yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[About XDA developers] rycheme:
I wanted to chime in and agree here with ta3's idea. I think that having the 10 post limit is a good first step at cutting down on the misplaced posts, but I think having a method by which the users (who are always in the forums anyway) to do the following would be extremely helpful:

- Vote to move a post to a Q&A section with a notification to the OP that it's been moved

- Vote to remove a 'not helpful' or 'off topic' post with a notification to the OP as such

Then set up a threshold for the number of 'votes' it takes to move/remove a post, so that it takes at least x people to perform an action. I'm still a relative noob when it comes to all things Android and Eris, but I do like to help out newer users with things that I've learned if at all possible - I think many of the ideas posted here would help with that mission :)
[About XDA developers] lbmorgan:
I have been a member here for a little while but usually never post. If I see something I have a question about I usually private message the user directly. For the most part I get decent feedback. I honestly dread even asking a question in a thread or even starting one. 90% of the time the reply I would get has no positive feedback just ridicule .. I guess the creators of the site need to decide; is this a place for advanced users to show off their work to other advance users or is this actually a place to help others who simply just don't know. The reality is you can not force even the brightest developer to have a personality in the same as you can not force an ignorant person to ask the right question.
[About XDA developers] mrkite38:
It's fine if this pushes junk to the general fora. The threads in general are many-to-many. Helpful users help, police, etc. The noobs, lazies, etc. Threads in dev are one- or few-to-many, and the 'noise' just makes it that much harder for the devs to do their thing. Once again, the 'support thread in general' comes up as a best practice.
[About XDA developers] mattbeau:
Im not so sure

Im kind of late chiming in also, and i dont usually participate in the general discussion but, I think that maybe the post limit is not the answer. I think people will just bypass the 10 post limit just to get thier answer. I think people need to step up and help police the forums and not just leave it to the senior members/ moderators. I have tried to help out where i can, maybe not enough, especially with all of the "should i install a custom rom" posts around. this leads me to believe maybe our wikis need a little polishing off. but I do try to help with what limited knowladge I do have. Sure I have an hour to spend here and there to help if needed, but I dont always know where to help. I sold my captivate but I have a bit of experience with the NV_data. and currently carry a focus so not much i can provide here but my opnion. so anyways, for newbs please read, read and read some more. for those other than moderators, please step up and answer some newb questions, point them in the right direction. Sure you were a newb once, but how many different types of handsets were there when you joined. so my vote (not that it really matters) no, i dont think this will actually solve anything, if anything frustrate users.
[About XDA developers] homer.web:
This is similiar to what I was saying, and I just took it little bit higher to promote even more than one forum specific moderator. I think, that the list of moderators should look differently. First collumn instead of name of the moderator should be the name of the forum and second column instead of the list of the forums where he/she is moderator should be a list of the moderators of the specific forum. This doesn't mean, that people could not be moderators in more than one forum.

I still think, that just only one moderator for one forum is not enough, even if there is a list of cca 50 non forum specific moderators/admins. I think, that people are, and should be somehow focused on the specific forum, have knowledge of that forum and learn the mood, which could be totaly different in each forum, as cajunflavoredbob says. We have a proverb, which approximately says: "If somebody does everything, than he usualy does nothing well."
[About XDA developers] Valicore:
I think it's a great idea, "normal" users should almost never need to write in development forums anyway. Search engine > Q&A Forum > Maybe Development. It will cut down on what I think is the biggest problem which are new users who stumble into forums without reading the rules (or anything else for that matter) and just open threads (the mods are really good about cleaning them up though). It's certainly better than closing the site to new registrations, and hopefully it will remind people that the usage of the XDA is a privilage and certain rules need to be followed and that certain behaviors are unacceptable.
[About XDA developers] suxelexus:
I understand the issue here, and the need to make some changes. HOWEVER, what about those who don't want to post useless crap, but don't know enough to create an actual useful post, or develop apps, RoMs, etc. I can imagine alot of cooks learned from posting in forums on xda. What about the thousands of members who are learning, & come here to comment with valuable questions/suggestions, which lead to better development, bug fixes etc...

By 'development-related forums,' does this mean relating to, for example, RoM flashing, new widgets, apps, etc...?? If so, well the forums are going to get reallly boring reallly fast if 3/4 of the community is no long able to comment... I see the principle but I'm a bit sceptical of the results...
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
The forums being discussed, as far as I know, are solely the ones called "(DEVICE NAME) Android Development, (DEVICE NAME) Windows Mobile Development... The Q&A, General, Themes & Apps forums wouldn't be affected afaik.

Regarding posting feedback etc, that could be done in an associated thread in general for the ROM. So a ROM would be released in development, and developed there, but questions and feedback in General thread for the ROM :)
[About XDA developers] Biofall:
I suggested this relatively early on in this discussion, then I just applied to be a mod

Sent from my Supersonic powered by Tapatalk
[About XDA developers] homer.web:
I don't want to be a moderator... ;)
[About XDA developers] tehabe:
I don't think this is a good idea. I'm only here because of discussion about alternative ROMs. And I only take part in those discussion threads. Those discussions are mostly within "Android Development". If this policy is in effect I won't be able to participate in those discussions.

That is why I think this a bad idea.
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
It won't affect existing members, but also it's likely that developers will have 2 threads for their ROM. One for development in there, another in General for discussion, troubleshooting etc...
[About XDA developers] Canterbury:
Unfortunately xda is a symptom of its own success. :)

The amount of times i see references to xda from the likes of Engadget is probably more than an other (obviously in the cell phone range).

Currently owning a TMOUS HD2 i've had the luxury of being able to switch between win6.x, android and wp7 (though there's even more possibilities.)

All of which is a result of the hard work of the developers and users found here.

Aside from the major learning curve of 3 completely different OS's, learning all the jargon can be a headache.

I've seen it mention a few times previously regarding the OP of a dev forum to create additional posts for "Q&A" and/or ???.

Why not simply ? enforce devs to create a folder as opposed to a thread and in there have thread topics

This would keep all the posts together..

for example

"Rom Dev"

"Q&A"

"???"

Ensure the "Rom Dev" has a "working" and "known issues" session

change log

Locked to members with 50/100 posts so it stays clean

The "Q&A" would be open to all and hopefully be monitored - answered q's should be moved to post #1,2,3 etc

or some workaround.

Obviously have to be modified for software or such but hopefully the general principal could apply.
[About XDA developers] rincredible:
I had a bit of an "ohnoez" moment when I first read about this, because I'm pretty shy and not big on posting. And I totally don't want to go around spamming random thanks and superficial comments elsewhere on XDA just to be able to ask a question on development.

That said I haven't found an instance where I absolutely HAD to ask a question. I'm rubbish at tech stuff but most of the step-by-step guides are pretty dummy-proof. I bricked the phone once but instead of going "HELP!!!" and harassing people I just did a search and unbricked it myself eventually.

Maybe do a post promotion type thing? Like if a new member posts something that's particularly insightful or helpful, older/senior members could promote it (or give props, whatever works). 10 props = 10 posts, whichever comes first. Just a suggestion.
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
The unfortunate issue is that there's no such thing as a "folder" on vBulletin :(

But we could certainly encourage links in the OP to a Q&A thread...
[About XDA developers] cajunflavoredbob:
While I do agree that there should certainly be more than one mod for some of the more popular devices (HD2, for example), a single mod for some of the older, less-used devices should be alright. I think that if XDA is going to continue to grow, then adding more mods to forums is a MUST. It could start in a small way by having a single mod for each forum instead of one mod per three devices or so. As devices become more, or less popular, mods could be added or removed. I think the HD2 forum should have at least three or four mods. The WM and Android areas are HUGE all by themselves. I can't imagine that a single mod could police that entire forum all alone everyday. I'm sure it's the same situation for other devices as well. The HD2 is the largest forum that I know of here on XDA, though. One thing is for certain, though; I don't envy dharvey and his position of cleaning up that forum at all. It a monumental task he's got on his hands over there by himself.
[About XDA developers] Canterbury:
? sorry, maybe my terminology is wrong..

Folder meaning subforum..

eg

home > HTC Leo:HD2 > HD2 Windows Phone 7 > HD2 Windows Phone 7 Development >

Instead of creating a new thread, OP creates a new "Sub-Forum" with Threads inside that.

eg

home > HTC Leo:HD2 > HD2 Windows Phone 7 > HD2 Windows Phone 7 Development > [JAN12][NAND][WP7] LEO70 ROM + magldr 1.12[DOWNLOAD HERE] > ROM DEV

home > HTC Leo:HD2 > HD2 Windows Phone 7 > HD2 Windows Phone 7 Development > [JAN12][NAND][WP7] LEO70 ROM + magldr 1.12[DOWNLOAD HERE] > Q&A

:)

Possible?
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
Nope :(

Only an admin can make forums... We can't have admins having to make a subforum for every rom... would slow down the site too much :(
[About XDA developers] Canterbury:
Ohh, well definitely agree with you there.. i thought it would be similar to rights and permissions within windows OS allowing users to create sub-(folders)forums while leaving the main 2 or 3 layer home directories secure.

shows how little i know about vbullitins...
[About XDA developers] cdnewl:
it is indeed a good idea.

I have no complain about that.
[About XDA developers] jonathan.hemming:
"disallowing posts to development forums for new users with 10 posts or less in an attempt to cut down on junk posts." is, in my humble opinion unwarranted and counter productive in a scenario where a quite knowledgeable prospective forum asset/poster would just be offended (at best) by this rule...

My stance is that knowledge and relevance are not related to number of prior posts; I see no reason to use 10 posts as a point whereby a person is deemed to be proficient at either development or code, and I am in complete disagreement with the rule.
[About XDA developers] vinconti:
an alternate idea: i know i am somewhat guilty of this in that i didn't accurately respond to the similar ideas presented but forgive me; i am on 28.8 dialup in Wanganui NZ for a few weeks.

I think a TREMENDOUS amount of crap posts could be eliminated with a modified site infrastructure, mostly by convention. First, I think there is a reasonable limit to the number of pages people will read. So instead of the OP "reserving" early posts, can the helpful posts be voted up to the top and dynamically move to the first page? Moreover, it would be even better if the forum software could automatically categorize different issues within each thread, and then group those, possibly listed in a different table of contents or at least on the first page, with the helpful posts within that category voted to dynamically be near the top.

Secondly, new versions of things should get new threads. Its crazy we have to dig through tens or hundreds of versions of identically named APKs, for instance, for the correct version. Also, important info from previous threads should be ported over in some automatic way, and if not that, we should beat it into peoples head to first search the most recent thread, then previous, and if it isn't answered in the most recent thread, it gets posted with question AND answer in the most recent. I think if the search feature were modified around this idea, it would help tremendously.

Second to lastly, it shouldn't just be the mods that have the power to move/delete comments. Craigslist has a better way of doing this, with a democratic, automatic flagging system. It requires no admin intervention to get a post on CL removed, just enough votes. If you implemented that with enough people voting to move/delete/apply a category to a post, it would end up being very fair and SO MUCH CLEANER.

Lastly, I think a modified version of the "thanks" system would be a better idea than a simple "ten posts". If you give everyone some amount of qualification on a merit system, but then require a HIGHER amount based on feedback, offending people would go away quickly.
[About XDA developers] G-Man.:
Hello all, I may be still quite new to this forum, However, I must disagree with the 10 post minimum before being allowed to post in develpoment sections... I do agree that most brand new members clutter the forum with questions that have been answered probably a hundred times... but, I've also seen these same posts from members with higher post counts than myself. I just dont see how it would help cut down on the problem. This is a massive site in terms of all the devices it supports, Some of the sections are cluttered to heck and back... ... My suggestion would be to make XDA a paid membership site - requiring users to pay so much a year (I do this with my black hawk down pc game, for their website, to be a member, costs me $50 a year) I think this would invite more serious users and weed out some of the people who are here just to mildly tinker around. I know its difficult to manage a site like this, and I do appreciate all the mods/devs for the work they do here. Just thought id throw in my 2 cents worth :D
[About XDA developers] Biofall:
The thanks system could be integrated with a "good post" feature.
[About XDA developers] total.destroyer:
I would suggest a system that during registration forces users to view the rules page with a timer and maybe a pop quiz at the end (and integrate a google translate button on that page for non english speaking users) before proceeding with finishing registration. That way people will actually read the rules before starting posting useless comments in the wrong threads and not using the search function.
[About XDA developers] mrkite38:
While I understand this stance, every community is formed around compromise. Everyone gives up some personal convenience for the good of the group. The hope is that new talented devs will exhibit the minimal amount of patience required to get going, and will subsequently benefit from the rule.
[About XDA developers] GeeVee628:
Well Im a noob to android and XDA and "forums."

the atmosphere here is great I've learn a lot in little time.

So, 'Big Thanks' to the admins and moderators as well as to all the

devs.:D:D

-geevee

Go G-tablet
[About XDA developers] davidf:
I wasn't going to post about this issue but this post speaks volumes about the changes needed.

1 - there should be a period placed before a thread can be started

2 - 25-50 posts seem about right to clean up the dev areas from stupidity and lazyness

3 - membership status should never be awarded by number of posts we have trolls with senior member status yet solid members struggling to find a reason to have sufficient posts for such a status

4 - The biggy why do new members have donate buttons ? this is pure BS and links to "give me money" should be disallowed unless authorised by mods.

Thats a reasonable start failing that a three strike suspension of account rule should apply, when a post is removed the poster should be warned, after 3 warnings a 1 week suspension happens, after that 3 more warnings a 1 month suspension happens the next 3 warnings results in a ban.

In the adobe technical forums posts are rewarded thru the correct answer/helpful answer button . This develops a mutual respect between newbies and those more experienced becuase when a question is answered(obviously this requires a Q&A section) those that answer get rewarded with points if the newbie is respectful enough to offer thanks for the answer, those points awarded to a poster then gets used to elevate membership status. When a newbie acknowledges answers then the reply poster is more likely to offer help in the future as getting the appreciation for being helpful gives them that warm fuzzy feeling :).

David F.

Contributor Adobe Flex Forums

Moderator Adobe online documentation.
[About XDA developers] Archer:
Sorry to shout, but lots of posts in this thread (not just above, quoted one) show that lots of people simply aren't understanding this new restriciton.

IT'S FOR THE DEV FORUMS ONLY!!!!

People can still post in EVERY OTHER FORUM, or how would they ever reach 10 posts in order to be able to post???? If they are a genuine developer that wants to create a thread in the dev forum then they just msg admin and they will give them the relevant privilege. This is all very clearly explained in the recent admin post, which we are discussing....

http://xdaforums.com/announcement.php?f=263

Dev forums ARE NOT for discussion.

So what do you disagree with, now that it's been explained?
[About XDA developers] svetius:
We've implemented this new change. We really appreciate all of your feedback with this issue, and hope that this measure serves to significantly reduce the junk posts. I'm closing this thread, but feel free to PM me anytime with your thoughts and ideas on how to make XDA better.
[About XDA developers] pulser_g2:
You're spot on here. Thing is, making a thread in Q&A for the questions about a ROM/S-OFF thing will solve this :)

The development threads are over-used as "ask away here"... They should be for developing, patching etc. The Q&A or General thread for a topic (if made) should be used for asking stuff...

It's better for everyone, as you get more people wanting to help, that frequent Q&A. So people get better answers, and it keeps it all clean
[About XDA developers] thefinancemaster:
HA! I saw it, and I used it to "thank" you. It must show up after 3 posts... :)
[About XDA developers] egzthunder1:
My original suggestion was to limit thread openings rather than posting abilities, but what you are claiming here will only get you banned. Making 10 garbage posts to get access to development can be considered an attempt to circumventing rules in place regarding posting. I am not pointing fingers at you, as I have not gone through your post history nor will I do that. All we ask for is to post in the correct sections. Nothing more. We (moderators) get well over 100 "please move to the correct sections" requests every day (that is on top of the hundreds that are not reported, where flaming the OP is the better road, according to many)

FYI, I was a Mortgage Broker for a while and banks are indeed picky when it comes to neighborhoods that have histories of bad payments. They will likely give you the loan, but they look at this data that you are claiming here.
[About XDA developers] The Andropirate:
totally agree with you but the problem is many user dont consider it and everyone thinks XDA has loads and loads of servers also we can give authority to members to delete theirs posts or by other members
[About XDA developers] ngphobos:
I know xda since 2007 but every time i found the thing that i want without asking. It is annoying to see questions repeating again and again. It makes threads too big to read!So i can say that this change might be very helpfull.:)
[About XDA developers] hamxa:
I'm new to android. Before this I was on symbian (ancient) and to be honest searching for dev related stuff for that was a nightmare. You got all kind of users asking all sort of questions. What I've seen is that I can find 95% of the things I want from already created posts.

However, for that 5% if you block users from posting in dev related forums would actually limit the potential of xda drastically. One reason for this is that the best questions for another newbie are infact asked by a fellow newbie. If its just the senior members talking in "code lingo" there is no way for us to decipher it.

For that purposes I suggest you have allow a certain number of posts (say 3?) by each new user.

I might be completely wrong here but its just a suggestion :)
[About XDA developers] wpmle:
Having been in development for many years (but not in open source) I would have to agree w/ Daniel. Seems to be very little discussions of a true development nature but also understand that these forums are for an open source code project and thus by the pure nature of open source shouldn't they be open for all to post under the rules and regulations in place and are on topic. Although I understand the purpose of your decision (and glad that it is being made by someone else) you might inhibit a user with a worthy contribution from posting and we all lose in the end.
[About XDA developers] tomj777:
(An) Answer First : Make it easy for the users to clean up after themselves.

I read the portal post and thought "Oh no...."

In line of work, I've previously been called upon to sort out the mess created by attempts to re-engineer part of the business by putting into place `great ideas` in the form of procedures and targets driven by metrics... It's common to see an attempt to drive one behaviour out of an organisation creating problems elsewhere.

Whilst applauding the moderator / site leads intent this will only create frustration (which is always far far worse when someone is denied a voice) and generate a greater "noise" to "being helped" in the Q&A threads.

For instance, newbie posts a question which he/she could have answered for themselves if only they'd read back fourteen pages or accurately crafted a search on the thread.

Current situation is 25% to mindless flame (with subsequent repeats of the flame), 25% "go search here", 35% "This is the solution you want" and the remaining 15% is when someone takes the time to explain both the solution and how it could have been found (with or without snide remark).

Guess which of these responses are useful and which contribute to the noise / general frustration...

At the moment, a user can delete a post but it leaves a mark, edit it (with a solution) or leave it be (default stance). None of these are actively encouraged.

Better or a user to be prompted a day or so after their post with options:

"Do you want to leave this post here?"

"Edit it with the solution?" (click here)

"Delete it" (click here...)

"Delete it and flag to Moderator / OP or FAQ maintainer with a description of the

solution?"

Of course this would mean a little work for the site admin's (putting the process flow and form in place) but I believe the benefits would far outweigh the cost and be considerably more in keeping with the fantastic nurturing community that I joined a couple of years ago.

Thanks for reading and thanks to the earlier posters who seeded a couple of ideas herein.

Tom