Topic: "Topic Solved" Mod!

[DavidAM]

Maybe this has already been suggested but, what about adding another link at the top of the page.  You currently have

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why not add "Show MY 23 UNSOLVED Topics"?  Maybe make it red or bold or standout in some other way.  This might remind people that they have topics that need to be marked Solved.

Also, what about an automatic email, maybe once a week, saying "Hey, you still have 23 unsolved topics ..."?
Maybe it should only include topics that received a new post during the week since, I guess, not ALL problems get solved. 

Hmm, what about posts that aren't actually questions but are just informational?  I guess there would have to be a way to mark a New Topic as a question vs. information, that way we could determine which should be marked solved and which do not need to be "solved".  Dang, why does every little change have to lead to more and more change?

[KingPhilip]

Maybe this has already been suggested but, what about adding another link at the top of the page.  You currently have

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why not add "Show MY 23 UNSOLVED Topics"?  Maybe make it red or bold or standout in some other way.  This might remind people that they have topics that need to be marked Solved.

Also, what about an automatic email, maybe once a week, saying "Hey, you still have 23 unsolved topics ..."?
Maybe it should only include topics that received a new post during the week since, I guess, not ALL problems get solved. 

You kinda answered your own question, but if we were to do something like that (unlikely) there would have to be a lot of cases to handle. Do you consider a topic that is sticky? What about a locked topic? Is there a cutoff date? What boards to we do it for, and what don't - and why? Etc... I think it would over complicate the problem at hand.

Hmm, what about posts that aren't actually questions but are just informational?  I guess there would have to be a way to mark a New Topic as a question vs. information, that way we could determine which should be marked solved and which do not need to be "solved".  Dang, why does every little change have to lead to more and more change?

And it all adds to just more confusion for the user.


Personally, if we did change anything, the only thing I'd change is to place some text on the topic screen (for the OP to see only) asking if this topic is solved or not.

[bundyxc]

Honestly, nobody seems to want to set it as 'Topic Solved'. Why? Either because they're lazy, or because they don't know how. Regardless, it's bad for business to have only a few marked as solved. It gives the impression that we get more questions than we could possibly answer, and that just isn't the case.

I think that if higher-posting members (maybe Devotees or something) should be able to mark as solved, you know? That way loyal members get a 'reward' (of sorts), and it cleans up the forum as well as lightening the administration burden.

I've admin'd a few tiny forums... and even if all of the users are following the rules, the upkeep is hard enough. I know that the phpfreaks administration could probably use all the help it can get.

Anyway, just my opinion.

P.S. My post count at this time is ~220. I just realized that it might look bad once I get the 500 posts, and I'm a devotee... and this post says that devotees should be able to do more. haha.

Guru's+ (Guru, PFR, Mod, Admin) can all mark topics solved. The problem we run into, it can be really hard to tell if the OP thinks the topic was solved. Sure, sometimes its pretty obvious and they say "Hey thanks, that solved it!", but half the time when they have a working solution, they don't come back and post anything else or they'll present more problems.

Ehh, that's right, I suppose. :/
See, here was my idea (just for something fun to do):

Set a link in my sig that says something like "Click here if this answered your question"

When they click a link, it takes them to my script. My script grabs the referrer, takes out the topic ID, and shoots them back to the 'Topic Solved' page for that specific topic.

If they're the OP, it will solve. If not, it will make an error. One problem though: sesc.

The 'Topic Solved' page requires a $_GET['sesc'] to authenticate, and I don't know it for each user. I was thinking it might be something that I could clone (like a simple encryption of the user ID and the current time, or something), but I really don't know what it is. I started looking through code, and figured out that the forum is running this mod:

http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1601

But from there, I couldn't figure out $context['session_id'] (although one user said it was set by $_SESSION['rand_code']... which means it's stored server-side.

What a waste of time. :l
haha.

[citricsquid]

I do a similar thing on a forum I run; a user can mark a topic as fixed, however I also have a "is this topic a bug?" flag when posting. Is that not possible here? Have a drop down that defaults to nothing that the user must select; Yes it is a problem or No I'm not asking for help, if not then it's removed from any "not solved" searches and if they mark it as Yes it is a problem and it's not marked as solved you include it in the searches? I guess you'd also need to allow users to vote a topic as solved though, so that we don't end up with solved topics as unsolved etc.

having a "show all unsolved" would be great, definitely worth considering and the extra work would be worthwhile...

[Zane]

It's back! Make use of it.

[KingPhilip]

Ignore this. The bg of the topic solved in the forums looked more white than green on my secondary monitor.

[WarKirby]

Although it seems reasonable in theory, it doesn't really work in practice to expect everyone to go back and mark their threads solved after they get an answer.

I think it would be a good idea for threads in any help forum to be automatically marked solved if X period of time (maybe 2 weeks ?) passes without any posts, and there's at least one reply from someone who isn't the OP.

That would cover most of the threads which never get marked appropriately.  For the occasional cases where someone posts a question, and then an hour later posts "nevermind, I figured it out" you could probably rely on the report tool for people to notify admins that a topic should be marked solved.

[cags]

Although it seems reasonable in theory, it doesn't really work in practice to expect everyone to go back and mark their threads solved after they get an answer.

It takes literally 2 seconds to click the button. Most people will still have the thread open as they will be cutting/pasting the code we thoughtfully crafted for them from it. Is it really expecting too much for the courtesy of them doing it? I can guarantee it took a damn sight longer for anybody to produce the answer for them. Ok so some topics might be solved by the OP themselves or from another source, but is it really too much to ask for them to simply login and click one button?

The fact is because it's the Internet people find it morally/socially acceptable to be an arse. If you'd gone into a shop and somebody had fixed your hi-fi for free would you really walk in pick it up and walk out without at least saying thank you? Even if they failed to fix it you'd thank them for their time.

[WarKirby]

Ok so some topics might be solved by the OP themselves or from another source, but is it really too much to ask for them to simply login and click one button?

The fact is because it's the Internet people find it morally/socially acceptable to be an arse. If you'd gone into a shop and somebody had fixed your hi-fi for free would you really walk in pick it up and walk out without at least saying thank you? Even if they failed to fix it you'd thank them for their time.

This is what I'm saying. It IS reasonable to expect that, but many people still won't. That's just how people are.  Not really much that can be done about human nature. So I'm making a suggestion to deal with it, for the sake of practicality.

[Zane]

Yeah, but the fact is that people do click the solved button...sometimes.  Just because you assume that joe-shmoe and so-and-so aren't going to use the feature doesn't mean that everyone won't.  This place is like fly-paper... except the flies that stick have potential. (kind of a backwards metaphor, I know)

If we configured it such a way that a "solved status" was essentially AI, then there would really be no purpose in calling this place a forum.  That isn't the way a forum works.  (Now if it were a Microsoft forum, maybe).  Even the fact that you, WarKirby, are posting your suggestions and heartfelt foreshadows or what may result from this feature not being reprogrammed...proves my metaphor even further.

I would be agreeing to your "solution" if weren't for the fact that people (besides guru+) were actually marking their OPs solved.  Even if it isn't everyone, ..... there are 85K+ users (registered) here.  Now if that were 85K+ one dollar bills, I'd be glad to get just 2% of that...yet I'm pretty sure that at least 70% of them marked their own topic's solved.  (Assuming everyone (guru+) else marks topics solved as seldom as I do)

[cags]

I would be agreeing to your "solution" if weren't for the fact that people (besides guru+) were actually marking their OPs solved.  Even if it isn't everyone, ..... there are 85K+ users (registered) here.  Now if that were 85K+ one dollar bills, I'd be glad to get just 2% of that...yet I'm pretty sure that at least 70% of them marked their own topic's solved.  (Assuming everyone (guru+) else marks topics solved as seldom as I do)

I don't think I've ever clicked it on a topic besides my own, I normally prompt the OP, then generally speaking they bother to do it on all forthcoming posts as well.