Q: forum management? - About xda-developers.com

I pretty new here but I haven't seen any mod presence in some forum sections. The Aria section is messy and needs some guidance. At least some one could come around and clean up a bit. I use to Admin on other boards, so I know its not too much to ask. It would make it easy for the noobs to sort out information.
Just my 2 cents, awesome forums btw love it here.
sent from my OC CM6 Intruder using XDA app

Noz85 said:
I pretty new here but I haven't seen any mod presence in some forum sections. The Aria section is messy and needs some guidance. At least some one could come around and clean up a bit. I use to Admin on other boards, so I know its not too much to ask. It would make it easy for the noobs to sort out information.
Just my 2 cents, awesome forums btw love it here.
sent from my OC CM6 Intruder using XDA app
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I am not certain of what forums you are admin in, but we are only a limited number of mods and this site has shy of 3M registered members (average of 10000 members online at any given time of the day) with over 50 subforum for devices (and that is not accounting for subforums for each device). XDA is one of the largest cell phone communities on the web and as such we manage it as well as we can. We roam around all the forums and normally if problems arise, we try to attend to the issues as soon as possible. As far as the Aria forums, XDA Specific Forum Moderator leepriestenator is in charge and any issues should be brought up to him or any Senior mod in case he is not available. If you have any specific concerns, please let us know and we will act accordingly
Thank you for being part of this community.

Related

[POLL] The Holy Flame War is Upon Us - (D-Day) - War Briefing: Day 4

I'm sure all of you are getting sick of the flood of questions that come in and the single question and answer thread is just too long to go through to find questions let alone answer them. Hopefully we can get enough people on board to let the moderators know that this is a welcome addition. Seeing as how many phones have highest number of threads in the Q&A section, I think it is a worthy addition.
Problems:
1) Lack of moderation - the volume of posts, especially from new users is higher than the what can reasonably be moderated by the current number of moderators.
2) Relevant threads containing real information are buried by new threads (many which are off topic or not posted in the correct forum)
3) The forum is disorganized, which exacerbates the issue of new users asking duplicate, off topic, poor, misinformed questions.
4) There is an incredible lack of information for new users on usage, which creates a contentious atmosphere between new users and senior members who re-answer the same questions over and over, most of the time about HOW to use the forum and search features.
5) User modifiable resources like the wiki are unknown or obfuscated from new and long time members alike, thus rarely used. (On a side note....we should all be using the wiki to push pertinent information, valueable posts, references and guides up so that noobs (and experienced users also) can find them easier.)
Proposed Solutions:
1) Create additional subforums to help organize posts into relevant categories. (I vote for at least Q&A. MOST popular forums on XDA have this, so there is certainly precedent.)
2) Better sticky posts, with clearer titles. "Hello from your moderator." is not as clear to a new user as "[MANDATORY README]-[FORUM RULES][QUESTIONS][INSTRUCTIONS][If you don't read this you will be flamed, harrassed, possibly shanked in your sleep!]" You are reading this thread because of the title...that or you saw the DVDA postfix...you sick sick bastard...either way I win.
3) More moderators. It is far too hard for Whosdaman to constantly update sticky posts with relevant info. It is up to everyone here to get that info out so we aren't bombarded with questions that have been answered a hundred times. Wiki anyone?
4) We have a great resource in user editable wiki. There is a lot of stuff that can be done BETTER on a wiki than in a 1000 post thread, like reference material, guides, and instructions. We need to make it obvious to ALL users that the wiki exists and get people on board with updating it. Threads are a great way to hash out possible solutions and have a group discussion, but a lot of times what people need is a reference or guide and they shouldn't have to search a 1000 post thread to pull the relevant information.
5) Original posters need to update their OP when new information is revealed or when there is misinformation in a post. Having a post that's title says your flash cell is about to explode only to have to read 600 posts to find out that this information is untrue helps no one. Discussion is GREAT. Misinformation is NOT, and only fuels the confusion and duplicate thread issues.
From The Front Line:
Thanks for the outpouring of support and ideas to help get the ball rolling. Several of our ideas have been recently implemented so I am really hoping for some good news next war update.
20110109: Woot! We now have Q&A. Thanks mods and supporters!
20110109: My social experiment of double entendre "sticky posts" has 2000 views in only a couple of days. I'm not going to call this one confirmed, but if it stopped even 1 bad thread it was worth it.
20110109: We have sticky wiki in all the subforums. Now we need to add content to the wiki before people stop using it.
One Last Thing:
There are very few things we can change with regard to how many new users visit this forum, or the knowledge level of these users. The only thing we CAN do is make what they need to do as obvious as possible to these users, so that we can spend more time coding and writing relevant posts, instead of redirecting people to the search button, or frustration flaming newbies.
+1 agreed. This is ridiculous, it's a clusterf**k in these forums. Q & A is exactly what we need.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I will say yes to the q&a it will cause less clutter.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
No, Q&A IS the general forum. What is needed is a sticky in the general forum with a CLEAR and concise description of how to:
root
use Odin
use clockwork
flash themes
flash roms
battery saving methods
airplane mode trick
DRM services and how to stop them
and ANYTHING else that gets asked multiple times a day. I dont know if some sort of limited moderator status can be granted, but if so it would be nice for noobnl, Daemon and a bunch of others to have said status and be able to update this sticky at any time. I am sure there are a ton of people who would be glad to do it.
Then, what is needed is a sticky called FROYO SPECULATION, where EVERY thread that deals with speculation of the coming Froyo release is moved, and all discussion of that topic is directed.
muyoso said:
No, Q&A IS the general forum. What is needed is a sticky in the general forum with a CLEAR and concise description of how to:
root
use Odin
use clockwork
flash themes
flash roms
battery saving methods
airplane mode trick
DRM services and how to stop them
and ANYTHING else that gets asked multiple times a day. I dont know if some sort of limited moderator status can be granted, but if so it would be nice for noobnl, Daemon and a bunch of others to have said status and be able to update this sticky at any time. I am sure there are a ton of people who would be glad to do it.
Then, what is needed is a sticky called FROYO SPECULATION, where EVERY thread that deals with speculation of the coming Froyo release is moved, and all discussion of that topic is directed.
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what you are saying isn't wrong but i want one
muyoso said:
No, Q&A IS the general forum. What is needed is a sticky in the general forum with a CLEAR and concise description of how to:
root
use Odin
use clockwork
flash themes
flash roms
battery saving methods
airplane mode trick
DRM services and how to stop them
and ANYTHING else that gets asked multiple times a day. I dont know if some sort of limited moderator status can be granted, but if so it would be nice for noobnl, Daemon and a bunch of others to have said status and be able to update this sticky at any time. I am sure there are a ton of people who would be glad to do it.
Then, what is needed is a sticky called FROYO SPECULATION, where EVERY thread that deals with speculation of the coming Froyo release is moved, and all discussion of that topic is directed.
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That is EXACTLY what the Wiki is for. But people either don't know about it, use it, or update it. Anyone can update the wiki. Leaving all of the cleanup to moderators isn't fair, or effective at getting stuff up quickly. There should be better indication to go to the wiki and more people need to start using it.
plapczyn said:
That is EXACTLY what the Wiki is for. But people either don't know about it, use it, or update it. Anyone can update the wiki. Leaving all of the cleanup to moderators isn't fair, or effective at getting stuff up quickly. There should be better indication to go to the wiki and more people need to start using it.
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Thats fine, but where the eff is the wiki? A person who just bought their epic and signed up would NEVER find it. There needs to be like a flashing light and have the font in size 4.2 million saying "Epic 4g XDA User Manual" or something like that.
muyoso said:
Thats fine, but where the eff is the wiki? A person who just bought their epic and signed up would NEVER find it. There needs to be like a flashing light and have the font in size 4.2 million saying "Epic 4g XDA User Manual" or something like that.
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I agree. Or a sticky at the top of ALL of the subforums linking to the wiki. There used to be a STICKYWIKI post, but the title got changed.
I agree the wiki needs serious editing and updating, and we should all be somewhat responsible. Maybe if you flame a newbie, you have to add a paragraph, like a swear jar smoothone, get typing hahaha.. sorry... had to... but I get the feeling you dont mind.
Honestly, I wish sprint would just say screw you, no froyo. This way, people would move on, keep developing, not thinking to wait on that elusive source code... and stop *****ing. The repeat questions, etc werent that bad until that stupid 26th thing brought a bunch of new people at once, so everyone here who was already waiting and annoyed, then get bombarded with new people who heard about XDA from engadget.
BTW... wheres those two who had those super secret sources?????? Kinda quiet....
Bloggers: do not cite an XDA member, or their word they have a good source unless they show you the goods! Somehow, everyone thinks XDA really knows more than the average joe... and dont trust Sprint sales info or personnel!!!!
Sure, let's create yet ANOTHER ignored forum that the mod(s) get to monitor and spend more time on while every single new user here ignores it and the search button just to post the question anyway.
Instead of making a new forum, we need another moderator added to help manage the forum.
And make a post count minimum to START a new thread!! Too many ppl coming over straight from google and, not knowing how to use xda (or their effen owners manual) to its fullest.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
othan1 said:
Sure, let's create yet ANOTHER ignored forum that the mod(s) get to monitor and spend more time on while every single new user here ignores it and the search button just to post the question anyway.
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Dumping questions to a Q&A forum creates less clutter for the other forums, thus relevant threads will more likely be in the first two pages.
lazydazed said:
And make a post count minimum to START a new thread!! Too many ppl coming over straight from google and, not knowing how to use xda (or their effen owners manual) to its fullest.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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I love that idea, but there are occasionally relevant posts from new users. I would like to think that not EVERYONE that initially comes to XDA is a moron. But I guess I'm a glass half full kind of guy.
It looks like a lot of people are in favor of it.
The Q&A forum will just be full of people asking the SAME QUESTIONS over and over and over again. Why not just create a sticky that either links to an updated wiki or better yet that lays out nicely how to do basic things with the Epic4g?
muyoso said:
The Q&A forum will just be full of people asking the SAME QUESTIONS over and over and over again. Why not just create a sticky that either links to an updated wiki or better yet that lays out nicely how to do basic things with the Epic4g?
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That's ok, as long as the questions aren't in the other forums. But I agree, sticky to the wiki should be on all subforums.
Personally I don't care if the Q&A forum is filled with spam repost topics. All I, and others, want is for the it to be quarantined.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
muyoso said:
The Q&A forum will just be full of people asking the SAME QUESTIONS over and over and over again. Why not just create a sticky that either links to an updated wiki or better yet that lays out nicely how to do basic things with the Epic4g?
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That will happen in any forum. We do need a sticky, but don't expect that to stop the noobs from asking before reading.
I see that some of the other Galaxy phones here on xda have a Q&A in addition to a general section. General is used for general discussion and Q&A is for all questions. It seems like it would be more obvious for noobs to wander into the Q&A section to ask questions and hopefully save the mods some effort while also cleaning up our little corner of this website.
DiGi760 said:
That will happen in any forum. We do need a sticky, but don't expect that to stop the noobs from asking before reading.
I see that some of the other Galaxy phones here on xda have a Q&A in addition to a general section. General is used for general discussion and Q&A is for all questions. It seems like it would be more obvious for noobs to wander into the Q&A section to ask questions and hopefully save the mods some effort while also cleaning up our little corner of this website.
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Exactly my point. Also, as someone mentioned...the cycle of useless questions that cant be prevented will at least be quarantined.

[Q] Alternative to 10-post rule?

Instead of 10 postings, how about asking the new user to answer a developer-level question, before granting posting privilege to developer forums?
e.g. What is the name of the Virtual Machine used by Android? etc.
Should I suggest other similar questions?
Sent from my unrooted DroidX using XDA App
Nate2 said:
Instead of 10 postings, how about asking the new user to answer a developer-level question, before granting posting privilege to developer forums?
e.g. What is the name of the Virtual Machine used by Android? etc.
Should I suggest other similar questions?
Sent from my unrooted DroidX using XDA App
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I have considered this before, but the issue is how we add this into vBulletin in a non intrusive manner... I guess a quiz to get access to a non "new member" group would do the trick though...
I wondered about that myself. As good as that would seem, what about the people that are not really into developing, just love the work which other developers do. That would be unfair to people like them.
jrdoctor said:
I wondered about that myself. As good as that would seem, what about the people that are not really into developing, just love the work which other developers do. That would be unfair to people like them.
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Well, implement both rules then. Do one or the other. I personally don't do a lot of developing, but sysadmin type stuff (how I love Linux ) and something like that question could be found using a bit of *cough* googleing *cough*. I mean its only 10 posts, its not like its gonna kill you. I got that in less then a day.
My 2 cents.
Sent from my screaming Atrix *4G* using the XDA App
The 10 post rule is pretty hard for someone like me. I love certain mods, and am a developer of embedded software. I really only have a few forums I would like to post in, but I'm required to make other posts I could care less about just to post to topics I care about.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
there are many ways to gain 10 posts without spamming.
developers that want to develop here shouldnt have any issues answering 10 questions of noobs in the Q&A section or find a general thread that is related to you or some of your interests and ask some questions or share your experiences with that subject.
it is really easy to get 10 posts.
and you are 4 away...
Still, the 10 post limit is quite annoying and .. i'm still unable to post on the dev forums.
completely agree ...
it should actually be increased to 25 posts IMO
10 is too little
the correct place to post are in Q&A or General of each section
DEV is only for actual coders (programmers)
While I agree that the case can be made for 10 posts being a small amount, the problem is the sheer amount of people posting. I am unable to check XDA during the day, so most questions that are ones I would answer are already answered. The devs are good at that. Also, the "find something to post about " exactly the problem. I could care less about what case is better, or what skin looks good, or whatnot. Weeding through all the fluff is exhausting. Especially after a long day if development at work.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
I agree. This would be better
Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk
AllGamer said:
it should actually be increased to 25 posts IMO
10 is too little
the correct place to post are in Q&A or General of each section
DEV is only for actual coders (programmers)
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Click to collapse
I agree, I am constantly moving threads out of Dev from users in the 20 post range. If only we could implement some kind of redirect to the rules when when someone under 10 post count attempts to post in Dev, or even a redirect to 12anons 10 post explained
The 10 post rule needs to become stringent IMHO.
Or even a quiz to determine the level of experience
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
AllGamer said:
it should actually be increased to 25 posts IMO
10 is too little
the correct place to post are in Q&A or General of each section
DEV is only for actual coders (programmers)
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Click to collapse
People who are specifically coding for mobile platforms or people who code as a profession? I don't see myself doing any android coding in the near future but I do have an interest in the developers forums and you never know, I could help someone.
hi iam from chile.
sohanlon07 said:
People who are specifically coding for mobile platforms or people who code as a profession? I don't see myself doing any android coding in the near future but I do have an interest in the developers forums and you never know, I could help someone.
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I'm sure they mean for mobile platforms. That is what this forum is for, right?
Still -- ask me anything about Mumps and I'll answer it! And the first person who knows what Mumps is without searching the internet gets a cookie.
Another problem is if I've been a member for a certain amount of time, it should be a factor. I've been following these threads since my touch pro 2 days but never posted. Now when I need to post, I have to go through this initiation to even begin posting. And on to of that o have to wait five minutes between each one? Lol.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Yes
Can we please have any alternative method, I'm a developer myself who specifically registered to post a reply in one of the threads over there and it's incredibly annoying that I have to find some ways to hunt for 10 other threads and post something before being able to do so!
I do agree that it's a good thing to have some limitations, especially on opening new threads, but surely there must be a better way to grant access to just simple replies.
Does being in the top 1% for reputation on Stackoverflow count?
How about "Using Paint, point to where the Search button is."
daaain said:
Can we please have any alternative method, I'm a developer myself who specifically registered to post a reply in one of the threads over there and it's incredibly annoying that I have to find some ways to hunt for 10 other threads and post something before being able to do so!
I do agree that it's a good thing to have some limitations, especially on opening new threads, but surely there must be a better way to grant access to just simple replies.
Does being in the top 1% for reputation on Stackoverflow count?
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We are working on other ways to keep the foras clean. Please bear with us while we work things out.

Ideas for a better xda

1. Any rom posted must be listed in a Roms sticky for each device.
2. Any kernel used or posted must be posted also in a Kernel sticky for each device.
3. Any updates to either must be updated in said sticky.
4. Sticky posts should be maintained to be current, not up to date as of a year ago. Look at Desire HD sticky, it suggests to go to the complete desire hd info thread, and it is current as of last May.
5. MD5 or other checksums for all!
It is hard to find the CURRENT version of a kernel, or radio because there is no kernel section, and the radio/ril threads do not have all the radios/ril in the OP. Yes I search, yes I read, in fact I read many threads every day, but it is difficult to figure out where the right or newest version is if they aren't all together. It has become a big mishmosh of information. The mods try to keep posts relevant to thread, but they need to help implement a better structure for the actual files.
This isn't a bash against mods, so calm down, just a suggestion to improve the site for everyone and reduce the number of garbage posts that exist because of disorganization.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA
You are right
your right
nice thinking man
There is a general naming convention used in most forums. If something is out of date or in need of attention in your device specific forum, please contact your FSM.
Absolutely right bro. Thanks for jotting it down.
Wouldn't it be easier to have subforums for kernels, roms, mods etc?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
If only xda actually used ur ideas than this would be an even more beast app
Sent from my magic piece of metal using even more magic
It's really about consistency and an easy way to find the information you're look for. I think a WIKI along with editable lists would be much more maintainable than a single thread to represent very different things. And then have discussions go on in the background.
Having discussions over new roms and [ROM], [KERNEL], [HBOOT] and [etc] releases in the same subforum leads to a confusing experience. Not to mention many different subforums per device, and seeing users posting questions to not so relevant forums (or not having permission to post to the right forum). The user experience is quite aggravating, actually...
But I don't think Forums are an easy way to handle discussions, anyhow. Once you get to more than a few pages in a thread, it becomes hard to track all the information that's going on, even though it's all available publicly.
It would be nice if posts that were 'thanked' were shown with higher priority vs. the ones that weren't. Or maybe something a la reddit with its upvotes (but that has its own set of problems too).
shurane said:
It's really about consistency and an easy way to find the information you're look for. I think a WIKI along with editable lists would be much more maintainable than a single thread to represent very different things. And then have discussions go on in the background.
Having discussions over new roms and [ROM], [KERNEL], [HBOOT] and [etc] releases in the same subforum leads to a confusing experience. Not to mention many different subforums per device, and seeing users posting questions to not so relevant forums (or not having permission to post to the right forum). The user experience is quite aggravating, actually...
But I don't think Forums are an easy way to handle discussions, anyhow. Once you get to more than a few pages in a thread, it becomes hard to track all the information that's going on, even though it's all available publicly.
It would be nice if posts that were 'thanked' were shown with higher priority vs. the ones that weren't. Or maybe something a la reddit with its upvotes (but that has its own set of problems too).
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The latter system of thanked posts is in testing in the galaxy nexus forums right now
pulser_g2 said:
The latter system of thanked posts is in testing in the galaxy nexus forums right now
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What about having subforums for kernels roms(like aosp/sense) etc?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
idea
I think we need a separte part of forum for our samsung galaxy s plus 9001 no insead of samsing galaxy s 9000
so this is my idea LOL
right on point. i think some re-structuring would help to make things better! Thanked!
I am all for devs getting more standards imposed on how they post but shouldnt all posters have more standards.Recently when mods tried to impose standards on the general posting population they didnt think they needed to follow any rules.
Already answered
edudu1414 said:
I think we need a separte part of forum for our samsung galaxy s plus 9001 no insead of samsing galaxy s 9000
so this is my idea LOL
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I agree with this one but this has been already answered by one of the modes - no green light from the XDA mgmnt for the sep. section for i9001.
We need a site mirrored on this site except with no comments, just the basic skeleton. Newbies can start there, answer and ask any questions and developers can choose to respond to stupid questions if they wish. This site will be a time trial site where spammers and the developmentally challenged can be routed out early on. Existing members will fear being sent to the kinder garden site and so will also follow the rules etc.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
A lot of great ideas that would help people actually find what they are looking for before they post the dame question that has been answered. If those q&a could just be moved up to the OP or to an asked and answered OP for the Rom......
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
I wish we could really +1 posts, and also, when someone quotes our message in a reply, that the quoted poster can be notified. Many times I'm looking for an answer that may come days later, but I'll never know if there are hundreds of messages a day.
+1 and -1 with sortatiton option would be the best thing. That would help to find most useful info in threads really quick.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium
What about linking a thread by category or handset vendor? For example, thread "Xperia Mini Pro active development" will be placed in "android development" category and "Sony Xperia" category. Both are the same thread. It's not a clone thread, but lonking thread, so one thread is original and another thread is a linked thread points to original thread (just like 'ln -s' in linux). So everyone can browse it from any category they used to be.
Sent from my SK17i using xda premium

A proposal for the XDA community to consider.

I'll get straight to the point.
The nature of our Development Forums on XDA have changed dramatically since the G1 days and unfortunatly its a change for the worst, its hitting in my opinion rock bottom with less and less people willing to contribute. Back when Android was born and XDA opened its doors to us G1 users we were all there for one reason. To LEARN!
The thirst for knowledge and understanding was exciting and thrilling, being the first to discover something new and letting it be free and available to all who wanted, to strive to break down the barriers that our providers put before us and set us all free! It was to be a complete geek and openly honest a complete rush for me and all of us.
Just writing about it sends a shiver down my spine I so enjoyed it all back then. But todays culture seems to be one of spoon feeding information to people who have no idea what they actually have in there hands, and to be frank would look at me cross eyed if I told them to use terminal emulator to enter a command! Now dont get me wrong I'm no linux expert I'm not even a beginner but I took time to learn terminal commands for Android to help further our community by not asking dumb questions and knowing what a search engine was!
So for my proposal and discussion as a community is.....
Should we allow the developers to HAVE the Developement forums?
We currently have General forums with support threads so basically if your not a developer you simply can't post in there. Lets give the devs somewhere they can talk with other devs and concentrate solely on development and not reading 15,000,000 pages of posts like 'The rom didn't work its rubbish' and replying back to all these people to try and gain some peace to work.
Well I have had my say and I look forward to some serious intelligent debate on this.
How exactly do you differentiate between a dev and non-dev? Also, there are plenty of non-dev users who find valuable info for the people doing the actual dev work.
WCCobra said:
How exactly do you differentiate between a dev and non-dev? Also, there are plenty of non-dev users who find valuable info for the people doing the actual dev work.
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Easy. Can you build a rom? Do you know your arse from your elbow? And have you heard of google?
If you answer Yes to all three you're probably a dev.
No seriously you are perfectly correct and I understand what you are saying but again why couldn't we have that same discussion/help/suggestion here? Its basically the same and the devs can check in whenever they like as they already have to in their development threads now. We have help threads here that are basically unused because they are cluttering up the devs thread instead. We need to look at encouranging devs to stay and this to me gives them that and a lot more would be achieved I feel.
Perhaps a way for devs to have a open or closed thread.
Like asylum rom. There is discussion thread and a development thread.
Maybe an option to allow only recognised developers or senior members in a thread.
I agree junior members (noobs) are a pain in the ass.
I tought myself mostly by reading threads and figuring things out.... Why can't they? I don't know... I try to play nice though sometimes the stupidity bassles me.
A blacklist option or a "kick ban from thread" option for the dev. If someone is anoying to other members or just clutters the thread this would be a nice implementation for a dev.
Send from my Omega/perseus powered SGN2
Don't see this being implemented anytime soon. Thread will probably be closed as well. Sad but true. People will always ask assisine questions that can be solved by searching or wiping.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
adolfo778 said:
Don't see this being implemented anytime soon. Thread will probably be closed as well. Sad but true. People will always ask assisine questions that can be solved by searching or wiping.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
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God knows I understand that but again why not let this be the forum to ask them in?
I'm no dev. I'm far from it. But I can totally agree with what you say about it being different from the g1 days. I too get a little... Choked up...
I didn't even know what adb ment, let alone how to work it. Took me hours just to figure out and set up.
After rooting and handling updates for all my buddies phones plus my own... I'm a little more comfy. But I can't build a ROM.
There definatley a problem with people not reading. I mean... "Does cam work on this ROM?" Its answered on every page. I've seen it answered 3 posts before the question was asked.
Xda-Etiquette got lost somewhere along the way. Some things are too advanced for new android users. If it was, I didn't touch. New members don't think like that.
Read read read. Post in general or q&a. Don't clutter up dev threads with "thanks" and "help... I brick!".
Learn what a brick is. Lol.You don't have to be the first with s-off when you don't even know what it means. Wait til it becomes easier. Don't lose a device cuz you want to be on the cutting edge but don't even know what fastboot means.
Bs in the other topics. When you click that "android development" button, keep your mouth shut and read. Nothing most of the xda users, myself included, can say would be productive and helpful to devs.
And to end... I still <3 xda.
Sent from my One S using xda app-developers app
DisruptiveMind said:
God knows I understand that but again why not let this be the forum to ask them in?
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Xda has gotten a lot more traffic Since the g1 days so noob questions are expected. I imagine if the mods were to implement your idea. Alot of those threads and members would be left with unanswered questions, plus you don't have to read the 500 pages in each thread just the OP we read through the pages to pass time
And most devs already talk to each other via iirc and gtalk and popular ROMs such as venom have there own forums. The difference is xda gets more traffic. More traffic = more downloads. Plus what fun is it if all the threads are serious, and devs dont get to bag on noobs
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
adolfo778 said:
Xda has gotten a lot more traffic Since the g1 days so noob questions are expected. I imagine if the mods were to implement your idea. Alot of those threads and members would be left with unanswered questions, plus you don't have to read the 500 pages in each thread just the OP we read through the pages to pass time
And most devs already talk to each other via iirc and gtalk and popular ROMs such as venom have there own forums. The difference is xda gets more traffic. More traffic = more downloads. Plus what fun is it if all the threads are serious, and devs dont get to bag on noobs
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app
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Once again they can! They just do it in here instead when the devs need a laugh. All help and dumb questions can be answered here in the General Forum meaning people would actually be more likely to read at least something of the first post in the Development Forum because its not as daunting knowing there is another 100 pages of posts to read following it.
Did you remember to fastboot flash the boot.img?
Thx for this thread, it always helps to discuss issues if they occur. In any case there is no need for closed dev threads @ XDA, since this would lead to believe we are only developing for our own pleasure. Reality is we all enjoy to push the envelope and share it with other guys in the forum. We all need and want feedback, so it`s not a problem XDA can solve.
All we can do is try to educate users, that we are happy to help them as long as they try to search for answers first either in the thread, on XDA or Google. Users in dev thread need also understand the following:
All custom ROM`s have bugs (so do stock ROM`s)
Not all these bugs are ROM related, in many cases the problem sits in front of the device.
If it`s a real bug, just report it, but don`t be demanding. Most of us just publish stuff here for pure pleasure of sharing and cause we are proud, that we could enhance the user experience with new features.
Users really need to understand, that we don`t have an obligation to update stuff in a certain time frame. We do that in our free time and it`s just a hobby.
Users should especially behave in a friendly manner and be respectful with everyone in the threads.
So bottom line - don`t expect XDA to solve the issues, we as a community must learn to respect each other and understand there`s more important stuff in life then a phone.
Edit: Maybe except the new ONE :laugh::angel::silly:
Well again I find myself saying all that can be done here, I never once said I wanted the Development thread closing or to create a nature of 'building for themselves' we could all still have access and well would need it to download roms so I don't understand where you are coming from on that point. Why do we have a support thread in General if the support is offered in the roms thread?
And to be honest as we need to be I have seen you yourself getting annoyed by the questions that pop up time and time again as has many other devs leading to yet more and more posts about ego wars and the tiredness of answering the same thing again and again and again. Simply let that stuff stay in here otherwise not only is General but Q&A forums seem to be somewhat pointless as no matter how hard you try being nice about it users will never learn. A place where real Developers can go and know the community takes care of the 'silly' stuff, as a developer yourself I would assume you would appreciate not having to spend so much time reading all the pointless posts that appear. You say rightly that you do this as a hobby and in your free time so wouldn't it be better if you knew you had somewhere to get away from it so to speak and spend that time doing work on your rom/s?
The stupid questions are just plain laziness. I'm basically a noob, this is my first android phone and I just got it last October. I can't remember even asking any questions, maybe as couple, literally. I'm usually the one helping out people who have been using android longer than me. In October, I remember having to look up what a kernel even was. Lol. So, yeah, people just have you seriously just read more, but don't just follow steps, try to understand what you are actually doing. Just following steps, you won't learn nothing.
HTC_One_S | Xparent_ICS_Blue_Tapatalk 1.06_Hboot_Downgrade | Root_Box | Bubba_Kernel_2.8b | S-OFF
I don't think things will ever change. There are always going to be lazy, entitled noobs who want to be spoon fed. Changing that I think would be a losing battle. I'm not saying we should encourage them, but fighting and flaming simply won't ever change things. I think we should simply continue helping those who've shown they have no problem making the effort to help themselves and ignore the ones who want everything handed to them.

[DISCUSSION] XDA vs other Android forums

FIRST OF ALL, THIS THREAD IS IN NO WAY INTENDED TO BE NEGATIVE TOWARDS XDA!
When I get interested in something and look for a forum on the subject, I look for the BEST forum on the subject. When I became interested in Android phones and looked for a forum, in became obvious to me VERY quickly that XDA was THE superior forum by far; but what 'superior' means is, I think, what I would like this discussion to be about...
It was quickly obvious to me that XDA was the forum where the developers were. This, in itself, made XDA the superior forum, obviously it seemed to me. Having access to developers is certainly a priceless ability to have. Also, AFIK, new developments tend to get posted on XDA before other Android forums (though, I must admit, while I am familiar with some other Android forums, I very rarely visit them, other that by occasional Google search results, and even then, I try to seek out XDA results).
I would certainly NOT say this is the best Android forum for new users who are unwilling to search or use their brain, however new users, even if N00b's, will do fine if they respect the standard protocols.
HOWEVER... I have recently begun to wonder... is this the best Android forum to get help with your questions? If you want to question a dev on XDA about one of his/her apps, then probably yes, but what about more GENERAL questions? Is XDA really more oriented towards higher issues, such as app development?
I personally enjoy helping people with their questions, but I have found difficulty with getting responses to my questions sometimes. I feel certain that there are users on XDA that would KNOW the answer to my question, but of course, I am well aware they have better things to do with their time than answer my questions (which means no disrespect) which the likely never even see.
As I say, I have visited the other Android forums very little. I am wondering if those forums are a better place for these general types of questions? So, I welcome a discussion on anyone's opinion on other Android forums vs XDA...
I moved this here. It is probably a better place for this type of discussion
mark manning said:
I moved this here. It is probably a better place for this type of discussion
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I agree, thanks, but I don't want to create any friction between mods (see my PM).
I will not bite you, however you respond!
Well Mark, I thought it was a very valid and interesting topic for discussion, and since you moved it here I think you agreed with me, but unfortunately, we seem to be the only two people who feel that way?
Are there users here who feel that there are OTHER users here who would be better served on OTHER Android forums? I am in no way attempting to reduce the XDA user base, but as I said, I think this is obviously the ELITE forum (which DOES NOT necessarily mean exclusionary), but to my mind at least, many users here who likely have their minds on higher things than answering relatively simple questions, which might be more welcome on OTHER Android forums. OR... I could be wrong... as I mentioned, I have spent little time on other Android forums, but I have noticed that certain Google searches I make return top results from forums OTHER than XDA (though GENERALLY I find XDA gets the top results).
SO... anyone care to express any opinions on this, pro or con? Now is your change to make your opinion known.
(OH... and if rating my own thread 5 stars is bad form... tough titty said the kitty...)
rsngfrce said:
Well Mark, I thought it was a very valid and interesting topic for discussion, and since you moved it here I think you agreed with me, but unfortunately, we seem to be the only two people who feel that way?
Are there users here who feel that there are OTHER users here who would be better served on OTHER Android forums? I am in no way attempting to reduce the XDA user base, but as I said, I think this is obviously the ELITE forum (which DOES NOT necessarily mean exclusionary), but to my mind at least, many users here who likely have their minds on higher things than answering relatively simple questions, which might be more welcome on OTHER Android forums. OR... I could be wrong... as I mentioned, I have spent little time on other Android forums, but I have noticed that certain Google searches I make return top results from forums OTHER than XDA (though GENERALLY I find XDA gets the top results).
SO... anyone care to express any opinions on this, pro or con? Now is your change to make your opinion known.
(OH... and if rating my own thread 5 stars is bad form... tough titty said the kitty...)
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Well I'm new here myself and I've found it's relatively easy to find information here. The forums seems pretty active. It's a lot better than Bitcointalk that's for sure.. I haven't seen a bigger cesspool of trolls of fud anywhere on the new lol
As I've been here for about 3 and a half years (roughly a year as just a visitor) and am a staff member here, I'm clearly leaning more towards XDA being the best Android forum.
Before I found my way to XDA, I had signed up to a fair few other Android forums (being a mixture of general Android and some more development focused) and for some reason I just didn't stick around. Some of the forums were simply a mess but others weren't too bad. Most of the time, I didn't become active on those forums purely because it didn't feel right, I guess.
In regards to general questions, there's definitely a place for them here. Obviously we are more focused on development than general Android questions but we'll still support those anyway.
If you look through any of the device forums you'll notice that the majority of questions are normally about rooting/unlocking the boot loader of that particular device but there are still a lot of standard questions being asked as well.
With you not getting answers to your questions, it's more likely due to not being in an active enough forum or not being seen by the right people rather than people not answering purely because it's not as technical as other questions might be.
KidCarter93 said:
As I've been here for about 3 and a half years (roughly a year as just a visitor) and am a staff member here, I'm clearly leaning more towards XDA being the best Android forum.
Before I found my way to XDA, I had signed up to a fair few other Android forums (being a mixture of general Android and some more development focused) and for some reason I just didn't stick around. Some of the forums were simply a mess but others weren't too bad. Most of the time, I didn't become active on those forums purely because it didn't feel right, I guess.
In regards to general questions, there's definitely a place for them here. Obviously we are more focused on development than general Android questions but we'll still support those anyway.
If you look through any of the device forums you'll notice that the majority of questions are normally about rooting/unlocking the boot loader of that particular device but there are still a lot of standard questions being asked as well.
With you not getting answers to your questions, it's more likely due to not being in an active enough forum or not being seen by the right people rather than people not answering purely because it's not as technical as other questions might be.
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As I said from the beginning, it was obvious to me very quickly that XDA was far and away the BEST Android forum. That is why I chose it and though I did register on one or two other forums, I have rarely ever visited them (other than, as I mentioned, through Google searches).
For best discussion purposes, I don't think we should focus on my specific issues with getting questions answered (even though they did somewhat provoke this thread). I have a Sprint Galaxy S4, not an unpopular phone or inactive forum, and I feel I am able to express my issues relatively well. However, I finally left that forum with my question, having gotten nowhere (though my issue is VERY unusual) and went to the general Galaxy S4 forum, and received the best help I have received from a user from outside the USA who was totally unfamiliar with Sprint system software, but made general recommendations that I found greatly helpful. However, I am just one person and I digress somewhat...
I would think it would be fair to say that XDA is NOT the best Android forum for users who want to be spoon-fed (unless, perhaps, they limit themselves to N00B friendly threads)... I am personally not as annoyed by these types of people as many are, but I certainly see many here who are (how often do you see, "read the OP")... I was recently following a thread where a new user kept being referred to the OP, even though clearly it WAS NOT answering his question (which was outside of my personal knowledge, though I did try). Perhaps there are better Android forums for these types of people (not referring to the person in the last example) than XDA?
OR... maybe just send them to one of zepplinrox' threads :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=32472429&postcount=15372
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=32475760&postcount=15374
All forums are good since they are all providing free tutorials which help the users .
The only advantage xda has is that the OWNERS do their best to keep the forum up , thing which require a good paid server and monthly payments .. other forum owners simply do not afford paying for the fees each month from the simple reason that once the visitors are getting big in numbers the forum server also do require some server updates . So thanks XDA owners for keeping this forum up !!
alin razvan said:
...The only advantage xda has is that the OWNERS do their best to keep the forum up...
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WOW... you're leaving yourself a little wide open with that comment I think...
(No offense intended...)
People seem to forget XDA is not a support forum. It never has been.
As the motto says: "For Developers, By Developers".
the_scotsman said:
People seem to forget XDA is not a support forum. It never has been.
As the motto says: "For Developers, By Developers".
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Now that's the kind of strong opinion I was looking for! :good: (Whether we choose to agree or disagree...)
the_scotsman said:
People seem to forget XDA is not a support forum. It never has been.
As the motto says: "For Developers, By Developers".
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Actually, that was exactly the response I wanted to hear when I started this thread (and from a MOD too!). It is not for me to say whether that is right or wrong (or for anyone else to say, IMO), everyone is entitled to their opinion, that is why I started this thread. But I guess I am interested in what percentage of users here feel that way? I am SURE it is a larger percentage than at other Android forums. However, that may be made somewhat irrelevant by this forum having (I AM ASSUMING) a larger user base than the other Android forums, so when that percentage is removed, there are still more users here interested in supporting others. And, of course, I am not saying this is or is not a support forum. Opinions are what I want! :good:
(TOTALLY IRRELEVANT QUESTION for the_scotsman, haggis muncher from Australia: I go to the Scottish Highland Gathering & Games in Pleasanton California every year and I am mystified as to how the didgeridoo seems to have become a Scottish instrument... know anything about this?)
rsngfrce said:
(TOTALLY IRRELEVANT QUESTION for the_scotsman, haggis muncher from Australia: I go to the Scottish Highland Gathering & Games in Pleasanton California every year and I am mystified as to how the didgeridoo seems to have become a Scottish instrument... know anything about this?)
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hah! I have no idea to be honest! Seems to be a sort of link between Scottish bands using didgeridoos for some reason...perhaps because they sound good played together with bagpipes :good:

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