Develop Bugs

New Questions and Answers section: great idea, really poor implementation

Can anyone explain to me the new policies started in the new Q&A section?
Has anyone seen this? Apparently, you have to jump through hoops to open a new thread in the new Questions and Answers section.
From RULES - Must Read Before Posting Sticky in Q&A
ALL QUESTIONS WILL BE POSTED IN SEPERATE THREADS. IF YOU WISH TO OPEN A NEW THREAD FOR YOUR QUESTION, PLEASE DO THE FOLLOWING: If you wish to open a thread, you must PM me with the name of your thread, and the page number where it is located. IF YOU OPEN A THREAD, AND DO NOT SEND A PRIVATE MESSAGE TO TWEAKMAN, YOUR THREAD WILL BE DELETED. There will be no exception to this. You must send the message to have your thread open!!!
ANY NEW THREAD, NOT OPENED BY A MODERATOR WILL BE REMOVED IMMEDITALEY: If you have a question you would like posted, you will not be turned away. This is only done to ensure that your question doesn't become lost in the pages as this section grows.
TO SEND A PRIVATE MESSAGE TO REQUEST YOUR THREAD DO THE FOLLOWING:
1:GO TO THE TOP LEFT SIDE OF THIS POST AND CLICK ON USER NAME "TWEAKMAN"
2:ONCE ON THE NEW PAGE, GO TO CONTACT INFO
3:SELECT THE OPTION TO SEND A PRIVATE MESSAGE (NO OTHER FORM OF MESSAGE WILL BE ACCEPTED)
4:INCLUDE ONLY YOUR QUESTION
5:YOUR DONE!! YOUR QUESTION WILL BE POSTED IN A NEW THREAD FOR FURTHER HELP AND DISCUSSION!
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I can think of three really good reasons not to do this:
Nobody reads the stickies.
Especially newcomers to the forum. People are just going to post new threads and wonder why they keep getting deleted.
It isn't very convenient.
What happens if I have a problem when Tweakman is asleep? Or on the toilet? I really feel sorry for that guy if he is going to have to publish every question anyone asks.
It is unnecessarily difficult.
The creation of this section was to help the Development and Hacking section get rid of general question posts. But if it is easier to make a new post in Development and Hacking, then people are just going to keep on doing that. Like this guy.
And then there is this:
ALL NEW QUESTIONS WILL BE REMOVED AFTER 7 DAYS: Once a thread is opened with your question, it will be left standing for a total of 7 (seven) days. If your question has not been answered at that time, you may repost your question as many times as needed. Again, this is to ensure that your question doesn't become lost in the pages as this section grows.
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I don't get this either. What's wrong with the system as it is? Why can't we just leave the questions so that people can search for answers before they post? (Okay, granted most newcomers don't search either, but some do.) If people aren't getting answers, they can just bump their thread.
Am I wrong?

I agree, great intentions, but the whole idea is poorly conceived, just like the original thread in Development and hacking...nothing got answered, and if it did, how do you navigate to it to find it? Is anyone going to dig through this crap to answer someone else's question. I think not.

Give it time.
The kinks will be worked out.
Don't be so negative.

it will be open for all to post soon...... they are working on a team to keep the thread organized once fully opened

joel2009 said:
it will be open for all to post soon...... they are working on a team to keep the thread organized once fully opened
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Sounds good. I hope lots of people pitch-in to help.

Q&a Section Now Open For All To Post

Who to ask about closed thread?

Hi everybody,
I wonder why a thread of mine was closed in one of the forums and I really have no idea what I did wrong and even who to ask what and why? (The thread is in the ROM development section of the Topaz forum, concerning cooked ROMs that support handwriting).
Are there seperate admins for each sub-forum and if yes, how can I find them? Or who else can I ask?
thanks & cheers

tesla33 said:
Hi everybody,
I wonder why a thread of mine was closed in one of the forums and I really have no idea what I did wrong and even who to ask what and why? (The thread is in the ROM development section of the Topaz forum, concerning cooked ROMs that support handwriting).
Are there seperate admins for each sub-forum and if yes, how can I find them? Or who else can I ask?
thanks & cheers
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Any mod will do. You may have either posted warez, links to it/them, instructions on how to get them. Or simply posted in the wrong section altogether.

egzthunder1 said:
Any mod will do. You may have either posted warez, links to it/them, instructions on how to get them. Or simply posted in the wrong section altogether.
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Thank you for the quick reply. I understand the warez rules and all. But this question... in the ROM development section:
Is there any decent cooked ROM that either supports the official HTC handwriting update for the Topaz or even has it already integrated?
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I just dont get it
Again, thanks for the reply

tesla33 said:
Thank you for the quick reply. I understand the warez rules and all. But this question... in the ROM development section:
I just dont get it
Again, thanks for the reply
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Maybe someone else asked something similar and you are getting penalized for not searching before posting. That is the only other thing that I can think of.

oh dear, if thats the reason, I'm simply to stupid for this forum I searched and poured more than 8 hours yesterday over posts, especially the ROM post, which all have well over 2000 replies. So I know that people are asking about handwriting but the question usually just goes under in the ROM threads....
Nevermind, will post it in the admin question thread where it probably belongs. Owe you a coffee though, let me fix my paypal issues first

Hi tesla33,
Which thread? I'll have a look to see if there was a "closure" reason added. It's possible it may have inadvertently been closed during Spam cleanup by a mod that had multiple browser session/tabs open.
Cheers,

Hi hilaireg,
thank you so much for looking into this. I'm feeling almost embarassed now for all the trouble but I was kinda intimidated:
The thread is:
thread

tesla33 said:
Hi hilaireg,
thank you so much for looking into this. I'm feeling almost embarassed now for all the trouble but I was kinda intimidated:
The thread is:
thread
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More than likely it was closed because it has nothing to do with rom development. The rom development forum is not the place to ask for specific roms or features. It should have been asked in the general forum.
The Mod should have given you the courtesy of moving it for you or at the very least a short explanation. I have from day one, had a problem with the quick unexplained trigger finger of many mods on this forum. A little common courtesy would be nice.

@denco7:
Agreed. Going to "chalk" it up to an honest mistake made by the moderator who closed it (not me).
@tesla33:
I've re-opened the thread and moved it to the General section. I see no reason why the question can't be asked . The Admins are working on the Search function of late to see about improving it ... cause at the moment, I've found needles in haystacks far sooner than answers.

tesla33 said:
oh dear, if thats the reason, I'm simply to stupid for this forum I searched and poured more than 8 hours yesterday over posts, especially the ROM post, which all have well over 2000 replies. So I know that people are asking about handwriting but the question usually just goes under in the ROM threads....
Nevermind, will post it in the admin question thread where it probably belongs. Owe you a coffee though, let me fix my paypal issues first
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Looking forward to the coffee
As far as the searching, once you are in a thread that you think may have some relevant information for you, you will see a button that reads "Search This Thread". Simply put in your search parameters and choose to get "posts" for results. This will make it a lot simpler than going through 2000+ posts.
As far as the transcriber, there are cabs out there since lots of Chefs actually leave this option out due to lack of space in the rom. Let me know if you need help finding the cab.

hilaireg said:
@denco7:
Agreed. Going to "chalk" it up to an honest mistake made by the moderator who closed it (not me).
@tesla33:
I've re-opened the thread and moved it to the General section. I see no reason why the question can't be asked . The Admins are working on the Search function of late to see about improving it ... cause at the moment, I've found needles in haystacks far sooner than answers.
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FYI, one of the more reasonable and nicer Mods around here.

Thank you, thank you and thank you
Again, I'm not complaining. I was actually considering where to put it and thought "hhmm, I'm asking about custom ROMs wit a certain capability, so better put it in the ROMs sections"
I understand how incredibly difficult it is to maintain a forum of this size and activity (I was once a Diablo2 Battlenet Mod ) and I appreciate the work you all put in there. I probably wouldnt have made this thread if it was my 400th post... after a while you get a feeling for where what goes and also for the search cloud and how to find stuff. But imagine if a newbie comes in here and wants to find out if his new Topaz is an ARM or a SH3 because he/she wants to download the Total Commander Beta... (ok, well maybe this is not the forum for people who dont know what hardware they are using)
I promise I'll behave in the future
Thank you again for sorting this out for me, very much appreciated
P.S.
egzthunder1 said:
Looking forward to the coffee
As far as the searching, once you are in a thread that you think may have some relevant information for you, you will see a button that reads "Search This Thread". Simply put in your search parameters and choose to get "posts" for results. This will make it a lot simpler than going through 2000+ posts.
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Understood. But with threads this big, lets assume that somebody asks in Dutty's ROM thread if it supports handwriting on page 100 something. You cant be 100% sure that if the question was answered it contains the word "handwriting" again. So you do have to read to the nect 150 pages to see if somebody actually answered the question (Nobody did, I should know)
egzthunder1 said:
As far as the transcriber, there are cabs out there since lots of Chefs actually leave this option out due to lack of space in the rom. Let me know if you need help finding the cab.
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The transcriber apps never seem to work as well as HTC own software. I did try some (calligrapher etc) but the results are less than I expected
Ok, I really shut up now

tesla33 said:
Thank you, thank you and thank you
Again, I'm not complaining. I was actually considering where to put it and thought "hhmm, I'm asking about custom ROMs wit a certain capability, so better put it in the ROMs sections"
I understand how incredibly difficult it is to maintain a forum of this size and activity (I was once a Diablo2 Battlenet Mod ) and I appreciate the work you all put in there. I probably wouldnt have made this thread if it was my 400th post... after a while you get a feeling for where what goes and also for the search cloud and how to find stuff. But imagine if a newbie comes in here and wants to find out if his new Topaz is an ARM or a SH3 because he/she wants to download the Total Commander Beta... (ok, well maybe this is not the forum for people who dont know what hardware they are using)
I promise I'll behave in the future
Thank you again for sorting this out for me, very much appreciated
P.S.
Understood. But with threads this big, lets assume that somebody asks in Dutty's ROM thread if it supports handwriting on page 100 something. You cant be 100% sure that if the question was answered it contains the word "handwriting" again. So you do have to read to the nect 150 pages to see if somebody actually answered the question (Nobody did, I should know)
The transcriber apps never seem to work as well as HTC own software. I did try some (calligrapher etc) but the results are less than I expected
Ok, I really shut up now
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I am actually talking about the transcriber itself, not calligrapher or anything else.

Good morning,
slight misunderstanding here because: dont ask me why but HTC did not include a transcriber in the Topaz ROMs

denco7 said:
FYI, one of the more reasonable and nicer Mods around here.
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I hope I also fall into that category

SOLVED Dev Problems and Issues Please check here for answers before making a new post

OK I think this thread could be a good asset to help out this section and prevent new post asking the same questions. A similar thread in Chefs Central for Windows has done very well. See the thread here:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=713447
When you have a problem issue or Request Title you thread appropriately:
[Problem]
[REQ]
etc.
When your problem has been solved edit your first post with the fix and change the Title to SOLVED.
This way a moderator can copy and link to this problem as solved. This will help others to find answers to known problems in one place.
I think this should also be a Sticky thread.

Does this mean no Q&A section like in the g1 forums?
Sent from my anti titanic

I made this about 3 weeks ago located here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=817218
CLOSED

[25/7/11] Updated Rules Of The Development Section **Please Read, Then Read Again**

I'll get straight to the point....
Despite stickys and forum announcements most of us are still finding ourselves becoming terribly, terribly vexed at the amount of [Q]'s cluttering the dev section...
Therefore, from now on, if you do not follow the rules outlined below, you will be infracted. Break them again and you may find yourself unable to post anything at all on any forum!!
[Q]Surely thats a bit harsh aint it??
[A]Not really....
We've tried to be nice about it but that clearly doesnt work.
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If you cannot read and abide by the simple rules in this sticky then I dont know how you're going to manage to hack your device without running into trouble.​
The Dev section is NOT for asking questions.....
The Dev section is NOT for general topics..........
All threads posted MUST be prefixed with a description of the thread, [ROM] / [Kernel] etc etc.....*
*(Not planning on being particuarly strict on this. You guys (the devs), know how to title a thread.... just a pointer for new devs.)
Basically, unless your thread is to actually release something or discuss something of a very technical and n00b unfriendly nature, it doesnt belong here!
Pretty simple really.....
If you see something that shouldnt be here then PM me....
I will try to check in as reguarly as I can but I have a few sections to keep an eye on and believe it or not, a life outside XDA
Yes thats right, there is life outside XDA
Post What Where:
General - general technical discussion items, news, anything else that does not fit into the other fora categories.
Accessories - any items to do with components and/or accessories relating to your device.
Rom Development - only meant for very advanced technical discussion directly related to ROM development activity and the delivery of actual ROMs and ROM components ONLY. Nothing else goes in here.
Themes & Apps - anything to do directly with the development of themes and/or applications. Nothing else goes in here.
MOD EDIT: BEFORE POSTING ANY THREAD IN THE DEVELOPMENT SECTION, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING:
If you have developed a ROM, or are working with others to do so, the development forum is somewhere to discuss and share ideas, post useful feedback and logs or crash dumps, and to discuss a common goal developers are trying to achieve.
It is NOT the place to post your question because it gets higher traffic, or because more experienced users frequent it. Doing this just annoys those who are working on the device, and drives them away. Developers don't want to wade through 20 threads of "Help me urgently" to find their threads for porting and fixing camera issues etc. Similarly, if a thread is designated as discussion for developers say, porting a camera fix, please do not post in there asking "When will it be ready?", "Can I flash this yet?" etc. This is both completely disrespectful to those working on the project (you evidently haven't read the important posts in the thread), and also is making it harder for developers to find comments from other developers or testers when required.
Similarly, don't make loads of "Thanks for your work here" posts in an active development thread. It's just as annoying to developers as asking when something will be ready. If a ROM is complete, then go ahead and thank the developer if you wish, but don't go into threads for devs only, and interrupt it to post "thanks". It's basically spamming, and is treated as such.
If you are posting in development, you should have read every sticky and notice there, and should be actively developing or helping in the development of something. Developing isn't installing a ROM, or using a tweak, it's creating a ROM or other hack or tweak. If you haven't read for several days before starting out on XDA, you are likely about to ask something already solved. I registered on XDA when I first wanted to post, and that was to join in a discussion on something. Sure, join up and ask a question, but read the information available in General and Q&A first, as your question will have been asked before. Search is your friend here, become familiar with it.
Regarding when to post in development if you are not actually developing something, there is one occasion where it's acceptable. If you find a leak of a new ROM, which isn't already posted, and you verify it's legitimacy via either running it, or based on the source you obtained it from, then this is assisting in development, and should be posted in development. If you want to ask when a leak will be available use search first, then if not already in discussion, open a thread in general or Q&A.
If you have a problem flashing a ROM, this is NOT related to development. It's up to you to determine if it is specific to a particular ROM, and post useful information in that developer's existing thread for the ROM. If it happens on more than one ROM, and isn't a known issue (remember you should read several times more words than you post), then find out what you are doing wrong. Check guides written by others, try to repeat the problem and see if it happens every time. Something needs to be reproducible to be fixed effectively.
Once you have identified what you need help with go to the device Q&A forum (general if device lacks one), and make a clear, informative thread that explains the issue, and what you have tried doing to fix it. Did you re-download the ROM? Did you ask a friend to flash it for you, to reduce chance of user error? What steps (exactly) did you follow? What errors did you see (exact wording)? Did you double check all the steps? Did you do a wipe or hard reset?
If you make a clear, concise, yet detailed post, you will find help forthcoming, and should get the problem sorted very quickly. If someone suggests you try something, report back on what happened, did it work etc. Then, next time someone has this issue and searches, they will find this and have a verified and tested solution.
So remember... before you start a thread in development, ask yourself what you are developing. If you can't answer, then stop, step away from the post button, and think about where you are posting. Would it be better in General or Q&A, or is some more time with your best friend, search, required?

Can this be posted on all dev boards please? It is sorely missed...

Dr.Romca said:
Can this be posted on all dev boards please? It is sorely missed...
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Truely ! I read them , cuz i am making other improved and detailed versions of other people's tutorials , more like the Arabic for the Jxmatteo 1.2 , and the storage thing , and other stuff ... so i don''t want to mess up with the rules since i am enjoying helping people ...

hm

The spirit of XDA
Read this from the beginning till the end​

Henry_01 said:
Read this from the beginning till the end​
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Good read
Sent from my Wildfire S A510e using xda premium

[Q] Should each 'Cook/ROM' have its own section

I think each ROM should have its own section not just a thread. I find searching through 1000+ posts for one bit of info very hard work, and I bet others do as well. Search is good but unless you know the exact wording its not always the best option.
With each ROM having its own section each question will be in its own thread, making finding the answers to repeated questions much easier.
What say the masses ?
Thanks

interesting idea...but think not possible or..?

You know requesting new sections every day would be pain in the arse for moderators?
It's good as it is now.

When you have one sub-forum for each rom then you have a loooooooong list ... and thats not better then so
Questions shouldnt be in dev section - so there are only dev threads -> done
Question about an spezific rom can be posted in the rom thread.

I think this can be achieved through "Related Threads" (With some modification). So that once u open a thread from one developer all this threads in the same section apear at the bottom.
Just a wild idea

Maybe the mods can make the most useful/best roms sticky...

agree! very hard and sometimes slow to search through 10,000 posts .. it 's often a nightmare to follow the thread

yeahman45 said:
agree! very hard and sometimes slow to search through 10,000 posts .. it 's often a nightmare to follow the thread
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search button ftw?

howdid said:
search button ftw?
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even with search button.. e.g. you search for an issue on battery.. you see someone who asked the question... then i must scroll down(or move next page) to search if someone actually replied and gave a solution to the issue (assuming a there's a reply or solution to the question)... in between you have tons of other unrelated questions/replies/opinions/thanks etc... lol i think you know what i mean

BorgCymru said:
What say the masses ?
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The masses say no. We like asking the same questions all over again, or even better opening the new threads for every query we have.
Your idea is good but what you propose can't be done. It can't be avoided as it would be a forum utopia sort off. Google is more powerful than forum search. Good info doesn't necessarily have to come from XDA.
And for starters this thread is in totally wrong section.

How about a section for roms with sense and a section for roms without sense? or maybe section for ports from other devices and a section for "almost" stock roms. Mabye 2 - 4 subcategories would be a good idea. Another good idea would be that the cooks would use a specific format for the thread names like "Update/Date - Rom name - Version - Cook".
just my two cents in some bad english ^^

Questions or Problems Should Not Be Posted in the Development Forum
Please Post in the Correct Forums and Read THIS
Moving to Q&A