Subforums under help desk?

[joshz]

Sorry if there's already a topic about this--I searched and didn't find anything related.

It seems to me that the help desk would be more helpful--to both the helpers and the helpees*--if there were separate subforums/categories for different OSs.
That would make it easier for helpers to more quickly get to/see threads that they are more likely to be able to help with, and easier for helpees to search through posts about just their OS, to find a solution to their problem more quickly.

*by "helpees", I mean people seeking help.

Thanks for reading!

[b.i.o]

It's an idea, but as someone who used to spend a whole lot of time in the helpdesk forum and now still goes in occasionally I don't think the volume of posts make it necessary, and I don't think that it would cause some organizational problems as well as solving some. Plus, having to open 3-4 or more tabs instead of one to see what are generally only a few threads anyway would be annoying. I don't think searching benefits would really outweigh the disadvantages--I can't actually recall a single instance where I have referred someone to a pre-existing thread or seen someone do so (except maybe for the 'which ${SOMETHING} should I use?' threads). We simply don't have the volume of posts necessary to form a problem/solution database. If you're looking for something like that, there are much larger tech forums (as well as just Googling, which I think is usually the best solution).

Another issue is the categorization of problems. Problems can fall well outside the range of Windows/OS X/*NIX issues. Hardware problems (which are fairly frequently posted) don't have anything to do with a specific OS, and so either we'd have to split them up and deal with them OS by OS anyways (which would be silly) or rely on people to correctly categorize their problems as hardware problems (which they won't do).-hardware problems (which are fairly frequently posted) don't have anything to do with a specific OS. Other problem areas would be general networking (router setup, etc), game consoles, and home theatre/audio setup problems/questions.

tl;dr:
I think it'd cause more problems that it'd solve, and I don't really see it as necessary.

That's just my opinion though, and I don't really count much in the grand scheme of things.

[joshz]

That's a pretty good point.

Maybe have sections for each OS, and then have "general" or "other"?
If not that, then maybe have a rule for that forum that the OP posts the OS/some kind of category, so we can get more specific than things like "Mass Image Downloader thing?", "how do I tell my computer to go away from the light?", and "PDF Readers..."

In fact, most titles in there are really ambiguous.

I would argue that it would help more than it would hurt, if it would even hurt at all.

(And I do go on another tech website--check my profile. I currently am a level 3 on http://discussions.apple.com That's where the idea came from, sort of--they have MUCH more organization than here. NOTE: I don't want their level of organization, just slightly more than we have now.)

(off-topic: b.i.o: your postcount is 2009 now. Odd coincidence.)

[RealGrouchy]

There are some problems that are platform independent.

If you want to differentiate between OSes, then the users of that forum should establish a naming convention for the thread titles, where the OS in question prefixes the title. For example: "[OS X] Can't install firefox to my pictures folder"

- RG>

[joshz]

Sounds reasonable.

Could you add it to the rules thread (the rules thread for Help Desk, obviously, not the global one)?

[RealGrouchy]

I would recommend contacting Larson about that, since he's more active in that forum than I am.

- RG>

[joshz]

Done.

Thanks for the recommendation, RG!

[Larson]

I agree that the amount of traffic we see in these parts might not warrant separate OS sub-forums.

There has been some discussion about a computing forum overhaul, so there might be some light at the end of the tunnel.

(I'll send some thoughts over to davean. He has the power to move around the forum building blocks.)

[joshz]

Cool, thanks for responding!