Rockbox General > Rockbox General Discussion
10,000 Posts.
soap:
--- Quote from: mbbda on March 02, 2008, 02:15:57 PM ---This is something that has seemed odd to me..
You say that the reason for strict enforcement of the rules on the forums is so that the answer to technical questions can be searched quickly, yet when someone posts good technical information on the forum they are often told (sometimes abruptly) that they should not have done so & the information should have been put on the wiki, where in my experience, the searching is difficult.
--- End quote ---
1 - Search the wiki for static information such as How To's and datasheets and test results.
2 - Search the forums for frequently asked questions (not covered in the manual) and clarifications.
See - I think it is #2 which is what confuses people. In the ideal world the forums would be a fluid, dynamic, place where questions are asked about topics which are not covered in the static documentation. If it is found said question actually involves Rockbox the answer can be placed in the static documentation (manual, wiki).
When people fail to put forth the effort to read and search the static documentation they are in fact implicitly stating their time is more valuable than that of others.
Llorean:
On a related note, it might be time to clean up some of the millions of repeated questions in the forum. Or rather, put into effect a policy on that.
For example, "If a post is older than two weeks, and contains no information not in the wiki or manual, and no questions not answered in either of those documents or another thread, it may be removed" with "removed" being redefined to "placed in an unsearchable archive in case we need to recover it later for some reason."
Basically, since we migrated to the new forums, we haven't done any cleaning, and while I don't expect the total searchable posts to decrease drastically instantly, it would be nice to make available the option for experts/mods/admins to trim the fat a bit when nothing else is going on, if they feel like it.
mbbda:
When I first came to the Rockbox forums I remember thinking that the moderators were incredibly harsh & way OTT. However, after a while you get used to it & come to understand it is not personal and it is just the way it is & what a good job the moderators actually do.
It is just, like has been said on here before, that it is very abrasive to the newbie, who is not going to read the guidelines before making their first few posts (I am afraid that this is just life).
Edit.
something that I would also like to mention is that, I and I suspect most people watch the forums every day. It is somewhat addictive. You check out today's posts & if anything catches you interest then you read it.
I have found out most of the interesting things that I know about Rockbox this way. If the guidelines were followed to the letter, lots of good information would go straight to the wiki & I would never see it. The wiki is OK if you are searching something specific that you probably know or expect to be there but I think a/the forum benefits from being less formal.
Llorean:
Frankly though, the newbie is warned before they make any posts that
--- Quote ---The rules in this forum are heavily enforced.
--- End quote ---
in bold letters on the registration page.
I'm willing to accept they don't know, and we all try to not to be too harsh on the first offense. But it's really the new user's responsibility, isn't it? They clicked "I agree", if they didn't read what they agreed to, why should we act any different because of it?
scorche:
--- Quote from: mbbda on March 02, 2008, 02:15:57 PM ---...the information should have been put on the wiki, where in my experience, the searching is difficult.
--- End quote ---
As a quick note, if you find our wiki search inadequate (which I admit that I sometimes do if I am not sure of what I am looking for), you can always type this into google to use their search engine.
--- Code: ---ThingThatIAmSearchingFor site:www.rockbox.org/twiki
--- End code ---
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