vb.org: Stock vBulletin does not cut it

[CarCdr]

I have noticed in my short time as an active participant, a clear shortcoming of this site. Because it is based on a bulletin board system -- nothing but messages in a hierarchical storage system -- it is not that useful as a resource for vBulletin hackers and administrators. vBulletin.com suffers from the same malaise, as does any pure bulletin board site.

The most common, I would say pedestrian, features that one would expect to find at a site like vb.org, are features that promote the sharing of tips, ideas, and hacks, without the dreadful repetition that we see.

Let me explain... How many times in the last months have you seen the same sort of request repeated? How many times does one need to point out the difference between query and query_first? How often do we have to suffer the same question about offering usergroup access to feature X? How many messages demonstrate the use of in_array? The list of such repeated content is not short.

There are many fine contributors here. Still, finding answers to questions is clearly difficult for most people. If it were not, we would not see so many repeated queries.

Imho, the current state of affairs makes the site:

1) Frustrating for accomplished hackers.
2) Frustrating for novice hackers and administrators alike.

Can we not develop a community developed FAQ for hints and tips? Someone can contribute the damn entry on query versus query_first right away. This would be the sort of FAQ that all are expected to read before they pose a question.

Can we not also offer some form of hack index that is organized/cross-referenced by category?

I am not suggesting that I have the right answers, only that the question might be worth considering.

Cheers, C.C

ps: Do not bore us with flames regarding the effort required to make the site useful. Let us start with discussing what is required and reasonable, then we will worry about who might contribute.