Suggestions

I too thought the prefixes were going to be added by Phil.

I personally did not understand what the prefixes meant and there will be plenty of others who would not understand them either.

Some have enough trouble starting a thread let alone adding something technical to it

jax

"Therefore, as an exercise so that I can identify that I have reviewed all threads, I am going to

(a) prefix thread titles with ENH, BUG, CMT, QST to idicate type - (I hope to implement a topic type selection in a later release)"

This suggests to me that Phil intended to prefix threads so that he can identify which ones he has reviewed. I don't see a request for members to use prefixes.

None taken IGP :-(

I can confirm, categorically, that a high proportion of new members do not read ANYTHING before they post on any of the boards!


I say this because of the high number of replies I receive in response to the messages I send out re how to return to your thread.


Many of these replies go along the lines of.....



"Thank you, I didn't have a clue about the procedure "



.......and a hundred variations thereof!




That well know phrase containing the words 'horse' and 'water' comes to mind.


:-D :-D :-D :-D

Ginnie

you are not missing anything!


It was only in Phil's thread saying it would be part of the house-cleaning


But I think several people have decided to start prefixing titles

................ in fact, thinking about it, I can't see any other way than to have the originator of the thread adding the prefix.

A computer program to do it automatically wouldn't really be able to make sense of all the vagaries of humans writing titles

and setting up new boards dedicated to each prefix would just lead to another sort of mess!



so may be those who are adding prefizes already have just jumped the gun!




sylvia

I think it comes down to the fact that those of us who use the boards regularly, especially to help others, see that different boards with different purposes do indeed make a great deal of sense


posts move rapidly on General Chat or Genealogy Chat, and are soon lost in a morass of unrelated topics.


BUT those who do not read guidelines, who are new to the board, or who do not usually offer help, do not see the purpose, and so post wherever they think fit.


And, of course, there is also a group of long-time members who think we are all board police for even daring to suggest that certain posts should be on certain boards ....... they go around telling people "go ahead, post wherever you want"!



sylvia

Heading now prefixed to meet proposed standards.....!

On a serious note, though, it does beg the question as to why we have different boards different purposes - which everyone seems to think is a good idea, when questioned - only to see people posting where they like.

Why should anyone read the guidelines for this board...when they dont for the others??

When anyone dares to mention something is on the wrong board or this is a duplicate ect ww3 breaks out

I think there have been a few threads about this and it seems some people cannot see any harm in it.....so be it post where you like it seems

I appreciate that not everyone thinks to read the guidelines
( like not reading the instructions for the new dvd player etc lol ) but it still beats me why someone posts on General when they are looking for someone, they only have to read the board titles...it can't be made much clearer than

"Find Ancestors,
Find Living Relatives " !

IGP


It's simple


people simply do NOT read the Board Guidelines!


when did you first read the guidelines on this site?


before you posted the very first time? After the 10th, 20th or whatever posting?

Or only after being told to read the Guidelines by someone else?



I ask that very seriously ........ I did not read the Guidelines before my first posting back in April 2004, BUT I had been reading the boards for several days before I ventured to post, and had worked out for myself which board to use.



sylvia

That's an excellent idea TootyFruity.

I suppose it would still be open to deliberate misuse but it would cut out most of the genuine mistakes in board selection.

I think that when you post an initial topic there should be a sub menu which asks what your query is eg are you looking for living, ancestors, advice, improvements to the site, bug etc. And depending on what is ticked then the post is automatically put on the correct board.

Right at the top of this page it says:-


Suggestions

This board is for you to add your suggestions for changes you would like to see made to Genes Reunited. We will be unable to respond to each post individually, but we will be checking the suggestions regularly and taking your suggestions on board.

Underneath that there is a Sticky post which says:-

"....prefix thread titles with ENH, BUG, CMT, QST to idicate type..."

What do we get out of 20 postings on page one:- 4 have the prefix BUG: the remaining 16 have no prefix at all.....!

Then we go to Genealogy Chat, which says:-

**PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

and if you bother to click on that:-

"This is the Genealogy chat message board. This is where you can come and chat with other members about all things related to family history and researching.

Please do not post your look-up requests on this board as they will be removed. If you have a look-up request please post it on either the Find Ancestors message board or the Find Living Relatives message board....."

So, what do we get:- Around half the postings on page one asking for Find Ancestors.....!

So, come one Suggesters, how do we sort this once and for all?