koobas.hobune.stream
Are there better sites than UA for technical Qs?
When-ever I see a thread about fixing UA which goes nowhere, in the back of my head I just assume it's because anyone who cares has moved to a good Unity site (whatever their definition of good is.) Because, obviously, if another site is handling "this isn't in the manual" Q's well, and that's where our old technical Mods have gone, of course it's silly to try to duplicate that here.
But looking around, I'm seeing just reddit and stackOverflow. Maybe everyone else knows this, but reddit is apparently always just a rambling discussion board, no matter the topic. Unity reddit is primarily "look at what I made" and constant rediscovery of the integer random function.
stackOverflow/Unity3D doesn't seem to have the technical resources or the moderators. It never seems to have caught on. There are lots of fix-my-script Qs, with a really beautiful well-explained Holds on a very few of them (for being duplicates/etc.) It seems like it would have become popular by now if it was going to.
But I stink at research. Is it fine to let UA become whatever it wants to be, since there's some better site (which google wan't show me) aimed more at game designers?
Sadly I know of none.
Alternative: "this isn't in the manual" is indeed a major issue. I'm surprised I have been unable to find a community editable version of the manual, or at least the API. There have been at least a dozen times I've wanted to update the single sentence description of some API thing, with more details or an example. I know about the http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php/$$anonymous$$ain_Page that would be a good place for it. (Alas, I'm NOT the guy to get that going.)
Thanks. That's actually an answer. If you think there should be a user-editable manual, you'd spend any effort on that, right? and not worry about UA.
$$anonymous$$y feeling is that (original) UA and google do a pretty good job of being the community section of the manual. Trying to organize and edit would be a mess. I could barely write homework assignments working with two other people. But then again, trying to moderate UA is also a mess.
"Any effort": Well, I certainly don't have the time to get it setup, (starting with a mirror of the current docs, I'd guess). But I WOULD certainly add details to descriptions, possible pictures, and even examples, as I discover details, to such a document.
Regarding UA: With a GOOD document like that, with various levels of details; I would suspect most of the more basic questions on UA would be answerable with a simple link to a page in that doc (hopefully even reducing such questions).
Wikipedia, and various game-wiki's I've used, certainly have to deal with vandalism, yet somehow the crowd sourcing works with those documents.
Let me rephrase: it seem plausible to me that someone would see a "How to get UA back to it's roots" thread and think "There's no need. We know UA doesn't work -- a user-edited manual is the right way to do it." You certainly seem more excited about that.
Sorry about delayed reply, been away. Yes, that is pretty much exactly my thoughts on the matter. Though I would leave out the " there is no need " part: it would certainly behoove everyone , except the lazy, and those who don't know the right ter$$anonymous$$ology needed to search, to get UA back on a strict track. As you mentioned, that's no small feat, if even possible.
The only community that I know, and that behaves like a true community is the Slack UnityDevs group.
Thanks. Slack is basically a private message board, not on the internet or searchable? I can't see it conflicting with the original mission of UA.
Put it another way, the point of technical forums is to not be a community. Slack, Unity Forums(?) is a place for that.
(Generic Answer, not really directed at Owen, being a veteran and all)
UA has its ups and downs. You've gotta have a lucky day or a lot of patience, at times. If I had to describe Unity Answers it would be along the lines of... The question diahorrea bucket of the Forum... IT JUST KEEPS FLOWING....like Dysentery. Ok that is a bit harsh; but the kind of posting that goes on here would never be allowed on the Forum, in terms of the quantity, quality and duplication. UA is like the catch-all safety net in a way.
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The Unity Forums are actually excellent for Technical issues. Unity Staff live there generally. Just make sure to post in the correct forum. UA is definitely for fast flow and snappy answers, as you well know. You'll mostly find that the oldschoolers who are still around have migrated to the Forum. You can have a proper technical discussion there and it provides a lot more than 2 spaces. Most people presume that they can not use the Forum for technical qs but its a good place for it. Just Really...Dont attempt to post basic questions there. On UA you'll get a downvote or a rejection but there, be prepared to be SharpTongued.
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Stack Overflow. There are some excellent minds there who more often than not, are very willing to help. Dont underestimate SO.
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I checked out UnityDevs on slack and I was largely unimpressed.
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There's GameDev.net and Gamasutra.com although I'm sure how much they will accomodate for tech questions.
Each area of StackOverflow is different. It gets it's rep as strict and comprehensive from the C++ area (maybe the C# area.) The Unity3D area in SO is nothing special. It's the same humans who use and read UA, except a lot less of them.
Unity Forums are weird. There isn't moderation and there's no rule or expectation that anyone will answer a question. Frequently a Q turns into a discussion about whatever the respondents feel like talking about (it's cute when the OP tries to get it back to their issue.) The most Unity employees respond is something short and factual, like "that's in development, maybe June." UA was created because Forums was so bad at answering Qs.
I think the forum may have moved along a lot since then. They have a dedicated $$anonymous$$m of Assigned moderators who all run a slack channel with Unity Staff to keep closely in touch. Also, their $$anonymous$$oderator and Reporting tools are far superior to UA, as the whole site is made by someone that isnt dZone (They have a SPA$$anonymous$$ button that removes all posts, bans, notifies and checks the IP for shared users all in one press! They also have 'Warning points' for mis-users). There are a lot of dead weight posts, agreed, but if you have a good technical question its quite likely to receive attention these days. Bad and pointless posts still tend to be rejected. I think a lot of people moved over there because we run a 'strict' regime here :P or try to, at least. It definitely worth giving the Forum a chance.
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I've never been to the Unity area of SO but Ive had good results from other coding and tekkie questions in the past. Its a rock, you know? $$anonymous$$inda solid, doesnt change much and probably isnt going anywhere :)
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Also, keep your eyes on the new Connect site. Its up and co$$anonymous$$g, has some kinks and needs a bit of evolution, but has potential. People are beginning to post technical blogs and things that that there. I do find it a bit tricky to negotiate, $$anonymous$$d.
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the same humans
You crack me up mate :D
There's no "since then." I'm taking about the current forums. I believe they have nice spam and Reporting tools. But Forums is for discussion. The stuff that would be reported on UA is perfectly fine over there. When we write "take it to forums," some people listen.
