Give your threads intelligent titles!
Author
"Plz help"
"Help me please"
"Untitled"
None of the above tell people who are glancing at the threads here what your problem might be, potentially turning them off to better specified problems. If you can't even title your thread, what's the probability that you can describe your problem? At least, that's how they are likely to view it.
Everyone is here either for help or to help, so "please help" is a worthless thread title. Tell us what your problem is about, in broad, concise terms, in your title, and then lay it out in greater detail within the thread body.
I totally agree. Countless number of times have I browsed the forums only to find threads with these titles and pointless descriptions. Time is money, and those who take their time to browse the forums and try to help other people should be appreciated, specially in a forum like this. Gamedev.net forums are (GLADLY ) extrememly active. What bothers me is that this is common sense, yet people continue to do the same thing over and over again. I think there is already an article ( not to say many) regarding this problem. It would be a good idea to send new members an email with a set of guidelines for the forums. Until then we will continue to encounter these posts and many will be ignored.
Anyone who uses "Please Help me" as a title is probably not going to take the time to read the forum guidelines, just like they dont take the time to read the faqs. :/
Thx for pointing this out Olu - this is an age-old problem really. I for one don't have the time to check through every single post in the forums I frequent, and I'm sure a lot of people share this trait as well. If I can't figure out what the topic is about, I don't even bother looking at it...
Quote:Original post by seriouscoder
I totally agree. Countless number of times have I browsed the forums only to find threads with these titles and pointless descriptions. Time is money, and those who take their time to browse the forums and try to help other people should be appreciated, specially in a forum like this. Gamedev.net forums are (GLADLY ) extrememly active. What bothers me is that this is common sense, yet people continue to do the same thing over and over again. I think there is already an article ( not to say many) regarding this problem. It would be a good idea to send new members an email with a set of guidelines for the forums. Until then we will continue to encounter these posts and many will be ignored.
[lol] This coming from someone who just joined today [lol] (And I know you could have browsed AP for a while, I'm just pointing out the funny irony)
Might well be worth to link in this:
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way (it also has a brief section on intelligent titles)
I'm sure I saw a better version of the above page somewhere, but google couldn't find it for me right now - but the above is pretty much the same
hth
Jack
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way (it also has a brief section on intelligent titles)
I'm sure I saw a better version of the above page somewhere, but google couldn't find it for me right now - but the above is pretty much the same
hth
Jack
Quote:Original post by seriouscoderIt would be a good idea to send new members an email with a set of guidelines for the forums. Until then we will continue to encounter these posts and many will be ignored.
Brilliant idea, it could also contain some of the common links given to new users in thier threads, etc, although it would have to be kept very short and concise to try to ensure as many people as possible actually read it.
true. But yeah, i've been around here for a while, just under other screen name. I have intermediate skills so I often seek help as well as go through the beginners forums to help others. It is there where i find most of these posts.
Quote:Original post by KazgorothQuote:Original post by seriouscoderIt would be a good idea to send new members an email with a set of guidelines for the forums. Until then we will continue to encounter these posts and many will be ignored.
Brilliant idea, it could also contain some of the common links given to new users in thier threads, etc, although it would have to be kept very short and concise to try to ensure as many people as possible actually read it.
Maybe, if technically feasable, when a user account makes a new topic in a forum they haven't visited before it auto-emails them a cut down version (or link to) the forum FAQ.
For example, I never tend to look at the "Help Wanted" forum, but if I were to go and post in there, the forum software could email through a sort of "introduction to 'Help Wanted' forum" email.
Then again, for a long time the forums email stuff has been completely broken for me - so this might not be such a good idea [wink]..
Jack
Quote:Original post by jollyjeffers
Maybe, if technically feasable, when a user account makes a new topic in a forum they haven't visited before it auto-emails them a cut down version (or link to) the forum FAQ.
For example, I never tend to look at the "Help Wanted" forum, but if I were to go and post in there, the forum software could email through a sort of "introduction to 'Help Wanted' forum" email.
But in this case, the email would only arrive after a post had been made. This seems a little to somewhat defeat the purpose slightly, although it may help with future posts in that particular forum. Better would perhaps be redirecting to the appropriate FAQ the first time a user views a particular forum, or something similar. Both of these options (email or redirect) could be rather annoying however (especially the email one).
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