Topic: FAQ

[shemps#1]

Alot of questions about shorts are being repeated quite often around here, and an FAQ page or thread has been suggested before. I'm not so sure it would make a huge difference, but I'll leave it up to the rest of you.

This poll will be open for one week. If there is an FAQ page anyone posting a topic of one of the questions in the FAQ would be subject to immediate disciplinary action.

[Dunrobin]

Frankly, I have mixed emotions.  I thought that the "Questions and Answers" board would end up serving as an FAQ, but it seems like half the time people don't even see it, let alone read it.   
UPDATE:  I just did a quick look through the "Q & A" board, and I locked and "stickied" several of the topics there, so they will always be at the top of that board.  Maybe that will help (but I'm not going to hold my breath.)
 

[shemps#1]

It probably won't Rob. Most people don't bother to look around and see if their question has already been answered. They can give a shit less if the question pops up a thousand times, they want their answer now and will gladly be #1001. It drives me nuts seeing shit like "What short has the Alphabet Song?", Which short has the Niagra (sic) Falls bit?" or "Which short had Curly playing a boxer?" over and over and over again.

I'm thinking put up an FAQ, then mention said FAQ in the part of the guidelines of questions that shouldn't be asked. When a repetitive question is asked, give the appropriate warnings and close the fucking thread right then and there.

Of course to compile an FAQ I would need the assistance of you, Pils, and Team Stooge.

The one benefit of an FAQ is that there would be no excuse whatsoever for these posts. The drawback is it shouldn't be necessary.

[Pilsner Panther]

I'm all for the FAQ, and I'd be glad to help compile one. Let me bring my journalistic background to bear here and suggest a format:

Above all, it ought to be brief and to the point; after all, FAQ means most Frequently Asked Questions. One reason why some newbies don't look in the Filmography or in "Stooge Routines," I think, is that it's all too detailed for them. Maybe they start to look there and they get lost, so they post their question on the board instead, not realizing that a dozen people have asked it already. I'm sure you've noticed, guys, that some of the people who ask these questions have something like a third-grade reading level, like that middle-aged dimwit who just got himself banned.

So we ought to have a list of no more than, say, two dozen of those repetitive questions, in a simple Q-and-A form. Such as,

Q. Which short has Shemp going to Heaven and coming back as a ghost to haunt Larry and Moe?

A. "Heavenly Daze" (1948).

Then Rob, you could put in a link to the episode description in the Filmography, with an instruction like "Click here for more detailed information on this short."

What do you think? I know that Brent had some very good arguments  against the FAQ, but I think it might work, and it might spare us all a lot of headaches!

 

 

[Dunrobin]

I'm all for the FAQ, and I'd be glad to help compile one. Let me bring my journalistic background to bear here and suggest a format:

Above all, it ought to be brief and to the point; after all, FAQ means most Frequently Asked Questions. One reason why some newbies don't look in the Filmography or in "Stooge Routines," I think, is that it's all too detailed for them. Maybe they start to look there and they get lost, so they post their question on the board instead, not realizing that two dozen people have asked it already. I'm sure you've noticed, guys, that some of the people who ask these questions have something like a third-grade reading level, like that middle-aged half-wit who just got himself banned.

So we ought to have a list of no more than, say, two dozen of those repetitive questions, in a simple Q-and-A form. Such as,

Q. Which short has Shemp going to Heaven and coming back as a ghost to haunt Larry and Moe?

A. "Heavenly Daze" (1948).

Then Rob, you could put in a link to the episode description in the Filmography, with an instruction like "Click here for more detailed information on this short."

What do you think? I know that Brent had some very good arguments  against the FAQ, but I think it might work, and it might spare us all a lot of headaches!

 

 

I tend to agree with you guys.  I wouldn't make it a topic or board (although we made want to put a locked and "stickied" topic in at least the General Discussion and Questions and Answers board that has a link to the FAQ page.  I think that I would make this easily updateable in the new Team Stooge section (yes, Brent, it is eventually coming - keep yer shirt on!  ), and I'd put the menu link next to the Home page link  (i.e., Home :: FAQ) in the side menu, and maybe a "Click here for Frequently Asked Questions" hyprelink, just above the "Today's Episode Pick" on the Home page.

[shemps#1]

I have voted no since there is a search engine that people should be using.

[Pilsner Panther]

I have voted no since there is a search engine that people should be using.

But that's just my point about the FAQ, Jim. It should be for those absolute puddin'heads who can't even figure out what a search engine is.

Think of it as a kind of "Cliff's Notes to 'The Cat In the Hat.'" Get the idea? The kind of morons whose first question will be (as Brent said), "What's a FAQ?," that's who it would be directed at. The rest of us can ignore it— and them— and it'll keep their chozzerai from cluttering up the board.

 

[shemps#1]

It's the principal of the matter, Pils. An FAQ, when we already have search engine, would reward idiocy. I for one am not in the business of rewarding idiocy. If anyone posts a question that has been asked a million times already I say we raise their warning levels and flame their asses.

Besides, creating an FAQ doesn't mean that those morons would actually read it.

[Baggie]

 I agree. On principal, an FAQ is a good idea, but people wouldn't read it I don't think. Most new people to the site don't even bother to read the goddamn guidelines to posting before they make their first post, and don't use capitals or anything. (I am aware that my first posts here were wank, but this was before the guidelines were available, so cut me some slack.)