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Suggestion for the board.

I see there isn't a suggestion section under the captivate and decided to post here so the developers are likely to see it. Though maybe the mods can implement it as well.
I was thinking that since us noobs can never find the questions that have been asked and answered do to the staggering number of posts in some of these threads; could download threads be locked and stickied but have a link to a Q&A thread on the topic, and a separate discussion thread that is labeled for posting by devs only? I know this is more threads and maybe I'm speaking nonsense but I see a lot of people get blown off, or better yet someone answers them only to tell them to search for the answer or just put people down. Like if you are gonna take the time and space on the board to say something to someone you can't give a link and a page number.
I know you guys are super helpful, but the board is hard to navigate because of the huge number of posts, I think a Q&A topic for each download topic with a link would keep the noobs out of your hair and questions could be answered by intermediate users and not make it hard for the busy devs to communicate amongst themselves.
What do you think?
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Wrong section. This section is for develpment. Period.
I vote no. 90% of the time the first post is the info/download information, and the rest of the post is the "Q&A" section you want. And the other 10% of the time the information isn't in the first post because noobs aren't going to read an entire thread and the "release" is still in "oh crap this may break stuff".

I just think its cluttered and the lay person can't navigate and the knowledgeable people are unwilling to answer the same questions too many times (understandable).
My next suggestion is to have a suggestion section.
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Dani897 said:
I just think its cluttered and the lay person can't navigate and the knowledgeable people are unwilling to answer the same questions too many times (understandable).
My next suggestion is to have a suggestion section.
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If people used the search function, they would find answers to already asked questions. Having stickie Q/A stuff to correspond to Dev stuff sounds nice, but no one will look for it - they don't look now and search works very well.

I thought I was speaking sense but obviously its not being received.
You don't need to sticky the qa just link to it and people will find it.
Searching is unreliable because that means the phrasing needs to be close.
But I'll just let this die.
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No more questions in general

Zelendel has been doing an awesome job keeping this place clean of noobs posting questions without searching in the general sub. 12 hours without him and this place looks like crap. Stop it. You are not special. You are a noob who needs to watch the noob video again by azrionoch. Search, follow the rules, post in the correct forum.
And to all the people who actually answer the questions, stop it. You are just as bad. You are an enabler. To the people who get mad at the members who point out that a thread was made without searching and/or posted in the wrong section, stop it. You are the worst. Not only do you not care about keeping this place clean, but you are perfectly fine with it getting messier.
Guys, just keep the forums clean. It makes this place nicer, keeps the mods happier, keeps members happier with the new rp system, and the keeps the devs happier.

I'm all for keeping this place clean but you need to understand that not all people are capable of following simple rules. Topics will continue to be created in the wrong forum regardless of how many "you're doing it wrong" speeches you type up (which, ironically, create clutter themselves). Let the mod do his job and keep your mouth shut if you have nothing helpful to say.
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moorent said:
I'm all for keeping this place clean but you need to understand that not all people are capable of following simple rules. Topics will continue to be created in the wrong forum regardless of how many "you're doing it wrong" speeches you type up (which, ironically, create clutter themselves). Let the mod do his job and keep your mouth shut if you have nothing helpful to say.
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Good words from a member whose only contribution to the forum was a question thread about wallpaper in of all places, the captivate general sub section. Thank you.

boborone said:
Good words from a member whose only contribution to the forum was a question thread about wallpaper in of all places, the captivate general sub section. Thank you.
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Lol... I try not to enable too much, but it is annoying sometimes especially with the "what is the best rom" threads and the "i can't follow instructions so hold my hand and spoon feed me" threads
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Thanks for this thread, we truly appreciate . We definitely need members like you also to help us clean the forums. I'm a currently active moderator here also. I will need that if you see something like this shoot me a PM so either I or any other moderator can move, delete or close these threads.
Thanks again,

To all the people whining and wasting space on the forums

If you have a problem with someone keep it between yourselves. You can argue with people all you want over pm.
Dev threads are for dev related materials. This means critiques, error reporting, LOGS, and relivent info. What this does not include is arguing with people. Also posts that comment to the op, saying I'm not flashing this because... please no.
Also replying to a question with this belongs here wastes space. If you don't know don't reply. If you do, answer it or post a link to a thread with the answer and then say this belongs here. We don't need 3 this belongs here to every question before someone has the heart to answer it. You're adding to the mess.
Also please read ravers post clarifying the sections. The community is becoming way too whiny and every thread is becoming a flame war.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1517199
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You're absolutely correct. I, for one, have responded to posts on dev threads that I shouldn't have. No disrespect was meant to the dev it's just seeing certain posts disrespecting the op angered me to the point of responding. I will be more than happy to go back and delete it if I am able. At the very least I will edit.
Edited my post in dev thread.
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im sorry but if raver already posted something referring to this said problem, then are you yourself not whining and wasting forum space?
and once upon a time i posted this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1235789
so you could link this thread if you like

This is addressing a different issue. The main thing here, we are a community. We all want basically the same things. We don't want to read through the flaming of other users and posting counterproductive things. Yes people will post questions in the wrong sections, etc, but it doesn't warrant 5 posts complaining about it's misplacement when it would take one to clarify and inform him KINDLY it's in the wrong place for future posts. Yes that search feature is nice, and things are crowded, but people make mistakes. We need to be a community and treat eachother with respect instead of whining and complaining at everyone.

if anyone has issues, they can use my guide thread to post them in
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I want to point people to my question in the Q&A section.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1518935
Answers from the mods would be nice. Because the community is creating rules and expecting people to know them in advance. The general rules are basic and dont cover a lot of what people like to claim is rules and whatnot.

yeah, this was more meant to address the people just generally being a%$es. Rules are nice and all, but we don't all need to police them, especially if it means posting 5 threads policing them.

hampsterblade said:
Also replying to a question with this belongs here wastes space. If you don't know don't reply.
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How many questions have you answered incorrectly in the dev threads today after writing this?

lumin30 said:
How many questions have you answered incorrectly in the dev threads today after writing this?
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im sorry lumin, how mu h time have you spent on irc with team acid? i guarantee its less than hamster and. i have
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What are talking kid.

lumin30 said:
How many questions have you answered incorrectly in the dev threads today after writing this?
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What he's saying is, if you can't help, don't waste yours and our time. At least answering incorrectly shows effort on one's part to help, instead of just blatantly being an ass.
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lumin30 said:
How many questions have you answered incorrectly in the dev threads today after writing this?
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Plenty. Answer the question and direct them to the right place, especially if it only takes one post to answer. If it'd take more link them to a more relivent thread.
For every one noob asking a question in the wrong place we have 5 "experts" repeating this goes here wasting more space than it'd take to answer.
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hampsterblade said:
Plenty. Answer the question and direct them to the right place, especially if it only takes one post to answer. If it'd take more link them to a more relivent thread.
For every one noob asking a question in the wrong place we have 5 "experts" repeating this goes here wasting more space than it'd take to answer.
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I'm sorry hampsterblade - I mean no disrespect - but you seem to have a Do as I say not as I do attitude with this post and your posting in the dev threads.

lumin30 said:
I'm sorry hampsterblade - I mean no disrespect - but you seem to have a Do as I say not as I do attitude with this post and your posting in the dev threads.
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Well if you DO follow his actions then you'd be in our IRC channel helping us debug and giving us logs. Hampster's one of the only new names that I've seen giving us legitimate help lately.

FBis251 said:
Well if you DO follow his actions then you'd be in our IRC channel helping us debug and giving us logs. Hampster's one of the only new names that I've seen giving us legitimate help lately.
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FB I don't plan on following others' actions. And I am not saying what he said in the OP doesn't have merit. However, it seems after he posted this he has been on a posting spree in the dev section... adding to the clutter he denounced in this post. Hell he even accidentally started thread today in the dev section talking about starting a Wiki...
I don't know how me joining the IRC channel will benefit you guys or help. I hope to help by answering noob questions so you guys don't have to. We are going to have to do hand holding whether we want to or not... I am resigned to that fact... therefore, I do my best to handle as many those requests as possible.

....As the world turns (starting to look like a soap)
As lumin30 will tell you we have had our fair number of disagreements here, but I totally agree with him. This is a somewhat relevant post, but it looks more towards the lines of "Do as I say not as I do" post. There are plenty of "This is what your supposed to do" threads like this ----->
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1235789
And if this is what the OP is referring to as "especially if it means posting 5 threads policing them."
then please look at date i wrote it (26 aug 2011). If mistaken on what your talking about then I apologize.
Just seems to me that the very thing you are preaching is being done by you.

I'm not trying to spark arguments here.
What I'm mostly saying is cut some people some slack. While it's a good thing to inform people where things should go, that doesn't mean when someone posts something in the wrong thread things only need to be said once, and if it's a simple answer just answer it and inform them it should be in a different section.
Read through some of the old threads especially Raver's roms, and yes some people are dumb reporting bugs that are in the op, or have already been reported, and not providing logs to help. That doesn't mean we need 5 people to reply to the post saying this has already been reported or this belongs in Q&A.
I'm simply saying be friendly. The overall activity of the community has gotten way too hostile. Noobs will be noobs, not that I approve of it, that doesn't mean our older members have to be dicks.
Also my post earlier was a legitimate mistake as I just opened the browser to make the post and didn't notice what section I was in. And As for the wiki I do intend to do it as I feel there is too much to put on one page with sub-pages, and that navigation wise it will make things more friendly for noobs to find information easily with a full FAQ, and wiki pages with full descriptions of roms, how to flash them, and known bugs, as things tend to get lost in the forums. I'm simply working to help out the little guys. We all had a time we were noobs too, just some are dumber than others.

noobs will be noobs, saying that just tells people hey i'm a noob and noobs will be noobs...so I'll just post where ever I like and continue not to use search
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jdubb1106 said:
noobs will be noobs, saying that just tells people hey i'm a noob and noobs will be noobs...so I'll just post where ever I like and continue not to use search
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Guh, people are so selective with what they read. I said noobs are dumb in post in the wrong place. Doesn't mean we need 5 people to police them for every post. It only makes things worse.

This thread has turned into a fail as it always has and always will.....damned if you do....damned if you dont...
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Keep the dev threads clean

This is nothing new for a lot of us but since we got ics roms there have been a lot of noobs. DO NOT ASK QUESTIONS IN THE DEV THREADS. There are q&a threads for every rom so post your questions there and don't post the same question over and over. The only reason to post in the dev thread is to report bugs. Don't take this the wrong way anyone but its getting out of hand and I thought it needed to be addressed.
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A good rule of thumb is ask the question once. If a answer is not given within a day bump your question dont ask again.
If your not sure what bumping a post is I will explain. You quote your previous post that has the unanswered question. If more than one was asked then just edit out the answered questions. It would look something like this.
How come this rom is so awesome?
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bump
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in the case of aokp dont talk about ponies seriously I saw the vibrant forums and the dev had to lock thread for talking about ponies:highfive:

These are all true. So I won't quote anyone specifically. I know in the last few days you've seen me post a bit, but there are weeks/months where I don't post at all. I'm not always watching the forum and have A LIFE TO LIVE (I'm sure you do to ).
A few of you guys are my ifriends and iassociates. And I like helping out, its in my nature. But as you see, I ask in my OPs that people follow a few of my own rules. And as you can tell, when my rules are broken I lock my threads. Because I don't need to walk away from my computer to go hang out with my daughter and come back to a thread full of off topic garbage that you guys could have been chatting on IRC or on PM.
It used to be in my signature, maybe I should add it again.
How to ask questions the smart way, by Eric S. Raymond and Rick Moen.
This document is your howto on using forums, mailing lists and IRC. I can be honest and say that I don't always follow that document and am sometimes making my own mistakes.
Anyways, I highly recommend that everyone reads that document all the way through at least once.
Enjoy...

I hope people are taking the time to read this, but I doubt it.
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Hint-hint.
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replying to a thread in development forum

i have been a member of xda forums for 1 1/2 years, as well as other android forums around the net. i'm usually the type of person that reads the threads more than i post in them, unless i truly have a helpful answer for someone or i genuinely need help with something. bc of this i have only two posts here at xda, as it's not my go-to forum. nonetheless, i still look through threads here for info and help and occasionally i know the answer to someone's question. upon trying to help someone out earlier in the vzw gnex development forum i was presented with a v-bulletin message telling me i'm not allowed to post there because it's for 'advanced users' who have 'more than ten posts.' i find this to be a ridiculous policy, based solely on my prior activity, or lack thereof. i consider myself to be pretty proficient with android, and basically i would have to make seven other posts in addition to this one (which would have no merit as i don't need to make seven other posts at this time) and clog up other sections of the forums just so i can reply to someone in a development thread. is there no way around this? or do i truly have to come up with some bs posts elsewhere just to help someone?

The reason is they don't want time wasters taking up the time of the developers or people asking questions which have already been asked and answered. Where all it would take is a little effort to search. It fairly easy to get your ten posts look for other forums where you could help. With the amount of members xda all ready has and the amount that sign up everyday, there no way of knowing or determining what expertise the new member may or not have.
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i understand what you mean, but I'm far off from being a new member. As stated in the op I've been a member for a year and a half (since Feb 2011.) Oh well. Thanks for the reply

All I can suggest is u look about some of the other forum's where u can post and see if there are people in their u can help.
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As chris170569 said, it really isn't difficult to write 10 posts around these forums. If indeed you've done a lot of reading here and are a proficient android user, as you say, then even though you may not feel the need to make other posts, but there are always users here who need help.
The best place to start of is in the forums for your device and look through the General and Q&A sections of said forum to see if you can help anyone.
There's always the option of helping out in the General and Q&A subforums of the General forum.
The posts really won't take long to build up.
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What you post was absolutely ryt bro::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
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Just like KidCarter93 and chris170569 have said it is pretty easy to get 10 thanked posted. As you can see I'm a pretty new member and already have gotten 10+ thanked post. However, when I first came to XDA I didn't even get a thanked post in a forum until almost a month later. After that I post at least once a day, to see if I can help someone out. Just saying you get in what you put out.
Since you're proficient in android, make a thread on answering people's question (if there isn't one already). But to answer your question the only way to answer people's question that you come across is to private message them.

running into the same issue ... need help big time on my EVO

Go to the discussion forum for your device. Should find someone there. Or start a new thread in the Q & A section for your device. Make sure u have really really searched first, if your problem can be sorted by a quick search n u not done that you will get flamed mercessilly
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