On 9/9/11 10:01 AM, Nuno J. Silva wrote:
On 2011-09-09, Ken Springer wrote:
On 9/9/11 9:19 AM, Nuno J. Silva wrote:
I guess some people who don't know the rules and aren't used to mailing
lists (which includes looking for guidelines before posting) are people
who would rather subscribe through a web interface.
An idea would be, while keeping the usual mailing list stuff (the
ability to subscribe by sending an email to a specified address and so
on), having a web subscription interface that would drive the user
through two or three slides concisely explaining some important rules,
and how to unsubscribe.
Of course /then/ some people would skip the slides...
I've often thought of something similar, i.e. when a use
registers/signs up, that use automatically gets a document sent to the
user's registered email address. And then have the user acknowledge
the user has received and understands the posting rules, netiquette,
etc.. Something similar to having to agree to a EULA when installing
software. When the user gets his/her post pulled for not following
they guidelines (I'm assuming continuing errors in posting, not the
occasional error where the user may have had a simple brain lapse :-)
) they can't claim they didn't know.
And... You could create said document in LO! ::grin:: But sending
the user a PDF would be better. :-)
No, the idea here is exactly to force users through small[1] explanations
*before* they subscribe. That is, said web subscription wouldn't be made
until the user finished the small "slideshow". And to avoid overdoing
it, it should be in plain HTML.
I took your slide idea backwards. :-) I read it as *after* you
subscribed, you would see the slides. Having it before, as a simplified
explanation of what is expected, is a great idea.
As is plain and simple HTML. I took a introductory web class one time,
and it was mentioned that too many pages get too "busy", making it hard
to find the pertinent information you are looking for.
[1] "small" means it shouldn't be the entire contents of RFC 1855 and
additional guidelines, just a simple set of rules.
Agreed.
(And actually, I think sending it as a PDF instead of a plain text
e-mail would be a bad idea. If you're sending it by e-mail, why not just
put it in the e-mail? PDFs aren't good for on-screen reading, anyway.)
I always take ideas like this, and view them from the perspective a new,
inexperience user with a lack of knowledge about X. That being said...
I would submit that any simple set of guidelines that would be included
in your slides would be insufficient to provide the information to many,
if not most, new users. I don't think most of the younger users would
have a clue as to how to properly write a post.
Until the new users are given *all* requirements of proper posting, you
will be asking for problems and confusion.
I would include most if not all of the Netmeister's "Learn to Quote"
pages in said document. Too many times I've seen rules posted with
absolutely no justification or explanation as to why the rule was put in
effect. When I've come up against this, I've usually gone away
irritated to say the least. But, when I know *why* the rule is in
effect, it usually sheds new light on the reason for the rule.
Not only should we provide the new user with the rules, we should
provide the reasons/justifications for the rules as an education for the
inexperienced. "Old salts" can simply skip the reading.
I learned more about posting to newsgroups from that article than I'd
ever managed to learn before. And while I've not been able to do much
with newsgroups over the years, I have been using computers since the
8-bit days.
Many people don't know how to use any mail client properly, would they
even know how to deal with the email other than read it online? And
something that is simply put in the body of the email cannot be
comprehensive, well formatted, or even professional looking.
By attaching a PDF file, you can put the information in a file that
includes the LO "look and feel" of the documentation for LO. Also, as
most of the less knowledgeable users may have difficulty in printing
and/or downloading the email itself, I suspect most know how to download
attachments. :-)
Alternatively, you could provide a link to the document that would
automatically download it.
<snip>
--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 6.0.2
Thunderbird 6.0.2
LibreOffice 3.3.3
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