[guardian-dev] Fixing our User Support Site

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

I think that Q&A section is a good idea but I think we just don't have the
bandwidth to maintain it.  Personally, I think we should remove it until we
have someone to really keep up with the submissions and spam.

.hc

On 04/25/2013 03:07 PM, Abel Luck wrote:
> So today I deleted over 30 or so spam questions from our Q&A site
> 
> https://guardianproject.info/questions/
> 
> This oft forgotten section of our site is a stackoverflow-style
> wordpress plugin that lets users ask questions and us to respond.
> 
> And unfortunately it sucks. The concept is super, but this specific
> implementation is no bueno.
> 
> Elucidation of alleged suckage:
> 
> 1. Fighting spam that gets posted is a full time job, one that doesn't pay
> 2. Guardian devs always forget to look at it and questions can go
> unnoticed for weeks!
> 
> Investigation of potential amelioration for alleged suckage:
> 
> 1. Looking into the plugin, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to
> prevent spam and retain the ease-of use. One reason this feature is so
> useful (or could be useful) is it's drive-by nature. A user can visit
> the site, and ask a question without having to register, sub to a
> mailing list, or navigate an issue tracker.
> 
> 2. Lack of any sort of notifications is the main reason we tend to
> forget it. There doesn't seem to be any way to get email notifications
> of new questions. There is an RSS feed, so perhaps we could plug the
> feed into a RSS -> email service and pump notifications to a mailing
> list so we all see them and can act on them.
> 
> If we can keep updates to the QA site in front of our noses, then
> collectively managing the spam won't be that big of a deal.
> 
> We could create a new mailing list to post such notifications. Blog
> comments could also be added to such a notification list.
> 
> Or we could investigate other user support options ala UserVoice,
> GetSatisfaction, a support ticketing system, or a traditional forum
> (phpBB anyone? *shudders*)
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> ~abel
> _______________________________________________
> Guardian-dev mailing list
> 
> Post: Guardian-dev at lists.mayfirst.org
> List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/guardian-dev
> 
> To Unsubscribe
>         Send email to:  Guardian-dev-unsubscribe at lists.mayfirst.org
>         Or visit: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/options/guardian-dev/hans%40guardianproject.info
> 
> You are subscribed as: hans at guardianproject.info
>