It was discussed here many times and essentially everyone concurred that the general perlmonks input form needs improvement. Too many new posters leave out p and c-tags, because the relevant information is slightly hidden behind a few of the 7(!) links below the input form

Yes, it would be nice if people would read the information behind all these links, but someone with a burning question on his or her mind will be quite exhausted at the latest after reading three packed pages of information on just How do I compose an effective node title?

What was missing until now was a proposal exactly how to change the input form. So here it is, a relatively small change, but maybe enough to get the rate of borked beginner postings noticably down:

**** input form ****
**preview button**

  • Please use <p> </p>-tags around your paragraphs and <c> </c>-tags around your code and data
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • ...

    • PS: The bold face of the added text is part of my proposal, not just a hint what was changed

    UPDATE: The proposed change was incorporated almost immediately it seems.

    Replies are listed 'Best First'.
    Re: Change of the input form. Proposal
    by ig (Vicar) on Aug 19, 2009 at 06:03 UTC

      Maybe it would help if the Node Template for new accounts was something like the following, rather than blank.

      <p>Put your paragraph here.</p>

      <code>

      Put your code or data here.

      </code>

      <p>Add as many paragraphs or code sections as needed.</p>

      <p>See [id://323419|Signatures and Node Templates] to change this template and [id://483077|Posting on PerlMonks] for more on posting and formatting.</p>

    		[reply]

        IIRC this has been suggested before and the fear was that the template would remain untouched and new text added at the beginning or at the end. Maybe that could be addressed if the focus was on the textarea and the template text was already selected, so anyone typing without reading will get rid of the template text at once. Other monks suggested to detect whether the template was still there and don't let the author create the node until changed.

        In any case, I support this idea because in case the author left the template untouched it will be obvious after posting and hopefully will push the author to edit the node again.

    		[reply]

          Not having seen the code, I guess that initializing the template would be easy and the change would be easy to back out if it wasn't helpful or caused problems. Thus my inclination would be to try it and see what happens. I can't imagine any great harm if the template remained unedited in a few posts.

          Perhaps the template could be removed when the post is created, if it is found to be present without any change. This would deal with the case where the poster ignored the template and inserted new content before or after it. Hopefully they wouldn't start typing at random points within the midst of the template.

    		[reply]
        ++ Excellent idea. Actually better than the proposal. But I'm curious to see whether the proposal has any impact, so I'm conflicted here ;-).
    		[reply]
    Re: Change of the input form. Proposal
    by graff (Chancellor) on Aug 19, 2009 at 03:13 UTC
      I totally agree with putting that line in bold as the first thing under the preview button -- in fact, I'd say make that line a somewhat larger font.

      Hey -- it's already been applied! And with the large font! I love it! Thank you!

    		[reply]
    Re: Change of the input form. Proposal
    by Anonymous Monk on Aug 19, 2009 at 12:12 UTC
      While at it, "Add your question" text is all dark for me. Same "Add your poem" and "Add your Meditation"
    		[reply]
        If a monk with godlike powers is listening, this could probably be fixed in seconds by editing node Blue web-safe CSS and adding 'color: #FFF;' to the following line 
        tr.titlebar { background-color: #006; }

        [download]
    		[reply]
    [d/l]
    [select]

        Done. Thanks for the nag; we've actually had that on the to-do list for a while

        Between the mind which plans and the hands which build, there must be a mediator... and this mediator must be the heart.
    		[reply]
    Re: Change of the input form. Proposal
    by Zen (Deacon) on Aug 20, 2009 at 14:20 UTC

      Can we stop coming up with reasons *not* to fix things around here?

      Are we really going to balk at helpful suggestions near the form? This attitude of nihilism is a cancer on this site.
    		[reply]
        Didn't you notice that The proposed change was incorporated almost immediately it seems.?

        Cheer up 

        $Zen++ until $Zen > 10;

        [download]
    		[reply]
    [d/l]
          Coming from an anonymonk, someone values their own self-importance, whereas my comment cuts to the issue of this having been suggested numerous times and talked into the ground just as many. I really couldn't care less about xp or whether my comments ruffle feathers that are used to being stroked. We do that often around here, so often in fact I felt the need to call attention to it.

          I do not see any html tips on my form, still. This change should be the default; it's for new users, after all.
    		[reply]
        <b>Can we stop throwing around overblown *FUD*?</b>

        Do we really need to start shouting at each other during civil discussions? This attitude of self-importance is an annoyance.


        All dogma is stupid.
    		[reply]
    [d/l]
    Re: Change of the input form. Proposal
    by Anonymous Monk on Sep 16, 2009 at 00:38 UTC
      snds gud
    		[reply]

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