Make life easier for Noobies (and old hands)?

I've been a member of this forum since the spring, when I got my first J720. Something I've noticed is that both the noobs and the old hands get frustrated when a new member comes here asking questions that have been answered again and again in the CESD, the forums, etc.

Why not put a link (in bright RED) on the homepage, at the top of the navigation menu on the left (yep, even above "History of Windows CE") that says New to H/PCs? Click HERE first!.

That would take a new member to a page that gives an overview of the H/PC systems, the site, the policies (search first, ask questions later), and some helpful getting started links (search the forums, CESD, etc.).

That may cut down on the frustration on both sides of the fence between noobs and gurus.

What does everyone else think?

(PS: I hope this is the appropriate place for this discussion...)

RLW

I started writing such a document when the forum first went up, but as it's only me that winds up writing anything for this site, and my time is starved as it is, it is like many things; impractical for me to finish it. My current priority here is databases, and so they are what is getting my attention at the moment.

The second thing is that people don't want to read it. They want to be spoon fed with one on one 'personal' treatment. It wouldn't stop such posting in the majority of cases. You just have to look at the number of people who register here to get free tech support and then leave to see it, they aren’t even aware there is a website, or a community. I even suspect that in some cases they aren't even aware there is a human being involved! That is, however, a minority case.

Then of course there are the frequent instances of people saying "oh but I couldn't find x,y,z in the support section/hcl” etc. The reality of their hardship is in actual fact that they haven't even looked. They of course don't expect that it's possible for us to know they're telling fibs.

... so Sisyphus continues to roll his stone.

You're right, C:Amie.. It gets a bit annoying when people ask if something's compatible with their device, when they could just explore the site to find the HCL.. When I first came here last year, I was a bit like that.. As, I had not explored the site enough as I am familiar with it now.. But, as a 'newbie', you should explore first before asking a question.. I do Google searches, etc, before asking a question usually.. It's just sad that the great wealth of information of HPC:Factor is going to waste when these people don't just explore the site first... These are just my thoughts and opinions..

actually the CESD and the HCL is not the most user friendly so i can understand if someone fails to find the drivers in the HCL or the relevant article in the cesd (i always have a hard time when tryign to find anything in the cesd).

still, i don't know why some people don't even try to use google.

I think you should have posted this here:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=103&post...

CE Geek, is not that thread for the forums, I could be wrong.. But, is not this a site idea.. I guess there's a difference

My bad. Geez, I could've just read the title. How's that for irony?

teaches you not to try to act as a moderator

honestly i'm sick of that, all the people telling others what to do (instead of mods just doing their job), spoils, ruins all the fun of this forum - but i might be too liberal

Edited by cmonex 2006-10-06 5:26 PM

Sorry, cmonex, but I just couldn't resist after rlw's first comment.

I have the answer...when a noob logs on and asks a question that has been asked a zillion times, and has been answered just as many, like "how do I put program on my hpc?" Everyone should respond with an answer like "Klato nicto verada, oop eek ork ahh, glbuz rognuto goglebutt" Imagine what they would think when they saw several responses in gobblegook...they would be checking their desktops for language sets....

Rich

Edited by Rich Hawley 2006-10-06 6:20 PM

"Goglebutt"?

(EDIT: post ZZZZ - er, I mean 2222)

Edited by CE Geek 2006-10-06 6:54 PM

Same to you, buddy.

Well, Rich.. With a reply like that, I'd head off to the "any good sci-fi" thread, to look for my answers... And btw, it's Klaatu!

ROFL, Rich .. That was a great movie .. You gotta love the classics

I stand shoulder to shoulder behind cmonex on that sentiment. There are certain individuals who are over stepping the boundary, and it is getting to a stage where something will need to be done about it. The moderators do not need to be told what to do to run this board, not from me, not from other users. They are mod's here because they already know how to do that job.

I know cmonex's grip with the HCL revolves around the notes section. It didn't prove practical to higlight the region, it was too in your face. Do bring these things up in the 'other' place though, particuarly re search aids.

I know what might be interesting. I know that I have a Triage list for the site, but I wonder what the user's triage list would be, what do you think needs to be tourniquet'd first?

See if you can come up with a general concensus. A top 5 things that need adjusting, and a top 5 new things for the future. Be as trivial as you like "the font size on the log off screen is too big" or as functional as you like.

I ask you to consider two things though
1 - I have feelings and in addition require sleep.
2 - The reason why many of your great forum related suggestions haven't been added is because it is not easily within my power to rewrite the PD9 kernel, not that I've ignored them.