Community redesign coming...

Need a limit of greater than just 1 question perhaps an upper limit of 5 but no more.

1 open question at a time is just too limiting and may drive more people away that what it attracts.

Maybe you could limit it to 1 open question per subject or something along those lines but if lets say you where facing a new environment with a heap of mixed hardware some old and some new it may be that you would need to ask more than 1 question about different parts of the system rather than effectively asking several questions under the one heading that may not be applicable to that subject.

By the way while I've been away the last couple of days which one of you hacked my TR Account and upset Beth? [b]Was it Jay or Smorty71?[/b]

If you 2 don't pull your socks up I'll tell Beth on you. :^0

Col

But you might want to set the number of open questions to at least 2 ... Otherwise people who really need to ask another might start asking another question somewhere down an open question ... Maybe put it in as a comment ...

Just a thought

]:)

is that you would think a great list like that is "STUPID"! :0

No "squirty cream" for YOU! X-(

on how to "police" offenders, I would recommend a separate discussion on this topic.

If enough opinions are presented, perhaps a predominant viewpoint would emerge.

I have belonged to this website for more than three years, and there have always been grumblings about various aspects of the Tech Q & A section.

There needs to be a consensus -- a majority vote if you like.

Never mind "try this," "try that" -- how about thrashing it out until the BEST arrangment is agreed upon by a majority of TRI peers.

During the term of my membership of TR there have continually been band-aid adjustments -- usually improving one feature while introducing a bug in another section.

I think most if not all of the members who contribute most to answering tech questions are present in this discussion. Surely they are the people who understand best what works and what doesn't work.

I have tried these ways and it is a hit and miss, (mostly miss) for me to get in.

oh well.

You know I'd never use an avatar like that...
on TR! What are you thinking?

As for the safe place you think you've created? Just keep dreamin. I'm in your head. And I'm in cahoots with SHMBO. Think on that for a while.

A campaign to close off answered questions...
Reasoning: new scripts.

step one) email everyone that has an open question reminding them

one a) bounced emails means close all those qwuestions and disable member account. >:)

step 2) shut down the TQ&A, then close any question open for longer than a month or two.

step 3) restart TQ&A but make sure all questions are closed off after the time limit.

And then you went and blew it all out the window SWMBO doesn't even come near a computer at all. The closest that she's willing to come is to hand me my NB as I'm going out on a job and I have to pack it up. :(

Once when there was a thunderstorm here she shut down every computer by pulling the power cords but I honestly think that's been the only time that shes ever done anything to a computer since the DOS days where she used to play Solitaire on a 286 with 4 MEG of RAM and a 256 K Video Card. She blamed me when the Electrolytic Capacitor leaked and killed the M'Board and she hasn't been near a computer since. :p

Although tonight when the Screen Saver came on, on my Ubuntu Box she did express an interest in the screen saver it was the Matrix one but that's as far as it goes and she couldn't see the [b]Woman in the Red Dress[/b] so she just gave up. ;\

So unless TR stretches to International phone calls that go on for hours I know that you haven't been in contact with her as I know that there have been no phone calls like that from this end well at least till the end of last month anyway. B-)

Now I did a Screen Capture of your original Avatar do you want me to post it on an open forum? :|

Of course I'll suitable enlarge it so that's clearly visible and post it to a blank Web Page if you like so everyone has the opportunity to see it. :x

Anyway have you got to the bottom of who hacked my TR Account and made the original post as I've been away for a couple of days without a single phone socket in sight and that was the closest that I ever came to a Internet connection so I've been unable to access TR since Saturday Night my time until late Wednesday Night, although it feels like it's been 10 years but it's only been a few days. I know that it didn't come from this end because everything was turned off and there are only 2 computers that can access TR this workstation and my NB [i]which I had with me,[/i] and even then this workstation has to have the gateway turned on as well as the switch which is fairly well hidden under all the junk in this room. :^0

I'd be putting my money on either Jay or Smorty as the culprit both seem to want to cause trouble so you're welcome to take your whip to each one of them and I'll guarantee that within 25 strokes both will admit to doing it. :D

Col ]:)

[i] Edited because the Shocked Emoticon isn't working.[/i]

That just makes you a [b] Plain Lazy Wench[/b] by constantly refreshing the Page. Why can't you be like the rest of us and have to fight our way in? :x

Many years ago before my father died he used to insist that there was no such thing as [b]A GOOD GIRL there where only BAD GIRLS and BETTER GIRLS and that was better at being BAD![/b] ;\

Would you like to enlighten us all which one you are? :^0

Col ]:)

I was away no where near a phone socket so I didn't post the above. :^0

[b]That's my story and I'm sticking to it![/b] :p

But I really think either Jay or Smorty is having a go at you because of your exalted position at TR being the Queen. ;)

I've set Beth onto them to find out which one was responsible I'm betting that after a few strokes of Beth's [b]CAT of 9 Tails[/b] both will own up to the post. :D

Col ]:)

I do like the overall clean look. It's not too agressive a change (so that we all won't feel completely lost once it's launched). However, I notice that the My Blog, My Tech Q&A, tabs are missing. It's also a bit too busy. If you're going for the "Web 2.0" (whatever-that-means) look, you'll need to strip away some of the content--however, this goes against my initial comment about not changing it so much that we get lost.

I don't envy the design staff, and while I like things simplified and prettified, I'm also a fan of the pragmatic.

- Hutch

I assume a Mongeral is similar to a Mongrel, a creature of unknown mixed heritage.

3/4 of my heritage is known and defined. The remaining 25% (my Mothers Father) is a mixture of various nationalities native to the British Isles.

Anyhow, looking at my stats, of 8518 answers given, 45% have been accepted, 25% rejected, (Same as my BI heritage.) and 29% unrated.

As I recall, you challenged me for posting answers to too many questions and not leaving any for you.

Since your answers are solid and almost always spot on, I have no problem when I see your answers posted to questions before I get there.

I do think that the Technical Q&A section on TR has a visibility and identity issue when compared to many other sites.

Notice the number of questions about site features and those that should be directed to TR staff.

I propose a new TR contest.
Rename the Technical Question and Answer section so that it is no longer confused with an FAQ or site help section!

Some ideas:

Repair Republic

Solutions Republic

Personal Tech Support

Peer to Peer Tech Support

Peer Support

Community Fix-It

Member Fix-It

TechRepublic Fix-It

What do you think?

Chas

While I do fully understand the problems and frustration caused by those who abuse the Q&A forum, there needs to be a balance that both curbs such abuse while accomodating the needs of those who play by the rules.

Perhaps you might consider a system whereby the number of questions that one may have open at any point in time is dependent on a measure of their compliance with the desired behavior.

For example, the sooner one rates responses, the more questions allowed. The longer that questions remains open after the most recent response(s), the fewer allowed.

Lazy Wench --- Oh [b]Yes[/b]

Better at being bad --- Honestly Col, Do you doubt me?? ;\

]:)

To have five open questions, you would have to be having a run of bad luck.

However I note that you concur with my observation that a question not satisfactorily answered within 3 days, will be forgotten, and that questions should be auto-closed after 30 days.

As I suggested earlier, I think a person should be sent a warning email, say three days (or a week) before auto-closure.

Keep this going everyone. We are moving towards a consensus. If Smorty cannot agree with a majority opinion of TR insiders, then why are our views being sought?

I have not managed an initial entry, let alone slippin back in. :(

I have introduced two Australian women to TR, but both have dropped out after an initial period of great enthusiasm. [Entry would definitely have been on the agenda if they had not been GI (geographically impossible)]

Others have followed some of the discussions without contributing.

I have never actually met a female IT person in Sydney, although I know that such persons exist.

I do attend to meetings elsewhere in the building. And funny as it may seem, but neither my secretary nor my co-workers feel obligated to push the reload button for me :( . Let alone that our security-manager would allow others to "work" under my account, nor anyone else?s but their own, on the network/"my" pc, no such luck. :)

Rob

only that I personally have not met any.

I did actually make contact with one through a matchmaking website, and she sounded quite keen to meet me. But she was so involved in some major IT project that I guess she never got around to phoning me.

of assistance. :)

Rob

they do mess-up a lot of good stuff.

Didn't she contact you after the project?
Or is it a never ending project to avoid you. :0

Do read:
https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=8&threadID=192906&messageID=1990841

I hope it helps out in de-ciphering the t_i_t tat she told you. :D ;)

Rob

Yes, it means a bit more work up front, but then so do most things if they're being done right.

The most simple solution is not necessarily the best.

one could condition the response accordingly.

If the bounce was owing to a bad recipient address, then a viable option would be to restrict account access to that required for the purpose of providing a good address only, pending verification of the new address.

For other reasons, such as storage quota (s)exceeded, any one of many possible communications errors, etc., one might bar access to the specific function(s) to which the bounced e-mail pertained.

Speaking as someone who used to run and IT division I had very few females who where prepared to work the long hours with little recondition most wanted a 9-5 job where they knew that they would be leaving home at a certain time and arriving home at a certain time in other words they [b]Wanted a Life Outside of Work.[/b] :)

Granted I did have a few females working for me but honestly I think that they where the exception rather than the rule and even then I personally believe that their [b]Sisters[/b] placed them in that position to see what the work was like and if any of them suffered any form of abuse. Well every one of them did suffer abuse from me as I expected them to do their jobs and they where all [i]over worked and under paid[/i] just like all the rest of us. :D

Col ]:)

With the redesign that is coming will there be a [b]Search[/b] function available in the TQ&A Section?

I've just had a Peer Mail asking for a link to a question that I answered some time ago and I really have no idea of how to find it quickly.

Of course if I had something more to go on other than I gave some great info about W 2003 and Exchange 2003 it might make things a bit easier but I found it very hard to look through things quickly.

Col