Adding "FAQ" to the approval nodelet

There's a large debate in the CB right now.
"Do anonmonks really involve themselves with the community of PM?"
"How do we deal with anonymous monks who steals our preciousssesss?"
"The FAQSes they do not read! Take the advice and leave the do, Ssss!"
OK, some of this may be influenced by the LotR trailer I just finished watching. I admit it, but I'm not ashamed.

However, there were some very serious and good points made about how to keep from cluttering the monastery with FAQ nodes, especially when they come from people who find themselves in a short term emergency, and will never really grace the monastery with their wisdom or experience. Being generous people, should we deny them answers? I don't think so, and I don't think I'd like perlmonks if it became a jaded clique of snotty experts where the mantra became "RTFM".

What to do?

I suggest that the approval nodelet gain a new function : the FAQ checkbox and textfield. When this box is checked,

the current node will become a child node of the node in the textfield.
the current node's owner will be msg'd with the change.
the node will be marked as being edited by the person FAQing the node.

Further, this idea would allow for "unFAQing". If I, misunderstanding a question, FAQ it in error, I or any other friar+ should be able to check FAQ with no node listed to restore it to top level node status. I understand this may be technically challenging.

comments?

Comment on Adding "FAQ" to the approval nodelet

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(kudra: why?) Re: Adding "FAQ" to the approval nodelet by kudra (Vicar) on May 22, 2001 at 01:48 UTC
Hmm, the point of doing this isn't clear to me. It takes about the same amount of work to attach something to the correct FAQ as it does to post a reply pointing to the FAQ. So it's the same amount of work for us. The poster gets a message instead of a reply. That's pretty much the same for her/him, too. Meanwhile, the FAQ loses value by having worthless reiterations of the same question attached to the end of it. This may decrease the number of root postings, but I think it increases the noise. I don't see the problem as where the nodes currently are (since they can be easily eliminated from a search, or avoided in newest nodes), but rather the fact that they exist. Therefore, the problem, as I see it, is how to get people to look for answers before posting. It's a long-standing problem and I'm not sure there is a solution.	[reply]
Re: Adding "FAQ" to the approval nodelet by shotgunefx (Parson) on May 22, 2001 at 13:48 UTC
I am still relatively new here but I can say that this community is great. It's one of the best (and most useful) sites I have ever seen. The openness of it is one of those great things. I see alot of questions by anonmonks that are really simple and could easily be solved on their own with the tiniest bit of research and it can be annoying sometimes. But I also think that the fact that people aren't blasted for asking stupid questions contributes to the community. I know that while I have been coding for over a decade, I still on occasion do something stupid and miss the obvious cause of my problem. Before I take up the monks time with a question, I try really hard to make sure I'm not wasting everyone's time by asking something simple or obvious but I know that if I miss something that most likely I won't be flamed or ridiculed which makes me more likely to post and contribute. One suggestion I do have is that above the "Ask a Question" textfield in "Seekers of Perl Wisdom" is a little reminder to use the Super Search and perhaps highlighted links to the resources available to see if their question has already been answered. I know a lot of people will just not bother but it may help. Humbly, -Lee "To be civilized is to deny one's nature."	[reply]
Re: Adding "FAQ" to the approval nodelet by mpolo (Chaplain) on May 22, 2001 at 12:51 UTC
I think this fits into the larger debate of making the Categorized Questions and Answers more prominent and user-friendly. It will take a lot of work, but if it's easy to find the answer here, either (1) people will look there first for their answer or (2) it will be easy to find the node to link there when someone repeats an easy/already-answered question. "But there's always the Super Search!" I hear you cry. True enough, but the link to that node is buried in "leftovers" and is not in the top line of links. Personally, I always use the Search box to find the Super Search -- but I know that it exists. The average Anonymous Monk who comes here to get the answer of one question can't be expected to know that, can s/he?	[reply]
Re: Adding "FAQ" to the approval nodelet by jepri (Parson) on May 22, 2001 at 12:17 UTC
Like kudra says, it does seem to be a problem with getting people to read the resources already in place. I would like to add that the site design encourages people to post questions. The front page is the The Monastery Gates, a page that highlights the best questions. The Newest Nodes page shows the questions first. When I first came to the monastary, it really did seem to be a places to ask questions. I still don't know my way around the documentation to the site - I rely on the Super Search too much. If the front page was changed to a node that had a welcome message, and links to the Library, Q&A, Code, Craft and Tutorials then most people who were just looking for a quick fix would stop there. ____________________ Jeremy I didn't believe in evil until I dated it.	[reply]