Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

***Craig*** · 03-09-2006, 06:07 PM

Use the search function!!

How many times have you thought that while looking at your 5th "what is a flick" thread in the month?

The active community here recognizes that there are a great many questions asked time and again by the newcomers and answering the same questions over and over can become a bit...tiresome.

There are several years worth of posts contained within the forum that have good (and bad) answers to almost every question a beginner would ask. The problem is that those threads are all raw and have not been processed to remove the "bad" info and retain the "good".

What this community needs is a small group who will work to identity the common questions, find the related threads, and pull out the best information (while retaining the quotes on which user said what).

That way a better Q&A section can be created and the knowledge that exists in these boards can be distilled down into something useful to the newcomers.

Thoughts?

hpfencing · 03-09-2006, 08:03 PM

Count me in Craig, just tell me how I can help!

noodle · 03-09-2006, 08:15 PM

i've tried in the past, still willing to help

ReverseLunge · 03-09-2006, 08:16 PM

ZZ is already doing that without your permission.

mrbiggs · 03-09-2006, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpfencing

Count me in Craig, just tell me how I can help!

Same here

OROD · 03-09-2006, 09:35 PM

What is this "flick" thing you talk about? Hmm, maybe I should start a thread to discuss it...

.

oiuyt · 03-09-2006, 10:26 PM

Perhaps a Wiki FAQ section? Let people contribute as time allows or as threads pop back up again.

-B

penguin_2000 · 03-10-2006, 02:27 AM

It's a good idea, but I find (from other forums) that FAQ's/Q&A's/"newbies start here threads" are rarely used by the people for whom they're designed. I'd just hate to see anybody blow a bunch of hours on something that never gets used

***Craig*** · 03-10-2006, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguin_2000

It's a good idea, but I find (from other forums) that FAQ's/Q&A's/"newbies start here threads" are rarely used by the people for whom they're designed. I'd just hate to see anybody blow a bunch of hours on something that never gets used

I can find other ways to encourage use.

One of the things that this would do is provide a nice set of static links / articles for the front page. I may also be able to work out some other ways to encourage looking through the Top Threads / FAQ / Wiki.

Craig

PeterGustafsson · 03-12-2006, 02:45 PM

Hi!

Some suggestions:
1. There could be a tickbox on each new thread, titled "old topic". If a thread gets enough ticks it gets moved to a special forum/deleted/whatever. The special forum could be entitled "chestnuts" ore something similar.
2. There could be a tickbox on each post titled "good answer to recurrent topic". If a post gets enough ticks, it gets copied to the FAQ draft.
3. Tickboxes in suggestions #1-2 should only be open to senior members or higher rank, in order to cut down the chaff, and limit effects of organized clique voting.
4. Members whose posts warrant action according to #1-2 get extra forum points.
5. Beginners must pass a test, consisting of several multichoice questions, before being able to post their 2nd post. The test questions should cover basic fencing knowledge, fencing-related controversies, and fencing.net issues. In this way, beginners will have to read the FAQ and archive before posting a lot. The first post will be free, in order to faciliate non-fencers/complete beginners who have an honest question. Present members should be grandfathered in, in order to limit transition problems.
6. The search function should be improved, and show individual posts which match the search criteria - not the threads which they are in. If one is searching for a specific post in a long thread, the present search function is sometimes of quite limited usefulness.

Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

PeterGustafsson · 03-15-2006, 06:04 AM

Hi!

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterGustafsson

1. There could be a tickbox on each new thread, titled "old topic". If a thread gets enough ticks it gets moved to a special forum/deleted/whatever. The special forum could be entitled "chestnuts" ore something similar.
4. Members whose posts warrant action according to #1-2 get extra forum points.

Getting extra rep points for starting new threads about old topics??? Goes to show that one should proofread better.

->Peter Gustafsson

Another thing:
Those who would be most inclined to be archivists are probably (my guess) also some of the more prolific posters. There could be a conflict-of-interest problem here. I know that there are several posts concerning frequent topics that I have written, and am quite pleased about. What is to stop me from overrating my own work? One would probably have to have some kind of safeguard in place. How that safeguard should be designed, I leave as an exercise to the readers.

Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

noodle · 03-15-2006, 02:30 PM

friendly reminder -- Fencing.net FAQ v1.1
haven't updated it in a while, though.

Neil · 03-15-2006, 08:33 PM

This is an excellent idea! Some people do read FAQs before posting (I do) - you only notice it when people don't read them, since they're the ones re-posting topics that have been debated to death. At worst it will give a place for regulars to point to when the same old questions do appear.

There could also be some kind of "Have you read the FAQ yet?" message when a new member tries to start their first thread.