Related
This is a request to all uses and moderators.
I would like to see three things.
1) Sticky's/Announcements in Kaiser General to the FAQ/GWENI/ETC. Currently these are listed in ROM development and not intuitive for a new user to find.
2) A guide for NOOBZ - while the above are invaluable resources, they don't address very basic issues. Things like:
How do I use activesync to install a CAB?
How do I do a basic registry edit
Where can I look for good software for x, y, and z
What does ROM, CID, SIM, XML mean...in general a Glossary
other basic tasks/information
I don't have the bandwidth to create such a guide right now, but if someone would like to volunteer, particularly a user who has gone through a noob to more experienced level using this site and is aware of the issues and pitfalls. It would be much appreciated...
3) A forum section for Noobz... As we have seen many posts as of late with titles like "I am a noob" , "Help me...","What software is good?",etc.
I think having this forum there would attract these posts better while appease the larger community from having to entertain these even in the general forum. Which, as some have stated should be a forum for questions not releated to the other 3, and not as a place for spoonfeeding.
If you think any of these 3 suggestions is a good idea, please post your support and or ideas.
thanks
Agree, sounds like a good idea.
My other suggestion would be to migrate to mediawiki as it just works nicer and the wiki may be developed more and be easier for noobies to get through!
good idea .. but i bet there will still be stupid posts by users who just wana be spoon fed.
thesire said:
good idea .. but i bet there will still be stupid posts by users who just wana be spoon fed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TITLE
Im a noob and need help
MESSAGE
You mentioned "spoon fed" how do you do this? can you show me. Is it a .cab and if so how do i install.
Thank you and please don't flame me
thesire said:
good idea .. but i bet there will still be stupid posts by users who just wana be spoon fed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree.
However many of the "senior" or more educated members of the forum seem to get quite upset at these "noob" and/or redundant posts.
There are three ways to handle a post like this:
1) Ignore it
2) Flame it
3) Respond in a helpful manner
Ignoring it works, and it is something ALL OF US NEED TO DO MORE. Remember, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. (The Internet is encroaching more and more into the realm of real life...it has been shown more than once that bullying someone on line can have legal consequences in real life.). However, ignoring posts won't make them go away either, as there will be more since nothing is being done to educate the user or point future users in the right direction.
Flaming it serves no one any good. Stupid users won't learn, and if flaming makes you feel better, just remember you are taking up just as much (or more) of the forum resources and wasting just as much time flaming a worthless or uneducated post. Remember, fighting on the Internet is like competing in the special olympics. Even if you win, you are still retarded (no offense meant to the special olympics, or mentally challenged individuals...I have just always found this statement funny...and true).
Responding in a helpful manner should be the way to go if you choose not to ignore it. But, a helpful manner does not mean spoon feeding. Remember, "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime." Proactive responses such as sticky's and announcments do the most to this effect.
As a "forum" in the classical sense, this should be a place for thought and discussion. However, it is also a gathering place for the masses. The leaders of the society should strive to educate and elucidate. However this can't be done on an individual level for every single post.
No man is an island either and to be part of the greater continent that is XDA-DEVELOPERS they need to have a modicum of intellect insofar that they know how to navigate an internet site.
I would feel better knowing that we have made ALL the resources available to the masses. This way we don't need to feel bad about ignoring any posts that we deem are ignorant.
I'm sure you have all heard the old saying about the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results....
Rather than attempt to dispel "NOOB" queries by means such as WIKIs,FAQs and the like which clearly have proven futile, it would make more sense to come up with a method of allowing such queries in a manner that doesn't encroach on the sense of ownership of the forum that seems to prevail amongst the senior members.
bengalih said:
This is a request to all uses and moderators.
I would like to see three things.
1) Sticky's/Announcements in Kaiser General to the FAQ/GWENI/ETC. Currently these are listed in ROM development and not intuitive for a new user to find.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated to you before but I'm stating so that more people can see it, I completely agree with this.
2) A guide for NOOBZ - while the above are invaluable resources, they don't address very basic issues. Things like:
How do I use activesync to install a CAB?
How do I do a basic registry edit
Where can I look for good software for x, y, and z
What does ROM, CID, SIM, XML mean...in general a Glossary
other basic tasks/information
I don't have the bandwidth to create such a guide right now, but if someone would like to volunteer, particularly a user who has gone through a noob to more experienced level using this site and is aware of the issues and pitfalls. It would be much appreciated...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also as you know, I have gone from newb to somewhat experienced almost solely through this site and I'll work on the bold part above this week and weekend. Here is my 1st attempt at it though.
boomermax said:
I'm sure you have all heard the old saying about the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results....
Rather than attempt to dispel "NOOB" queries by means such as WIKIs,FAQs and the like which clearly have proven futile, it would make more sense to come up with a method of allowing such queries in a manner that doesn't encroach on the sense of ownership of the forum that seems to prevail amongst the senior members.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what the point of stating this is?
We have a new idea...the noob forum. This is in addition to refining the current methods to possibly make them more effective.
What would your method be?
I also don't feel that the senior's assume a sense of ownership. Except to the effect that without them there would be no resources and thus this site wouldn't exist and thus be visited by noobz. I think the sense is more of outrage or incredulity the same as any member of a community would have when it accumulates members who have no concept of how to function in that society.
Don't you think that some people in your community might get a little offput if they had some native tribe move in and walk around naked? Performed drum circles at 2am every night? Dump on the lawns?
It is about community upkeep, and you don't have to be a senior to do it. In fact, some seniors may be counter productive. It is about being knowledgeable of your surroundings and willing to learn the rules to properly assimilate.
i love ur writing style bengalih ur posts are always so perfectly composed
I agree as well
I am not new to the forum because I have been lurking in the shadows for a while and have not posted anything as of yet but I have to totally agree with this request as I think that it is a great idea.I know that it would help me out a lot and feel that it would help others out as well.
I also just wanted to post this private message I got from a user:
(empahsis added by me)
Hello I'm [name removed] and I will be the first to say that I am new to all of this but I was reading a post and u had suggested that a "noobie Forum" might be a good idea and I would have to agree.
I have just gotten an AT&T Tilt and I have spent hours on top of hours reading in the forums here and I have to say that a lot of it is very complicated for someone like me who doesn't understand ROMs and Flashing and things like that.
I have read a lot of the post and to be honest I have had several questions that I could not find anwsers too after searching and have been terrified to post my question because of the negitivity and hostility that I have read.
The problem that I am having is that I am not understanding a lot of what is being written and am not sure what I should put on my phone or how to do it correctly.I am not stupid,ignorant,nor have I not taken the time to read and search things on this forum.
I am college educated and fairly intelligent but I am not tech savy or computer savy for that matter and I don't understand a lot of what is being said.I will admit that my phone is smarter than I am but I would like to learn how to use it more effecentally and get the most out of my phone and what it can do for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you senior/educated members take to heart comments like this and realize that although this isn't rocket science there are still many educated individuals that don't know where to start. Even after a user RTFM (which this user apparently did some), there is obviously a gap to get them to the next level.
We have to accept that this has become a place for the PPC masses and we can either ignore the pleas for help or do something to assist in the long term.
On the flip-side to you noobs... don't get over your head. You don't buy a junker or a tuner if you're not a mechanic, and you don't try to paint the Mona Lisa if you're just a dilletante. If you are in a position where you can't understand things even after hours of research you may want to get your feet wet in something else (like a basic computer class), or you can always buy from Apple . This stuff isn't for everyone, and unfortunately nothing we do will make it so.
bengalih said:
I'm not sure what the point of stating this is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off I began writing the previously posted comment prior to your well spoken post above.
The ownership I spoke of was reference to the few senior members that feel a need to reply to every single post by redundantly pointing out the redundancy of others.
My suggestion was to avoid the attempt of "pre-answering" all possible questions. It can't be done.
Nor is it reasonable to expect all knowledge to exist on the same level. Take the analogy of communities that you spoke of (which I agreed with up until you equated elemental levels of knowledge with pooping on one's lawn).
Within all successful communities you have an acknowledged and agreed upon division of areas of education.
In other words 1st graders don't sit in the same classroom as upperclassmates...
...nor do upperclassmates refuse to graduate.
I think the idea of a noob forum sounds good, and I believe it would help separate many of the redundant posts in the general forum.......but at the same time, if those posts are separated so as not to bother the more experienced people from having to sort through them, then who is going to help them? Would we have noobs answering other noobs? I'm afraid we would end up with the blind leading the blind.
By that same token, if the experienced users decided to venture into the noob forum to help them....then separating the posts for the sake of not having to wade through them seems somewhat counter-productive.
Don't take any of this as a negative. I think putting together a collection of noob resources is a good idea, and creating a noob forum may be as well......I'm just trying to weigh the benefits with the potential problems it could cause.
I am probley the top flamer (IMO) and sometimes I flame and sometimes not. Mostly I flame people who you can honestly see from the question that they didn't look for anything. If I can find the answer in 5 minutes and you claim to have spent days, then I know you didn't search. As to the person that has read and still doesn't understand, please post. Most of the time those people come out and explain things in their question so that you can tell they actually have an understanding.
Asking a specific question about a step or a method in an educated manor is far better then say, I Are noob, what software should I install, oh and can someone literally hold my hand while I flash this rom on my phone.
If you're willing to educate yourself then it shows.
I know that I was nervous and a little scared before I flashed for the first time. I was on edge the whole time, but I knew I read over the instructions over and over.. I have read them again and again and I just don't see where the mistakes happen.
I will provide support if you need it, but you don't need it if the answer is right there, 3 posts down or if it's a well known thing.
Oh I wonder if you could keep that forum from registering in the search function.
boomermax said:
First off I began writing the previously posted comment prior to your well spoken post above.
The ownership I spoke of was reference to the few senior members that feel a need to reply to every single post by redundantly pointing out the redundancy of others.
My suggestion was to avoid the attempt of "pre-answering" all possible questions. It can't be done.
Nor is it reasonable to expect all knowledge to exist on the same level. Take the analogy of communities that you spoke of (which I agreed with up until you equated elemental levels of knowledge with pooping on one's lawn).
Within all successful communities you have an acknowledged and agreed upon division of areas of education.
In other words 1st graders don't sit in the same classroom as upperclassmates...
...nor do upperclassmates refuse to graduate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Although I stand by my "pooping" comment . The fact is that all of those levels of knowledge may be perfectly acceptable in some communities, but totally unacceptable in others (ok ok, granted not too many poop on their lawns...but not that far off.).
I think you are right that we can't answer all questions, but we can try. I think if we can teach the fundamentals, and then a lower classman learns those he should be able to synthesize most of the remaining elements.
For what they can't extract from their learnings, they can ask a question on. After all, most of the info passed around here isn't new, it is synthesized and rehashed in different forms applicable to a particular issue.
I don't think we can get rid of the basic posts, the "I am a noob posts", the didn't search for this first post. But I do think putting them in another question would help.
I know it has been suggested before, and I don't know if it is possible (I have been on other forums that can do this....) But it would be great if we could limit posting to the noob forum for the first 2 weeks of someone's membership.
Valtamr said:
I think the idea of a noob forum sounds good, and I believe it would help separate many of the redundant posts in the general forum.......but at the same time, if those posts are separated so as not to bother the more experienced people from having to sort through them, then who is going to help them? ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I address this here
ChumleyEX said:
I am probley the top flamer (IMO) and sometimes I flame and sometimes not. Mostly I flame people who you can honestly see from the question that they didn't look for anything. ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are far from the worst Chumley...but as a genuine question:
Why do you feel the need to flame? Why not just ignore the post?
I am not stating this rhetorically to be preachy. I am asking to figure out how we can eliminate it.
Personally I sometimes want to flame back a flamer just for contributing something just as worthless as the original post, but I refrain.
I mean, if someone came into the ROM Development forum and posted "I am a NOOB, how can I please to update my phone!!!" I would expect and even welcome the flames there. If we have to terrify the users to know their place then that's ok...the second part of that though is we NEED TO GIVE THEM A PLACE TO PUT THEM IN! That's why I think a noob forum might help.
bengalih said:
But it would be great if we could limit posting to the noob forum for the first 2 weeks of someone's membership.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But isn't that really the point that's being refused to be acknowledged?
This is the noob forum. Senior members who have already acquired the "upper" levels of knowledge are begrudgingly noticing that not every day is a day of discovery like before and are being faced with the choice of becoming teachers or finding other sources of higher knowledge.
boomermax said:
But isn't that really the point that's being refused to be acknowledged?
This is the noob forum. Senior members who have already acquired the "upper" levels of knowledge are begrudgingly noticing that not every day is a day of discovery like before and are being faced with the choice of becoming teachers or finding other sources of higher knowledge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure of your statement of "This is the noob forum"
Are you suggesting that either the "General" forum or XDA-developers in general is now for noobz?
I would whole-heartedly disagree with the latter. As for the former, General is not meant for noobz, it is meant for anything that doesn't fit in the other 3 forums (e.g, not about ROM development, not about an accessory, not about a specific piece of software).
I don't want to keep stressing the name of the site is "XDA-Developers." Just because it may be bombarded by power users or noobz, shouldn't diminish the function of the site. If the attitude starts to become "This is where noobz should be" then I think you are going to see some real problems. The least of which is that if you piss off the seniors, they WILL go somewhere else and this site will become meaningless.
well I suppose it comes from many things. As a child I was bullied and now I find myself in a situation of assumed power. Or, I feel that because spent the time to educate myself, through all the grulling threads, I have the right to do it. And like a drill Sergent , I will not be nice about teaching you to fish.
Man I gotta work on my rep.
A few good, KNOWLEDGEABLE, patient, info-giving, members to keep an eye over the Q&A section here in G1.
If you would like to be part of this team, please leave a post and we, mods, will get back to you.
We have a spanking new Q&A section lets keep it clean and organized.
PLEASE
Id love to help. Im on here all the time anyways messing with stuff.
I'll help out ^_^ Been a mod/admin of various forums if that helps and its nice to be part of a more developer type forum than just tech.
I'll be dropping in now and then to check and help out where I can. No problem.
im new to xda, but have and will be spending great amounts in these forums. I am a very patient person and also have a good knowledge with android to help users with their Questions!
Sure, Love to help =) Good at support hehe ^^
You know I'm always willing to help mikey
i would love to help moderate this part of the forum
always active member.
I'm almost always on
Let me know if I can be of service.
Mikey, I would love to help!
"I live to serve all believers."
Not as many replies as I expected. I haven't posted a lot here, but I've been using XDA to tinker with my G1 from the day I bought it. I've done customer service or tech support for many years and have plenty of patience to deal with all sorts of users. I think I've gotten to know the community enough that even if I don't have the answer, I know where to start looking.
I'm pretty active and have learned a lot, so I'd be glad to help out.
im still learning about everything on the g1 but im willing to help and pass what i know
Would love to be of some help! I am an Admin on another android site too! I could help you out alot!
I'd like in!
I like this forum because answers are always nice and clear even though the questions are a bit vague.
willing to lend a hand if its wanted...
don't claim to know it all but have enjoyed my time here at xda. if i can help keep things squeaky clean let me know.
I can throw in my two cents on subjects I know about. I spend atleast a half hour on here everyday or more.
I don't mind helping if it will keep people from bashing noobs.
I would love to help. I consider myself an experienced user, started developing a bit but I've had work to keep up with so I can't give to the community with developing anything.
I really want to give back to the community, so I hope my knowledge can be of good use.
Hi folks,
I've spent a few days looking over the forum and have to say. good work
There don’t seem to be many issues, everyone seems to be getting on in the spirit of XDA.
I'm a firm fan of ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ so I'm not going to be flying in making huge changes or swapping things around. this is your forum I'm just here to help keep things nice. if anyone has any ideas of how to improve things in this area - (not XDA as a whole) please drop me a PM, and we’ll put it to a vote. if it’s a good idea I'll change it if i can or I'll push for the changes with the senior team.
While this may be a legacy forum it’s clear there is still a lot of interest and a lot of life in this device still keep up the work and we’ll keep the phone alive I want to start on the right foot so a FEW IMPORTANT REMINDERS
please take the time to read - and for regular users - re-read the forum rules. it’s a good thing to remind yourselves of how we work http://forum.xda-developers.com/announcement.php?f=341
All the rules are important but to focus on a few.
we are here to help and learn. people do make mistakes. I don’t like users being flamed for asking a question. I'd rather we educated and pointed people in the right way to help them for the future. it’s OK to say use search - it’s not OK to abuse people
I also don’t like people putting a lot of work into something and getting flamed either - a lot of the work posted is a work in progress - people share this out of the goodness of their heart and also so they can get positive comments on how to improve. Again it’s not OK to abuse people cos they shared a work in progress.
sharing work - many developers are happy to share their work with others and in some cases one persons work is used as a base by others. - If you want to change someones work and then release it as your own - ASK FOR PERMISSION FIRST AND THEN LINK TO THE ORIGINAL DEV IN YOU RELEASE!!!
don’t post or link to warez - they will be removed.
Please report any issues or concerns to me as soon as you can using the report button or by PM- I'll deal with them.
Thanks
Chris
Hi folks,
I've spent a few days looking over the forum and have to say. good work
There don’t seem to be many issues, everyone seems to be getting on in the spirit of XDA.
I'm a firm fan of ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ so I'm not going to be flying in making huge changes or swapping things around. this is your forum I'm just here to help keep things nice. if anyone has any ideas of how to improve things in this area - (not XDA as a whole) please drop me a PM, and we’ll put it to a vote. if it’s a good idea I'll change it if i can or I'll push for the changes with the senior team.
While this may be a legacy forum it’s clear there is still a lot of interest and a lot of life in this device still keep up the work and we’ll keep the phone alive I want to start on the right foot so a FEW IMPORTANT REMINDERS
please take the time to read - and for regular users - re-read the forum rules. it’s a good thing to remind yourselves of how we work http://forum.xda-developers.com/announcement.php?f=341
All the rules are important but to focus on a few.
we are here to help and learn. people do make mistakes. I don’t like users being flamed for asking a question. I'd rather we educated and pointed people in the right way to help them for the future. it’s OK to say use search - it’s not OK to abuse people
I also don’t like people putting a lot of work into something and getting flamed either - a lot of the work posted is a work in progress - people share this out of the goodness of their heart and also so they can get positive comments on how to improve. Again it’s not OK to abuse people cos they shared a work in progress.
sharing work - many developers are happy to share their work with others and in some cases one persons work is used as a base by others. - If you want to change someones work and then release it as your own - ASK FOR PERMISSION FIRST AND THEN LINK TO THE ORIGINAL DEV IN YOU RELEASE!!!
don’t post or link to warez - they will be removed.
Please report any issues or concerns to me as soon as you can using the report button or by PM- I'll deal with them.
Thanks
Chris
Have a question but don't wanna ask it publicly? You're in luck. I do answer technical questions via PM!
One phrase I see a lot of, in one way or another, is "I don't answer technical questions through PMs". That could be for a multitude of reasons, I suppose. A user may have trouble keeping track of who is who, have a full inbox, or prefer to help publicly for the thanks and such that come from it. Regardless of why, this can put a lot of us in uncomfortable situations at times, knowing precisely who we want to ask what but having no way to do so privately. It can be really discouraging to go from helping ~15 people in a row with their issues, some complex, to not knowing where to even start on an elementary issue on your own device. Today I am hoping to put an end to that, at least for users of the Nexus 6. This thread seeks to offer assistance in a new way - I DO offer technical support via PM. I also bet some other users do too, and they are more than welcome to join in helping so long as spreading correct and helpful information remains the central goal. I welcome any user to offer support to another, just please do indicate the issue is resolved as to avoid multiple PMs from multiple accounts. If a user (or multiple) is interested in really becoming a part of this,I am not at all opposed to that either. I have no interest in doing this alone or anything like that - the more of us here helping people, the more actualized my vision for this thread has become. I will never compromise quality of answers for quota - if I am not totally sure, I either will not offer you suggestion until I am, or I'll preface it with a very clear indication of the fact that I am uncertain.
PMs aren't to be used here to walk througgh configuring someone's device, decrypting their phone or recovering from a brick, where one person's oversight could really mess things up. Directing these users to where to get said information from the guides provided and answering any subsequent questions they may have after reading said guides - that's what I am about. However, I would like for users who feel genuinely stupid or simply shy asking a certain question to have a place to ask it without feeling judged. I'd like to point you to the right place to ask your question and not second guess if it's in the right forumor thread or tagging the right dev. If your question is of a simpler nature and I am able to just answer it for you and provide helpful links/references if possible, I will. If you have a log but don't know who to submit it to, I'd like to help you figure that out. From new members who are shy to RCs who are just stuck on stupid for the moment, this thread is open to you all.
We can do this anyway you wish. For starters, my inbox is open to anyone. Please do let me know you are coming from here, as I receive a good deal of technical questions via PM as is. Or, if you prefer, simply post in here asking for a PM. I will check this thread quite regularly. If users find use for this, provisions may be made for a more organized system in the future, To all those with questions, don't be shy, now is your chance. To those of you who wish to get involved, again, don't be shy. Feel free to jump right in and start helping or to contact me, whichever is preferable. I hope to start a good thing here for the community that I have never seen done before, as this is what this is all about - the XDA community. Thanks for reading - I hope to hear from you guys!
Very nice offer of you.
I'll explain my reason for not answering PMs..well, several actually.
1) I spend all my time responding to PMs. I don't get to enjoy the forum
2) The PM relies on me only for support, when there may be better people to help
3) Questions asked in open forum benefit other members too
danarama said:
Very nice offer of you.
I'll explain my reason for not answering PMs..well, several actually.
1) I spend all my time responding to PMs. I don't get to enjoy the forum
2) The PM relies on me only for support, when there may be better people to help
3) Questions asked in open forum benefit other members too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes, I definitely appreciate that it's not something members do to be less than helpful or anything like that, especially due to #3. I would definitely rather answer a question in an open forum so others can see it than through PM. My whole reasoning for making this thread is that I think some questions will go unasked if users don't have a place they are comfortable asking them - I myself have had questions but just simply not known where to ask, and by not asking, I learned nothing. So for those cases, niche issues, etc., I am hoping that people who normally would just deal with their issue and silently be unhappy about it, or hop from ROM to ROM or kernel to kernel trying to fix something that's really a GPS issue or something, those people can hopefully find what they have been looking for - or at least a pointer in the right direction to get there. I definitely appreciate that the open forum is the best way to handle most issues most of the time - as I have yet to see this type of thread for our device, though, I'm hoping to serve the needs of the few as the masses are already being served elsewhere. I appreciate you shining some light from the perspective of someone who gets a lot of technical questions aimed at you and does not answer them via PM - definitely a good jumping off point for users to see what this thread is not for, i.e. issues that are likely gonna help other users too.
I'll answer a few hundred questions via pm, yearly. but I would rather answer them in the public forums, for everyone to see. first off, you end up helping out more people if its answered publicly. plus, if you do answer with something that's wrong, someone will come by to correct you. that way the person gets the right answer, and you will as well. I know I'm not 100% right all the time, I'm not perfect, I'm just a human being, but I still try
edit... but no matter what, I will not refuse to help anyone via pm.
simms22 said:
I'll answer a few hundred questions via pm, yearly. but I would rather answer them in the public forums, for everyone to see. first off, you end up helping out more people if its answered publicly. plus, if you do answer with something that's wrong, someone will come by to correct you. that way the person gets the right answer, and you will as well. I know I'm not 100% right all the time, I'm not perfect, I'm just a human being, but I still try
edit... but no matter what, I will not refuse to help anyone via pm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had to turn off PMs all together. There are a few sticky threads in a few device forums by me, so people pm me to help fix a problem on a device i haven't even owned for years. I can't remember that far back.