Requesting All Coders - Please Follow a Protocol While Posting New Products

[Neutral Singh]

Requesting vBulletin Coders : While posting new products, the first 500 odd charaters hardly tell us about what is the new product is all about. So, when we search for new posts and when we move the mouse over the threads, the preview information shown in the yellow popup hardly tells us about the basic functionality/purpose of the product...

Wouldn't it be nice that first 500 odd characters could be reserved for telling us about the functionality of the product, so that we dont have to click on each thread to know about the products. This would also help in reducing some server loads as well as reduce the time wasted in browing through all the products at user level. :cool:

Here is my little suggestion to vb.org:

First 500 characters could be strictly reserved for Description of the Product. vBulletin.org can easily implement a synopsis field into there system so that when a coder is posting a new product, he is encouraged to enter the description for product, which can then be easliy shown at the top of the first post by making a small template edit. ;)

Thanks

[bashy]

Or perhaps increase the characters in the preview to perhaps 1000 :)

[Ntfu2]

Wouldnt it slow down having to load the first 500 characters for it to parse in that little box

[tehste]

If I had a fish I would slap you with it.
If someone goes to the trouble of releasing an addon it is upto them how they display it. Not everyone is a marketing genious and it's not always about popularity. If you don't want to read through a thread to see what the addon is about thats your choice but making a demand like that is just a waste of authors time.

[amykhar]

Actually, I think this request should apply to all posters, not just coders. I am so weary of seeing threads titled 'Help please' or 'I have a question' or 'Request', etc that start out with even more meaningless text. Giving posts a meaningful title and making your point clear in the first few words makes it much easier for us to go through the threads and get people help in a timely manner.

[Princeton]

Although, it's a great idea we will never impose such a requirement to our members ... we can only recommend.

-Coders are here on a voluteer basis.
-To some members, English is a second language.

[derekivey]

Or maybe modifiy what is shown in the popup for the hack forums, and add another field where you can type in a short description of what it is. So instead of showing their first post, it would show what they have in that field.

Just an idea...

Derek

[noppid]

Actually, I think this request should apply to all posters, not just coders. I am so weary of seeing threads titled 'Help please' or 'I have a question' or 'Request', etc that start out with even more meaningless text. Giving posts a meaningful title and making your point clear in the first few words makes it much easier for us to go through the threads and get people help in a timely manner.


I posted just that suggestion in another thread. You would think on a technical forum folks would get it.

"Help me" is not a thread title that will inspire volunteers with limited time to look at your thread. "Help me with the postbit template" is a great title. Those that know postbit can jump on it, those that don't won't have to read the thread to find out they can't help.

Embrace it!

[sabret00the]

Although, it's a great idea we will never impose such a requirement to our members ... we can only recommend.

-Coders are here on a voluteer basis.
-To some members, English is a second language.
i see no reason you can't force volunteers to do something according to protocol, after all, you force volunteers to zip up products/put instructions in text files. what's the difference?

[Roms]

Although, it's a great idea we will never impose such a requirement to our members ... we can only recommend.

-Coders are here on a voluteer basis.
-To some members, English is a second language.

I agree... Everything members do shouldn't be regulated, that would be a joke. :confused:

Some members want everything policed at the org, so much for the fun days here.....

[MJM]

This is actually a grrreat writers tip!
Thanks for reminding us about this Neutral Singh.

For those who don't know ...
Google et al will pick up the first XX characters of a posting when a thread title comes up in a search.

Also members/visitors searching through your threads may or may not open your post depending on the first XX characters.

If you want people to read what you have posted, be smart and use this little teaser to your advantage.

I remember some time ago when I realized this at my own site and actually revisited some of my past (info oriented) threads, and made some alterations to the first paragraph for this very purpose.

I got into this way of thinking whenever I posted ... but well ... stuff happens ... and I forgot all about this. Time to revisit the past again when I have some spare moments.

Again, Thanks Neutral Singh!
For those who don't care or feel this is restricting your 'freedom of expression' ... phttttuy, it's your loss - our gain ;)

[AN-net]

oh my gosh why not add a description field;) and make that the text parsed for thread preview on hacks:)