[Touch Pro, Fuze ROM Development] juju-35:
My 2 cents

Hello,

I have been here almost 2 years, going form Kaiser to Tilt to Fuze and have enjoyed every visit. Of course I have had my own frustrations, but overall I think the Forum is very valuable to many people. So, let's not trash the success of the Forum.

Now, on improving it I think the admins/owners need to decide what they want to do with the Forum:

A- Make it mainstream "windows mobile expert/enhancement/learning" forum, where users of all skills can come and benefit from new developments, and be educated about WM and become themselves experts. End users can improve their phone experience and learn about the inside of their WM. Developers can get famous, rich (maybe), or get a new job at Microsoft because they wrote the next big thing, or just get proud about the fact 1,000s of users uses their stuff.

B- Make it a Hacker's community, where specialsits talk only to specialists and not be bothered by any noobs and advance the science.

I think the main difficulty annd uneasiness we are all feeling today comes form the fact that there is no global agreement on what it should be. Some great developers want to have the max exposure (for one or several reasons quoted above), yet some others do not want to be bothered by any noobs, and just want to get the next tip from their buddies hackers.

From this internal contradiction we see very annoying behaviors, which to me are all unaccceptable, and not only coming from noobs:

1- Noobs asking stupid quesitons which have already been answered 3 times

2- Developers being arrogant, insulting, hyper insistant that while they give this away for free the NEED money now, hyper-paranoid or egomaniacs or all of those

3- Leeches who don't contribute anything, but are ready to bash anybody who does 1 above, just because it is fun and it makes them feel good (see the recent inciddent on nrgy 2.0 ROM for this).

IMO you guys first need ot decide what the Forum is all about, and come up with dfifferent solutions according to what you want it to be.

If (A) is what you want, some of the best suggestions I have read/seen are:

(1) Every (major) thread has a main developer and an associated buddy editor. The developer develops but the eidtor will take care of answering stupid questions (or deleting them if really annoying), posting in post #2 all answers to key question (FAQ/Wiki INSIDE the same thread)....My feeling is that it is what Altheway was doing with Dutty Roms when I was following them on Kasier (sorry if I am insulting anybody in saying this), and saw that it worked really well. Noobs can have ONE place to see all the previous answers to questions for a thread (as oppsesd to unrealisticly asking to read 100+ pages), noobs get answers from the editor (or bash BUT only from them)

(2) Make search really work. I know people keep saying search, my intent at searching with the Forum search button have been 99% unsuccessful, and google has been a little better but not great.

(3) Make some clear rules when people sign up and have them appear on top of every thread (SAME rules for every thread), of what/when to post, look at FAQs (which hopefully would generalize at the begining of every major thread), it is not ok to be arrogant/insulting, it is not ok to bash others especially when you don't contribute and you just want to get the Chef to notice that you are a good pet,...

(4) Good online communities are like good neighboorhoods: Instead of mods/cooks encouraging bashing, encourage help: medium skilled users to help noobs, experts to help medium guys, hackers to help experts.... Get everyone to learn more and become better and better.

If you want option (B) above

(1) Just not allow people to freely join. Or make a "reader" status and "contributor" status. Readers can't post. To be a contributor you need to write first to a (several) moderator(s) about what is your background and why you are eligible. They will consider your applciation and potentially sponsor you into a contributor/expert.

(2) put a "stupidity police" in place, where people not worthy/smart/contributing enough get pushed down back to "reader" status

I personally prefer (A), but it is YOUR Forum you need to decide what to do with it.

So, sorry to say that in summary I think the biggest problem is NOT in the noobs posting stupid question, but for mods/owners/cooks to decide what is the purpose of the Forum and then act accordingly. I can see many people wanting (B) yet many others being happy with (A)...

And remember that whatever your decision is, and whatever the filters you put in place, an online community is like a real community. There are nice people and awful people. They are smart and stupid people. People who want to help and selfish ones. This is just life!

My two cents.

Juju

PS: Sorry more edits 16.33 PST....No response so hope it is ok!