Forum threads in Devices sub-category (and elsewhere) becoming bloated; time to make some changes?
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Questions posted into some of the device threads can get overlooked as they travel up the list quite quickly and users cannot get any feedback like they do when posting an individual topic. It is also becoming harder to find something/some response that you know is in there somewhere.
Naturally some people post their device specific questions elsewhere and manage to get a better response, despite repeated prompts from admin to post in the specific device sub-category!
This is all set to get worse with the imminent arrival of the ce batch of the pinephone (just had my tracking/customs emails, hooray!).
Furthermore the latest forum news suggests posting pine phone questions into a pine phone thread in the general category; which is another bloated thread.
Currently the individual devices are 'topics'; could they be converted into 'sub-categories' with each device having its own sub-category, thus enabling the posting of individual topics by users?
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@ziggutas Not sure what you mean by sub categories in your last paragraph so if you could expand on that it would help. In general though I agree things are getting hard to find now for some devices. One of the reasons I feel is that we now have many devices in active development e.g. OP3T which only has an 'edge' channel. This means that asking about an issue on that device away from the development thread means it gets lost and maybe missed. Also issues with these device are often have completely different from fully fledged devices so the general Support section also feels wrong.
So how to get round this. Time for some ideas maybe. All are welcome and lets see. -
@Lakotaubp Well, in the Porting category I see the topics posted by users in the usual fashion and at the top of the page,under the heading Subcategories, is Devices. Go to Devices and you have the list presented as 'topics'. And those topics are replied to in the manner we see; which on the longer OP3 topic is a bit like being on telegram!
Whereas if instead of Devices being the subcategory, er... the actual devices were the subcategories (yes it might be a problem I can see, but this is just to show what the difference could be if it could be reverse engineered) then users could create their own particular topics in the actual device thread. If you follow me?
Another thing though. I have noticed that it is possible to 'reply as topic' but haven't quite tried it out and don't think I've seen it done. Could this be another way of getting round it? I'll try doing it in a minute after I've posted this!
EDIT: No tried that and it wasn't what I thought it would be. I'll remove the post it created
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You mean sub-categories for each devices like in XDA-Dev forums as i understand?
That would be a good solution yes. -
@Keneda said in Forum threads in Devices sub-category (and elsewhere) becoming bloated; time to make some changes?:
You mean sub-categories for each devices like in XDA-Dev forums as i understand?
That would be a good solution yesThanks for your reply.
Similar yes. I've been searching online for some forum software, free trial, same as this; but no luck so far. It would be useful to play about with.
Who provides the software for this forum do you know?
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@Keneda Thanks for that; I'll take a look.
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This will show what I mean. Each device becomes a subcategory of the Porting category.
Look in the OP3/3T for further suggestions on how to deal with a changeover.EDIT: in the linked example forum I've added a couple of 'new topics ' in the 3/3T subcategory, just to clarify.
EDIT 2: The link no longer works. Had to cancel the trial version to preserve my credit card! I will post some screenshots if there is any interest; and when I've figured out how to do it without clogging up the thread! -
@ziggutas Thanks for that. Only had a very quick look so forgive me if I have missed something but, it looks the same or similar to what we have now.
Lets take Porting. We have the main Porting section. Inside that the Devices subsection, which then has a section for each device.
I can see a point when these in dev devices become fully working doing something similar in the support section or maybe just an arm64 sub section.
As I said will have another look later on today. -
@Lakotaubp You're busy, so have a closer look when you have time.
The key difference and the reason for my suggestion in the first place is this:
A user can now post a new topic directly into the new 3t subcategory with all the benefits of having feedback to see how many times someone has looked at it, receive direct replies etc.
vince's original post would be moved to the new subcat and pinned (can't do this on the trial version of nodebb)
New users could be encouraged to post direct into the device subcat, or even moved by you into the subcat.
I appreciate it is extra work to set up for people busy enough already!! But I think it would be easy. Not sure though, I've only been doing it a day and the free trial version is a bit limited!
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@ziggutas No it's all good, ideas are worth looking at and discussing. Tha forum needs to work for the community and that's you. Ok I now get better idea of what you mean. In effect under OP3/T sub-section, pin the current dev thread as a ref, then gave the ability for new threads as in the current Support section. Have I finally got it now?.
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@Lakotaubp Yes, that's it it! I'm trying to work out with my trial version what steps you would be taking on the real thing. It might be something like:
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Move the Devices subcategory and all it's content to a safe place
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Create the many new device subcategories in the Porting category
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As you say, move the current dev threads to their new homes and pin
Under each new subcat users can post in its original dev thread or create their own topic.
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@ziggutas
Basically you want to create a space for device specific support.
It will:- Add support ability in the porting area
- Save traffic in the support category
I also like @Lakotaubp's idea to create an arm64 sub-category within the support.
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@AppLee said in Forum threads in Devices sub-category (and elsewhere) becoming bloated; time to make some changes?:
@ziggutas
Basically you want to create a space for device specific support.
It will:- Add support ability in the porting area
- Save traffic in the support category
I also like @Lakotaubp's idea to create an arm64 sub-category within the support.
Yes. Well said.
I lack the ability to be clear and concise, I know! And I'll always choose the hardest way to do something as well!
May I use your words to edit the title of this post? -
@ziggutas said in Forum threads in Devices sub-category (and elsewhere) becoming bloated; time to make some changes?:
May I use your words to edit the title of this post?
My words here are open sourced in GPLV3
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Ok now we seem to be seeing things a bit clearer lets see if there are any other ideas that come up. No firm promises on this, but lets think on a bit further and see where we end up and we can move it on and see what happens.
I have the feeling that with more and more devices arriving we need to make support questions and answers easier to post, find and use in the future. Thanks for the input so far. -
@Lakotaubp You're welcome. Thanks for engaging with this.
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I think this would be a really good idea to make subforums. Also from a contributor perspective.
I cannot follow a thousand-message-thread where "everything" is discussed (which also applies to almost all our telegram channels). But I have no problem scanning the new thread titles and jumping into those threads where I might be able to contribute (or am interested in the outcome myself)
