Help resources for wine-users mailing list

[Frédéric Delanoy]

Over and over, I see help requests on wine-users with responses like "installed latest wine", "read FAQ section x.y", ...

Wouldn't it be useful to send a regular reminder (like every month, and on subscription)?
This would contain:
- how to upgrade to latest version
- link to FAQ
- link to bugzilla + how to look for dups before creating new bugs
- <everything useful>

This would avoid countless identical responses to common problems, and help reduce
traffic on wine-users, hence concentrating on "difficult" problems.

Frédéric

[Austin English]

2009/7/26 Frédéric Delanoy :
> Over and over, I see help requests on wine-users with responses like "installed latest wine", "read FAQ section x.y", ...
>
> Wouldn't it be useful to send a regular reminder (like every month, and on subscription)?
> This would contain:
> - how to upgrade to latest version
> - link to FAQ
> - link to bugzilla + how to look for dups before creating new bugs
> -
>
> <everything useful>
>
> This would avoid countless identical responses to common problems, and help reduce
> traffic on wine-users, hence concentrating on "difficult" problems.

Keep in mind that most of the traffic now is on the forums (traffic
exploded after adding it). There's already a sticky saying to read the
FAQ...we could add a second sticky with a few basic questions/answers,
but I'm not sure how much good it would do.

[André Hentschel]

Austin English schrieb:
> 2009/7/26 Frédéric Delanoy :
> > Over and over, I see help requests on wine-users with responses like "installed latest wine", "read FAQ section x.y", ...
> >
> > Wouldn't it be useful to send a regular reminder (like every month, and on subscription)?
> > This would contain:
> > - how to upgrade to latest version
> > - link to FAQ
> > - link to bugzilla + how to look for dups before creating new bugs
> > -
> >
> > <everything useful>
> >
> > This would avoid countless identical responses to common problems, and help reduce
> > traffic on wine-users, hence concentrating on "difficult" problems.
>
> Keep in mind that most of the traffic now is on the forums (traffic
> exploded after adding it). There's already a sticky saying to read the
> FAQ...we could add a second sticky with a few basic questions/answers,
> but I'm not sure how much good it would do.

if a user is too lazy to update or to read the FAQ, i think a reminder wouldnt help.

[Rosanne DiMesio]

On Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:47:05 +0200
André Hentschel  wrote:
> Austin English schrieb:
> > 2009/7/26 Frédéric Delanoy :
> > > Over and over, I see help requests on wine-users with responses like "installed latest wine", "read FAQ section x.y", ...
> > >
> > > Wouldn't it be useful to send a regular reminder (like every month, and on subscription)?
> > > This would contain:
> > > - how to upgrade to latest version
> > > - link to FAQ
> > > - link to bugzilla + how to look for dups before creating new bugs
> > > -
> > >
> > > <everything useful>
> > >
> > > This would avoid countless identical responses to common problems, and help reduce
> > > traffic on wine-users, hence concentrating on "difficult" problems.
> >
> > Keep in mind that most of the traffic now is on the forums (traffic
> > exploded after adding it). There's already a sticky saying to read the
> > FAQ...we could add a second sticky with a few basic questions/answers,
> > but I'm not sure how much good it would do.
>
> if a user is too lazy to update or to read the FAQ, i think a reminder wouldnt help.
>
> --

I agree. Those repetitive questions mainly come from users who join the list/forum and immediately post their problem/question without ever bothering to read anything.

However, looking at the stickies on the forum, I think there should be a more direct one to the FAQ. Right now, to get to the FAQ from the forum, users have to click on the "Sticky: Welcome to the WineHQ Forums (New User Guide)" thread, then click on "Read the Guide" in the only post in that thread, which will take them to the Forum Guidelines wiki page, where they must then click on the FAQ link to get to the actual FAQ. That's an awful lot of levels to have to go through.

A sticky labeled something like "FAQ--read before posting" with a direct link to the FAQ might help.

[Frédéric Delanoy]

> > Keep in mind that most of the traffic now is on the forums (traffic
> > exploded after adding it). There's already a sticky saying to read the
> > FAQ...we could add a second sticky with a few basic questions/answers,
> > but I'm not sure how much good it would do.
>
> if a user is too lazy to update or to read the FAQ, i think a reminder
> wouldnt help.

Well I never went on the forums but read wine-users only via the mailing list,
but apparently I'm an exception here ;)

[James McKenzie]

André Hentschel wrote:
> Austin English schrieb:
> > 2009/7/26 Frédéric Delanoy :
> > > Over and over, I see help requests on wine-users with responses like
> > > "installed latest wine", "read FAQ section x.y", ...
> > >
> > > Wouldn't it be useful to send a regular reminder (like every month,
> > > and on subscription)?
> > > This would contain:
> > > - how to upgrade to latest version
> > > - link to FAQ
> > > - link to bugzilla + how to look for dups before creating new bugs
> > > -
> > >
> > > <everything useful>
> > >
> > > This would avoid countless identical responses to common problems,
> > > and help reduce
> > > traffic on wine-users, hence concentrating on "difficult" problems.
> >
> > Keep in mind that most of the traffic now is on the forums (traffic
> > exploded after adding it). There's already a sticky saying to read the
> > FAQ...we could add a second sticky with a few basic questions/answers,
> > but I'm not sure how much good it would do.
>
> if a user is too lazy to update or to read the FAQ, i think a reminder
> wouldnt help.

And I like the DEMAND messages, like fix this now!!!!!!!  (and I'm not
exaggerating either.)  We need to let folks know that this is a FOSS
project and that there is NO commercial sponsorship, unlike
OpenOffice.org which still has SUN/Oracle as a sponsor. 
Non-withstanding the fact that CodeWeavers sponsors the web site, but
they do not sponsor the project, but do provide a version of Wine with
support.  Most of the technical support is volunteer and at the person's
ability to help and to provide guidance.

James McKenzie

[Scott Ritchie]

Frédéric Delanoy wrote:
> Over and over, I see help requests on wine-users with responses like "installed latest wine", "read FAQ section x.y", ...
>
> Wouldn't it be useful to send a regular reminder (like every month, and on subscription)?
> This would contain:
> - how to upgrade to latest version
> - link to FAQ
> - link to bugzilla + how to look for dups before creating new bugs
> -
>
> <everything useful>
>
> This would avoid countless identical responses to common problems, and help reduce
> traffic on wine-users, hence concentrating on "difficult" problems.
>
> Frédéric

We should also improve the main Help link on the WineHQ web site. As it
is it's not particularly helpful at showing users the most important
things that you list..

Thanks,
Scott Ritchie