Does this forum need FAQs?

[bobmoon]

I'm at WritersUA in Seattle, and I have been promoting this forum to people I've met who are using Flare and struggling with various issues. It occurred to me that one thing this forum lacks is an obvious mechanism for answering FAQs.

Other forums I use have a "sticky" post with FAQs, or links to threads that answer common questions. I talked to one of the MadCap guys and he liked the idea, but really, this is a community-driven forum, and it seems like it should be a community effort. I'd be willing to help create the content if the "powers that be" will provide direction on how to implement it within the forum structure.

What do you think would be the best place to put a FAQ? Should we have one FAQ post for each MadCap app? Should the post include answers, or simply links to helpful threads?

What topics should go into an FAQ? What are the most commonly asked questions?

Bob

[LTinker68]

I'd say the "General Discussion" forum for each product.

However, if the MadCap guys like the idea, they have to set up the forums with an auto-archiving feature instead of pruning the forum when it gets too big, which is what they've always done in the past. Otherwise, FAQs that haven't been updated in awhile could end up getting deleted at some point, even though the info is still valid and necessary. So we need to get MadCap to set up an archive so old posts are moved to the archive instead of deleted, and the search capabilities of this forum need to be able to search in the archives, as well. I don't know enough about the P2PBB forums to know if it has those capabilities.

As for setting up the FAQ as a sticky, any of us forum MVPs have that capability, I believe. Although I haven't actively tested that capability in every top-level forum (Flare, Blaze, X-Edit, etc. forum categories) to make sure it was extended to all of them.

[alaltenburg]

It would be nice to see a more organized FAQ section. I tend to have too broad of a search result and it's hard to narrow down an answer. Or, maybe have a more detailed sub-category within each category. The forum is become more difficult to navigate in my opinion.

Andrea

[NorthEast]

Sounds a good idea.

There are plenty of good answers to common problems in the forum - the real problem is finding them. I usually bookmark the better ones to get back to them.

I wouldn't go with the sticky idea for individual FAQ posts; it'd mean the first page (or more) of each forum area would just be a list of sticky posts, and you'd have to go to page 2,3,etc to see any new posts.
The Announcements section at the top would be a good place to put a link to a FAQ section.

[RamonS]

Many FAQAA are in the knowledge base. When promoting this forum the KB should be promoted as well. Still, a FAQAA section is surely helpful.
One question to be in there: How do I keep people from copying content from my CHM or WebHelp? This is a question that comes up every other month and the answer is always the same: you can't and you don't want to.

[LTinker68]

I wouldn't go with the sticky idea for individual FAQ posts...

I guess I was thinking of a post with links to other threads instead of an actual forum category for FAQs, and the post with the links would be sticky-d.

[rob hollinger]

Sounds like a great idea.
The FAQ could also provide links to the KB through the use of a CSH call. The "article#" of each topic is the CSHID for that topic.
Example (opens the release notes for V6):
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default_CSH.htm#GEN1025F

Or you could call the topic. When you find what you need, right click on it and view its properties. It will give you the topics address. You will use the address from the Content folder out to the htm of the address.
Capture/editing/topic
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default_CS ... arnet_.htm


FYI. Lisa, there will be no more pruning. Space is cheap these days so we'll add space before we prune anything going forward.

You you folks feel the need for additional information added to the KB. Let me know.
The best way to do that would be to log a feature request, fill in the information, and we'll get it to where it needs to go.
http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[SteveS]

So we can consider it implemented, Rob?

I guess your support logs would be a good place to start...

[Andrew]

FYI. Lisa, there will be no more pruning. Space is cheap these days so we'll add space before we prune anything going forward.

*enthusiastic cheering*

[bobmoon]

It seems then, that the easiest way to implement this is to add an FAQ post to the General Discussion forum for each product and make it sticky. The FAQ topic itself should consist of a series questions with either a brief answer or a link to a topic or KB article.

Some questions, such as the one RamonS mentioned, have concise, definitive answers that could be included in the FAQ. Others may require more background or specific steps, in which case it would be better to link to a post with the information. For complex issues it may be best to create a new post, because it is challenging at times to find a thread with a definitive answer. Often you must read three pages of deliberation and side issues, and you still may not be sure.

Perhaps to start we can just create an FAQ post in each forum and ask that people submit questions (and answers) to the thread. Then a few volunteers can create the final versions and make them sticky.

Bob