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Has the site's new format helped or hurt?

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I've noticed that ever since this site's format changed the help forums here aren't quite as active as they used to be. Requests go unanswered for days or weeks. I've used and been grateful for this site for a few years--I never would have been able to install good old woody without help from many people here. Has anyone else thought about what can be done to bring the help forums back to life?

Tim

(formerly naiveguy)

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I agree

Submitted by 1 on Sat, 2006-09-30 18:17.

This place now seems like a ghost town. Though there are all those aulde hyperactive people, it looks like it is still not recovered. I feel like the only guy who doen't have a clue, everybody else are gurus. Before, there was plethora of ignorant linux users. I am lonely :( . Maybe this happened because people lost their nicks, and didn't bother to reregister. And the change came pretty abruptly.

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hmmm....

Submitted by pinniped on Sat, 2006-09-30 23:12.

Maybe set up so all the "other world discussions" go to their own page and stay there, so questions about Debian don't get buried in "Bravo for Dubbyah" and "Dubbyah can go eat shit" flame wars.

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I think pinniped is right.

Submitted by tim on Sun, 2006-10-01 11:07.

I think pinniped is right. The political economy forum seems to be drowning everything else--it's by far the most active forum, which seems strange for a site called debian help.

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Re: Has the site's new format helped or hurt?

Submitted by IntnsRed on Sun, 2006-10-01 12:07.

The site's usage is indeed down since the change to the new software. I think this is for several reasons -- with the first two being IMHO the biggest:

* The forum sucks. It's "different" from a "regular" forum and that can throw people who want to post. I'm toying with ideas of how to address this.

* We shed a lot of content -- literally years worth -- in the transfer to the new software. While this is still available in Google and via "oldsite.debianhelp.org" it is sort of hidden to new users and works to create the impression that not much is available on the site.

* The site overall is more complex than a "typical" web site. This needs to be more streamlined (e.g. one baby-step: the main menu's "plea for help" link).

* Work -- and time -- needs to go into developing more non-forum, Debian-specific content, how-tos and things. This should add to the feeling that the site is more than just a forum.

* I agree, the "Recent content" and "Recent comments" blocks are sub-par. I've resisted changing those since it means more database calls, but I'll address those blocks over the next week or two. Since that will require some changes to the front page, I need to think about that and will need some feedback. It's a PITA since it's a complicated dance of being informative, limitations of the database and numbers of calls to tables, looking good, and other factors.

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exactly

Submitted by 1 on Thu, 2006-10-05 07:41.

The old content should be merged with the new. Seamlesly if possible.

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key feature on the old site-- unanswered posts

Submitted by Matt on Thu, 2006-10-05 11:36.

On the old site, there was a key feature where unanswered posts showed up in a side panel. That allowed people to easily make an effort to answer posts. Also, even if nobody knew how to answer the question, people would still make an effort to reply and explain that they were not ignoring the post-- that process often led to more discussion and clarification.

Without the unanswered posts feature, a portion of posts will be forever buried, never to be answered.

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Bookmark "recent posts".

Submitted by MagnusBerg on Thu, 2006-10-05 09:30.

I go directly to "recent posts" then i visit DebianHelp. In my opinion it's the best place to get a good overview of new threads and comments. It reminds me of "recent posts" on the old site. But i miss the info about which forum topic the posts are belonging to. That makes it more difficult to find out if it is a debian or political discussion or thatever it is. Therefor my suggestion is to show that topic info.

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