By the way, if a newbie is enterring the forum, is there any guidline?
For me it starts “Français”
I think the rationale is that multilingual content is at the top, otherwise non-English speakers think the Forum is English only. Is this a problem for English users? If so, I can probably move the international forums down the page but have a link to them at the top.
Following discussions with the moderators there seems consensus that the
heavily used forums at least should each have their own “Click Here Before Posting” announcement, including links to some FAQs/Forum answers specific to the Operating System. So this announcement would not be in the Forum Index page any more.
Well maybe, right at the top of Forum Index, if someone is prepared to write it. Check the “Click Here Before Posting” and “Search” before making a post? As for creating a new topic or attaching to a relevant old one, this is difficult. I don’t see Koz’s problem with asking in an old but directly relevant thread. The post will come to the top of the forum however long ago the original post was started. I think the real problem is that if people aren’t instructed to start a new topic, they will be more likely to drop it anywhere than they already are?
I think this an excellent subject to raise. Many users of this forum are first-time users of any forum and can easily feel lost, intimidated, or just unsure of what to do.
On the other hand, for the frequent visitor, it can be quite frustrating to see posts on completely the wrong board, “interruptions” to complicated on-going discussions and all the other minor annoyances.
Any steps that can be taken to ease the smooth running of what is quite a busy forum would therefore be to everyones benefit.
My personal opinion on the points raised so far:
This seems perfectly reasonable and I see little problem for English speaking users. A quick scan of the first page shows multiple languages, including English.
I think this is also a good idea, though I have doubts as to how often people do click there before posting.
I don’t see a problem with reviving old topics, but it can quickly become confusing in a current topic when there are multiple questions occurring simultaneously (often the problems have superficially similar symptoms, but quite different causes). For this reason I think it is generally more convenient to have new questions in new topics.
As an additional idea, would it be possible/desirable to have a “Welcome” page to the forum which offered some guidance to new people? Links on the main Audacity web site and elsewhere could link to the welcome page rather than directly to the forum.
I think on top, there should be the guidance. In english. Perhaps just one line " Welcome, read this {Link} ", but it should be very visible.
Then French and other langs below is very good and easy to skip.
<<forums at least should each have their own “Click Here Before Posting” announcement>>
Whether if in fora or in index seems indifferent to me. But it is very good and it can be more higlighted than before.
(and the users should check it perhaps before searching?)
[Novice user does not know where he is, whether on wiki, manual, faq, SF (or Forum) and how to get from one to other. I am still confused what to find where.]
As regards “create new topic”, this depends much on who is answering. Perhaps there should be a rule for the crew
as well, whether writen or not.
Whether it is true or not, once I got feeling you perhaps will not read post where there is one answer.
(I do not say about two, just ONE answer.) I think it should be said here if this is true or false.
I quite like Steve’s idea of special content for first time visitors. I am not sure how much would be read if it was a full page, unless very simple. We have to remember people can be a bit stressed when they come here the first time. But we don’t want to irritate regulars with too prominent special information for newcomers. I think the web URL on the main site should always be to the main page for the sake of those who just happen to have forgotten the forum URL. It’s quite possible in theory to detect first time visitors with cookies or some kind of tracking and direct them to another page, show them a pop-up (dread the thought) or something else. Definitely one for Buanzo, and if not, perhaps we’ll just have to do with a short “newcomers” link like Jan suggests.
Jan said: [Novice user does not know where he is, whether on wiki, manual, faq, SF (or Forum) and how to get from one to other. I am still confused what to find where.]
The FAQ is currently on the main site of course (not a separate site), but I agree to some extent that this fragmentation is a little confusing (hard to overcome without hosting all on one domain and all the sites in a common frame). If you have a question, it’s true the answer might be on one site or several, but we do try to make clear if you want one-to-one help, the Forum is where you should go. I think Jan’s point is worth bearing in mind, but note this Forum does now have direct links to the Wiki and the main site.
Jan said: Whether it is true or not, once I got feeling you perhaps will not read post where there is one answer. (I do not say about two, just ONE answer.) I think it should be said here if this is true or false.
Maybe true for Forum helpers, not for new users? Steve’s point is good that it can be disruptive for new (maybe only superficially similar) questions to suddenly turn up in a still active topic. I think for new users the advice must be to start a new topic if you can’t find your answer. And seasoned users should only post into new topics if it really is related (for example, contradicts something said there or sheds new light on it in some way).
