Forum organization?

[ludde]

I think the forums are quite disorganized and it's not very easy for newbies to get answers to their questions quickly...and it's somewhat easy for me to miss bug reports unless the posts stand out.

A lot of forum threads just turn into general chat after the main question has been answered...

Also I barely have time to read through all the posts anymore....

Any suggestions?

Possible ideas:

* Better FAQ / Web-based manual

* Wiki

* Bugzilla bug tracking system

* More forum moderators

[canuckerfan]

i think a more detailed faq would definately help. especially recently, some of the questions could be put up. more mods would also help. for now, I think the layout of the forum is quite good.

i'm sure a big help for everyone (especially the devs) would be, as you suggested, a bugzilla tracking system. this would eliminate repitition of posts in the "Found Bugs" sub-forum. also, perhaps some rules should be added for bug-posting, just so that they're more easily diagnosed (comp setup, utorrent version, etc)

also, maybe someone should write a get-started guide. would be good for beginners.

[BloodStaindHurricane]

All of those suggestions are nice.

[Determination]

More mods would help with redundancy and idiocy that just distract from all the good things people need from these fourms.

A more detailed FAQ couldn't hurt.

[ludde]

Would someone like to make a better FAQ?

[Keloran]

well a WIKI could incorporate a better FAQ

more moderators would help,

where as bugzilla is an excellent idea, but might be an idea if we can get something like FireBot (its the IRC component to Firefox's Bugzilla)

[silverfire]

Most of those suggestion you gave are good, ludde. I'm not too sure if bugzilla would be that necessary if we have diligent moderators going through the bug reports forum deleting/merging duplicates and ones that have been addressed already. However, all the other ones would definitely help. I'd offer to help write documentation, but I feel that my writing skill is definitely lacking.

[Firon]

Bugzilla is far too complicated...

But I could go for a Wiki. You could even put the FAQ in the Wiki and just link to it in a sticky called "FAQ"

[Keloran]

true, but bugzilla doesnt have to be the only option, i mean bugzilla is actually quite small if used right, you dont need something enormas

but with a WIKI you could have a bug/status section that would remove the need for that,

say someone makes a bug topic, then a mod updates the WIKI with that, if its already there, then the topic is closed with a link to the wiki page

[ville]

Wiki + moderators would make all the difference

[Mephisto]

I agree with ville.. more moderators and wiki will make it easier.. :twisted:

[Huck]

Moderators should have rights to move and close repeated topics.

[1c3d0g]

WIKI!

[crowman]

moderaters are needed to lock redundent threads, move posts to right section, etc

[chaosblade]

More mods and a more detailed FAQ (I would have no problem to help with that if asked) will help. I think the problems are the duplicate threads on the feature requests forum (solved by more mods i believe) and about the found bug reports, a sticky on that forum with Known Issues with current versions (or previous versions too, like a history) that can be updated by mods to help with that aswell.

Having said that, I really think a wiki is too much for such a small project.

[Assyrian]

More mods? perhaps a lounge.

edit: i see you've added 'chat'

[NiteShdw]

This has been suggested before, but I believe a Feature Request Tracking system would significantly reduce the number of duplicate threads in that particular forum.

I also don't believe that it would be too hard to code in PHP. In fact, I would be willing to assist in writing such a page.

[vurlix]

The feature request forum was supported to be a "Feature Request Tracking System".... $10 says a separate system would not improve the situation at all.

[slayers]

I think the Wiki would be the best solution. It addresses the documentation, FAQ and even known bugs and feature requests if you want. Why not put it all in the Wiki?

As a collaborative effort it even beats the need for more mods. I'm sure that all the would-be mods would help it. And others that are not appointed mods can help too so you get more helping hands for the price of one solution.

[chaosblade]

A wiki wont make people stop asking already-answered questions simply because they dont care enough. They see something that bothers them, and simply go straight and post. no thinking is involved mostly. Here comes the need for moderators.

[1c3d0g]

I think the Wiki would be the best solution. It addresses the documentation, FAQ and even known bugs and feature requests if you want. Why not put it all in the Wiki?

As a collaborative effort it even beats the need for more mods. I'm sure that all the would-be mods would help it. And others that are not appointed mods can help too so you get more helping hands for the price of one solution.

Yes, I also believe that a Wiki is most helpful for µTorrent. We can all pitch in and help out whenever/wherever we can...thereby greatly reducing the Mods'/Admins' stress... :idea:

[Huck]

A wiki wont make people stop asking already-answered questions simply because they dont care enough. They see something that bothers them, and simply go straight and post. no thinking is involved mostly. Here comes the need for moderators.

True. There are people that don't bother to read FAQs, manuals, forum stickies or whatever.

[segosa]

A wiki wont make people stop asking already-answered questions simply because they dont care enough. They see something that bothers them, and simply go straight and post. no thinking is involved mostly. Here comes the need for moderators.

To me the ideal situation is:

A wiki containing:

- FAQ

-- Like in the FAQ thread except anyone can add questions deemed important. Perfect for wiki style.

- Documentation for certain features

-- Advanced options?

-- Ambiguous columns

-- etc

- Bug reports somehow could be integrated into it

-- Threads with duplicate reports could be locked and a link to the wiki page given

-- OR instead of using a wiki for bug reports since it could be a bit messy just lock every single duplicate bug report thread with a link to another open one.

Either way more moderators are definitely needed. The same could be done for feature requests as for the bug reports one in the latter case above.

Something done on another forum is a separate subforum is created called 'Testing & Trashing' where post counts do not raise. That forum could be a perfect place to stick all these 'uTorrent is so great!' and 'Thanks!' threads that are clogging up areas of the General section.

[slayers]

A wiki wont make people stop asking already-answered questions simply because they dont care enough. They see something that bothers them, and simply go straight and post. no thinking is involved mostly. Here comes the need for moderators.

You are right, a lot of people are not educated enough to search before posting and they will post anyways. But a mod won't prevent that post either. He's just going to come in after the fact and say RTF forum! Searching the forum would be a challenge...

By concentrating information on the Wiki and marketing it's existance in uTorrent's homepage you just hope people will be sensible enough to read it before posting. If they still do than you say RTF Wiki! And a well structured wiki is a lot better than searching the forums.

[luish]

wiki.