[wp-docs] Re: docs Digest, Vol 9, Issue 12

[Podz]

> On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 16:50:03 -0500, Matt Mullenweg <m at mullenweg.com> wrote:
> 
>>In my opinion it seems like well over half of the discussion on the forums
>>now has nothing to do with directly supporting WP.

True in that WordPress code is not being supported.
False in that the support is being given to WP Users, and surely if you 
want people to be able to use the product, be satisfied with the 
product, recommend the product, then drawing sharp boundaries in what 
will or will not be supported in forums will harm only the users.

It won't hurt the devs, it won't hurt those people who when hit with a 
problem just open up a few php files, read the code and then work round 
it - no, they will be fine, they always will be.
It will hurt those that are investing their time and enerygy in a 
product that works in a way they do not understand, but are doing so 
confident in the knowledge that any problems will get sorted.

>> Correct me if I'm
>>wrong, but these seem like the topics I see the most:
>>
>>* CSS problems, not always WP-related
>>* HTML questions
>>* Browser chesks ("Here's my new site!" "Nice, but it doesn't work in
>>browser A, B, C, D, or E." "Oh no! Let's have a long conversation about
>>this.")
>>* PHP questions
>>* Plugin support questions
>>* People who want to do things that aren't possible with WP (like have a
>>store)

WP is 'sold' as being standards compliant, and if someone posts that 
something they have done has wrecked this, then surely we should help 
them out ? If WP wants to promote standards, want to promote the correct 
use of CSS (and isn't Firefox being plugged in 1.3 ?) then we owe it to 
people to help them out. Yes these threads can take a while, but that's 
the nature of such correction. I do not think other forum users suffer 
because of this. Hell, I even sigh when I see some posts when I know 
it's going to be a long job, but this is exactly the sort of support 
that gives WP the good reputation.
It doesn't matter how good a product is, if the support given is poor, 
the product ends up being poor too - applies to WP, computers, cars etc.

The PHP questions......oddly enough, they are the ones I see being given 
just as much attention as any others.

Using WP for stuff that it wasn't intended also seem to get a huge 
amount of attention by those coders wanting to push the boundaries.

Plugin support questions - I agree. But what to do ? If an author 
chooses not to support it in any way, then people are bound to ask 
questions to try and get help from a user who has this working. See later..

And beyond installation, what *is* a WP question ? And if such a thing 
exists, then docs would satisfy that need.


>>
>>People who don't even use WordPress are having HTML/CSS threads that,
>>apparently, crowd out the real WP questions since we're doing such a bad
>>job of addressing those.

I certainly check blogs given, and my level of help to anon posters is 
below that given to a WP user.

>>
>>So what to do?
>>
>>* Send those people to other forums? (Community MX, webmasterworld, CSS-D,
>>webdesign-l, etc.)
>>* Branch the forums? (Send them to Joshua's WP forum or something.)
>>* Continue to support this?

The 3rd option. Sure we can point outwards, but that should be an added 
thing, not a first thing to do.

>>
>>Forums I would be comfortable axing:
>>

>>* Your WordPress
I would keep this. People will still plug their sites, so may as well 
have a specific place for this to happen.

>>* Documentation
Agreed, but in it's place MUST go stickies that indicate where all the 
documentation and useful links are.

>>* Design
Why not Design Problems - essentially a CSS forum.

>>* Misc
Every board needs a Misc. section

Have a plugins forum.

While I am here:
http://wordpress.org/support/2/9550


P.