Community, Knowledge Base and Advanced User Guide - the way forward

[pinbrook]

make the knowledge base link prettier

it needs to be red and flash (and irritate the c**p out of us)

[pinbrook]

Whilst that's good for duscussion threads it makes it very difficult to find the useful bits in Q&A threads - especially when you have to trawl through pages and pages of related and sometimes contradictory posts.

this is where the mods need to step in to remove obsolete/incorrect posts.

Mods need to spend a couple of hours a day clearing up the forum to get it sorted then it will still be at least 30 mins per day housekeeping

[cdicken]

I take your point Jo. I think what would be useful is if everyone uses the 'Useful Thread?' feature - and then any irrelevant ones can be checked and deleted.

[gabrielcrowe]

the whole point mr dicken, is that a wiki is done by a lot of users, and not one.

there is really no point in a single person creating a wiki, you'd be simply creating a website, wouldnt you?

so, in this light, i suggest a list of people who _really_ contribute, be given the keys.

and i'll give you the location to download the wiki software i used. there are actually hundreds of different implimentations of wiki, in many languages. mine was in php, with the 'monobook' (thats wikipedia to you and me) theme.

it took me 5 mins to install and configure and 5 more to make some starter content.

k?

[george]

The knowledge base link still ain't very prominent is it?

[george]

the whole point mr dicken, is that a wiki is done by a lot of users, and not one.

there is really no point in a single person creating a wiki, you'd be simply creating a website, wouldnt you?

so, in this light, i suggest a list of people who _really_ contribute, be given the keys.

and i'll give you the location to download the wiki software i used. there are actually hundreds of different implimentations of wiki, in many languages. mine was in php, with the 'monobook' (thats wikipedia to you and me) theme.

it took me 5 mins to install and configure and 5 more to make some starter content.

k?

You mean you ain't done it yet Gabs?

[gabrielcrowe]

http://www.pmwiki.org/

^ thats the one. simple to set up, and simple to use.

no daft databases, it uses flat files and can easily be backed up with ftp, and edited using dreamweaver.

i tested it on windows apache, and iis5/6, ubuntu apache and also zeus.

supports themes, and supports user access via groups or individual accounts.

[TraceyHand]

The knowledge base link still ain't very prominent is it?

I didn't think so either, tbh

[fergusw]

Change the knowledge base to wiki (gulp). That might take a few weeks, but I'll get there.

1. Once we've got a knowledge base we can all post to, I think that's the time to do a clear up - posting things to the knowledge base and deleting obselete threads. So don't worry Bill - this will happen, but not immediately.

My thruppence worth:
I am leaning more in favour of Lee Hack here.
It's great to see the forum/KB getting attention to improve it's functionality and "clean it up" to assist regular and new Actinic users alike, however the issues expressed here tend to be primarily surrounding the forum e.g.
i) "junk" postings
ii) Ineffective and inefficient searching facility
iii) New community members not "searching/looking" for answers
iv) KB getting ignored and forum used instead.
and so on....

I feel that Actinic should bring the KB into the Forum and have one central core data source.
The KB "topic" should be searchable, but locked, and edited (and/or "tagged") where appropriate by the MOD to deliver a better search yeild for the most likely terms for that issue.
This would resolve the "KB not being used/looked at issue".
It was also allow for the ongoing additions and amendments to the "KB" topis. Relevant threads could be moved, edited and locked into the KB topic where required.
This makes the KB active, effective and useable by default. This may in turn answer a lot more questions that otherwise are posted, only to be replied to with links to the separate KB!

The search is the main sticking point for the above in my opinion. Without an efficient search facility having "all" this data in one place simply means more irrelevant results returned, certainly in the short term until the irrelevant posts can be "cleaned up".
I know this has been discussed prior to this log so I won't go into detail here as I agree to the points expressed on this issue in these earlier posts.

Finally, the use of a hacked "ranking" tool may be useful. Certainly there is value in "Thread question answered" icons, along side "KB article" icons etc.
This should help focus and direct the attention of people actively looking for answers to avoid posts without a resolution in them.
Where this can be done by amending the start rating system
e.g.
0 stars = not answered.
1 star = partial answer
2 stars = full answer
3 stars = KB item (e.g. answered and locked)
4 stars .....

and so on.
Issues arise when restricting the "answer/not answered" to the original poster but I'm sure there is a PHP hack already around for this forum for this very purpose.

Even the post icons, as previously mentioned by someone else here, could be utilised.

This would allow you to very cleary define the best practices for new members when joining:
Explain search mechanism
Explain icons/ratings/etc
Explain best practices for getting answers e.g. KB topic, any other specific topic, general search and finally post question in relevant topic.

A Wiki would be very powerful as well, especially for visual, tutorial based explanations of key Actinic features e.g an Active AUG, however for the KB I feel this would in the short term simply dilute the value of the data contained and spread it wider instead of improving the existing way the data is accessed and presented.

*tosses above into melting pot, stirs, then steps back to allow to simmer*

[wjcampbe]

So don't worry Bill - this will happen, but not immediately.

Thanks, Chris.

Guess I'm alone in thinking that without amalgamation of all the similar posts (to a single thread where possible), the search will remain a frustrating, unrewarding and mostly avoided feature.

I applaud the changes made so far, but have to agree, the Knowledgebase link would benefit from at least a nice bright red background (not so sure I want it flashing, though ).

[Paul Bulpit]

I didn't think so either, tbh

See the Forum Website thread:

http://community.actinic.com/showthr...d=1#post177961

[Paul Bulpit]

0 stars = not answered.
1 star = partial answer
2 stars = full answer
3 stars = KB item (e.g. answered and locked)
4 stars .....

I tried this (http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=19468) but how do you find rated threads?

I can't find a way of 'searching' for them.

[cdicken]

I can't find a way of 'searching' for them.

I don't think you can search on 'all threads with 3 or over' - although there might be a way to set it up... hmmm.... all you can do at the moment is use the star rating as a guide to the most useful results.

the whole point mr dicken, is that a wiki is done by a lot of users, and not one.

I totally get that, but one person has to set it up and design it. And that person will be me. Cheers for the link - I'll check it out.

[cdicken]

The knowledge base link still ain't very prominent is it?

I take the point about red and flashing - but don't really want to vomit on my legs everytime I visit the community. I'll have a think about other colours.

[cdicken]

It's great to see the forum/KB getting attention to improve it's functionality and "clean it up" to assist regular and new Actinic users alike, however the issues expressed here tend to be primarily surrounding the forum e.g.
i) "junk" postings
ii) Ineffective and inefficient searching facility
iii) New community members not "searching/looking" for answers
iv) KB getting ignored and forum used instead.

Thanks for the input Fergus - very useful. A clean up is very likely to happen at some point in the near future. What I'm trying to do here is stand back and look at the bigger picture.

The community is a huge melting pot of ideas and solutions. What it isn't is particularly user friendly. Even after a clean up, a customer searching for 'products in columns' will get 50 answers rather than 100. Better - but not brilliant. What I want the new knowledge base to be is an 'output' from the community; something that benefits customers and the Actinic support team by being an up-to-date resource purely for answers to questions - and this is the Wiki. This way - you guys can stick a solution up there yourself when you see a good one.

That way, when we make the decision to do a huge clean-up, we can put stuff straight in the new wiki as well as deleting obselete threads. The other advantage of leaving it for a while is that hopefully the rating system can kick in and be a guide for moderators as to usefulness of threads.

Does that all make sense? That's the way the thinking is at the moment, but it's open to change.