Re^2: Monastery Gates Suggestion for Improvement

[jvector]

++ your analysis, and support your suggestions on the layout and placement of the links around the text area.

Of course, to be really effective there should be a Captcha at the bottom of the 'How do I post a question effectively?' page with its entry box on the question submission form ;-)

[mr_mischief]

I know you're joking, but I can't tell for sure if you're half serious. A check box for "I have read, understand, and accept the terms of this usage agreement.", where the usage agreement is that we will post, to our best ability, clearly-phrased questions with suitably formatted relevant code would do as much good. If you have a captcha and a captcha entry box, it only means one has to glance at the page rather than reading it.

The clearest way to get points across to people about to post is to not refer them to another document at all. Pick the two or three biggest problems to address and address them directly. Have a link only for more information.

Before you post:

• Is your question or issue specific and complete including a searchable title relevant to your post?
• Did you include a small code snippet (in <code></code> tags) that demonstrates your problem or question?
• Have you searched for answers with Super Search, Google, and in the Perl documentation?
• Read How do I post a question effectively? and the documents linked from there for more information.

textarea goes here...

Then, How do I post a question effectively? could reference all the other stuff, such as how to make a title more effective, where to post, how to use PM markup, how to ask questions more effectively, and more.

[jvector]

Indeed I was joking, and not even half serious (  my $serious = int (1/2); ). And I would concur that an inline summary rather than a(nother) link to some HowTo nodes would probably be more effective.

And yes, I confess I have often clicked those checkboxes without truly having read and agreed to the T's and C's.

[jdporter]

How about a captcha where the text image they have to type into the entry field is a screenshot of the How do I post a question effectively? page?

;-)

[jvector]

That would be a lot of typing...

Semi-demi-seriously one could imagine an entry form somewhat like some bug trackers which could capture the context of some questions. But that would be far too specialized (?sp) for a general about-anything question.

The mind can go off on all sorts of other tangents (mine just did ... <<shake>> ) but they all interfere with the essential spontaneity.

[planetscape]

How about a captcha where the text image they have to type into the entry field is a screenshot of the How do I post a question effectively? page?

I wouldn't mind seeing the text image be that of: "If you think you're going to use <pre> tags — don't! Use <code> tags instead!" ;-)

However, I largely agree with jvector, who wrote:

I suspect the world is made up of those who read things first and those who don't[...]