Just an idea - lots of help forums have a system of marking posts as 'solved' either by moderators or by encouraging users to edit the subject in their original post.
The big plus to this system is that if a user searches for help on a topic and gets say 20 threads they will know which ones should be read as a priority. It is time consuming and dis-heartening to read lots of unresolved posts when looking for help. It might also help Barry and other developers to spot important unresolved issues.
The downside is that someone would need to periodically check posts in the relevant section(s) and/or badger users to mark their threads as solved when appropriate.
Add "Solved" to title of forum threads that are so
Paul, we already do this but it is time consuming reading every single post and it also takes time for some things to be resolved and not all are.
This means that there are a lot of problems that are left up in the air and also if a person who has made a request for help on this forum and manages to resolve their problem and does not post a reply at least stating that the problem is resolved we have no way of knowing if a solution has been reached or not.
What happens then is that we do not know if we can safely add (Solved) to the post or not.
There are many requests that appear to have been supplied with a solution and the person has just got on with what they are doing and not bothered to post that it is working, so what can we do except leave the post as it is.
If we think a problem has been resolved and we attach a (Solved) or (Solved sort of) we run the risk that it has not been fixed and the person might have to start another post or complain that we have marked the post solved prematurely.
Flash puts a lot of time and effort into trying to ensure that the solved posts are marked, as well as moving posts to their correct section and it would help a great deal if people added solved to their post if it is resolved.
We have posted notices regarding this and also the fact of doing a search of the various forums, Puppy main site and the Wiki before posting a query.
This means that there are a lot of problems that are left up in the air and also if a person who has made a request for help on this forum and manages to resolve their problem and does not post a reply at least stating that the problem is resolved we have no way of knowing if a solution has been reached or not.
What happens then is that we do not know if we can safely add (Solved) to the post or not.
There are many requests that appear to have been supplied with a solution and the person has just got on with what they are doing and not bothered to post that it is working, so what can we do except leave the post as it is.
If we think a problem has been resolved and we attach a (Solved) or (Solved sort of) we run the risk that it has not been fixed and the person might have to start another post or complain that we have marked the post solved prematurely.
Flash puts a lot of time and effort into trying to ensure that the solved posts are marked, as well as moving posts to their correct section and it would help a great deal if people added solved to their post if it is resolved.
We have posted notices regarding this and also the fact of doing a search of the various forums, Puppy main site and the Wiki before posting a query.
That sounds like a good idea Paul, moving solved issues to the HowTo section would cut back the amount of searching that people would have to do.
It seems logical and I would support it but we will have to see what John and Flash think of the idea.
We should get a quick response from them on this, there might be input from other interested parties also.
It seems logical and I would support it but we will have to see what John and Flash think of the idea.
We should get a quick response from them on this, there might be input from other interested parties also.
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In my eyes, the "How To" section is for a "How To" type post. Like, with step by step instructions and stuff. A solved problem is similar, but it takes more work to figure out the solution. Maybe there should just be a "Solved Problems" section. Also, sometimes when they are "solved," the dude who posted it just figured out that he forgot to do something, so it's not really a "How To" at all, just a "Don't Do What I Did."
The benefit of putting them in "How To" is that all solutions would be in the same place.
The benefit of putting them in "How To" is that all solutions would be in the same place.
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Speaking only for myself, I wouldn't have any problem with locking solved posts and moving them to their own section of the forum. Marking the thread solved though should really be up to the person who started the thread, and to the experts who helped him. Often I don't know enough about the topic to say for sure, and I don't have the time to track each topic closely enough.Ian wrote:That sounds like a good idea Paul, moving solved issues to the HowTo section would cut back the amount of searching that people would have to do.
It seems logical and I would support it but we will have to see what John and Flash think of the idea.
We should get a quick response from them on this, there might be input from other interested parties also.