Guest cepheus1 Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 Well, I've had my SPV for 7 days....and I LOVE it!!!!! I've spent a fair amount of time on this site....well ok a LOT of time on this site.....no *ACTUALLY* I've spent FAR TOO MUCH TIME ON THIS SITE!!!.....but this site is great, I love it; and the members and visitors are incredibly generous with their time! Well done to you all and thanks! But in just 1 week I've seen the same questions come up again and again in just the last 7 days; and even though the beginners thread says "Don't be afraid to ask, we don't bite!", Newbies sometimes DO get snapped at if it is considered they haven't searched for the answer properly first! I can understand the frustration of all the regulars to see the same questions asked over and over again and for sure, it is obvious in some cases that Newbies just haven't bothered to search for their answer first! ...but, you have to remember that there are 14,764 articles on this site which can make the task of searching quite daunting, particulary as the "Search" facility isn't as good as it could be - partly due to the fact that often the answers to a particular search are not always under a logical thread title; and the complete answer can be spread over a couple of different threads!! These are observations, not criticism friends; and I'm not one to make observations without constructive suggestions so.... IMHO what I think the site needs is 1 locked thread, in the Beginners section, that lists the answer to EVERYTHING that Newbies want to know in the first week of ownership! Subjects such as: - Where to get Ringtones; How to record Ringtones; Where to put Ringtones Where to find SIGNED software; How to load software All about IA Album All about ALL-explorer How to encode movies; where to put movies How to record music; where to put music How to set up e-mail How to set up GPRS Where to find SD and MMC Cards The best SPV Insurance Setting up Active Sync; How to transfer using Active Sync .....and so on! It doesn't neccesarily need a thread where everything is written out long hand....just a link to the 1 or 2 threads that hold the definitive answer or advice. As and when more questions get asked, a Admin just adds the neccessary info and/or link to the answer. I'd be more than happy to assist with the putting together of this idea if our very own MVP thinks it worthy :wink: As I said at the beginning....Great Site & thanks to everyone for their help and time ;)
Guest Bazz Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 Yup, I'm very forgiving in the Beginners section and pretty damn harsh in all the others. I reckon new members should only be allowed to post in the Beginners section for the first week (not sure if this is possible). Barry
Guest yatpeak Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 I don't think that would be possible as then the more advanced members couldn't give them advice on their problems, only read about them. Wyatt
Guest Bazz Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 Guess I didn't make myself clear: Normal Members can post anywhere, including the Beginners section. New Members can only post in Beginners section. That way we avoid beginners posting the same topics over and over again in the Main section, but at the same time don't limit beginners from posting at all. Only needs to be for a short time - say 24 hours or a week - until they learn that there is a Search function on this board and that a lot of questions have been answered before. As I say most people are more forgiving to repeated posts/easy questions in the beginners section. I certainly am...
Guest Bazz Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 Grrr didn't mean to double post! Anyway for me to delete my double posts?
Guest cepheus1 Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 I'm all in favour of that Bazz ;) But that still doesn't make searching any easier with nearly 15,000 posts to search through :cry: What are your thoughts about my suggestion?
Guest Bazz Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 Yup agree we need an FAQ. We've been talking about that since the beginning. In fact someone's just taken you advice and stuck one in the Beginners section. The problem is most beginners prefer to post rather than read. Even with a god FAQ we're still gonna get repeated questions. Plus an FAQ will eventually become so big it won't be easy to search, the one in the beginers section is still missing loads in my opinion and it's quite big. I say as long as we only get repeated posts in the Beginners section we be nice to people - we can't beat 'em so might as well humour 'em. P.S. Do you really need such a big signature? It's taking up half the page ;-)
Guest cepheus1 Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 Is there anything that doesn't annoy you Bazz? :wink:
Guest cepheus1 Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 lol ;) Next you'll be asking people not to use paragraphs and line spacing 'cos it adds to the length of the page :!: I suppose that made you a HUGE fan of weswes19's writing style :wink:
Guest Bazz Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 God I REALLY hate that! Some of my other posting pet hates include: * people who dont use any punctuation or capitals dont they realise how difficult it makes posts to read its almost impossible to make any sense of this * wen p-ple like 2 rite in a really "cool" style witch is really difficult 2 read * SHOUTERS! HAVEN'T THEY WORKED OUT WHERE THE CAPS LOCK KEY IS? * Beginners that post loads and loads of useless posts in an effort to pump up their rating. * Triple posters. Post twice and it's a mistake, but 3 times? Come on calm down on the Refresh key! Grrr! Angry Bazz is back!!! Breath... breath... breath... LOL, Barry
Guest awarner [MVP] Posted January 26, 2003 Report Posted January 26, 2003 Nice to see you're on form barry ;) Keep up the good work and Chepheus1 leave Wes and his friends alone :wink: YOU know what I mean :lol:
Guest AsherUK Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 I have to agree with Cepheus1 and Bazz. It would be good to have the most common questions and answers easily listed in the Beginners section, and also some sort of restriction to stop beginners posting in the main (or other sections) until they learn how to use the forum properly and get use to using the search option before posting, although, I think 24 hours would not be long enough, maybe a week or two would be better. Oh, and if we could find someone who was really bored, it would be nice to see some of the "useless" threads deleted to tidy things up a bit (two examples being the first Weswes thread and the Furgan "Replace the battery thread" - although the latter still amuses me.)
Guest wideawake Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 I agree with the restriction on posting, and think that concise FAQ's are the aswer (someone to collate all the info?) But removing useless threads? Whilst they can be annoying sometimes I think you would lose some of the spirit of this forum, and to an extent freedom of speech! Who is to judge what is funny or what is just useless. I will get off my soap box now! Another idea is that perhaps the rating, ie mine is "Newbie" should really reflect on how many posts you have read, as opposed to how many you have posted. (Taking into account how long you have been a member) Anyway, it's still the best forum on the web. Well done everyone!!
Guest spacemonkey Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 Useless threads drop of the bottom of the page pretty fast. It's easy to say purge this, purge that, but before you know it you've lost something important. A decent point by point FAQ, not a FAQ thread is really what we need. If the info was in that and they still posted the question Bazz could kill them ;) Of course even when it's quite clear you still get a lot of ongoing posts. For example the unlock process. The thread is still going strong with people posting along the lines of "I tried it but I just can't get it to work".
Guest Rob.P Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 I agree, prehaps we could compile the Orange "unsigned" manual in PDF which covers all of the FAQ stuff and a bit more. What do you think Paul?
Guest spacemonkey Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 Hmmm.. you don't want the newbies to be trying to download and read a .pdf... Just a simple HTML FAQ... split into points etc. I'd happily work one up but I won't be able to do anything till after mid feb cos I'm on holiday.
Guest cepheus1 Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 I spent 4 hours reading as many post as I saw as relevant before I became a registered user! So I think my rating, based upon posts read would be something like "that fool that went blind reading all those posts!". However, when I want to clear those dreaded red folders for subjects I have no interest in, rather than read the posts I just click on the red thingy and click the back button on my browser! The point is, that there is no way you could check that a newbie has *actually* read any posts :cry: The search facility is not very user friendly and there really does need to be a simple and specific newbie section of FAQ's. Only then would the multiple threads every week asking the same question actually stop :wink:
Guest wideawake Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 Listen to us!! Paul, you should be proud (or is it the fantastic SPV) not many forum sites are discussing how to reduce the number of posts!! Not only this, but we have a fledgling Co-operative company on the horizon. The whole SPV experience has become more than just a phone (lucky it had so many bugs in a way) Blasphemy!
Guest cepheus1 Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 wideawake, ALL GREAT TRUTHS BEGIN AS BLASPHEMIES :wink:
Guest Bazz Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 A decent point by point FAQ, not a FAQ thread is really what we need. If the info was in that and they still posted the question Bazz could kill them ;) Cool - but do you mean kill them with my sparkling wit and cutting sarcasm... or actually murder them? Please say actually kill them! :twisted: Also would the app signing fund be available for my defense? ;-)
Guest wideawake Posted January 27, 2003 Report Posted January 27, 2003 We would have to have a Poll for your defence Bazz (I'm not too hopeful though) These bl**dy red envelopes, I really do need to do some work!
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