Old Simtropolis Threads

[Larks2242 251]

I was just browsing a few forums and i noticed this.

Is it really necessary to have 151 pages of questions? no one will go though them looking for answers, I'm wondering if that slows down the forum I'm not saying the forum is slow but it can't be good for it. Wouldn't a FAQ thread covering alot of the issues save space?

[Korot 6]

There already is a FAQ, it is called the STomnibus. Though I don't know if it answers all/most of the questions asked. And I doubt that a lot of the newbies actually read it.

Regards,

Korot

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

And I doubt that a lot of the newbies actually read it. quote>

 

That is why we have helpful members of the site that are willing to give kind directions to those who may not be familiar with the site.

 

Remember...  we were all new once, and were grateful when someone took the time to answer our dumb questions.

Also remember that ST has been around for 7 years...   some forums, especially the Simcity 4 ones are going to have a lot of pages.    We don't delete stuff just because it is old.   Many of the forums do have stickies with FAQ threads at the top.

[kingdiz_55 12]

I think that there should be like a "solved" part of the forum so that anyone could just got there and look for answers. Also, any inactive threads for let's say, 2-3 moths should be deleted. Prior to deletion however, the member who started the thread, should be informed.

EDIT: changed font type.

[Xyloxadoria 1,099]

Originally posted by: kingdiz_55

I think that there should be like a "solved" part of the forum so that anyone could just got there and look for answers. Also, any inactive threads for let's say, 2-3 moths should be deleted. Prior to deletion however, the member who started the thread, should be informed.

EDIT: changed font type.

quote>

Thar wouldn't work, like what was said above:

And I doubt that a lot of the newbies actually read it.  quote>

If you were to make a solved issues section, the newbies wouldnt know to look there. They would post their question anyways.

[Duke87 1,070]

Well, actually, as you can see there Larks... after two years inactive, threads "drop off the page" and don't show up on the index anymore. Since the SC4 General Discussion forum gets a lot of threads started, this takes 151 pages in that case. By comparison, Simtropolis Related here only takes 6 pages to get that far back.

Worth noting, though, is that even after threads "drop off the page", they are not necessarily gone. Sometimes they get archived and thus are inaccessible to anyone except the staff, but very often they do not. Such threads will still actually sometimes show up in search results, and are still quite visible if you have a direct link to them.

Example: The original Moose Factory. Locked since October 29, 2006 (over three years ago), but there it is!

[Korot 6]

Xyloxadoria mentioned the problem, and so did I: (A lot of) New people don't look in the STomnibus, or in a FAQ, or would look in a 'solved questions' section, and most likely would have no clue that a search function exists. But that is not a solution. Updating the STomnibus to cover some of the most asked questions (recommend downloads come to mind) might work for some, but still, a lot simply would rush straight to the forums, and post their question(s), possibly leading to the frustration of some/many, for having to answer the same question, again, and again, and again, and, well, you get it.

Thus I propose that apart from the SC4 General Discussion sub-forum, a new sub-forum will be made called 'Questions', and that is the place where all SC4 questions should be asked. However, when someone makes his first topic in that section, before he will be able to make the topic, a pop-up will show up, and ask the user if (s)he has already looked in the STomnibus, to see if his/her question was already answered over there. This might only be for the first time someone makes a topic in that section, or for everytime someone does. This way, new people will know of the existence of the STomnibus, and might perhaps look through it, to see if their question has already been answered, saving everybody else a lot of time, and the site some bandwidth, since the same question isn't asked a lot of times. Of course there will be people who will just simply click the pop-up away, but referring those to the STomnibus in your answerm, and perhaps to the search function, might 'stop' them from asking any more questions, without looking in the STomnibus first to see if their question has already been answered.

Regards,

Korot

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Yeah, it slightly annoys me when there are a million people asking how to use trams. But then again, I was new a year ago & everyone does it when they are new. Thankfully, this is such a helpful community.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

We have a forum for asking questions about the game it is called SC4 General Discussion.

Also if people don't like being helpful to new people then no one is forcing them to read the topics / questions that they post, and taking a few minutes to either answer the question or direct them to the right place.

A typical newbie question:

How do I get night lights on my downloads to work?

A typical answer...

Hi, welcome to the site, you will find everything you need to know about getting nightlights in this thread:  Help!! My downloaded BAT's don't have night lights! .

That took me all of two minutes to find the link and type an answer.

Just because we can flit around the site and find anything we are looking for in a few seconds, does not mean that a new person can. I remember when I first joined ST, being totally freaked at the size of the site... heck I didn't really even know how to post on a forum back then...   and yes I had to ask about night lights too...