could also put in a plug for downloading the manual so we could also let people to Read The Fantastic Manual Wink

in a kind and professional way.
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Kaaredyret · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:13 am Post subject:

A "search before you post" feature would be nice. What we really need, besides this forum, is a Wiki with ALL the knowledge of this forum written down. People here are very friendly, and often write the same explanation in several threads.

Knowledge hidden in a forum is almost a worst case scenario; it is difficult to find all solutions and tips, because the key words YOU search for can be different from those used by the other posters.

This forum should have a WIKI SISTER, so people could post questions and get links to articles as answers.

Knowledge is hidden here, and eventually... lost... because it is too difficult to find the knowledge.

I have seen some other OOo sites that TRIES to make a FAQ, Wiki, database... article base... but the user interfaces where horrid.

People know the Wikipedia interface very very well, so I would prefer something like that. Please note that the VISITORS, not the authors of the articles, do NOT want to surf through confused and messed up interfaces... surf around on www.openoffice.org and you know what I mean.

Keep it simple; and base it on something known.

So... who starts ooowiki.org ? Cool

( or... www.oooforum.org/wiki )
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Dale · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:07 pm Post subject:

There is http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Main_Page which noranthon mentioned in the Archive some of the older posts thread. That would seem to be the place, but currently it is largely a link farm. What I could see there was skewed towards developers rather than users & newbies. There are probably two reasons for this:it's reasonably new (I think); and it's a big task to get the information out of the fora, wikified, into a wiki, and then spread the news that the wiki exists and is there to be used.
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BookLady · Super User Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 727

It is nice when someone asks the same simple questions over and over cause then I get to answer some Razz

Search is so mind boggling. Not just on this forum. Seems as if it always turns up a hundred hits or none. It is necessary to know those tag words in order find anything.

At another forum one of the gurus uses only the words Click Here and a hot link to the posts which already answer the question. Don't know how he keeps track of which threads answer which questions.

At still another forum they have a glossary and tutorial section. But he started that when he set up the board. Users can ask for specific tutorials. And the glossary is great. But that requires a lot of maintenance by the people managing the board. And would be a major undertaking as big as this forum has grown.
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noranthon · Super User Joined: 07 Jul 2005 Posts: 3318

Further to Booklady's comments, another forum I visit somehow calls up similar threads when you type in the subject matter of a new post. It also contains a device for tagging posts with keywords.

Is there any point to a thread like this, other than enabling humble users to get a few things off their chests? Don't the people who decide such things live in a galaxy far away?
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pitonyak · Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:42 pm Post subject:

huwg · Super User Joined: 14 Feb 2007 Posts: 890

Unfortunately some people are just not very good at choosing good search terms (in the same way, others use post "Subject" lines such as "Help!"). They soon give up searching when faced with hundreds of irrelevant hits.