Annoying repeat topics

[DarkElf]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets annoyed by the small number of topics that seem to come up again and again in certain parts of these forums.I tend to spend a lot of time in the PHP forum and I especially see a lot of posts relating to; email forms, sessions and login scripts. I'm sure that other parts of the forums also get lots of similarly repetative requests.Whilst the best solution to all these problems would be for stupid noobs to run a search for what they are looking for before diving straight in and posting, that is never going to happen. Unfortunately the law (in most parts of the world) prevents us from shooting them as an alternative.I see two plausable solutions: Some of these requests may be solved by building the answers into the w3schools tutorials, but I actually don't think that this would be the best or appropriate solution in all cases. The tutorials are about teaching eager young developers how to use the languages involved in web development, not about spoon feeding them all the scripts they will ever need. The other alternative would be for someone to run through all these repetative posts and pick out all the best responses people have given in the past, and then collate these into a few stickies that might get the noobs attention before they start wasting everyone elses time.I certainly would be willing to devote a little time to addressing the problem topics from the php forum and was wondering what other people thought, or if anyone had some other ideas?(before anyone says anything - yes I do note the irony that this is another topic that has been widely discussed/whinged about)

[smiles]

before anyone says anything - yes I do note the irony that this is another topic that has been widely discussed/whinged about

yeah you are right but why we had to talk about this topic many times ???certainly to get the best understanding think of the other synonymous things in the same way

[Skemcin]

You make very valid pointa and they have all been considered. There has been communication with w3schools.com to include some of the commonly stated topics to be introduced as tutorials. At the moment, I am not sure of the progress of that situation. With respect to making stickies - as much I I would like think that the idea would work - it wouldn't. We mention clearly in our Rule and "Read before your post" messages that one should search the forum before posting a question. The problem with that post is that people don't read it - and that is what would happen with the post you suggest. It will just be ignored as new comers rarely get past the 'New Topic" button until they get concept we are discussing.What I have found to work is to make sure that I have replied to the solution in any of the previous posts on the topic. Then, since I know I offered a solution, I quickly search the forums specifically on my posts and with certain keywords I know I would have used. Almost always I never have to check more than the first two results. Then, in the upper right hand corner of the post you click on the "Post #5" link and copy the address. Finally, go back to that post and simply say "This solution has been discussed in great detail "here" (paste link). Or, you can do a search on "xxxxx" to find a few related conversations. The search tool is real helpful in finding solutions that have already been discussed and resolved"I understand the annoyance of such repetitive posts - but there is nothing we can do to completely avoid it just as much as there is nothing we can to to stop drunk driving.

[smiles]

it can be solved by adding a notice in posting part

[johneva]

You make very valid pointa and they have all been considered.  There has been communication with w3schools.com to include some of the commonly stated topics to be introduced as tutorials.  At the moment, I am not sure of the progress of that situation.  With respect to making stickies - as much I I would like think that the idea would work - it wouldn't.  We mention clearly in our Rule and "Read before your post" messages that one should search the forum before posting a question.  The problem with that post is that people don't read it - and that is what would happen with the post you suggest.  It will just be ignored as new comers rarely get past the 'New Topic" button until they get concept we are discussing.

Your right for 99% of people having the sticky would not work, but at least it saves searching to direct them to a previous post that is simlar as you could just direct them to the sticky.

[Skemcin]

Your right for 99% of people having the sticky would not work, but at least it saves searching to direct them to a previous post that is simlar as you could just direct them to the sticky.

We can definitely look into that. There is quite a bit of posts piling up so I guess now would be the best time to get a handle on it. I'll also send a message onto kaijim to see if additional tutorials could be added to reduce the duplicate topics.Thanks for your feedback.

[Jonas]

You mean like a thread directory, like this:http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=119311I would rather have one sticky like that with lots of topics than have one sticky for each popular topic.

[aspnetguy]

You mean like a thread directory, like this:http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=119311I would rather have one sticky like that with lots of topics than have one sticky for each popular topic.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think that is a good idea. We are getting a lot of pinned topics

[johneva]

I think that is a good idea. We are getting a lot of pinned topics

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep your right there are quite a few topics that come up quite regular.

[Little Goat]

why not just add a forum called common problems and not allow the users to post? like you copy posts there that address common issues and then lock them.LG

[Jonas]

In that case you'd have to go out of the forum you were currently in, and click on another forum. That is one more click than just clicking on the announcement thread. Time is money.

[smiles]

I think this is the best

[Jonas]

That's interesting. But that would require some serious board editing by kaijim. None of us have access to board php, html or css.

[Sunati]

If your so mad at it make a mod "not a moderator but a code that makes this work better" and give it to the admin to the admin for him to put in the code...If you don't want to do that then stop bickering.

[johneva]

If your so mad at it make a mod "not a moderator but a code that makes this work better" and give it to the admin to the admin for him to put in the code...If you don't want to do that then stop bickering.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is not something you can really make a mod for though mate.You could design one that picks up on certain keywords but it just would not work as it should, it would pull up wrong threads and let though threads that it should have caught.The problem is not an easy one to fix really your always gonna get new people asking questions before looking for the answer them self. The only option I think is to have a thread full of all the common questions so then whenever one comes though you can just give them the link to the FAQs thread.

[johneva]

If your so mad at it make a mod "not a moderator but a code that makes this work better" and give it to the admin to the admin for him to put in the code...If you don't want to do that then stop bickering.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Also whos bickering?Does it not bother you answering the same questions every week just cos people dont run seaches before asking silly questions?These forums are an amazing resource to get help from but it can be a bit annoying answering the same old questions.

[scott100]

Pin a FAQ at the top of each forum and lock it, if a question is repeatedly being asked in a forum then you would contact a mod and ask them to add the question + solution to the relevant pinned FAQ. You could then create an index or something at the top of the FAQ page so that new comers, at a glance, can see what solutions there are.