Thread: Community cafe buries ideas about improving support policies

howdy.

think there bit of cultural problem on these forums. have no place discuss how community can improve support, , there potential tutorial writers ask advice. observe bad advice endemic, there put on record , try solve problem.

ubuntu forums barometer common user problems. need place discuss trends because when question asked hundreds of times, it's clear tutorial belongs on forum or wiki. can't file bug reports other users, when need determine if there's bug, or if badly followed tutorial (or followed bad tutorial). type of problem apparent during upgrade cycle. many pulseaudio problems caused little changes users made before upgrading. see lot of networkmanager, users being encouraged use command line tools don't understand, replace important parts of distribution ("fixing" nm replacing wicd, uninstalling pulseaudio, etc). need way tell ubuntu forums userbase giving bad advice, , hurting end-users.

community cafe catch-all general discussion forum, , threads full of banter move queue fast important discussion buried. there should place chit-chat important things related ubuntu support. have several tutorials in-process, need small amounts of finishing them. people on forums, lot more if attention expert! ubuntu forums should training people make decent documentation, need @ wiki see how documentation must radically changed between releases!

there lot of people in community want others. them them!

i little disappointed discussion got dropped forum council today. think post alludes few points use discussion.

1) first comment regards places individuals can learn better contribute. subject addressed , mentioned these tools exist in form such wiki pages, etc. have become more versed in ubuntu , linux on last couple of years, find make bigger contribution , have liked have discussed means , opportunities of doing so. have begun reading developer , wiki pages, still find how start curve daunting.

2) post spot-on statement forums , community cafe excellent barometer of happening in user community , kinds of issues users running into. may wrong, impression got author seems believe there need different or separate set of forums, possibly ones moderated more geared towards "advanced" users. idea address.

first thought can see points , agree there bit of problem, in of more topic oriented forums server forum same questions getting asked again , again. agree many of threads getting swamped , there problem amount of thread bumping going on. think forum admin should consider addressing these "problems." however, after thinking while, have come conclusion splitting forums in manner (appears be) suggested op not right solution, several reasons. first , foremost, feel goes against whole ubuntu community philosophy. second, counter sets forum community apart many others: place welcomes beginners , experts alike in respectful , educational environment.

on further reflection, part same questions routinely asked multiple times think "we" collective group need take responsibility this. in regard "we" make more involved effort direct person asking questions wiki , how pages, can politely remind them these questions have been asked on multiple occasions , point out search functions, , once has been done administrators consider marking threads closed.

@ same time, propose forum staff of forums seem gaining in popularity, such security , server forums benefit sub division. example, server forum have sub-section web servers (apache), dns , dhcp related problems, etc. suggest because think might keep of discussion threads loosing scope helping direct queries regarding asked topics towards common area.

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