Suggestion for the Help Section

[LordSuragaha]

I often notice people asking the same questions on the Game & Site/Forum Help Sections of the forum. Infact some questions are so commonly asked that it's come to the point where I have actually made reference notepads in my computer with solutions for some of these most commonly asked questions. Today I thought to myself how convenient would it be if there was a post that had the answers to most users' questions & issues. I do realize that there is the BIG HELP thread and while it is very helpful there is alot more that can be added to it. The thing is I understand that the post gets very long after a while of adding things to it.

So here's my suggestion:

 How about splitting the BIG HELP thread in half into one BIG GAME HELP thread & the other into a BIG SITE/FORUM HELP thread and then placing these as permanent locked sticky threads in the corresponding help sections? It would make finding the solutions to most issues much easier if these two solution filled threads were made easily noticeable and accessible in those sections. From there more content can be filled into them and all users would have to do is click them and scroll down the "table of contents" list of common issues & their solutions.
Example: under the BIG GAME HELP Thread you'd read the list of common game issues like Feral Heart.exe error message, graphical issues, white meshes, map maker crashes etc. From there the user can click any of those terms and be transferred to the section of the post that discusses that particular issue. Same would go for the BIG SITE/FORUM HELP thread under it you'll read How to upload avatars, adding signatures, log in trouble, changing username etc.

Commonly used fixes from other threads can then be linked to each individual section example: Feral Heart + Black screen under the BIG GAME HELP Thread. User clicks that and is transferred to the section of the big post that talks about Feral Heart + Black Screen issues and on that they'll see Sameth's link to the fix. Or under the table of contents users click Map Maker Crashes and are lead to the section of the post that discusses that and within that section they find a link to Delay's tips etc.

I don't want anyone to think I'm saying that the current method is not good but I just feel like it's not as effiecient as it could be. With my suggestion's method users wouldn't have to use the search box as often to search up possibly old unanswered threads with their same issue or threads that may not explore other solutions that can help them. With the sticky solution threads right in their corresponding help sections users need not look far for advice.

Anyway that's the idea... Unfortunately I do understand that it might require alot of work but I appreciate your feedback negative or positive as long as it's constructive. Share your opinions.

[SoulRevenge]

This seems like a brilliant idea, as often times questions regarding the game or forum are constantly repeated, and as have mentioned-- I also have basicly made a giant notepad full of answers to such questions ono.

So, I'm on board with this thread being created!

[Redlinelies]

I'm afraid I have to decline this idea for now since there's reasons why things are placed as they are right now so bear with me as I try to explain them and answer your thread.

Even though having a big help thread in the board where it's placed now might not be the most efficient way to actually get all possible clicks and views from those who are having problems with either the game or forum, or don't feel like looking through threads and boards to find their solution, it brings a few positive and more stable ways of handling this information provided, but also doing so in a nice and easy way that does this job of keeping information for all the members with lower cost of monitoring of the actual thread itself and easy of knowing where the information is.

Something that might not be as easily understood if you want content to be displayed more easily and are out for nothing more than putting less weight on the table on the help section, there's importance in having a live in the help section as well whether it's old or new answers, re-used or not. If the same answer is given a few times, more users snatch up on how it works and learn, more are or will be capable, even willing of helping and even us on the staff can see members step forward being tip on their toes. Maybe even see what sort of issues that are more actual for the time being. But just to get one thing straight I'm not saying everyone should need to make their own help thread with every single issue they might have, it's exactly why we have a help thread like we do, but just to get a point across, in this case, two different stickies containing various information doesn't have to be the ultimate answer depending on where you are looking from.


When it comes to stickies containing helpful or useful information it's best to keep as information as possibly within it's own thread since if you link information in a thread, advising users to go to yet another thread, not only does it mean this extra click you are out to save, but it also gets further away from the information at hand and might even confuse at times. But something to keep in mind as well is that if you have a thread containing it's own information, you always know it's there. While on the other hand if it has information laying in a lot of other threads you need to remember which one has what and ensure they remain updated and visible on these boards. One thread is one after all.

When it comes to adding more information I have mentioned before to other members and users that if they believe something should be corrected and/or added to this big help thread they are more than welcome to send a message about what it should contain to aid and help, but when this has been mentioned no one really gets back about what they believed was missing in this thread in the first place. The same thing still remains though, just give a shout about what it might be and it will be looked into rather quickly.

I will give this a tinker though since it could always be a change implemented, but for now I do not feel like it should be changed. The help thread at hand has not had updates in a while though, feel free to give input on things that could fit in within the posts there if something is believed to be missing.

[LordSuragaha]

Thank you both for the feedback I appreciate it.

Something that might not be as easily understood if you want content to be displayed more easily and are out for nothing more than putting less weight on the table on the help section, there's importance in having a live in the help section as well whether it's old or new answers, re-used or not. If the same answer is given a few times, more users snatch up on how it works and learn, more are or will be capable, even willing of helping and even us on the staff can see members step forward being tip on their toes. Maybe even see what sort of issues that are more actual for the time being.

I see what you're saying and it makes total sense but I wasn't trying to come off as though I am merely suggesting this to ease the flow on questions in the Help Sections but more so that it could help both the users asking the questions and the users answering them alike. I often try to lend a hand when I can in the help section and many times I don't know the exact answers to certain problems but I search through old posts with the same issue and pick up what useful bits I can find to provide that user. It's alot of work searching through all these old posts and while I don't mind it I often I run into posts where the problem was never solved or the user never stated what solved it but rather just that it was solved. I can only imagine how an anxious or confused user would feel searching the many posts on this forum that don't often provide clear advice. There aren't enough proven help threads. I guess what I am trying to say is that it would be nice to have help threads that are mod/admin approved. Not just scattered suggestions from users like me who often want to help with some issues but don't always provide the best advice for the situation at hand due to lack of better understanding of certain issues. If we had these types of threads or just more added to your BIG HELP thread we'd all have the resources to provide the best information.

Which brings me to what you said here:

When it comes to adding more information I have mentioned before to other members and users that if they believe something should be corrected and/or added to this big help thread they are more than welcome to send a message about what it should contain to aid and help, but when this has been mentioned no one really gets back about what they believed was missing in this thread in the first place. The same thing still remains though, just give a shout about what it might be and it will be looked into rather quickly.

I definately have no intentions of just stating the obvious need to update the BIG HELP thread and not actually pitching in however I can to help suggest the exact missing information to it. As long as it's alright with you I can see what other users would like to put in their advice and we can slowy build up a list of common issues and their solutions to submit to you mods/admin for approval for the BIG HELP thread.

[SilverTW]

I definately have no intentions of just stating the obvious need to update the BIG HELP thread and not actually pitching in however I can to help suggest the exact missing information to it. As long as it's alright with you I can see what other users would like to put in their advice and we can slowy build up a list of common issues and their solutions to submit to you mods/admin for approval for the BIG HELP thread.

Is that so?! I would also help, too. I have to agree with Red too, right now, without a game update from Kovu that (might) fix bugs, we have no point in writing something about a error if Kovu was to update it and fix a bug, why spend time writing something that has been fixed? Although, that's partially what member made tutorials are for (sort of). However, more people have been asking for help on some of the same things. Noticed that?
On a general note, good suggestion, but like Red has said, it will be very time-consuming. For now, we must just keep things the way it is. I know, for sure, somedsy it might have things added. But not now.

[LordSuragaha]

I have to agree with Red too, right now, without a game update from Kovu that (might) fix bugs, we have no point in writing something about a error if Kovu was to update it and fix a bug, why spend time writing something that has been fixed? [color]

 It's not about just spending time writing about things that have already been fixed nor is it about wasting time writing a help thread about just errors & bugs that can't be fixed unless Kovu updates. The idea is more about creating a single staff approved help archive for known and solvable issues. The post would be one collective archive for most errors and issues that have solutions that way users don't have to pour themselves all over the Member Made Tutorials section or other areas of the forum to find them. Since Kovu isn't around to update the game we can't expect any permenant solutions to most of these in game issues users ask about, therefore since the game has been around long enough and has a large enough and ever growing community we should invest a little time to doing this already. While some of the member made tutorials help with certain issues they are scattered about and some even a bit out dated and don't always offer all the best possible solutions. With one large help archive things can be monitered and updated by the staff more frequently and therefore it will always be useful and reliable.

Thank you for the feedback Silver and I would appreciate any help from you. I do understand it would take alot of time and I myself am very busy with college/work and I don't always spend much time on the forum but for the time that I do spend on it I would like to invest it into making myself useful helping more some how. I enjoy this game & community alot so as difficult and perhaps long as it will take to get this project together every effort even if it's not complete is well worth it.