Forum information spilled to gazillion places: re-writes?

[aeris]

The real issue I see with your proposal Arris is who is 'we', who is goning to do all the work to compile this information and compress it into something more usable without getting paid to do it.

Well, we could create a "bug report list" but only for the forums instead of the game, for example. If someone has an idea they can report and suggest a new formatting for a pin/compined pins, and the mods only need to copy and paste if it seems good. And like I said, I can combine the various bits and pieces of installation tutorials for a nice little "installing and setting up FL with FRAPS, FLMM and Disco guide".

"We" in this case means all of us. Every single person who ever had a problem, but missed the relevant pin due to the chaotic nature all the information is spread in. Every single person, who has an idea how to better convey multiple messages in a tighter, more understandable package. Every single person, who found something important on the forums, but shouldn't have had to look for it for the past 2 hours.

We can approach it pretty much the same way as the wiki, or a bug repository. Not being able to edit messages doesn't mean you can't be bold.

If you think the information should be more compiled then I recommend you help with the wiki if you are not doing that already. I believe it to be the best format available to us for a great deal of the information that this community utilizes. If you want I can even add you to the wiki author skype chat (if you have skype), we always love to hear new ideas.

I have a wiki account, but I'm a bit cautious at the moment, seeing there are disagreements on what to put and what not to put there. I have spent double my play time elsewhere too: the forums :) I agree the wiki should be the central collection for information concerning Discovery. However, the wiki pretty much gets all it's information on rules and specifics from forum announcements, google docs and spreads, etc. The wiki stays obsolete for months, and editing it fully - that is the salary job you mentioned. Not these little edits here and there on the forums I suggested. Edits, that clarify and compress that information the wiki is dependant on.

This is why we need to approach it from two directions, cleaning up the source of information is just as valid. Bold people can then just copy and paste everything they can to the wiki, and let others format it further if they don't know how themselves, like Eyvind has suggested on another topic.

I'd love to see Xoria's equipment lists reside in the wiki instead of Google spreads, perhaps he could be persuaded to try his hand at that. Naturally articles this important would need to be protected from casual editors.

In terms of the number of windows you have to have open a lot of the stuff you have listed seems like it only need to be open at certain times, the commodity stuff when you are planning routes, the ID and equipment stuff when you are building characters and equipping them, the forums for miscellaneous info (this I do have open all the time but mostly because it is a good way to kill time while trading), FL roadmap only on new accounts, although you can get the same data from companion for the most part and the text document whenever working on chartacters or ingame.

Well, that's the thing. I don't need a lot of these all the time, but I need something of these constantly. It pretty much needs to be open lest I forget it exists or where it was (ObBesserwissers: yes, I do know how to use bookmarks thank you :)

A simple topic combining all Disco essentials would be nice, perhaps. There are some topics that have some of it, but not all of it.

You suggested that this amount of work needs someone to be paid for it. I'm completely against your implication. I am not talking about completely rewriting everything on the forums, and doing minor edits on a chosen few topics does not constitute labor. Rather, a few examples:

A post says character accounts are not frozen anymore, nor are they fetched from the database if flushed. In the second post there is a link to a privately kept freezing service. Since the first post strongly says no, people bypass the post and complain on the forums about a service they think they don't have but actually do.

Why don't we fix this?

People send sales announcements on SSE. The sale is finalized, but the announcer never bothers to report the it is so. He doesn't edit the topic to read "CLOSED" either. Multiple people check the topic for nigh, some even post whether or not it's open to no avail. The sub-forum rules do not exclamate closed deals should be clearly marked so, in order to make the sub-forum easier to use.

Why don't we fix this?*

There are a dozen install and problem guides, all with relevant information. As they're not combined and clarified, people miss the information concerning them, and send in help requests daily.

Why don't we fix this?

But seriously, you should help with the wiki if you have a thing for content management.

I stress people come to the forums first. When I first joined the forums, I had to search for Igiss' posts in order to find a link to the wiki, since that was the only place I spot it from all this mess. I weren't even aware a wiki exists, and have already forgotten which of these dozens of pins includes a link to it. I think it was somewhere in the tutorials department. Now, you invite everyone to edit the wiki, while people aren't even clearly and explicitly invited to use it - on the forums.

So why don't we fix this?

I agree the wiki is a great content management system for information. But the wiki isn't the source for that information. The source is here on the forums, on Google Docs, Google Spreads, PDFs, ODFs, JPEGs and whatnot. Rather, wiki as of now contains miserably obsolete and even erratic information, and will continue to do so. Why? Because editing the wiki is dependant on the source.

This is the place to find the most up-to-date, relevant information. Fixing these errors help people copy and paste that source to the wiki, enabling also the wiki to repair itself faster. People aren't bold because the information isn't easily accessed, nor organized.

I simply:
a) invite people to point out cases where it can easily be made so, if they ever run into trouble or get an idea.
b) invite admins to listen and consider these suggestions, and my opinion that there are many simple, easy-to-do tasks that would make the forums more accessible. For everyone.

Remember, people do not come to the forums through the wiki. They go to the wiki through the forums.

*Some people do follow my example and you know, it's so nice not clicking on a link when you know beforehand, it wouldn't be of any use

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Case File: arris