Help forum clean up

I have noticed an increasing tendency by some people to offer bogus advice in the help forum. This really doesn't help anyone, and there are plenty of other forums available to express your sense of humour.

From today I will be removing unhelpful posts and issuing forum bans for deliberately misleading posts. No explanations will be sent.

If you are a sub who frequents the help forum and you see posts that are deliberately trying to confuse, please alert them to help the process of clearing them down.

Thanks,

-Russ

Half the people in the forums are gonna disappear for awhile 😉

Originally posted by Chakan
Half the people in the forums are gonna disappear for awhile 😉

And that's giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.

Originally posted by Russ
I have noticed an increasing tendency by some people to offer bogus advice in the help forum. This really doesn't help anyone, and there are plenty of other forums available to express your sense of humour.

From today I will be removing unhelpful posts and issuing forum bans for deliberately misleading posts. No explanations will be sent.

If you are a ...[text shortened]... ing to confuse, please alert them to help the process of clearing them down.

Thanks,

-Russ

A sticky thread linking to the FAQ should always be at the top of the forum, in that case.

Some people only deserve ridicule when they ask a question that is answered quite clearly in the FAQ, AND in 3+ threads on page 1 of the help forum.

D

Originally posted by Russ
I have noticed an increasing tendency by some people to offer bogus advice in the help forum. This really doesn't help anyone, and there are plenty of other forums available to express your sense of humour.

From today I will be removing unhelpful posts and issuing forum bans for deliberately misleading posts. No explanations will be sent.

If you are a ...[text shortened]... ing to confuse, please alert them to help the process of clearing them down.

Thanks,

-Russ

Now if there were some way to make the persons asking the questions look through previous posts for their answer, and check the 'help/faq' pages first, that would be an excellent 'next step'.

Originally posted by Ragnorak
A sticky thread linking to the FAQ should always be at the top of the forum, in that case.

Some people only deserve ridicule when they ask a question that is answered quite clearly in the FAQ, AND in 3+ threads on page 1 of the help forum.

D

Exactly. If someone asks a question which is in the FAQ or answered in another thread on the first page of the forum I will ridicule them or perhaps give obviously ridiculous advice. They deserve it.

The words "Ask for help using the site" should be amended to include "Please Refer to the Sites FAQ before asking" or something to that affect.

Originally posted by XanthosNZ
Exactly. If someone asks a question which is in the FAQ or answered in another thread on the first page of the forum I will ridicule them or perhaps give obviously ridiculous advice. They deserve it.

Why not just say that their question has already been answered in the FAQ or in another thread? Even better, give them the link. There's absolutely no need to ridicule a new user, especially someone seeking help in the Help Forum.

Dave

Originally posted by David Tebb
Why not just say that their question has already been answered in the FAQ or in another thread? Even better, give them the link. There's absolutely no need to ridicule a new user, especially someone seeking help in the Help Forum.

Dave

That's quite easy to say for someone who doesn't seem to frequent the Help forum too much.

After you've answered the same question (the answer of which is in 4 other threads in the first page and clearly explained in the FAQ) 5 times in 1 week, get back to me.

If the 3 threads I've just created (or similar created by Russ) were highlighted in some way and always at the top, people wouldn't be inclined to ridicule lazy people who want other people to do their work for them in finding out how the site works.

D

Originally posted by Russ
I have noticed an increasing tendency by some people to offer bogus advice in the help forum. This really doesn't help anyone, and there are plenty of other forums available to express your sense of humour.

From today I will be removing unhelpful posts and issuing forum bans for deliberately misleading posts. No explanations will be sent.

If you are a ...[text shortened]... ing to confuse, please alert them to help the process of clearing them down.

Thanks,

-Russ

Good job, Russ! It's about time you stepped up and laid down the law.

You'd think that Chess Host would know that html links don't work on these forums by now.

http://www.timeforchess.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=32478

EDIT: Gah, it was a mess of failed links when I last looked at it I swear.

Chess Host does know that, but forget it doesn't even work when inserted directly into the DB because chess host's slave changed the way it works not so long ago.

(So I edited it out the broken links rather quickly 😉 )

-Russ

Originally posted by Russ
Chess Host does know that, but forget it doesn't even work when inserted directly into the DB because chess host's slave changed the way it works not so long ago.

(So I edited it out the broken links rather quickly 😉 )

-Russ

Nice work.

So now can we ridicule people who ask a question that's answered in the FAQ and in 3 other threads on page 1? 😉

; D

Kindly refer to them the FAQ please, not that I need ask, because I know you would anyway, right?

-Russ

Originally posted by Russ
Kindly refer to them the FAQ please, not that I need ask, because I know you would anyway, right?

-Russ

Nice post date on the sticky thread there. That's a rather lazy way of ensuring it appears at the top of the list. What happens in 2011?