Any chance.....

Is there any chance of a few people getting together and making up a list of the most asked questions in the axie forums?

It would make the information a lot easier to find and save so many duplicate threads.... just a thought.

I would be more than willing to do my part.

(i put this in this forum as the most important information is needed here. sorry if it is in the wrong thread i just wasnt sure where to put this.)

Dan

Try searching the archives....


Ed

Danniel, I was wondering why there are not "pinned" threads like in most forums about the most important and common questions. much easier and organized than a search.

In my experience, most new members to a forum either dont know how to do a search or dont know what to search for.

and plus when you type in something like "gill fungus", for example, you get many pages of posts to sort through of randomness. It is sort of discuraging for someone who is new. It seems disorderly and discouraging for me and I have been lurking here way before I got my first axolotl 3 years ago. But, it still is better to alternative and is a great source, but there is always room for improvement.

Maybe that donation I made can go to database, organization of topics, forum improvements. Making Caudata.org forums a better place for us all.

Mods, what are your positions?

snip "and plus when you type in something like "gill fungus", for example, you get many pages of posts to sort through of randomness. It is sort of discuraging for someone who is new. It seems "endsnip

This is partly due to the multiple times threads end up hijacked. I could start cracking down on this but I think that would make you all a lot less happy.....
Also a lot of these questions are answered on caudata culture but there seems to be a resistance to people going over there and reading the species accounts or the articles.
For example look how often people have questions on cycling and how infrequently someone other than a moderator references the sheet on cycling...

Ed

(Message edited by Ed on November 26, 2006)

hmmm yer well ive only been running successfull forums for just over 5 years. what do i know eh?

Oh,
I also forgot all of the commonly asked axolotl questions on http://www.axolotl.org/faq.htm which is part of this site.....


Ed

no, the gill fungus thing is not 100% hijacked threads. if you look through the first page of the sick axolotl forum you will notice a majority is about gills fungus, white spots of gills, lots of that. either new rules or a better idea-an easier way for forum people to find caudataculture and axololtl.org pages and this is usually done with non editable sticky treads always appearing at the top which usually state "before posting read this..."

also, for people new to cycling, pages written formally such as the article on caudataculture is often confusing to understand and people often need other folks to explain it in a way for them to understand. That is why people come to the forum, because caudataculture/axolotl.org is not a full account and others questions are only filled to a few lines and maybe a paragraph. Neither caudataculture or axolotl.org do not have everything people are looking for but they are a good start. Good start and reference is what they are.

I am glad you are discussing this with us, Mr. Kowalski. Even though I do not know how to code for different varieties of bulletin boards and forums, My degree in college was in interactive media which included web design and data management, we have had to analyze many a pages before we got our degrees. All we want to do is make a wonderful place like this forum a better place for us all, and a bit easier to get information rather than redundant and inconclusive information, and I do not believe hijacking on this forum is not at a level where things need to be cracked down upon.

I have personally read caudataculture and axolotl.org and referenced my books before I post sick axie threads, but the information usually is not specific enough and there are ways the sick axie thread can benefit from sticked or other sorts of information linked to it even before the user posted threads are displayed. Information dealing with sick axies are critical and no one wants a sick axie dying. Plus, the forum and threads in it have something the websites do not have, detailed personal accounts, especially ones that can be backed up, disputed or discredited information of the reference website. Overtime, I have seen these boards improve, and I look forward to new improvements in the future.

If this is no longer appropriate to six axie board, which i believe so now, please move rather than delete. Is there any suggestion and open discussion boards with mods? I do not know if this is located in the donor boards because i still do not have acess or my donor tag, but that may be a good place to put something about discussion about caudata.org forum improvements, because I believe people who truely love the boards so much they donate their own money can have a place to openly discus improvements. Donating is not only to keep the pages running and add free, it is also done by people who love and respect the board and maybe wouldn't mind an open discussion about what improvements would be practical.

snip "-no, the gill fungus thing is not 100% hijacked threads."endsnip

I did not say 100% hijacked. I pointed out that there are difficulties as threads are often hijacked. Often the hijacking is unintentional by multiple posts giving sympathy and no advice or recommendations on care for the animal....

snip "if you look through the first page of the sick axolotl forum you will notice a majority is about gills fungus,"endsnip

And a large portion of this is due to the people failing to take advantage of the search features, the links to axolotl.org or caudata culture on the home page of the website.. It is also partially due to the long-time posters here failing to point the way to the relevant links or information if they see that the mods haven't gotten to it yet.

snip "white spots of gills, lots of that either new rules or a better idea-an easier way for forum people to find caudataculture and axololtl.org pages and this is usually done with non editable sticky treads always appearing at the top which usually state "before posting read this..."

See above. There are currently and have been discussions on sticky threads but on other forums and sites that do use them, I have noticed that people ignore them and post the questions anyway looking for the immediate response and have to be referred to the sticky etc. I fail to see the difference between what we have here and what I see on other sites. A failure to use the resources is a failure to use the resources...

snip "also, for people new to cycling, pages written formally such as the article on caudataculture is often confusing to understand and people often need other folks to explain it in a way for them to understand. That is why people come to the forum, because caudataculture/axolotl.org is not a full account and others questions are only filled to a few lines and maybe a paragraph. Neither caudataculture or axolotl.org do not have everything people are looking for but they are a good start. Good start and reference is what they are. "endsnip

Yes, but often the people do not read those informative articles on the other sites before posting on this site. And when they post without reading those articles, the members of the forum often do not refer them to the articles so they can recieve the basics of the information before they start answering questions. This ends up confusing the person as there isn't any groundwork on which to explain the information.

snip "I am glad you are discussing this with us, Mr. Kowalski."endsnip

You say that now....

snip " Even though I do not know how to code for different varieties of bulletin boards and forums, My degree in college was in interactive media which included web design and data management, we have had to analyze many a pages before we got our degrees. All we want to do is make a wonderful place like this forum a better place for us all, and a bit easier to get information rather than redundant and inconclusive information, and I do not believe hijacking on this forum is not at a level where things need to be cracked down upon."endsnip

This is partly because hijacking is heavily frowned upon and hints will posted and/or be pm'd to people, posts get deleted, and people have been suspended and banned for repeated offenses. This is a site for discussion of the care and husbandry of caudates and there is a fair bit of laxity in moderating the axolotl section that may end having to be tightened up again as there are non-caudate related pictures and topics showing up again within threads that have only the slightest veneer of being related to the thread. (I ended up having to deal with these issues earlier this year and things are starting to look like they are escalating back up..)

snip " Information dealing with sick axies are critical and no one wants a sick axie dying."endsnip

this is correct, but if an axolotl is dying that rapidly then there is something critical enough that it needs to be taken in for immediate medical treatment.

snip "Plus, the forum and threads in it have something the websites do not have, detailed personal accounts, especially ones that can be backed up, disputed or discredited information of the reference website. Overtime, I have seen these boards improve, and I look forward to new improvements in the future."endsnip

This is in part due to attempts to encourage the sticking to the topics as opposed to allowing excessive hijacking and off topic comments.

snip "If this is no longer appropriate to six axie board, which i believe so now, please move rather than delete."endsnip

I will leave it here for now as it is still partly on sick axolotls (but it will end up in the free for all at some point).

sip "Is there any suggestion and open discussion boards with mods? I do not know if this is located in the donor boards because i still do not have acess or my donor tag, but that may be a good place to put something about discussion about caudata.org forum improvements, because I believe people who truely love the boards so much they donate their own money can have a place to openly discus improvements."endsnip

You can e-mail the forum owner with the suggestions, in the end it is his decision. Myself and the other mods not only donate funds to support the site but we donate a lot of time to keep this from becoming a useless site.

This is the last post i'll make in this thread because i reallt dont want to argue.

I have seen several members asking for pinned threads. Ed, I know you dont like the idea but i was kind of hoping for more than 1 Mods oppinion on the subject. after all Mods are the people who keep the forum running smoothly day to day.

I repeat
You can e-mail the forum owner with the suggestions, in the end it is his decision. Myself and the other mods not only donate funds to support the site but we donate a lot of time to keep this from becoming a useless site.

I noticed that the link to axolotl.org in the beginners topic ("Before you post, we recommend that you read the FAQ and other information at Axolotl.org." ) was not working. I've fixed it.

I think that placing links to useful information and FAQ at the top of the page would be feasible in beginners and help sections. It's like Ed says - if people don't use the resources then sticky posts and links are a waste of time. It would certainly help if more people posted links to the relevant resource rather than going over the same answers time and time again.

hi
i would love to help if this does turn out into something useful, rather than an arguement.
i only joined this site 1 week of so ago(shows how dedicated i am lol) and i can tell you i was confused.
what i would suggest is what dan suggested in the beginning.

and just another thought, coz it confused me, why is the axolotl section under the help and basic care section of forum homepage??

i personally think it should be put on the general topics part.

what do you guys think??

Ooh, I'd like to add - can we have an easier section about adding pictures and links?

It took me ages to find it last time.

Amber
ye, thats true.
but dont you think its a bit odd how the axolotl section is under basic care?
and also do you have msn