You can now marked your own thread as solved : BETA

I'm not sure how a thread on marking threads as solved turned into a discussion on older threads, as surely a 3-5 year old thread isn't going to get marked as solved anyway. Keep in mind that we completely disable the Quick Reply for all older threads, which is by far the most popular reply method.

--jeremy

Originally Posted by jeremy I'm not sure how a thread on marking threads as solved turned into a discussion on older threads, as surely a 3-5 year old thread isn't going to get marked as solved anyway. Keep in mind that we completely disable the Quick Reply for all older threads, which is by far the most popular reply method. --jeremy

How come the "solved" label doesn't show up on the default forum display? I'd have thought that's a quick way to identify threads that no longer need attention unless somebody is looking for that info.

This will save a lot of time when looking for solutions to problems; but for me, it might slow the learning process since I use other's questions to more fully understand my own problem.

harishankar, this was a display issue during the BETA period and has been fixed.

--jeremy

Thanks. I see this feature as really useful when I dig around for possible solutions.

A customized search looking only for resolved threads would be a good idea for a future upgrade.

The ability to search "SOLVED" threads has already been added to the advanced search.

--jeremy

Originally Posted by jeremy The ability to search "SOLVED" threads has already been added to the advanced search. --jeremy

Didn't notice that before. Thanks for pointing it out. I usually don't go into advanced search that often as the default search is reasonably sane.

I think the whole matter should be keyed to a detection of what is your current release, and what the post was against originally. This could be automated to some extent if the present machine is the one that you are concerned with. In other words, if you have a problem, and update or replace with a different version of software, and the problem is no longer apparent, you may consider it solved, but anyone still running the old software version might know better and still be effected.

Being SOLVED also means a full statement concerning the proposed or proven SOLUTION. Too often I see a thread where the originator says nothing more, or comes back with a statement like "Okay, I finally got it. Thanks!". You may have gotten it, but how? Where are the details?

And what of someone else that still has the problem? If the originator says "SOLVED", maybe others should also have the option to add something like "NO IT AINT", or "SOLVED? HOW?"

I also think that participants should have a chance to flag which currently open problems they are most concerned about. Say you can pick out up to 20 reported problems. Then you are invited to rank the open problems in the order that you would like to see them resolved, with the most urgent at the top. That could then be used to let the developers know what is most important in the users' mindsets. We won't all agree on the outcome, and the developers are not bound by our findings in any case. But it might be of help in getting the focus where most of us want it or need it. And it would also make sure that the developers are fully aware of how all this effects us.

I think this is a good feature. Some pretty good viewpoints above, also.

As one of probably many persons who asked for the ability to mark a thread as "SOLVED" I would like to say a big thanks to Jeremy and the Linux Questions crew for implementing this change.

Also an apology for not responding to this change earlier. I received the community bulletin on 30 June notifying us about this change, but I only got around to reading it tonight. That'll teach me to get my priorities right.

Originally Posted by oldefoxx Being SOLVED also means a full statement concerning the proposed or proven SOLUTION. Too often I see a thread where the originator says nothing more, or comes back with a statement like "Okay, I finally got it. Thanks!". You may have gotten it, but how? Where are the details? And what of someone else that still has the problem? If the originator says "SOLVED", maybe others should also have the option to add something like "NO IT AINT", or "SOLVED? HOW?"

I generally think being able to mark threads as SOLVED is a good idea. But oldefoxx raises a good point about a possible problem with it. In fact, I came looking for this thread after observing this problem. I don't know what the solution is but I raise it in case anybody else has some ideas.

What I just observed was a case (probably not the only one) where a thread was marked SOLVED even though the only content on the thread was the original post stating the problem. I posted, suggesting that the OP post what the solution was so others could benefit. The response came back that the OP had made an error in the installation. I think OP may have been a bit miffed at me. Maybe I should just be thankful the OP didn't delete the original post ... :-/

Originally Posted by jeremy The ability to search "SOLVED" threads has already been added to the advanced search.

Good idea. Thanks. Another option to consider would be the option of searching for any thread, but with a check box to prioritize the results that are marked solved.

Originally Posted by blackhole54 Good idea. Thanks. Another option to consider would be the option of searching for any thread, but with a check box to prioritize the results that are marked solved.

Already in there. To the left hand side of the search area is a box to select search by "any prefix", "no prefix" or "Solved".

Originally Posted by XavierP Already in there. To the left hand side of the search area is a box to select search by "any prefix", "no prefix" or "Solved".

Yes. I understand that. (And thanked Jeremy for ) My additional suggestion for people to mull over was where you could have it list all entries but the ones marked as solved would be at the top of the list. I guess you could accomplish the same thing with two different searches. Like I said, just a thought for peoples' consideration ...

Originally Posted by oldefoxx Being SOLVED also means a full statement concerning the proposed or proven SOLUTION. Too often I see a thread where the originator says nothing more, or comes back with a statement like "Okay, I finally got it. Thanks!". You may have gotten it, but how? Where are the details?

I agree; However, technology cannot correct one's lack of etiquette.

Originally Posted by oldefoxx And what of someone else that still has the problem? If the originator says "SOLVED", maybe others should also have the option to add something like "NO IT AINT", or "SOLVED? HOW?"

The proper response, as opposed to hijacking a SOLVED thread, would be to start a new thread so it will be in the zero-replies list, and include the line "I tried the solution here [link to SOLVED thread] but it didn't work for me."

Cheers