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How can we, as users, improve Unity Answers? (post-transition edition)
Since the move over to the new Qato version of UA, there have been a few bumps in the road on the way to getting the site back to where it was, especially in terms of accessibility for new users.
A meta "first-time here?" FAQ; exists now
An actual list of the most common questions with a set of corresponding links; exists now, but requires improvement and maintenance.
A generalized meta FAQ for returning people/people curious about differences in new system (how rep is awarded, rep levels for different privileges, etc) (Is in the FAQ now)
A guide on bringing up concerns and suggestions for the site itself (be it on the site, through some sort of email channel, or on the forum)
Note:
Creation of a meta site is in progress; for now, use the meta-Tag.
How can this site (or, I suppose, should the site) be improved?
For reference, there are some old meta questions on improving the site, but they're all from the Stack Exchange era:
What can we do to improve the quality of UnityAnswers?
Reporting bugs against Unity Answers // this has been updated for Qato.
All requests on this page up to date (25/07/11) have been added to the list
When should Questions be closed (by power-users)?
Edit: just a note - the reason I decided to post this here is that it seems like the [EDIT: support] forums aren't nearly as active (I usually try to avoid the discussion questions...).
"Aren't nearly as active"? The same forums that get like 20 pages of posts per day? Exactly how "active" do you want? ;)
Also the tags from most new users are either mispelt or tagged all in one word. New users, or those under say 100 rep shouldn't be able to create new tags, they should use existing ones. And should choose at least two or something like that.
Personally, I think it should stay, except possibly under a different name. I think that people are more likely to post suggestions here, rather than on the forums, if only because they don't really have to go as far. To use an economic term, the opportunity cost of posting on here is lower. This page also provides a method of seeing which things people feel the most strongly about, unlike the forums, where it is less obvious.
I have added most of the old FAQ to the current one and also made some of the sidebars more helpful (and nicer looking). I'll add info about the reputation system to the FAQ once I've gotten some answers from DZone support.
upvotes on comments still give no karma?
leaving comments got even harder, if I'm not mistaken? So people will be bashed ever more for adding answers ins$$anonymous$$d of comments? =/
why is converting comment to answer and vise versa such a high profile-ability? (just wondering...)
as Aldwoni pointed out in the report-bug-thread: redirect Questions both at 100 and 500?
though I can see the reasoning, why editing other people's Posts should be much harder (a lot of harm could be done with this power)... I have to say I mourn the loss of formatting-code- and re-tag-powers =/ sigh (though mass-re-tagging is postponed anyway...)
Am I the only one for whom comments are ordered weird? (everything up to todays update from top to bottom, everything after todays update from top to bottom but above older comments?)
Greetz, $$anonymous$$y.
Answer by Meltdown · Jun 12, 2011 at 06:19 PM
I believe the biggest shortcoming of Unity Answers, QATO or Stack - is that new user's aren't really aware of their commitment to the community.
If they read a good question, or they read a good answer, they need to upvote those questions and answers, and mark as answers those that truly helped solve, or led to the solving of their problem. This I believe is the biggest shortfall of the system at present, new users are unaware of the role they play in making Unity Answers a score/reputation driven knowledge base, that will filter the cream of the questions and answers... to the top.
Instead of a FAQ (which most people don't want to read, because they want their issue solved), new users need more guidelines - inline in the site. For instance if a new user asks a question, and somebody answers it, have a highlighted textblock above each answer, telling them to mark it as answer if it helped them, or upvote the question if they found it useful. Useful answers appear above the not so useful answers, as the more experienced of us know.
Experienced users need to be more vigilant in closing duplicate questions that have been answered already, and edit re-tag questions that are poorly tagged. This can also be done via inline highlighted areas, suggesting to the experienced user what their options are.
Another big problem is people asking questions that could be answered with a simple search. I'm not sure how but we need to make these previous answers be more appearent to the new user.
At the end of the day we need to educate users, both new and experienced, on their roles, to make this the ultimate Unity knowledge base.
for no FAQ. user's don't read them and the serve only as a rod with which to beat the ignorant: "You nub, didn't you read the FAQ?! \<link to FAQ\>"
Regardless of whether new users benefit from the FAQ, I would like an FAQ, for stuff like rep thresholds and general policies. I agree in-line help on using the system, though, is useful.
One thing that would be really helpful is standard pages with easy links (maybe almost like hashtags) that can be used to inform users of common "mistakes". For example #formatyourcode or #notananswer #acceptananswer etc. The pages can then contain more info about what to do etc. (I mean, how many times do we write "use the 10101010 button to format code"? "don't post a comment as an answer" and "if this answered your question, please accept it" etc.)
Answer by Barrett-Fox · Jun 13, 2011 at 04:13 PM
Wasn't there a citizen badge on the old Unity Answers for 200 upvotes? I was incentivized to vote as I read this way. But now it seems that badge is gone. That seems like a straightforward way to encourage participation.
--added this from our comment thread below -- Badges for 200 votes, voting on 30 consecutive (week)days, upvoting 10 competing answers would all help incentivize the voting.
But Stackoverflow has the list of badges that, I believe, the old Unity Answers had. http://stackoverflow.com/badges
This is true. I don't think many people would exceed +100 rep if no one did that.
I agree with the need for some sort of incentivising - it seems like many people don't realize what the vote up/down buttons are for (or don't much care).
Ironic how you both agree but at least one of you didn't upvote ;)
Badges for 200 votes, voting on 30 consecutive (week)days, upvoting 10 competing answers would all help incentivize the voting.
But Stackoverflow has the list of badges that, I believe, the old Unity Answers had. http://stackoverflow.com/badges
I'll edit my Answer to mention this.
Answer by Joshua · Jun 22, 2011 at 11:43 AM
The ability to sort the answers to a question would be great. Currently they are sorted by number of votes, with the highest voted being on top. On questions with several answers it would be convenient to also sort them by "Date Posted" to easily find the newest answers and "Last Active" to easily find the answers where people have just added comments to/edited the answer.
Because right now, I see this question on top of the 'recently active' list, but to find the actual posted comment I have to check the date of the most recent comment of every question.
Answer by Barrett-Fox · Jun 21, 2011 at 09:14 PM
Question Rankings, maybe "Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced" or something more creative could help speed up sifting through questions dramatically.
Answer by Waz · Jun 30, 2011 at 12:06 AM
Editing titles is important.
Sometimes English is not the poster's first language, so they ask "I want to do your grandmother!" when they mean "How do I model an old lady?". (@testure saved a herd of horses from violation by fixing such a title).
Other times someone asks "How do I raycast to draw a laser?" when they mean "How do I use a LineRenderer to draw a laser?"; it helps the community to fix the title so that more people don't get mislead.
That was a pretty fun question...
I agree, though. Those with editing privileges should clarify titles (and tags) when needed.
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