36 replies to this topic

[Bazz]

A final defence of my duplicated post. IMHO there is a difference between posting info a couple of times and in posting the same question a couple of times. Posting a question means you'd like an answer which can take a bit of time so you should have a look to see if it's been answered before (might even be quicker than waiting for an answer), whereas posting info people can choose to ignore it. Plus I was really, really, really frustrated by this this morning. Also I don't think I've shouted too much at others, without at least offering a link most times, and I'm not a mod so it's not that hypocritical ;-)

In general I agree that the mods and regulars have been getting more militant (particularly with locking and moving topics) and I don't really agree with it. Don't think I, personally, have been too bad though, except for a couple of posts, but I'll keep an eye on my posts for a bit.

I also agree with your points on frivalous comments. Used to really annoy me, particularly when they are blatantly an attempt to change a person's ranking (not wishing to name any names, but one of the mods was particularly guilty of this at the beginning). Who cares about a ranking anyway? I'm personally a bit embarrased about my Addict ranking (need to get more of a life ;-)) and I don't think I've posted too many frivilous comments, certainly not when I first joined.

However saying that when you hang around the board a lot you do get to know certain people's styles and the feeling of community is created by some of the frivilous comments. I'd rather have a friendly board than a boring set of instruction manuals.

Anyway, it's been an interesting thread that's distracted me from my otherwise dull day at work.

[Syvwlch]

In a purely frivolous post of the worst sort, I'd like to point out that in modern French, Petard only means firecracker, and by analogy, a joint. So why don't we hoist a few, share them 'round like good chaps?

I'm no expert on forums, so I can't compare, but I must say that it's been a pleasure first lurking, then participating in MoDaCo, and that it's made the SPV User Experience much better than otherwise. We've all helped others, newbies or no, we've all sniped a coupla times (oh the foolish things we'll do for a snappy answer), and in the end, the forum seems to get by.

If the forum was changing in tone, then Honest John's lancing the boil is prolly a good thing, and we certainly seem to have had a lotta bad air to vent. When the dust settles, we'll be a bit more careful in tone with Newbies, we'll admit that when in a bad mood, it's not THAT hard to ignore those previously-asked questions to let someone else having a better day answer them kindly but firmly.

Wow, listen to me drone on... the Petard must be getting to me.

[Monolithix]

Admittedly with the current size of the boards searches are not always productive.  When i see a new thread about a topic previously covered i will ~always~ provide a link to the thread or threads that are relevant, and i understand that some members do just blast "SEARCH!!!!" at them and not offer any suggestions, this also needs to be addressed...

As for Honest John's point 3; no they aren't, but we have and Off Topic forum for "frivalous" threads

Here is how i go about searching for threads:

In search i put in the relevant words, eg "decert phone dk update", to find info on how to decert my SPV after applying a Danish update.
I will always select "search for all words", or else you ~will~ end up with 3000 hits.
Skim over the first page of results and check any that look relevant.
If i have no luck i will go back and refine the search by adding removing or altering words (decert or decertify?) and repeat for any combinations that seem relevant.
As a last resort i will check over a page or two of an appropriate forum.

This will yeild good results for me 95% of the time.

I hope this helps.

[Chris b.a.r.f.]

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I agree that in the Beginners section people should be nice. I don't think any topics should be locked or Beginners should be told to search. It's what the beginners section is for! Other sections deserve the full wrath...

That depends on the post, how it's worded and the banality of the question being asked - if people have a specific problem that's already been covered then it's easier for the regulars to do a search for them and supply a link to the correct article - if they supply as much info about the problem as possible. It's the questions like "I can't unlock my SPV" with no other info where I personally tend to refer to a search instead of trying to help out by sorting search results - we can't know what software version the guy has, where he lives, what he's already tried (et cetera) so we can't really help anyway....

[Myke]

oo what am i?

[DJHope]

All this talk of honest john rockets and petard bombs, anyone would think you guys are starting a war! Newbies vs Veterans ROUND THREE COMMENCE!

Although i am in total agreement with the newbies see it from our perspective its irratating to keep answering the same questions. I thought that a FAQ would be a good idea and i started one and never finished because frankly intrest was virtually nil.

Also often it is easier to ask a question and not bother to search, its like all these people who keep asking me for roms (through PM's) i have no idea how these people cant find them its probably about the easiest thing todo on the internet!

I sympathise with the people that DO search, realise their are many that dont. I rekon most people sign up, ask their question and wait for an answer, and dont even see the SEARCH dialouge at the top of the page.

erm erm erm...eh whats a search engine?

DJ Hope

[mattat]

It's a shame that you aren't doing the FAQ anymore - it was actually quite good I thought. I still think that it would be a very useful thing to have especially for newbies who ask questions like - I can't decert my phone, help - because at least then we could refer to the FAQ as a good starting point that doesn't contain conflicting instructions.

That's part of the problem - sometimes you can do a search and find a thread with instructions in, only to follow them and later find out that they were corrected or no longer relevant because of an upgrade etc. A FAQ would have the advantage that it could be kept relatively up to date and so provide a fairly definitive answer to the basic questions.

[DJHope]

I would conduct a poll but everytime i bring the topic of a FAQ up it always generates hardly any intrest and quickly moves down the page!

DJ Hope

[spacemonkey]

I think a FAQ would be very useful, the problem is always getting someone to write it and maintain it.  It's only gonna be a help if it actually contains all the relevant information people need, and up to date.  I'd happily contribute to a FAQ if someone else put together the structure for it.  (ie, it would presumably be hosted as part of MoDaCo etc, and have some sort of framework for FAQ modifiers to enter/change information through.)

[stickboy]

...The reason I enquired about your name Honest John is that my father used to be on the launch crew of the Royal Artillery's Honest John rockets back in the sixties.

He told me a funny story of when the Yanks came over to show the Brits "how they should be operated".  But when the Yanks fired their rocket they forgot to remove the clamps that held the rocket to the launch cradle, and this 25ft-odd rocket took off still attached, cart-wheeling down the firing range!  Dad said it was the biggest catherine wheel he'd ever seen, and once the rocket had ran out of fuel, all that was left was a giant ball of metal.  

[CamperBoy]

Just an observation,

I assume there are many people like myself that have the label "newbie" but have been here for many months having obtained the SPV shortly after the release of the phone.  We've simply stayed quiet on the forums, because all the questions we need answers to, have been covered by other users.  Having said that, I have found it quite difficult to find specific posts using the search facility in the past, it just takes a bit of practise.

It is probably fair to say that "addicts" etc. do rant on a bit when they get a bee in their bonnet, but then some people have lives! (just winding you up guys!  :twisted: )

[DJHope]

Everything comes second fiddle to my social life, but i do love gadgets:

My priorities!

1) Social life
2) Music
3) Women
4) SPV
5) sleep
6) food
7) work
8] News/Poiltics/'Caring' about the world
9) Car
10) Money

[ClintEastman]

I think this may be of interest to this topic Search MoDaCo

[Richie M]

Quote

I think this may be of interest to this topic Search MoDaCo

                          

Dj Hope - Music/DJ-ing always comes 1st  8)

[Monolithix]

Hmm....

Moved to Off Topic.....

[Chris b.a.r.f.]

Quote

oo what am i?

eh? Myke's "cryptic post day"  :wink:

[DJHope]

Dj Hope - Music/DJ-ing always comes 1st -> yeh had a crises ova social life/dj-ing+music!