Suggestion: Thread Rating System

It would be great if people could rate the helpfulness of threads (e.g. not helpful, somewhat helpful, very helpful) so that when you are searching for the answer to a problem you could see which threads are most likely to help.

Another helpful idea would be to somehow have the original poster of the thread mark that the thread helped them solve their problem. Maybe the user could get an email asking "Did this thread help you solve your problem?" with a "yes" link and a "no" link.

Basically I'd like to see some way of separating the useful from the useless!

Scroll to the bottom of any thread, there you should see the ability to rate the post. However, I've found that actually rating the poster rather than the post helps in the overall value of the forums. You can "affero" the user to rate the value of their post, after several people have deemed a certain person with 'valuable' or 'invaluable' posts, there will usually be a chain. It's a great way to see if the value of a reply you recieved is worth it (sometimes).

As for the mark as 'answered' there is/was a test program for threads posted in THIS specific forum allowing members to mark their threads appropriately, however, as you can see, it didn't really get taken in well by most posters. You can see the "U" or "A" letters next to each thread

Cool

FWIW this sounds like a good idea in theory, but one that would have inconclusive results, simply because what might solve an issue for one person might be totally useless to another. Example: Poster A describes a hardware problem getting a peripheral device to work. Poster B suggests an answer. Poster C replies "Right on dude, this worked, you rock!!!". Poster A tries the same thing, it doesn't work, replies "WTF Poster B, are you high?? I followed the instructions exactly and it fubar'd my system so much I had to reinstall. Thanks Einstein"

Now, how do you evaluate the usefulness of these posts, considering that there are an almost infinite number of conditions that could produce these two different outcomes. Maybe the advice is exactly right, but the reason it works for C but not A is because the kernel needs to include support an experimental function, which exists in C's kernel but not A's. Maybe A is just careless and missed a step, despite his assertion that he did everything correctly. Maybe A added an extra step he thought would "help", but didn't. Maybe C had a newer version of an important package. Maybe A just had a loose connection or a defective part. Who's to say?

Personally, what I think is the absolute best approach is for people who got good results from a post to simply say "Hey, Thanks, this worked" in the original thread. Not only does it give the advisor a good stoke to know that he/she helped someone out, but it also paves the way for future readers to filter the good stuff from the bad. Plus it's just simple courtesy. So, I guess I agree with your basic viewpoint, but would disagree on the implementation. Again, this is just my worthless 2 cents -- J.W.

Personally, what I think is the absolute best approach is for people who got good results from a post to simply say "Hey, Thanks, this worked" in the original thread. Not only does it give the advisor a good stoke to know that he/she helped someone out, but it also paves the way for future readers to filter the good stuff from the bad. Plus it's just simple courtesy. So, I guess I agree with your basic viewpoint, but would disagree on the implementation. Again, this is just my worthless 2 cents -- J.W.

I could not agree more JW. If you get a response that solves your problem make sure you let the poster know!

--jeremy

Sometimes I feel that if someone gives a good answer and there is no response afterwards, that comes off to me as sometimes being solved as well. Either they posted, got response and it worked and just forgot to come back as you can tell with most, if it didn't work, they do come back usually posting that it didn't work.

But I also agree with Jeremy and J.W. though, the best solution is when the user actually states that it fixed their problem. Also bringing up how many even would see the option to select that it is solved. We had this brought up once before in this forum and the user didn't even see we already had this in use.