To the Mods/admins: Keep overview on Q&A section - About xda-developers.com

Hi all,
I was browsing though the Q&A section to see if I could help someone.
However, it's impossible to see if the question is answered or not.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to ask the members to change the thread icon to the light bulb when their question is answered/their problem is solved?
That would make the forum better organized I think.
And if you need me to realize it, I'd be happy to help.
Cheers,
EC

I suggested a MSDN / Yahoo Answers style for the forum, a while ago when it was first setup, but it looked like too much work...
I'll re-propose the idea.
Dave

Okay, yeah that Yahoo Answers system works great, but indeed hard to make I think.
If that will not be accepted, we could still try the idea I described, because that would be not much work at all.
Thanks for helping!

I really like this idea. We'll look into it and if we find an elegant solution, we'll roll it out!

Thanks svetius, if you need any help on this subject, I'll be happy to help!

I think there's an extension for vBulletin (or it's even native, I'm not sure, I've only seen this in some other forums) to add prefixes to the thread titles. These could also be useful in other sections, for example if there were the prefixes [Manila], [WM 6.5/6.5.3] etc. in the WM themes section.

Livven said:
I think there's an extension for vBulletin (or it's even native, I'm not sure, I've only seen this in some other forums) to add prefixes to the thread titles. These could also be useful in other sections, for example if there were the prefixes [Manila], [WM 6.5/6.5.3] etc. in the WM themes section.
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Yeah that's also a good solution.

Related

Why not separate forum for each ROM

Hi all!
I have a suggestion to make to the administrators of this portal.
I believe that each ROM should have it's own forum and not just a single thread. Each ROM is a really big deal. It is a piece of software that requires support, and using just one thread - the one that the creator of the ROM started to show off his work - is not enough. There should be one forum for each ROM, with locked threads on top showing latest releases, patches and known issues etc. Just like a real software product. Currently is it not easy at all for the visitor to find an answer for something already been answered before. Search inside a thread is helpful but not enough. Also, I suppose that it's not easy for the creator of ROM to keep up and know what was answered and what was not.
This forum should be administered by the ROM creator or any other friend that he/she could choose to help him out in this difficult task.
papadi said:
Hi all!
I have a suggestion to make to the administrators of this portal.
I believe that each ROM should have it's own forum and not just a single thread. Each ROM is a really big deal. It is a piece of software that requires support, and using just one thread - the one that the creator of the ROM started to show off his work - is not enough. There should be one forum for each ROM, with locked threads on top showing latest releases, patches and known issues etc. Just like a real software product. Currently is it not easy at all for the visitor to find an answer for something already been answered before. Search inside a thread is helpful but not enough. Also, I suppose that it's not easy for the creator of ROM to keep up and know what was answered and what was not.
This forum should be administered by the ROM creator or any other friend that he/she could choose to help him out in this difficult task.
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Mate... i think that cant be applied because there may be 10's of roms then we will need 10's of forums. Its ok with topics i think... they just need good cleaning from useless posts.
And what is the problem with having 10s of forums? If the forum framework is flexible this shouldn't be much burden for the administrators.
yup, i am agree with you papaidi, but, we dont have to make a new separated forum, for a new rom, i think we just need a separated forum for the newest rom, then for the rom before, we need to move it to "upgrading" forum,. ;p
Garmin said:
yup, i am agree with you papaidi, but, we dont have to make a new separated forum, for a new rom, i think we just need a separated forum for the newest rom, then for the rom before, we need to move it to "upgrading" forum,. ;p
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I would also recommend Tags. Aren't they supported?
Take this thread for example:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=270751
How can somebody find in it if there is the answer that he is looking form. This thread has more than 2500 replies! This is not a thread! It's a history book.
i hear what you're sayin but...
that's not even a ROM thread! And he (Ikarus) has taken the trouble to write up FAQs, manuals, etc, so except for troubleshooting IMO you hardly need to look through the whole thread,
This is not a thread! It's a history book.
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but that's a nice line...made me smile at least...
regarding a forum for each ROM, it would be a nice idea, but is there really space, or a real need for this? I mean, I hate looking back at a latest ROM thread and seeing 20 pages to trawl through, but what can you do... I guess I agree with WizeMan. If there is anything that can be done, perhaps harsher moderation (e.g. of newbie's questions) in the ROM threads would help.
...or...if people really did want new forums for ROMs, one for each major cooker? rather than each individual ROM...still don't think that it's worth it/do-able though
I believe seperating ROMS and forum will add more chaos. For example, there is like 100's of ROMS released for each device like hermes, wizard etc. Some of the ROM released might not be good, and hence it might be discontinued. Also with the way people are porting ROM a new OS version is released almost daily, and the chefs, start their job again with the new OS version....so having to seperate ROM forum will add more confusion...(this is my opinion)
Also, use google to search for what you need, I agree you cannot go through the 2500 replies, but some of them do have valuable information.
That's a good idea...
Sorry, but that is probably the craziest thing I have heard. Do you even know how many ROMS are out there? This forum is huge as it is. If they started making new forums for every ROM, then you would have nothing less than 200 forums minimum.
The key is to include a "Thank You" feature for every thread. The biggest problem we have here is noobs and even a lot os senior members posting THANK YOU and I'LL TEST IT OUT messages in the threads. If you actually look at the amount of useful messages in the threads, they are quite minimal as opposed to all this unnecessary chatter.
There are a lot of forums that include this "THANK YOU" feature that I mentioned. If you want to thank the author of the thread, all you do is click on a THANK YOU button and your name gets added to a THANK YOU section in the same thread. That way everything is kept clean and messages are posted only when you have something to contribute, discuss or have a problem.
Check out the thread below... you'll have a much better idea of what i'm talking about. Also, maybe we should make this more visible. If all of us start putting this in our Signatures, then members will take notice and if there is enough of noise, then the admins will take notice and we can move towards a cleaner and more functional XDA-dev.
Thank You Threads
In my oppinion this is a difficult idea to be applied. The most simple way we can wish the moderator give a list of rom and then stick them, so anybody know where is the newer rom, stable rom, or in progress. But actually there is a rule from the rom maker, they use some order of versions which they build, so anybody know when the rom is composed Thank them for the great works.

Forum Layout

Hi,
I've recently got a Touch Diamond and have found certain aspects of this forum helpful however I can't help but feel that this place has an appauling forum layout.
Are you afraid of creating some sub-sections or something? I mean seriously, what's the point of all the square bracket tags on the start of topic titles?
They don't make it easier to find because the topics are still jumbled up with all the others anyway and a good topic title should let you know what it is related to in the first place. I thought that maybe at least a search for a certain tag would reveal all of those topics but alas no, the search gave me no results at all even though I can see them on the screen in the forum listing it still doesn't find them.
Take the Diamond themes, apps & s/w section for example...
Why not simply create a sub-section for related topics such as Themes and hence have all theme topics together and do away with the need for tagging the titles.
Sorry to criticise your forum but I just don't see the logic in the current system as it makes things very difficult to find, especially when the search tells me there are no results containing [THM] or 1.93 etc. :lol:
Thanks for the reply regarding the search, hopefully I'll be able to find a little more of what I'm looking for now.
I've come across plenty of forums that don't allow searches for less than 4 characters but surely [THM] is 5 characters
Anyway, that's not my main point, I just think that the forum ingeneral would be friendlier to browse and need less searching if it was better organised to begin with.
Thanks again for the reply and nice little site overview
I agree that a good forum is run in a manner that keeps the members happy though it should also be as user friendly as possible. There are always people who prefer to avoid change but they will quickly get used to changes if they are for the better.
I'm a forum SuperModerator myself and my advise is that a clear layout helps a lot with finding info, where to post questions and also getting replies for those questions as topics don't get swapmed like they do in one large general section.
As for mods being unloved I would say that depends on how much of a presence they have in the forum, invisible mods are unloved because they are unknown with no personality but if your mods are active forum members they will be known and more respected as well as being someone people can go to if problems arise.
lol, sorry I didn't meant to launch into a forum moderation tutorial there

Chome Action URL and icon number for IE

I'd like to edit or create a sliding panel in Ookba's latest EVO ROM release for IE. I have an idea of how to do it (or at least try) but would appreciate it if someone could post the action URL needed for IE and the icon/picture number. With those I think I can get into trouble on my own. I did a semi-serious search but didn't turn up anything that helped me out. Thanks in advance.
You guys are not following the rules!
This is a 3VO Rom question, and it should be posted in the proper thread , not make a new one.
All you guys are doing is making more clutter , more amount of results , when someone does a search. Please keep questions in the proper thread.
roloracer said:
You guys are not following the rules!
This is a 3VO Rom question, and it should be posted in the proper thread , not make a new one.
All you guys are doing is making more clutter , more amount of results , when someone does a search. Please keep questions in the proper thread.
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True Speak!
In genral the front page has become multiple "questions already answered" & "even non smartphone related outside of appropriate thread"
Yeah i'm b*chin
b.t.w roloracer your service icons look sweet
Okay, delete/move thread since I don't have the ability to do it.
Nailed On Da Cross !!! Lol
The funny thing is that in the time it took you to type up your admonishment I'd be willling to bet at least one of you (if not both) could have provided me with the info I'm looking for. Maybe a "Please keep all related threads together and by the way.." response. Just and idea. Everyone, including you, was a noob once.

Thread-specific moderators (for ROM threads)

Hello,
first thanks for this great place! I would have smashed my Touch HD if xda wouldnt exist
I have a suggestion regarding the ROM forums and threads:
As the cookers and chefs are mostly to busy to gather information from the thread and put them in the first(second...) post, it would be really nice if a threadstarter or moderator could assign a normal user as an "thread-specific" moderator (for only the first three posts for example). So volunteers, people very interested in this ROM, could maintain a buglist, tips and hints, fixes and other helpful stuff from the thousand and more pages and make the life for everybody easier.
Its sometimes really hard to find information in the thousand pages. I think a solution like this would help everybody and reduce the senseless spam questions in the ROM forums. All 1-2 pages new users ask the same as people before, and all are getting the answer "Read through the thread, its mentioned 10 pages before" for example.
Whats your opinion about this?
7Bit said:
Hello,
first thanks for this great place! I would have smashed my Touch HD if xda wouldnt exist
I have a suggestion regarding the ROM forums and threads:
As the cookers and chefs are mostly to busy to gather information from the thread and put them in the first(second...) post, it would be really nice if a threadstarter or moderator could assign a normal user as an "thread-specific" moderator (for only the first three posts for example). So volunteers, people very interested in this ROM, could maintain a buglist, tips and hints, fixes and other helpful stuff from the thousand and more pages and make the life for everybody easier.
Its sometimes really hard to find information in the thousand pages. I think a solution like this would help everybody and reduce the senseless spam questions in the ROM forums. All 1-2 pages new users ask the same as people before, and all are getting the answer "Read through the thread, its mentioned 10 pages before" for example.
Whats your opinion about this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
1. I don't think this is possible with the standard vB software. And I know the webmasters are adversed to applying "patches" unless they really help.
2. There is a problem of trust. Moderators are selected on here to be trustworthy, not to carry out malicious activities and to always be fair. I've seen plenty of people on here become friends and then enimies as quick as they can. Giving many users complete control over a single thread could become problematic. If you're just speaking about allowing users to edit another users thread. I can't see that been too risky - but still Impractical with the forum software.
An alternative, If the ROM cook would like someone to help manage the thread, they should arange before hand to let someone bag a few posts on the thread when it's first started (I know its not practical to existing threads). Moderators can help add posts when needed and remove any
pesky "First" messages someone might inject in the way .
Just my thoughts
Ta
Dave
Yes you are absolutly right, good idea
It would be enough if the moderators could move a post of the "Useful thread stuff Collecter / Maintainer" at the second or third position of an existing ROM thread, or if the creator already plans it when creating the thread. That would be exact the same without editing the board software or applying hacks...
7Bit said:
Yes you are absolutly right, good idea
It would be enough if the moderators could move a post of the "Useful thread stuff Collecter / Maintainer" at the second or third position of an existing ROM thread, or if the creator already plans it when creating the thread. That would be exact the same without editing the board software or applying hacks...
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Well if it's not possible to arrange this beforehand by timing a the time of thread creation, you could indeed ask on of the mods to help you out there. Don't look at me yet though, haven't figured that one out yet

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
I hope I also fall into that category

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