How To Better Serve New Members and the LQ Community?

My first problem with the canned response link is that it shows
a lot of irrelevant information which may drive the users away.
Example:

Why isn't my post count going up? How do I change my username? How do I delete my LQ account? How do I mark a thread as solved?

The link does NOT show only the "Welcome to LQ" text.

Secondly, when you say:

You should include the distribution and version you're using, along with hardware details,

The newbie may not know how to find that info so I think it
would be better to provide the commands to find that information
and also how to open a terminal to run those commands.

Also, inserting a space between all those bullet points
may make that wall of text easier on eyes.
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Originally Posted by TheIndependentAquarius My first problem with the canned response link is that it shows a lot of irrelevant information which may drive the users away. Example: The link does NOT show only the "Welcome to LQ" text.

For me it links to the part of the page with the "Welcome to LQ" section and I have to scroll up to see the rest.

Originally Posted by 273 For me it links to the part of the page with the "Welcome to LQ" section and I have to scroll up to see the rest.

I have included the screen shot in the previous post in case
you doubt my words.

I am posting this from a desktop computer.
Are you posting from a mobile?

Originally Posted by TheIndependentAquarius I have included the screen shot in the previous post in case you doubt my words. I am posting this from a desktop computer. Are you posting from a mobile?

I don't doubt that is what you see, I just wonder why we see something different. I just tried the link in your post on a laptop and a desktop on two different monitors (16:10 and 4:3) in Firefox and Chromium an in all cases end up at the Welcome to LQ section.

Originally Posted by 273 For me it links to the part of the page with the "Welcome to LQ" section and I have to scroll up to see the rest.

When I click the canned response link, it opens the FAQ page, with the first entry at the top of the window "How do I change my username?"

This likely depends on the user's display resolution, as at higher resolutions the "Welcome to LQ" section isn't enough to fill the screen vertically and is the last item on the page. Most browsers will fill the window with content, therefore relegating Welcome to LQ to the bottom.

Maybe the "Welcome to LQ" section should be the first entry on the page.

Actually, thinking about it, I don't know why it wouldn't have been in the first place, with the questions following.

Originally Posted by goumba When I click the canned response link, it opens the FAQ page, with the first entry at the top of the window "How do I change my username?" This likely depends on the user's display resolution, as at higher resolutions the "Welcome to LQ" section isn't enough to fill the screen vertically and is the last item on the page. Most browsers will fill the window with content, therefore relegating Welcome to LQ to the bottom. Maybe the "Welcome to LQ" section should be the first entry on the page. Actually, thinking about it, I don't know why it wouldn't have been in the first place, with the questions following.

Ah, that would explain it, I tend to have things zoomed in.
I do agree about the Welcome to LQ at the top.

I think this is a combination of the use of links and references as well as the personal touch. And also the case-by-case situation where the OP really does need/want help and is capable of following up properly.

I'd worry less about any frustration "I" or anyone else has. If they are self inflicting frustration, that's their choice. Nobody says they have to do anything.

The canned response, sorry - looks to me a bit like "Thank you for your resume". So it's not my style. I may reference it, but probably say what I want to say on my own and then point to it also as a more expert level reference. Similarly I would point to other parts of the FAQ, the distro list, or other threads as a way to reference my point in answering a question.

Note also that many of us already have helpful links in our signature. Is anyone amazed that I learned this from other posters who I saw answering questions?

Originally Posted by rtmistler The canned response, sorry - looks to me a bit like "Thank you for your resume". So it's not my style. I may reference it, but probably say what I want to say on my own and then point to it also as a more expert level reference. Similarly I would point to other parts of the FAQ, the distro list, or other threads as a way to reference my point in answering a question.

Exactly. It needs to be added to, not stand on its own.

Originally Posted by rtmistler Note also that many of us already have helpful links in our signature. Is anyone amazed that I learned this from other posters who I saw answering questions?

I have been meaning to do so for quite some time, but felt that others would think I was stealing the idea, so never implemented it. It's about time I got over that insane notion and started adding some links down there.

Originally Posted by rtmistler The canned response, sorry - looks to me a bit like "Thank you for your resume". So it's not my style.

I think the canned response needs to be seen as more of a template and members should find their own take on it and personalise it to the thread in question. Lots of members churning out some generic paragraph is going to annoy other users pretty quickly and will get filtered out and ignored by the OP and others alike.

Also if you've got a user who posts something like this:

"pls help linux desktop dont start! help!!"

I don't think the canned response, or indeed any lengthy response will help. In my opinion it's best if the responses are as short and to the point as the questions themselves, e.g. "more information is required <link to FAQ>" and leave it at that.

If on the other hand you're responding to a lengthy post written by someone who has taken the time, but just has not provided the right kind of info (e.g. lengthy back story, some details of the problem, price of the computer, price, make and model of his first computer, make and model of his uncle's computer, number of years he's been a 'Linux sysadmin', but nothing in the way of specs or OS/kernel version of the system in question), then the more verbose response might be helpful.

To my mind the canned response isn't necessarily for the attention of the original poster but is also for anybody reading then or at a later time. A canned response may be a bit "thanks for your resume" but it gives some indication to those reading why the OP has been otherwise ignored.
I don't know about anybody else but I have found myself posting to "the third party reading" a few times when the OP can't or won't describe the problem or seems to be misrepresenting a problem just so that anybody reading have more to go on?

Well this one didn't work out so well. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ws-4175548929/.

Here's the obvious issue which is that the OP wanted to rant right off the bat. I'm sure if the Mod didn't close the thread, things would still be going.

Originally Posted by rtmistler Well this one didn't work out so well. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ws-4175548929/. Here's the obvious issue which is that the OP wanted to rant right off the bat. I'm sure if the Mod didn't close the thread, things would still be going.

No answer would have worked. The OP was annoyed and ignorant.

Originally Posted by 273 No answer would have worked. The OP was annoyed and ignorant.

So this thread here looks to be their first post.

Well .... we didn't help.

Granted the OP was impatient, posted their rant in between post #1 and #2 here. And then posted a follow-up. At that point it became sort of clear that they were installing something and running into difficulties with apt-get.

1. Did anyone ask their distribution?
2. Did anyone suggest sudo apt-get update?
3. Did anyone suggest that if the OP had a UI desktop that maybe a better option would be to use the software installer?

However impatient the user is/was, at least giving them a calm small set of steps to follow may or may not have worked, but at least it would've been a better effort. No offense to Habitual, but I don't even get post #4.

I shall "try" even though I'm not adept at all with the Seahorse extensions for Gnome. At least now that I've looked it up, I guess that helps to tell me that likely they have a UI desktop. ..

Originally Posted by rtmistler Well this one didn't work out so well. http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ws-4175548929/. Here's the obvious issue which is that the OP wanted to rant right off the bat. I'm sure if the Mod didn't close the thread, things would still be going.

To be fair, this is a good example of a thread where the canned response should not have been used. We defined a very narrow target for the test, and in my opinion this falls outside that range.

--jeremy

Originally Posted by rtmistler So this thread here looks to be their first post. Well .... we didn't help. Granted the OP was impatient, posted their rant in between post #1 and #2 here. And then posted a follow-up. At that point it became sort of clear that they were installing something and running into difficulties with apt-get. Did anyone ask their distribution? Did anyone suggest sudo apt-get update? Did anyone suggest that if the OP had a UI desktop that maybe a better option would be to use the software installer? However impatient the user is/was, at least giving them a calm small set of steps to follow may or may not have worked, but at least it would've been a better effort. No offense to Habitual, but I don't even get post #4. I shall "try" even though I'm not adept at all with the Seahorse extensions for Gnome. At least now that I've looked it up, I guess that helps to tell me that likely they have a UI desktop. ..

Other than getting out a crystal ball I am not sure how you would suggest that the linked thread be dealt with other than a polite request for more information such as the canned-response?
If somebody is deliberately withholding information and being awkward there isn't much which can be done.
Again my view is that it would look better to respond with a canned-response and let the OP actually think about it than start to either spend hours posting and chipping away to find the answers which may not be forthcoming or leave a possibly rude reply.
Rude questions are common enough on forums and in IRC and the like -- the ability to turn them around and help the OP is a very good thing. How much hlp and tolerance is needed though?