[theflow]

James, that sounds cool. ... The thing about the sticky thread would be to keep editing it periodically, so that it is an updated TOPIC-based listing of hack requests with links.

I'm a usability/ Info designer. I would be happy to help sift through released hacks and come up with my "take" on categorizations of hacks.

Just off top of my head, just now looking through 13 pages of released hacks, I am talking about this kind of classification scheme:

FORMATTING, LAYOUT, THREAD DISPLAY ISSUES

REPLYING/ START NEW THREAD

IMAGES, ATTACHMENTS, SIGS, AVATARS

USER STATUS, DISPLAYS, PRIVILEGES

REGISTRATION

LOGIN, COOKIES, SESSIONS, TRACKING, STATS

RATINGS, RANKINGS, KARMA, FILTRATION

ADMIN, TEMPLATES & CP MGMT

MODERATOR TOOLS

PRIVATE FORUMS

PMs, ICQ, CHATS

NON-vB PAGES, TOP 10, MOST RECENT


The initial work to sift and sort the Released Hacks would be minimal compared to the massive advantage to users -- which in turn minimizes the resource wear & tear on Mods answering same questions over and over.

The "ideal scenario" people often like to recommend is to "first try searching to see if your question has already been asked." Doesn't work. Impractical. Not real-world. Simply because users are all over the map in the way they title their threads -- thus it truly is a waste of time. The far better solution is a Moderator-edited Topically-classified FAQ. You guys know the repetitious material better than anyone.

For me -- and this opens a larger can of worms I'm sure none of you want to deal with -- the truth is: between hopping around "How do I?", "vB Code Hacks", "vB Templates", "Graphics & Styles", "Hints & Tips" -- I think, respectfully, you guys have it sliced and diced non-optimally. There is so much redundancy all over these places that it speaks for itself: The Forum categorizations should be overhauled. There are far too many disparate places to look for formatting & customizing solutions, and none of them are organized topically -- the way people think.

People aren't really looking for hacks, they're looking for solutions to questions. If you organize the frequently asked questions, the usability, efficiency & effectiveness of these help forums would improve about 500%....

My more-than-2 cents on the matter