[secretmessages]

I'm sure this must've been brought up before, but I'll bring it up again seeing as I couldn't find any recent threads...

Is there really no better way of making it clear which threads should and should not be posted in the TSR Wiki and Developments forum? I know there's a big red announcement at the top of the page, however most of the users who post here erroneously are going to be reasonably new to the site, and may not notice/read these announcements. Out of the last 18 threads in that forum, only six haven't been moved, and two of those six actually need to be moved. One of those was reported ten hours ago and it hasn't been dealt with yet.

I'm not saying that the mods are doing a bad job, but because there are no mini-mods (or whatever you call them these days) for that forum, it's left to the super-mods, and they aren't around that often to be honest. I know the erroneous threads get moved eventually, but the problem is worsened a slight bit by the fact that, at the moment if you click the "Articles" tab on any TSR page, you'll be taken to the Wiki, with a module that looks like the following:



For a start they're not relevant discussions. For some reason, even the threads that have been moved still appear there (in this case, the one about Cheryl Cole). Why? Surely we're trying to be as helpful as possible to those who visit the Wiki, and this is just doing the opposite, no? Let me know if what I've just written is complete rubbish and I'll gladly leave.

tl;dr - what can be done about the TSR Wiki forum?

[Illusionary]

Originally Posted by secretmessages

I'm sure this must've been brought up before, but I'll bring it up again seeing as I couldn't find any recent threads...

Is there really no better way of making it clear which threads should and should not be posted in the TSR Wiki and Developments forum? I know there's a big red announcement at the top of the page, however most of the users who post here erroneously are going to be reasonably new to the site, and may not notice/read these announcements. Out of the last 18 threads in that forum, only six haven't been moved, and two of those six actually need to be moved. One of those was reported ten hours ago and it hasn't been dealt with yet.

I'm not saying that the mods are doing a bad job, but because there are no mini-mods (or whatever you call them these days) for that forum, it's left to the super-mods, and they aren't around that often to be honest. I know the erroneous threads get moved eventually, but the problem is worsened a slight bit by the fact that, at the moment if you click the "Articles" tab on any TSR page, you'll be taken to the Wiki, with a module that looks like the following:

For a start they're not relevant discussions. For some reason, even the threads that have been moved still appear there (in this case, the one about Cheryl Cole). Why? Surely we're trying to be as helpful as possible to those who visit the Wiki, and this is just doing the opposite, no? Let me know if what I've just written is complete rubbish and I'll gladly leave.

tl;dr - what can be done about the TSR Wiki forum?

It looks as though the forum extract shown on the Articles page ignores the fact that the threads listed have redirect markers against them (in the forum itself, it's clear that the threads aren't actually in there any longer, as they're shown with no replies or views, and have the "Moved" prefix). I'm pretty sure that it's at the mods' discretion whether to leave a redirect marker, and for how long it appears, so perhaps a change in policy to not leave such markers in the Wiki Dev forum would address that aspect of the problem? Alternatively, the Articles page itself could be changed to ignore moved threads, if that's possible, or maybe just not show the forum extract on the main Articles page?

The issue is probably compounded by the Wiki Dev forum being one of the quieter 'general' forums, so when threads are made there erroneously, they stay near the top of the thread listing for a while. I'm not sure that this is something that can be directly addressed, aside from the big red warning - it happens for all areas of the site to some extent. Perhaps something that was suggested in Tech a while ago could be considered, so that the actual thread composition page includes the warning about posting in the correct forum (this could maybe even be a separate confirmation page once the new thread is initially submitted, if that's feasible within the forum software?).

[secretmessages]

Originally Posted by Illusionary

It looks as though the forum extract shown on the Articles page ignores the fact that the threads listed have redirect markers against them (in the forum itself, it's clear that the threads aren't actually in there any longer, as they're shown with no replies or views, and have the "Moved" prefix). I'm pretty sure that it's at the mods' discretion whether to leave a redirect marker, and for how long it appears, so perhaps a change in policy to not leave such markers in the Wiki Dev forum would address that aspect of the problem? Alternatively, the Articles page itself could be changed to ignore moved threads, if that's possible, or maybe just not show the forum extract on the main Articles page?

The issue is probably compounded by the Wiki Dev forum being one of the quieter 'general' forums, so when threads are made there erroneously, they stay near the top of the thread listing for a while. I'm not sure that this is something that can be directly addressed, aside from the big red warning - it happens for all areas of the site to some extent. Perhaps something that was suggested in Tech a while ago could be considered, so that the actual thread composition page includes the warning about posting in the correct forum (this could maybe even be a separate confirmation page once the new thread is initially submitted, if that's feasible within the forum software?).

I agree with what you've said, and I was thinking of some similar workarounds to those you suggested. It's unfortunate because it can be days before anyone gets around to post-reporting the erroneous threads, and even then it can take some time for them to get moved. This one has been there since November 1st (and even got replies with nobody commenting on the forum it was in). It would be useful if a mod would look through the forum at least once a day to clear out all the bad threads. I'll try and check every day too but we need a more permanent solution methinks. It's up to the programmers/admins/mods/whatever, but I think something needs to be done anyway.

[Illusionary]

Originally Posted by secretmessages

I agree with what you've said, and I was thinking of some similar workarounds to those you suggested. It's unfortunate because it can be days before anyone gets around to post-reporting the erroneous threads, and even then it can take some time for them to get moved. This one has been there since November 1st (and even got replies with nobody commenting on the forum it was in). It would be useful if a mod would look through the forum at least once a day to clear out all the bad threads. I'll try and check every day too but we need a more permanent solution methinks. It's up to the programmers/admins/mods/whatever, but I think something needs to be done anyway.

I think it's a least partly an issue of prioritisation. Because the Wiki Dev forum only gets very light traffic compared to much of the rest of the site, I think it's probably understandable that the mods concentrate their time elsewhere. Members who are using the forum for its proper purpose can fairly easily (even if it is a little annoying) find the relevant threads amongst those in the wrong place, and deliberate rule-breaking is unlikely there because the forum's quietness means that it's not as attractive for attention seekers as say, GD.

Another potential solution that I'd put up for consideration would be something akin to how the v3.8 Testing Forum currently operates. It's only accessible to members of the Testing Team, but anyone can join the team very easily (AFAIK, no-one gets refused). Perhaps the Wiki Dev forum could be set to be freely viewable and allow anyone to reply to existing threads, while requiring members to specifically apply to join a new 'Wiki Dev' team to be able to post new threads (I assume that vBulletin would offer such functionality natively)? That would hopefully make it much clearer what the purpose of the forum is, but maybe this would be considered too drastic a measure - thoughts?

[secretmessages]

Originally Posted by Illusionary

I think it's a least partly an issue of prioritisation. Because the Wiki Dev forum only gets very light traffic compared to much of the rest of the site, I think it's probably understandable that the mods concentrate their time elsewhere. Members who are using the forum for its proper purpose can fairly easily (even if it is a little annoying) find the relevant threads amongst those in the wrong place, and deliberate rule-breaking is unlikely there because the forum's quietness means that it's not as attractive for attention seekers as say, GD.

Yep, I accept and agree that this isn't the most important issue on the site . There are more important things for the mods to do

Another potential solution that I'd put up for consideration would be something akin to how the v3.8 Testing Forum currently operates. It's only accessible to members of the Testing Team, but anyone can join the team very easily (AFAIK, no-one gets refused). Perhaps the Wiki Dev forum could be set to be freely viewable and allow anyone to reply to existing threads, while requiring members to specifically apply to join a new 'Wiki Dev' team to be able to post new threads (I assume that vBulletin would offer such functionality natively)? That would hopefully make it much clearer what the purpose of the forum is, but maybe this would be considered too drastic a measure - thoughts?

An interesting suggestion indeed. I imagine that the users wanting to post legitimate threads about the Wiki in that forum will mostly be regular Wiki users rather than newbies, so that might possibly work, yes . I don't know much about vBulletin, but I don't think it would be hard to implement.