Not everyone is an expert... - Off-topic

This is probably more of a rant, but I think it needs to be said. Please try to remember when responding to posts asking for help that the OP may be totally new at this, or like me, has done it before but doesn't do it often enough to remember how to do it. I see far too many responses to "how do I root" and "how do I load a custom ROM" posts that are either highly technical and assume expertise in the topic, lack actual instructions, or state "do a search, this has been asked before". It is very probable that the OP is not technical, has already searched and read countless threads, and has looked for instructions already and not gotten a clear answer. It is also highly probable that the other threads were so drawn out that they were not easy to follow, and very confusing to someone who is not so well versed in rooting and custom ROMs. Now, I am a technical person by profession who has rooted a number of devices and loaded custom ROMS on them, and I get lost reading many of these threads. Imagine how a person who has never attempted this before feels.
So please, I beg of you, be considerate in your responses. If you know it has been asked before, link to a few threads to point the OP in the right direction. Maybe they didn't know the proper search term to get to what they were seeking. If you are a developer and need the person to provide you with logs, provide the instructions on how to get the log, or at least a link to a post with them. And above all else, try to remember that there was a time when you were that new person who had no clue what they were doing, and give them the answer that might have helped you root or load a ROM on your first device.

graewulf1 said:
This is probably more of a rant, but I think it needs to be said. Please try to remember when responding to posts asking for help that the OP may be totally new at this, or like me, has done it before but doesn't do it often enough to remember how to do it. I see far too many responses to "how do I root" and "how do I load a custom ROM" posts that are either highly technical and assume expertise in the topic, lack actual instructions, or state "do a search, this has been asked before". It is very probable that the OP is not technical, has already searched and read countless threads, and has looked for instructions already and not gotten a clear answer. It is also highly probable that the other threads were so drawn out that they were not easy to follow, and very confusing to someone who is not so well versed in rooting and custom ROMs. Now, I am a technical person by profession who has rooted a number of devices and loaded custom ROMS on them, and I get lost reading many of these threads. Imagine how a person who has never attempted this before feels.
So please, I beg of you, be considerate in your responses. If you know it has been asked before, link to a few threads to point the OP in the right direction. Maybe they didn't know the proper search term to get to what they were seeking. If you are a developer and need the person to provide you with logs, provide the instructions on how to get the log, or at least a link to a post with them. And above all else, try to remember that there was a time when you were that new person who had no clue what they were doing, and give them the answer that might have helped you root or load a ROM on your first device.
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I agree with you in general - civility and professionalism goes a long way.
That being said...
It isn't hard to look for the answers you need. Not only do we have a search function on this site, but external search engines can be used as well. Many basic questions have already been answered, and a lot of the frustration from more experienced members is the apparent failure of those who are less experienced to find information that is readily available.
However, I completely understand what you mean - everyone has a different style, so whereas one person's guide might be clear and easy to read, another's might be quite confusing.

If only the search function worked better. I can't count the number of times I've searched for something and not found it, only to have someone else post a link to a thread with exactly what I was looking for. A search is only as good as the knowledge of the person performing the search. If they don't know the proper search terms to use they may never find the earlier posts explaining the same thing.

Most excellent observations from all that have posted so far in this thread.

Related

Why are people on this forum so damn temperamental?

I have been reading through alot of posts here over the last couple weeks.
There seems to be a lot of bickering, pointless debate, insults and flaming going on here. (I know am probably starting more with this post, but that is why I chose the off-topic forum) I know you get it on all internet forums, but this one seems to be worse than most.
I actually had someone pm me on something recently, I believe, because he was too afraid to make a post asking for help. I dont blame him. If someone here asks a question that may or may not have been asked months ago (therefore buried by 10 pages of more current posts) he gets flamed. I also notice he asks another newbie like me, instead of someone with a lot of posts, because they seem to be the most touchy.
And I know, that is why there is a search. But you know, search tools on forums like this are a joke. You are going to get a return of 1000's of posts, 99% of which have nothing to do with what you are looking for. And for me at least, half the time when I search, and I am rewarded with a blank page (in both mozilla and IE).
Just wanted report on what I see here. Maybe others see it differently.
Jimmy - not to validate your argument, but I disagree with you!
Seriously, I respond to so many posts, probably even unnecessarily so sometimes, just because I like the community. The vast majority of us are here because we enjoy the community and are like-minded gadget freaks.
You do get some flaming, some *****ing, some idiots, some spam, some divas. But the vast majority, in my experience, are very nice, helpful and supportive of newbies. We were all one once, and I hope that I'd rather say nothing then something unhelpful.
Anyone can PM or email me any time. I can't respond immediately, but I will try to respond.
The usual "use the search, Luke", response is normally only fired out when you've got a very new member blurting out things like "How do I switch the phone off?". My reasoning there is, teach a man to fish, he'll help himself a lot more then just filling his gullet with answers. But, for valid, non knee jerk questions, most people will try to help.
I think it's better no one answers if they don't know, and if they don't, feel free to bump. But don't bump twice in 5 mins - "COME ON, DOESN'T ANYBODY
KNOW HOW TO SORT MY CONTACTS BY FIRST NAME??!?!?!??!" is not a way to make friends with me.
Anyway, I could rant all day, but I think the board generally speaks for itself. Most are helpful, most are nice, most are here because we want to be here.
You get some bad posts, but seriously, in my year on the board, I've only had two encounters that caused me to contemplate leaving...
V
PS this was an interesting thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=329718#329718
I know it is not everyone, my subject should not have been why are people so temperamental, it should have been why are SOME people so temperamental.
I agree with you, if it is a repetive question, just dont answer. I just think it is bad when people are pm'ing rather than posting because they are afraid.
vijay555 said:
You get some bad posts, but seriously, in my year on the board, I've only had two encounters that caused me to contemplate leaving...
V
PS this was an interesting thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=329718#329718
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I gotta' agree with you on that thread, vijay. Those pics (the original ones) NEVER should have been posted. They provoked a LOT of ire from users and flaming, too. There's no room for politics on this forum. It's not here for that purpose and I felt like that was where that thread was heading. Even the world news networks don't show images THAT graphic!! Thanks for deleting them and putting that thread back "on course".
whos temperamental, you [email protected]@rd!
STFU! you think your so [email protected] smart, coming here and reading entries and you probably dont know your @ss froma hole in the ground when it comes to pdas....
whos says people here are temperamental?
dont know your @ss froma hole in the ground
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Gosh, in countries where you actually poo straight into a hole in the ground, this might cause some rather embarrassing situations!
V
maybe i hang out in the wrong forums or my level of what is hostile is wayy different from yours
but this is one of the most friendly forums i come in
or have ever come in (and thats a great deal)
i dont see telling people to use search and the likes to be hostile
personal attacks is hostile
Dont know what the problem is, sure once in a while people get pointed to search, wiki or spend some time reading. And yes once in awhile there are no flowers in that reply.
Sure even I have had the balls to move a post out of news and tell the guy to post in the correct, forum, read wiki and use search. It pisses of our other users who think news is news and not news being somebody asking how do I upgrade my device.
I have seen a lot of threads, a few things I did not like to see, a few I have killed. I have seen nice, not so nice and far form nice askers and also answerres.
In general you get a lot more help here than on other places (yes I have had to look other places).
But hell its a free word, if anybody thinks this site is not good to or for them, well its a click of the mouse to solve that problem.
Mean while will I point a user to the answer of his question which in fact is the same question in 4 different sections. Hum let me think about that one.
Personally I find most people on the forum very friendly. You always get a few who are a bit temperamental but that is life. But on the whole this would have to be the most helpful and friendly forum around.
I will have to agree and disagree with this.. i havent been a member that long and i did take the smart route, i actually read this board over and from top to bottom for months before making a single post, what stopped me from making a post right away was most senior people's complaints about newbs not searching, etc.. so i did just that searched and read... and here i am 3 months later of my first post and have made well over 500 now.. (i have point to all of this somewhere here ) This site can be a little confusing to newbs, but most of the confusion comes from other newbs making the same posts over and over again, you might search for one thing and come up with 50 posts of the same problem, however 49 of them are flames telling them to search to find the answer... and this is where it also gets frustrating for the senior people, people who have already answered this once before causing the temperamental flames.. Now i do try to answer what i can, we were all newbs once and i still consider myself one and i answer many pm's of people who are afraid to be flamed (which if they would have searched they would have found the answer) but im also not their personal wiki... ok, im done, oh yeah, vote for me for president
I agree with jimmy hauser
I came here from treocentral, which was much more supportive on average. Sure, there are some good-spirited and helpful people here, but it is overall much more antagonistic than treocentral.
As a practical matter, the search engine isn't very good and the recent upgrade of the forum didn't make it easier. It took me a few weeks to think of googling with the site:xda-developers.com, identifying the appropriate thread and then searching for that specific threads. Otherwise, one gets too much. Yes, we all find it annoying when someone starts a new thread that has already been answered fifty times, but on the other hand, there are pretty many 20+ page threads. It might be helpful to suggest to someone what they should have searched for, and try the search to see if it works. Just today I was trying to find the registry tweak that would eliminate the roaming indicator, but I couldn't remember what the thing did, so it took forever to find the registry tweak, and this for something I knew I had read on the board at some point in the past.
Here is what I think is actually better than most sites: the wiki. The wikis are uniformly high quality and some people have written fabulous how-tos.
My pet theory is that it is windows at fault. Things like activesync being so hilariously dysfunctional and the X meaning minimize on the PPC cause tempers to rise just a little too easily. Palm users are happier.
On the other hand, without XDA-developers, my MDA would have been approximately useless. The list of problems that were answered, either directly or indirectly, here is huge. Everything from ROM upgrades to TodayAgenda to 2.47 radio rom to wifi settings to wm5newmenu, I got them here. It is a wonderful resource.
I came here from esato, former sony ericsson user ditched it with the p990
if you really want to get flamed say I didn't like the p990 on esato or god forbid the tytn is better than it (I had both got rid of the p990) basically compare anything or say anything is better than a S.E. phone and you'll get your diehard fanboys by the dozens.
anyways some people get flamed here beacuse they are total noobs who don't bother to read anything, I agree they shouldn't get flamed that bad but they should do a little reading, there is a wealth of information in these forums,
as for asking I try to reply to anyone who asks something I know and if anybody needs anything please feel free to pm me I will answer when I can, although posting a forum gives more views as well as future reference for future noobs
I think this site provides so much useful information and it has kept many devices going when they would have gone in the bin. It has allowed a lot of older devices to still have the current operating system. I think half the time people have got home from work and are on a short fuse any way and any little thing pushes them over the edge and that is what causes the bickering. Just my thoughts on the matter.
darky said:
anyways some people get flamed here beacuse they are total noobs who don't bother to read anything, I agree they shouldn't get flamed that bad but they should do a little reading, there is a wealth of information in these forums,
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I'm not sure if I'm the "temperamental" one here, but yes, that is a very annoying thing. They act as if the members here are google, and they just type in a search sentence "Nood here, please give me a clear, step-by-step, easy to flash my ROM", click a button, and you get the answer. Not to mentioned the lack of information they provide, which can be potentially harmful to them consider they don't even know which ROM to get. And when things go wrong, they will post a new thread with the title "Pleeeeaazzz help".
The another annoying thing is the lack of information. Some members will post problems with so little information that they delay the solution to their very own questions, and annoying for the helpers. Eg. "I downloaded the flash software and ROM, but now the phone won't start, please help". Then, you try to be helpful and suggest "Why don't you try program X?". Later, you will get the answer "Oh, I've already tried that, won't work. Any other suggestion?" .. I will be like.. why don't you said so in your first post? ggrrrr..
Anyway, now I've developed an habbit of ignoring such posts. Those (a) Step by step guide for total nood (b) Thread with Pleeazzz help title (c) Post with lack of information. This will make me.. less "temperamental", I guess.
Anyway, as for the Wiki, I still thinks there are not enough information in the Wiki, such that it makes members difficult to point noobs to simple/common tasks. And, it also makes the non-noobs (the oldies ) going around the search function to answer something that they've forgot. So, for those who are happy to help others, please contribute yourself to the Wiki. Personally, I think it is much more influential to get one thing onto the Wiki than answering 10 PMs. And you get to point them to the Wiki if the same problem surfaced.
I'm temperamental beware
Well I remember when I got my MDAIII back over a year ago and came across this site thanks to google. So like a noob that I was and in many areas still our I posted one of those "how do I upgrade my german MDAIII to English.
Well I can tell you what has changed over the last year. Back then I got NO ANSWER, no falming, no use search, no use wiki.
So over time this site has changed and now at least you can get a reply even if this is thought by many as beeing flamed at.
Over time I learnt 2 things, one to read and one to use search. The reading I have kept the Search well that is a Pain in the ass. In the blue angel section (upgrade) do a search for "new rom" and you get Zero, its a bug we are working on it but it still sucks. Now in the same BA Upgrade section do a search for Threads by "MDAIIIUser". Here you get "New Rom" "new rom:" "New rom!" and the like.
Myself I have stoped the use search as I cant use it myself in the form that I want. Sad but true.
So what is the solutiom, for me it was then wiki, sure I had to post on how to edit it but with time I could even work it out. So from there I found out how to upgrade and posted it on wiki, found roms and posted them, found an unlocker, cabs and a bunch of stuff that I thought was cool of intrest and useful. So I posted it in wiki, edited it when new roms came out, ect bla bal.
Well Time moved on and I got bored after the 3 WM5 rom and well nothing else happens in the BA section the device is dead only sold by a few and thus.... I left it.
Now there is lots of grest info here, lots of great people that have found out lots of cool tricks. Its what makes this site, not the how do I upgrade or should I perform a restore after a rom upgrade. However noobs, newbies what ever we might like to discredit them as have a right to be here, I riight to the information and a right to some constructive help.
What we should all do is keep wiki upto date which is a lot easiser for a new member as he is driven by the quest of knowlege than an old member that does nto realy care in which direction his rom goes to as there is nothing new.
So I am not going to search the wiki pages for who finds this sites attitude bad but himslef has failed to update wiki, nor try to work out which users are helpful or flame.
All I am trying to say and now we get to the short version, is be nice, remember that you to were lost on this site and Please update wiki.
Oh yes, you will find a posts from me that just read "moved to XX (BA, Universal, hermes) but you will also see my signature which should point some people in the correct direction. Could I have answered all of there questions, yes sometims, sometimes not. So why don't I? well that due to the fact that some of us try to keep the site clean.
personally i feel the same way as the orginal poster...but i do see where some of yall are coming from with n00bs askin the same ? thats been answered before. i currently run a forum and have that problem sometimes. im no complete n00b just a novice with all this hackin/developin and i noticed i postd some ?s months ago with no responses at all and yes i searched for the answer and vj u had even posted in that thread but i never got a response. i didnt get mad....i pmd someone who helped me out the best he could since he was as new as me. i have found pm to be the best method of recieving help on this board....even tho at times "anal retentive" members dont even respond to say anything....no "f off" no "yea sure do this..." no "try looking here" just no response at all leaving n00bs to think i better not post if i dont know fully what im talking about.....i personally think the community would be better if everyone treated everyone as they would like to have been treated wheb they were n00bs. we all were at one point and time......shezzzzz......dont u guys remember? well all this is imho.
~mike
this does not apply to newbie's only.
i have asked about five times for help in here, responses 2
so i have been forced to read ,sometimes i find the answer some times
not.
pm several user for help. reply; 1
i receive several pms asking for help every week, i try to help ,but some people never give up. suddenly u become their personal google.
i got a guy now asking to write a a full tutorial in how to cook a rom. yea right!!
like an don’t have anything to do.
so I email him and said I was very busy at the moment, I would try to help when I had time.
following day got word from him. have you got time yet? !!!! now I get an email from him everyday. he says hi is in a hurry!!!!
faria
Love your newbie read this!
faria said:
I email him and said I was very busy at the moment, I would try to help when I had time.
following day got word from him. have you got time yet? !!!! now I get an email from him everyday. he says hi is in a hurry!!!!
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rofl
here is a good example of why people get temperamental
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1038017&posted=1#post1038017

State of the Forum/Newbies

Okay, this post is really intended as a comment and I am not going to pretend I have THE answer but I do have some suggestions to spark discussion.
Based on a lot of the recent comments and back and forth about newbies/tech support I think that the forum is trending the same way I have seen MANY other forums go. What happens is simple; a group of first adopters, who are by default, technically capable, get together on a forum and start to fill in the gaps in tech support, especially when it comes to 'modded' soft or hardwre. They spend a while helping each other out and a comfort level develops. Members know where to go, and when to ask questions.
Then what happens is that the hardware becomes much more popular. All of a sudden your average Joe can walk out a Cingular store with a 8125 for a couple hundred bucks. These folks are NOT early adopters. They are not necessarily tech savvy. They are the people that are most prone to 'keyboard to chair interface errors'. Since the early members did such a good job raising the profile of the forum it starts to come up every time someone does a Google search. and they all end up over their heads.
So then the folks that have been around for a while start to get frustrated. Why should they provide tech support? Why can't these newbies read? Why should they even try to help if they get barraged by stupid questions?
Well I think that takes us to where we are now, so the question is what do we do now? In my experience the only solution that I have seen is to have people equally dedicated to wiki and sticky writing as they are to writing ROMs and programs. The truth is that if you release something you WILL become tech support and a large part of tech support is writing documentation and then explaining it to others.
I have intended this post as something helpful and to spark discussion, not as a criticism of anyone in particular or any particular group. Hopefully it will be taken as such
I agree. I get the feeling that since the relaunch, for one reason or another, there appears to be a lot more"Why don't my apps close when I press X?" and "How dat I swtich this thing 0ff!!!!!!!" type posts.
I think that it's beholden on more experienced users to try to share their experience as they see fit, but it's absolutely essential that newbs and less experienced users use the search button and wiki.
I've been sponsoring a post in the moderators' forum regarding having a specific section for Tutorials etc, eg for the excellent posts that Menneisyys puts together. The wiki may not be the best place for them (due to the risk of negative edits), although it's certainly better then people never looking at them at all...
But as you say, it's pretty much predicted by psychohistory that all fora of dedicated people will eventually turn into a tech support. I don't mind, but less experienced must use the resources already online - quid pro quo.
V
As a new user on this forum i have noticed inconsitant information about G3 vs G4 devices and ROM upgrading. I've seen questions asked by people about G4 devices that go unanswered.
I think the problem with searching on this forum and many others. They do not allow you to search for 3 or fewer letter acronyms such as IPL, SPL, CID. There is no way to search for answers about these things. If there is a setting on the forum that can be changed to allow searching for these terms, then please fix it.
I think when people start posting info about how they did something they need to specify what hardware they are using G3/G4. Thankfully i havent done anything as far as modding my device, but i had seen posts where someone most likely with a G3 device says they figured out how to do this or that, Then someone with a G4 comes along and tried it, not knowing it was done on a G3 and ended up screwing up their device. We need to clearly specify what hardware we are doing mods on.
I still have no clear answer about CID unlocking a G4. I know there is no free utility to do it. Ive seen posts that say the imei-check site can CID unlock. Then i saw a post this morning that imei-check is only a SIM unlock. Can people please provide clear info?
d0ug said:
As a new user on this forum i have noticed inconsitant information about G3 vs G4 devices and ROM upgrading. I've seen questions asked by people about G4 devices that go unanswered.
I think the problem with searching on this forum and many others. They do not allow you to search for 3 or fewer letter acronyms such as IPL, SPL, CID. There is no way to search for answers about these things. If there is a setting on the forum that can be changed to allow searching for these terms, then please fix it.
I think when people start posting info about how they did something they need to specify what hardware they are using G3/G4. Thankfully i havent done anything as far as modding my device, but i had seen posts where someone most likely with a G3 device says they figured out how to do this or that, Then someone with a G4 comes along and tried it, not knowing it was done on a G3 and ended up screwing up their device. We need to clearly specify what hardware we are doing mods on.
I still have no clear answer about CID unlocking a G4. I know there is no free utility to do it. Ive seen posts that say the imei-check site can CID unlock. Then i saw a post this morning that imei-check is only a SIM unlock. Can people please provide clear info?
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I agree with you d0ug! It is rather confusing to navigate and find your way. Especially when you are a n00b, such as myself. I have been trying to mod my phone for 3 days now. I have tried many ways of unlocking my G3, but none of them have worked. I have listened to 3 different people tell me their "way" of unlocking the phone, and all 3 attempts failed in the end. I get flamed for not reading posts or searching, when i did, just nothing relevant popped up! This is not a whine fest, just saying that some people dont have phones that were built on a Wednesday, like mine that was probably built on a Monday and has issues!
Either way, i called Cingular and they are shipping me a brand new 8125 to test things out on!
Canon
Haven't been a wizard user that long although I've been in the ppc scene in about 5 years and quite active in several forums. The most successful solution that I've seen to this problem (witch enevitably always comes up) is to not let new users post for at least 7 days and/or forcing them to read various informational topics before getting access to the actual forum.
This will of course not get everyone but has in my experience improved the situation considerably.
Ah well, that's just my two cents
vijay555 said:
I agree. I get the feeling that since the relaunch, for one reason or another, there appears to be a lot more"Why don't my apps close when I press X?" and "How dat I swtich this thing 0ff!!!!!!!" type posts.
I think that it's beholden on more experienced users to try to share their experience as they see fit, but it's absolutely essential that newbs and less experienced users use the search button and wiki.
I've been sponsoring a post in the moderators' forum regarding having a specific section for Tutorials etc, eg for the excellent posts that Menneisyys puts together. The wiki may not be the best place for them (due to the risk of negative edits), although it's certainly better then people never looking at them at all...
But as you say, it's pretty much predicted by psychohistory that all fora of dedicated people will eventually turn into a tech support. I don't mind, but less experienced must use the resources already online - quid pro quo.
V
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Vijay, very happy to see that the mods are looking at this. I agree that Wiki's have their limitations especially given the validity of some of the comments about conflicting advice.
The search function definitely does have its limits as well, and people are less likely to go through searches that produce a 100 threads with 5 pages each.
I for one would feel a lot better about telling someone harshly to stop answering questions if I knew that I could also direct them to a single place for answers.
I really love this forum and it has helped me so much. I don't post much except to say "thank you" from time to time to the people who have made some program that has been helpful to me. And although I have been coming to this board every day for over a year I still don't know half as much as the majority of people here.
Some solutions to this problem are:
1) get frustrated and write a mean message to the noob
2) take a minute and just give the link to the page where the answer is
3) make it easier on this forum to find things
_Nomad_ said:
Haven't been a wizard user that long although I've been in the ppc scene in about 5 years and quite active in several forums. The most successful solution that I've seen to this problem (witch enevitably always comes up) is to not let new users post for at least 7 days and/or forcing them to read various informational topics before getting access to the actual forum.
This will of course not get everyone but has in my experience improved the situation considerably.
Ah well, that's just my two cents
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That could be nice... part of the things that had contributed to the bad search results are the tons of new threads asking the very same questions over and over and over again... is there anyway to disable these threads from showing up in the search results? Maybe it's time for us to out up another sticky thread specifically talking abóut G4 devices =)
vseehua said:
That could be nice... part of the things that had contributed to the bad search results are the tons of new threads asking the very same questions over and over and over again... is there anyway to disable these threads from showing up in the search results? Maybe it's time for us to out up another sticky thread specifically talking abóut G4 devices =)
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I would like to see a thread dedicated to G4 devices, with verified correct information in it.
It isnt just people asking the same questions over and over making the search junk. Its the inability to even search for simple short 3 letter acronyms like CID, IPL, SPL, AKU. These are all things I have tried to search for and get 0 results. If I were able to search for these terms I could probably turn up a wealth of information on my own.
_Nomad_ said:
Haven't been a wizard user that long although I've been in the ppc scene in about 5 years and quite active in several forums. The most successful solution that I've seen to this problem (witch enevitably always comes up) is to not let new users post for at least 7 days and/or forcing them to read various informational topics before getting access to the actual forum.
This will of course not get everyone but has in my experience improved the situation considerably.
Ah well, that's just my two cents
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That would work me thinks!!!!!
Hi all,
I've been reading this forum for weeks now and still have not found enough answers to be secure enough and cid-unlock my G3 2.21 vario.
I HAVE indeed read most relevant threads, although navigating them can be somewhat confusing. However When I posted some -in my n00b opinion - valid questions I either got 1) no reply whatsoever 2) replies to read "the" threads....which wasn't really helpfull or I wouldn't have asked 3) contradicting advice .... like a 2.21 G3 Can be unlocked, or it Cannot be unlocked, you have to downgrade twice, you have to upgrade twice, you Can or Cannot flash a G4 rom to a G3 device so you won't have to downgrade and CID unlock your phone first, etc.
I believe that I am somewhat beyond the real n00b level right now but still I'd like information to be more consistent and easier to find, I've already tried to suggest making a stickied n00b FAQ or wiki for us where to find the basic answers in a easy and consistent manner so the sdame questions aren't asked over and over and ROM threads hijacked for support questions.
but that is just my cup of tea.
thanks for a good forum with vlauable info.
stefan.
Regular search
Personally, I find using google or yahoo, with site:xda-developers.com, works much better than the forum search. My personal pet peeve is the inability to use quotes to search for phrases. Quotes don't work.
A major problem with "read the threads" is the 800+ entry length of some of them. It would be nice to try to harness the power of those of us newly figuring things out and ask them to submit a wiki for something they just learned. If we had a submission point for the wiki, perhaps those of us who recently learned new things would do a how-to write-up and submit it to the wiki.
Finally, there are a lot of repeat threads, many with false or useless information. These threads stand in the way of a searcher. I would be happier if the moderators deleted more bad threads. Alternatively, we could use democracy -- add a "vote to delete" button to every thread not posted by a moderator and if a high enough percentage vote to delete, the thread is gone. I'd suggest 20% as a threshold -- more than that and the thread goes away.
Have been reading all your comments and completely agree with you guys... I see you have specific problems on G3/G4 on Wizards, as someone suggested a separate subforum for G4 devices would be ideal for you, and also for Prophet I guess.
About the search functions I'm also using google to search as a fallback when I can't find specific things using vBulletin's integrated search function, there's a thread on the mod forum where we discussed how to improve it, but seems is not very active now... will try to push Flar to do something about that.
Regarding the wiki, I think everyone should be less afraid to edit, if you look at the "recent changes" you see always the same people is editing. Have a look at the Hermes or BlueAngel wiki pages, these are good examples on how info has to be organized on the wiki, it's easy to find everything on the front page and information is well divided. Formating may seem a bit complicated at the beginning, but you don't have to care too much if you just want to add content, sure someone more experienced with wiki syntax will edit and correct any bad formating mistakes.
I do 100% agree with you that the wiki itself doesn't cover half of what it should. Yet if you take the time to read through it, and the links, you should be quite familiar with your device...
And oh yeah, sure, you can't search for keywords less than four characters, but that's not really an excuse... look at the thread containing the latest Faria ROM. Half... Half of what the thread contains is the same question over and over again... those ppl didn't even read the initial post of the thread... they found the download link, tried to install the ROM, got problem and went right to work, posting their (stupid) question all over again and again... The problem was never the limited search capabilities... It's always the ppl...
A board without limitations always get bloated with crap, whether it's unwanted commercial och just plain stupid posts...
So, unfortunatly this is going to continue unless you put constraints on the board... I'm sorry, but that's what's gonna happen.
Seems to me that since this was posted the situation has sorta escalated... Faria, Molski, risidoro and just now Dr P has announced their leave.
In this rate all that'll be left will be the newbies soon. Sad to witness
_Nomad_ said:
And oh yeah, sure, you can't search for keywords less than four characters, but that's not really an excuse... look at the thread containing the latest Faria ROM. Half... Half of what the thread contains is the same question over and over again... those ppl didn't even read the initial post of the thread... they found the download link, tried to install the ROM, got problem and went right to work, posting their (stupid) question all over again and again... The problem was never the limited search capabilities... It's always the ppl...
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It's also very human.
_Nomad_ said:
A board without limitations always get bloated with crap, whether it's unwanted commercial och just plain stupid posts...
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Click to collapse
There just should be enough moderators. Now what happens when you write something stupid is you also get useless answers like "don't do that" which just makes everything even worse. There should be a "FAQ"-section, there should be a "how-to"-section etc...but there isn't. The forum structure is FAR TOO SIMPLE to handle the amount of messages.
Two main things to handle this (just my opinion):
Re-designed forum structure
Moderators
(well, the structure should be designed in the first place so that it would be easy to extend it later...not an easy job)
prestonmcafee said:
...A major problem with "read the threads" is the 800+ entry length of some of them. It would be nice to try to harness the power of those of us newly figuring things out...
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Click to collapse
I usually suggest to those asking questions to post the solution to their question in the first post. But I'm over at the Mio forums, and since we only have 4500 peps, the mods aren't overwhelmed. I can lock a thread, post the correct thread to post in, and a few days later, delete the thread. I spend 1/2 my time using the search function to consolidate questions into single threads. But like I said, that's not feasible here. I suggest a PM sent to everyone the registers, that is kind of a quick start guide. I understand why the 3 letter limit, because people type words like "the" and "and". I'm not sure how powerful the forum software is, but it would be nice to remove the size limit, and omit such words as mentioned above, from the search.
Regards,
Jason
mlehtola said:
There should be a "FAQ"-section, there should be a "how-to"-section etc...but there isn't. The forum structure is FAR TOO SIMPLE to handle the amount of messages.
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Ummm, have you ever taken the time to look at the Wiki?
This forum is being provided to us basically for free. (Except for voluntary donations.) I personally can't afford to donate $$$ to the community, or for that matter to individual developers, so I dedicate some time to post in the forums to share what I've learned. I have also donated time to updating the Wiki.
If the Wiki doesn't contain all you would like it to, just add it yourself! One brief tutorial could make a world of difference to a newbie, or even a more experienced user. It also helps to point out gaps in the general knowledge we have here in these forums.
If, for example, there isn't a sub-forum for the device you use, you don't have to wait for the moderators, etc. to create it. Just create a Wiki page, and get the ball rolling on your own!
Take the initiative! That's what these forums were founded on!
Just my opinion.
Now go have fun!
JKR said:
I suggest a PM sent to everyone the registers, that is kind of a quick start guide. I understand why the 3 letter limit, because people type words like "the" and "and". I'm not sure how powerful the forum software is, but it would be nice to remove the size limit, and omit such words as mentioned above, from the search.
Regards,
Jason
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, you get much better, and more detailed search results by using a search-engine like Google. Their advanced search features do a fantastic job, and can be fine tuned to search only through a specific site. (i.e. http://forum.xdadevelopers.com )
Secondly, as opposed to a PM, possibly an email with a confirmation link after the introductory information.
Hope this helps....
Now go have fun!
I think it is more synonymous of the world today, do you read the manual when you buy a new stereo or mobile phone, or do you dig in saying 'nah i know how it works it'll be ok'. People just dont take the time to understand first, they think they know it all and then the proverbial hits the fan! As an experienced R&D firmware developer it doesn't matter how easy I make the interface you will always get those that stuff it up!
So not such an easy one to fix, you have given the masses a place to ask the ridiculous and the tools to stuff up easily, How do you fix that?
Riptos

[Q] Should I root my Streak 7?

I want to root my Dell Streak 7, 16 GB, T-Mobile model but I've been hesitant to do so because I've heard of many people getting their devices bricked after attempting to.
What are the chances of me bricking my device in the process of rooting and is it worth taking the risk or not?
Thanks.
5uprem3 said:
I want to root my Dell Streak 7, 16 GB, T-Mobile model but I've been hesitant to do so because I've heard of many people getting their devices bricked after attempting to.
What are the chances of me bricking my device in the process of rooting and is it worth taking the risk or not?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on 2.2 then rooting it is simple and easy with very little trouble. Just use an app call Gingerbreak, it is fully reversible.
otnos said:
If you are on 2.2 then rooting it is simple and easy with very little trouble. Just use an app call Gingerbreak, it is fully reversible.
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Click to collapse
If you're gonna root it would be much easier to just flash the Clockwork Mod and flash DJ Steve's custom ROM for Froyo that comes tweaked and all
otnos said:
If you are on 2.2 then rooting it is simple and easy with very little trouble. Just use an app call Gingerbreak, it is fully reversible.
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Click to collapse
Yes, I'm on 2.2. And thanks for the info, I'll check it out.
cdzo72 said:
If you're gonna root it would be much easier to just flash the Clockwork Mod and flash DJ Steve's custom ROM for Froyo that comes tweaked and all
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Hm.. I'm very new to all this Android stuff so I have no idea what all of that means. If you could give me more input on how to do that and where I could find all of that, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks for answering though guys
Allow me to be very frank and honest... the fact that you ask for the information to be spoon fed to you allows us all to assume you haven't done near enough reading, the LAST thing you should be doing is rooting. The act of looking for the information will acclimate you to the things you should know. There are several threads on modifying the Streak 7 and what to do should you run into a wall. Until you read AND UNDERSTAND ALL OF THOSE THREADS you should flash ANYTHING to your device, please heed the warning, if not you'll be one of the hundreds getting flamed because you refused to educate yourself before tinkering with your device.
Yes, I at one time was a noob, and each time you buy a different device you are somewhat of a noob. I just purchased a Galaxy S2 and a Note to replace my Streak, I spent 2 weeks reading articles, skimming through ROM threads and devouring hundreds of pages before I flashed anything so I wouldn't have any trouble...
I for one did lots of reading but could not find all the answers, so I posted in the General Section. Well, over 500 views and not one reply. Nobody has done a Nandroid backup/restore???
wptski said:
I for one did lots of reading but could not find all the answers, so I posted in the General Section. Well, over 500 views abjuring not one reply. Nobody has done a Nandroid backup/restore???
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Click to collapse
All the answers are in just a couple of threads
cdzo72 said:
All the answers are in just a couple of threads
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Click to collapse
A needle in a big haystack! I can understand not wanting to explain with every move but all my question required a Y/N answer. Does that fit your repeated "spoon feed" answer?
As one posted, we are expected to read hundreds of posts to find one post where our question is answered. Is that just because that's the everyone is treated, so your expected to pass it along?
To answer your question would be a big fat YES! YOU ARE expected to read through those hundreds of posts that noobs such as yourself create because the answers to all your questions are in just a couple of threads posted by the more experienced. I read through those hundreds of threads to know what I know so what exempts the rest of you from the same adherence to the forum rules?
SGS II I9100 from TapaTalk
cdzo72 said:
To answer your question would be a big fat YES! YOU ARE expected to read through those hundreds of posts that noobs such as yourself create because the answers to all your questions are in just a couple of threads posted by the more experienced. I read through those hundreds of threads to know what I know so what exempts the rest of you from the same adherence to the forum rules?
SGS II I9100 from TapaTalk
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Well Mr. more experienced, so far not one of the more experienced hasn't answered with a simple Y/N. Must be too difficult to press a few keys, I guess or it's the "I had to learn the hard, so they'll have to also" mentality? You are one bitter person!
wptski said:
Well Mr. more experienced, so far not one of the more experienced hasn't answered with a simple Y/N. Must be too difficult to press a few keys, I guess or it's the "I had to learn the hard, so they'll have to also" mentality? You are one bitter person!
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Click to collapse
CDZO72 is completely correct in that you SHOULD read hundreds of posts, not nessecerilly hundreds of pages.
How much is 100 posts? by default 1 page is 10 posts, so it's 10 pages of a thread. Usually you only need the OP and mabye the last 5 posts in a thread.
Then add in you should read half a dozen or so stickies. 50 posts of the RIGHT posts or so and you already can get an idea of what's good/bad, right/wrong. You can easily read several hundred in a sitting as skimming counts as reading for unimportant posts.
Who's fault is it when someone bricks their device because they didnt read everything? I'm pretty much the go-to guy for generating documentation and I rarely ever get any real suggestions to change/improve stuff.
All my stuff is medium-difficulty instructions as I refuse to hand-hold people though as most of my stuff is stuff that WILL BRICK you if done incorrectly. Many other guides tend to be easily broken, due to changes in stuff as hand holding is highly specific, generalized ones arnt easily broken, especially the ones I make.
The phrasing and tone that cdzo I dont agree with though, but until a certian threshold it's none of my concern. It's strongly worded but not rude yet. And he's completely right about the points, if you mess with a device and dont read everything, what is the next post you make? "HALP MY THNG DUN WORK"
I am assuming OP is new to android as a whole and now he's been pointed in the right direction to learn more.
OP hasnt implied he's refusing to read stuff, he merely implies that he has no idea what he should be reading. he SHOULD have read the stickies as they do cover most topics, he could have possibly read it and not understood it.
I always assume that the vast majority of users simply read the stuff and never post as they dont need to/have no issues with it. Often time the posters are the ones that dont understand/refuse to read for various reasons (and some of them could be legit reasons such as language barriers)
tl;dr: the vast majority of posts are issues that can be solved by thourghly reading the stickies, if they arnt they should tell me and we'll figure something out
Thanks to TheManii and explanation of my behavior
Thank you TheManii for backing me up to an extent, and I will be the first to apologize for my somewhat harsh answers at times but the points I want to make are the following:
1) If you don't have the time to do what TheManii just suggested then NO, no one should mod their device without feeling they can reverse what has been done
2) I have several devices.. my Streak 5, the Streak 7, Transformer Prime, SGS2 I9100 and an iPad 2... and lemme tell ya, comparitively speaking, these Streak forums are sleepy compared to the stupidity you see in some of those... especially the SGS2 forum, there are at least 100 NEW threads daily and 99% of them are JUNK, and 99% of the posts in existing threads are JUNK, so you can imagine how frustrating it is for someone such as myself when I acquire a new device and then have to weed through ALL THAT to find my answers, because I almost refuse to start a new thread because I doubt that anything I come across some developer has not already addressed, I just have to find it
3) so let me apologize to whoever may be offended by my sarcasm and rants, but if just a few people are motivated to alter their forum behavior by it, well I am more than willing to bear the burden of being lashed out at by the noobies that resent my responses
4) once again thank you TheManii for your support (I gave you a thanks for your post , once again you have proven you are TheManii
I dont believe you're doing it to be malicious, sometimes you dont really realize it until someone points it out.
Forums are always baised towards having users that are having trouble, as it's just as unproductive to make a post that says you got and understood everything. (unless it's some sort of thank you thread)
Actively saying you dont want to read is grounds for getting tarred and feathered by the mods (as in heavily chastized but nothing serious unless it's repeat offenses), I am not a mod though and fortunately dell devices dont get millions of posts an hour.
Just to repeat though, I always assume good faith in the OP, and he hasnt stated anything towards that yet.
hello friends, I saw the post and read because I thought it would help me to be root, I thought to find some link, I believe, and if they let me say that with a single link would suffice, or just see and pass by, I also have revealed with my htc and what would happen if they become damaged, and finally because of who will? for me is a language barrier, and read only the interesting threads but do not know much, a greeting
Enviado desde mi Dell Streak 7 usando Tapatalk
I've read 100's of pages of posts after reading some of "cdzo72's"" rude rants to noobies. I believe sombody else mentioned why does "cdzo72" even reply to a thread but only to rant?
TheManii, I really like the one where you told somebody, "Well, I'll toss you a bone". Really??
Then there's a response from "giveen" where I questioned his video(s). His answer was a link to Google! I know you guys are developers and you guys make this Dell S7 section for the most part. I shouldn't be agitating you guys but neither of you are going to win a Mr. Congeniality Awards.
Do you guys have children? If they ask you a question, do you give them the same kind of response that "some" noobies get here? Gosh, I hope not!
I'm a moderator in another forum and you would have heard from me long time ago because this rudeness just isn't allowed, no matter who you are or even what you bring to the plate.
In reference to my replyless thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1516530, I don't really see how a simple yes/no would have killed you?
I am not a dev, but I CAN speak for some the old devs that left the S5 area, they stopped replying/deving because they kept getting inundated with stupid questions.
When every time you get bombarded with questions that were clearly answered somewhere else it tells you it's simply easier to not release something publicly. I personally know one dev that stopped making releases because he kept getting asked stupid questions.
I'm hesitatnt to release anything if I'm not willing to fully support it, hence why the great majority of my roms are never released/only released to a small group.
Anyone who's on xda is by definition not a child (even this isnt the case, I would be surprised if there wernt devs on xda under 15, but I expect that many of them learned entirely on their own at that age), there's a point where you should be able to learn on your own without assistance.
The State Of Our Site – Not An Official Statement But A Perspective this sums it up to a degree. I could have sworn there was an official announcement that xda was for devs and users were simply along for the ride, not the other way around. I cant find it, I may be mistaken though as that link isnt a binding statement.
Just as much I've seen forums that outright instant-ban you for a couple days for even the simplest dumb question. With the size of it I dont really blame them. Keep in mind some like somethingawful requires PAYING to register and the users know beforehand that being probated is really easy for making bad/dumb posts. Yet they still register and pay to do so.

need help

hi guys i have lg 4x hd (Rooted) after i rooted my phone and installing ROM Manger when i tried to go to recovery mode i saw red words lge_Security and lg logo please i need help cant insert images because this is my first thread sorry for bad english
tetoteto1234 said:
hi guys i have lg 4x hd (Rooted) after i rooted my phone and installing ROM Manger when i tried to go to recovery mode i saw red words lge_Security and lg logo please i need help cant insert images because this is my first thread sorry for bad english
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
refer to my signature. stop using big letters.
Flying_Bear said:
refer to my signature. stop using big letters.
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Click to collapse
First of all, this should be moved to the Q&A section, and he may use big letters if he wants too, if he wasn't allowed then xda would remove the feature i'm sure.
If you could update your signature with links to tut's of how to do each step it would help a lot more then just " Look at my Signature " Your signature is not helpful at all to new users. " Unlock Bootloader " Well how do you expect someone who has never done it before to know the steps in which to take to undergo the unlocking procedure.
Checl out the " Sticky's Roll Up Thread " In the General/Q&A section " and you should be able to find the corresponding methods to help you get flashing and onto your desired Rom, welcome to the community, any other problems, feel free to open a thread and we will be sure to help you as soon as possible (Have a search first thou ofcourse )
Happy Flashing bro.
penguin449 said:
First of all, this should be moved to the Q&A section, and he may use big letters if he wants too, if he wasn't allowed then xda would remove the feature i'm sure.
If you could update your signature with links to tut's of how to do each step it would help a lot more then just " Look at my Signature " Your signature is not helpful at all to new users. " Unlock Bootloader " Well how do you expect someone who has never done it before to know the steps in which to take to undergo the unlocking procedure.
Checl out the " Sticky's Roll Up Thread " In the General/Q&A section " and you should be able to find the corresponding methods to help you get flashing and onto your desired Rom, welcome to the community, any other problems, feel free to open a thread and we will be sure to help you as soon as possible (Have a search first thou ofcourse )
Happy Flashing bro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
big letters are there to emphasize something. if you're using it in normal post, it's just as douchy as writing in full-caps.
my signature has enough info to point every newcommer into right direction. it's there to make sure they do steps in the right sequence. details can be found by searching the (sub)forum. also, my signature is the answer to his question on what he did wrong - he flashed custom recoveery without unlocking bootloader. once he knows what he did wrong, he can move on to fixing it and doing it properly.
i honestly don't understand why people expect to be spoonfed info? why are people lazy to read stickies/search forums? they will get their answer faster that way, instead of waiting for someone to provide them with everything in another thread they created.
i really dont want to sound entitled, *****y or anything. but the amount of people hijacking threads, posting new threads improperly, and generally not being good users is too high. thats why i added the info i did to my signature, so people can "follow the breadcrumbs" to solve their problems. cheers.
Flying_Bear said:
big letters are there to emphasize something. if you're using it in normal post, it's just as douchy as writing in full-caps.
my signature has enough info to point every newcommer into right direction. it's there to make sure they do steps in the right sequence. details can be found by searching the (sub)forum. also, my signature is the answer to his question on what he did wrong - he flashed custom recoveery without unlocking bootloader. once he knows what he did wrong, he can move on to fixing it and doing it properly.
i honestly don't understand why people expect to be spoonfed info? why are people lazy to read stickies/search forums? they will get their answer faster that way, instead of waiting for someone to provide them with everything in another thread they created.
i really dont want to sound entitled, *****y or anything. but the amount of people hijacking threads, posting new threads improperly, and generally not being good users is too high. thats why i added the info i did to my signature, so people can "follow the breadcrumbs" to solve their problems. cheers.
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Click to collapse
Well most users need more then breadcrums, say you got your first Android Device, and it was an expensive device to you and you was scared about bricking it or whatever, you wouldn't want to use intuition for something that could potential screw you over. For Example, i'm not going to become a Qualified Chef by searching and following Top recipes online am i?! It's not gonna help me achieve anything, a tutor who can Point you in the right direction and who can Help you out with steps you don't understand, and who will be there to answer any Problems you face.
Sometimes most people prefer to be Taken through tutorials Step by Step and your signature is very minimal. So therefor should not be used as the answer. It's users like you that cause so many duplicate threads to be opened.
If your not going to answer the question fully, and with enough information (Links) then don't bother answering it and leave it someone else who can provide the correct information. If it has already been answered, link him to the corresponding thread and give him the reassurance that a PM is all he needs if he doesn't understand what is the thread. The reason you have SOO many more POSTS then THANKS is because what you are posting is not helpful to other users. If you are going to have a tut in your sig and want people to follow it, add links otherwise don't bother posting half assed answers. It's not helpful. If your not gonna do a good job and get annoyed by noobs. Leave xda.
For information on how to follow this guys half assed unhelpful signature, go here and make you sure 1. Upgrade to JB (Officially) 2. Root 3. Unlock Bootloader (Various Methods, use whichever works for you) 4. Flash recovery (TWRP/CWM, Personal choice) 5. Flash whatever you like!
Stickies found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2225910
Any problems drop me a PM, It's what xda users are meant to be here for, to help eachother out!
penguin449 said:
Well most users need more then breadcrums, say you got your first Android Device, and it was an expensive device to you and you was scared about bricking it or whatever, you wouldn't want to use intuition for something that could potential screw you over. For Example, i'm not going to become a Qualified Chef by searching and following Top recipes online am i?! It's not gonna help me achieve anything, a tutor who can Point you in the right direction and who can Help you out with steps you don't understand, and who will be there to answer any Problems you face.
Sometimes most people prefer to be Taken through tutorials Step by Step and your signature is very minimal. So therefor should not be used as the answer. It's users like you that cause so many duplicate threads to be opened.
If your not going to answer the question fully, and with enough information (Links) then don't bother answering it and leave it someone else who can provide the correct information. If it has already been answered, link him to the corresponding thread and give him the reassurance that a PM is all he needs if he doesn't understand what is the thread. The reason you have SOO many more POSTS then THANKS is because what you are posting is not helpful to other users. If you are going to have a tut in your sig and want people to follow it, add links otherwise don't bother posting half assed answers. It's not helpful. If your not gonna do a good job and get annoyed by noobs. Leave xda.
For information on how to follow this guys half assed unhelpful signature, go here and make you sure 1. Upgrade to JB (Officially) 2. Root 3. Unlock Bootloader (Various Methods, use whichever works for you) 4. Flash recovery (TWRP/CWM, Personal choice) 5. Flash whatever you like!
Stickies found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2225910
Any problems drop me a PM, It's what xda users are meant to be here for, to help eachother out!
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this was my first android device. paid it 300 euro of my hard earned money. before i bought it, i sat down, read about the android, read about the device, read the stickies, followed the tutorials. if i encountered an error, i searched if someone else already had it. if i could not find someone else with the same issue, i'd post new topic/post.
there ARE tutorials around the site, i'm well aware of that. my signature isn't step-by-step tutorial, it's there to POINT PEOPLE INTO RIGHT DIRECTION, and it's doing it's job as i've been told.
on the other hand, you're not a mod - you dont have the right to tell me what i should or should not post, as long as it's within the rules (and this guys topic is totaly out of the rules - wrong subforum, question asked numerous times). i have 5:1 post to thanks ratio becouse i ask and discuss a lot. helping someone once in five posts is good enough for me. for you it seems, it's just a measure of your e-peen.
in the end, you enable breaking of rules by letting people know it's ok to open another and another and another topic on same issues that have been discussed numerous times over. with not telling them that what they're doign is wrong, you're enabling every other noob that comes here to, instead of search for answers to his questions, to open another topic anywhere he pleases, flood the forum with useless posts and not be sanctioned by it.
atleast i tell them proper ettiquete - and the ettiequete is for them to search more for answers to questions already answered.
now i'll say it again, you're not a mod, so you telling me to "leave xda" has zero to none practical effect. i will post whatever i want within the rules of the forum.
ending my post on a not-as-assholish note as your post is, i wish you all the best. over and out from this thread.
Flying_Bear said:
this was my first android device. paid it 300 euro of my hard earned money. before i bought it, i sat down, read about the android, read about the device, read the stickies, followed the tutorials. if i encountered an error, i searched if someone else already had it. if i could not find someone else with the same issue, i'd post new topic/post.
there ARE tutorials around the site, i'm well aware of that. my signature isn't step-by-step tutorial, it's there to POINT PEOPLE INTO RIGHT DIRECTION, and it's doing it's job as i've been told.
on the other hand, you're not a mod - you dont have the right to tell me what i should or should not post, as long as it's within the rules (and this guys topic is totaly out of the rules - wrong subforum, question asked numerous times). i have 5:1 post to thanks ratio becouse i ask and discuss a lot. helping someone once in five posts is good enough for me. for you it seems, it's just a measure of your e-peen.
in the end, you enable breaking of rules by letting people know it's ok to open another and another and another topic on same issues that have been discussed numerous times over. with not telling them that what they're doign is wrong, you're enabling every other noob that comes here to, instead of search for answers to his questions, to open another topic anywhere he pleases, flood the forum with useless posts and not be sanctioned by it.
atleast i tell them proper ettiquete - and the ettiequete is for them to search more for answers to questions already answered.
now i'll say it again, you're not a mod, so you telling me to "leave xda" has zero to none practical effect. i will post whatever i want within the rules of the forum.
ending my post on a not-as-assholish note as your post is, i wish you all the best. over and out from this thread.
Click to expand...
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Now you see this is the main reason that i have more respect then you do from other users, just stop being such a butthurt little childish kid about it and HELP THEM OUT if the thread is duplicate, link them to the correct one and report the thread. simple as.
XDA Rules may state search before posting, so chances are they probably have already! And that's why they're opening a new thread. You was a noob once, how would you have liked it if people were being ass's to you?! Because compared to me your a noob, and i may start treating you like you are dense and know nothing. XDA Rules can be bent. so what if he opens a new thread. It can be closed, moved, and deleted if it needs to be, if you don't bloody like it don't look on it.
If you don't have anything nice to say, don't bloody say it at all, it's the internet, let him post where he wants and what he wants. you can always request it to be maintained.
Goddamn butthurt users. We are here to help, not be ass's because we want to feel less noobish then the next guy

People should read more and not ask the same questions over and over

Rule 1 clearly states, that you shall read the thread first and then ask questions. So, most questions are answered in the first post. In my case people are asking again and again "is the rom quitable for model XY" and similar things. This is obviously a violation of rule 1. I wouldn't mind, but the threads are growing rapidly. 50% is just asking this question, 20% is "can confirm that bug xy is present" or "installation not working", while not following the instructions, which is also useless. 10% is asking for feature xy, usually for an unfinished rom, which is not working 100%. So only 20% is really information. As the threads grow and grow you are literally unable to find the information you are looking for and people don't look too, they even don't read the first post; they just ask. And the thread grows with this spam.
I hinted someone to read the first post. The answer was right there. My post was deleted with the hint "If you don't help then shut up". But really, is this necessary? I don't know if I'm the only one, but posts like these should be deleted with a hint, that the poster should read the first post. This would make the threads clearer, cleaner and shorter.
Any ideas on that?
I completely agree with you. People should definitely read more and ask less.
Great post, hope people READ it.
Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk
massehullah said:
I completely agree with you. People should definitely read more and ask less.
Great post, hope people READ it.
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Click to collapse
Thanks.
I hope mods read it and maybe agree too.
jacdelad said:
Rule 1 clearly states, that you shall read the thread first and then ask questions. So, most questions are answered in the first post. In my case people are asking again and again "is the rom quitable for model XY" and similar things. This is obviously a violation of rule 1. I wouldn't mind, but the threads are growing rapidly. 50% is just asking this question, 20% is "can confirm that bug xy is present" or "installation not working", while not following the instructions, which is also useless. 10% is asking for feature xy, usually for an unfinished rom, which is not working 100%. So only 20% is really information. As the threads grow and grow you are literally unable to find the information you are looking for and people don't look too, they even don't read the first post; they just ask. And the thread grows with this spam.
I hinted someone to read the first post. The answer was right there. My post was deleted with the hint "If you don't help then shut up". But really, is this necessary? I don't know if I'm the only one, but posts like these should be deleted with a hint, that the poster should read the first post. This would make the threads clearer, cleaner and shorter.
Any ideas on that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not wrong about people not searching or reading OPs. I always call Rule #1 the number one rule we don't enforce. Maybe we should somehow, but it's not really enforceable as someone could search and just miss it.
I looked through the thread and saw you answered the same question for somebody else previously so a simple search would have revealed that. When you said your post was deleted with "If you don't help then shut up", that piqued my interest so I looked into it. The issue wasn't that you hinted he search, but in the way you said it. You called the guy a spammer which started an argument so to the moderator, it looked like you were blasting someone for not searching. Had you said something like, "I answered this last week; search through the thread and you'll find it." then you most likely would have been fine. Most (all?) of us moderators don't like to spoon-feed members so we understand if you nicely tell someone to search instead of giving them the answer directly.
I get the frustration with people asking if ROM X supports Device Y, but I blame that on the manufacturers and carriers for not making things uniform, not on members. I have a Sprint HTC One m7 and so have to be very careful about flashing international variant ROMs. If the OP isn't clear if there is Sprint support, then I could brick my device. Vice versa, we have a lot of people in the Sprint fora for the device who are trying to use it on international CDMA carriers and are constantly asking about that compatibility. It can be annoying, but I see both sides.
By the way, my (PM) door's always open if you need help or just need to vent on something. I'd rather you do that then say something in thread that could get you in trouble.
coal686 said:
You're not wrong about people not searching or reading OPs. I always call Rule #1 the number one rule we don't enforce. Maybe we should somehow, but it's not really enforceable as someone could search and just miss it.
I looked through the thread and saw you answered the same question for somebody else previously so a simple search would have revealed that. When you said your post was deleted with "If you don't help then shut up", that piqued my interest so I looked into it. The issue wasn't that you hinted he search, but in the way you said it. You called the guy a spammer which started an argument so to the moderator, it looked like you were blasting someone for not searching. Had you said something like, "I answered this last week; search through the thread and you'll find it." then you most likely would have been fine. Most (all?) of us moderators don't like to spoon-feed members so we understand if you nicely tell someone to search instead of giving them the answer directly.
I get the frustration with people asking if ROM X supports Device Y, but I blame that on the manufacturers and carriers for not making things uniform, not on members. I have a Sprint HTC One m7 and so have to be very careful about flashing international variant ROMs. If the OP isn't clear if there is Sprint support, then I could brick my device. Vice versa, we have a lot of people in the Sprint fora for the device who are trying to use it on international CDMA carriers and are constantly asking about that compatibility. It can be annoying, but I see both sides.
By the way, my (PM) door's always open if you need help or just need to vent on something. I'd rather you do that then say something in thread that could get you in trouble.
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Click to collapse
You're right, my tone wasn't the nicest. It's the frustration speaking through said post. The same posts over and over again...you also surely read the answer on m post, something like "deleting post of someone saying you should use the search function".
But I can't agree with the variant problem. Nearly all ROMs clear that up in the first post, most of them already in the title. If you want to flash, you need dome knowledge. You have to read before, maybe watch a YouTube video. This clears most questions.
Take a look at the carhd rom-thread from carotix. It has 1545 pages now, carotix is very active and makes frequently updates. The people are begging, some demanding, certain features which were available with mm, but not on n yet. I cannot understand how he stays so calm.
Look at the N0G33K kernel thread for the Galaxy S6. Count how often it's asked if this kernel is for n. This information is cleared up in the first post...and this is nothing else than spamming and laziness.
Maybe it would be useful to have a more concrete forced design for the op. Something unified, maybe a template which would have the information always on the same place (version, model etc.). But I guess this wouldn't stop the unnecessary questions.
Maybe a "unnecessary"-button for this kind of spam would help. A moderator could delete post and hint the poster to read the rules/op.
In a forum this big, things get lost very easily and forum searches aren't great.
One of my topics has had no responses, despite being a somewhat valid question (what phone protection do you have - case, film screen, glass)
Yet, if there were yearly versions, stickied, then simple questions would get answered in the one thread.
jacdelad said:
But I can't agree with the variant problem. Nearly all ROMs clear that up in the first post, most of them already in the title. If you want to flash, you need dome knowledge. You have to read before, maybe watch a YouTube video. This clears most questions.
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Click to collapse
The OP of that thread you mentioned didn't say though, or if it did, I couldn't find it. Nearly everything was hidden under hide tags, but I went through them all. Now, I will admit that I'm an HTC guy and so it might have been there in secret Samsung code and I just missed it.
jacdelad said:
Take a look at the carhd rom-thread from carotix. It has 1545 pages now, carotix is very active and makes frequently updates. The people are begging, some demanding, certain features which were available with mm, but not on n yet. I cannot understand how he stays so calm.
Look at the N0G33K kernel thread for the Galaxy S6. Count how often it's asked if this kernel is for n. This information is cleared up in the first post...and this is nothing else than spamming and laziness.
Maybe it would be useful to have a more concrete forced design for the op. Something unified, maybe a template which would have the information always on the same place (version, model etc.). But I guess this wouldn't stop the unnecessary questions.
Maybe a "unnecessary"-button for this kind of spam would help. A moderator could delete post and hint the poster to read the rules/op.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that is an unfortunate problem. I don't know if you saw the thread where we discussed "sharing changes", but some ideas to deal with this exact complaint came up and are being considered. If you have any feedback you'd like to add, feel free.
anotherxdauser said:
In a forum this big, things get lost very easily and forum searches aren't great.
One of my topics has had no responses, despite being a somewhat valid question (what phone protection do you have - case, film screen, glass)
Yet, if there were yearly versions, stickied, then simple questions would get answered in the one thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That unfortunately happens sometimes and to me, it's a shame.
Look at this thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/orig-development/beta-stable-lineageos-14-1-t3583456
First post after the ones from the devs is "does not work on edge". Op clearly states that is only for flat by now.
Really, I'm about to become a Nazi by reading this...

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