******Thread Titles - make 'em descriptive*****

[david petley]

Hi all,
have been noticing thread titles like -
"how would i be able to do this..?
"Back to basics"
"help please"

now firstly, I am not singling these out for criticism, except as examples of what will not help others to help you.
Many of the members here also have other work that they do and they often cannot afford the time to read every post to see if they can help.
It will also help with future searches by other members with similar problems.

So, make your title descriptive of your problem, like -
"back to basics" could be better titled "problem with animation in buttons"
"help please" could be better titled "scrambled text on export"
"how would i be able to do this..?" could be better titled "Stopping/controlling imported swf"
The search function is very good here at FK but it searches thread titles and needs something to work with.

[Cadence]

One more point to make on this subject ....

We all know how slow the Flashkit Forums can be at times ... Sometimes it takes a couple of minutes just to get into a thread to read it ... Not to mention the time it takes to post a reply ... Descriptive Thread Titles help everyone involved.

Peace,
Cadence

[Frets]

Most that will reply to this are not the offenders.
Those that are probably won't look.

I can see several threads repeating themselves because no one bothered to look before they post.
I can as well see responses to threads in other threads.

I wish you the best of luck getting members to post as they should however don't hold your breath.

Maybe you can have fk post a mandate page before viewing the posts a simple "I will be disciptive in my posts
with agree/disagree buttons. It's really not a bad idea.

[david petley]

frets,
hopefully all mods know they can edit thread titles in their respective forums, as can the originators of the thread.
So we really can push it in the right direction, if we (mods) can be bothered, we can simply edit them after we know what they are about, this might encourage new members to follow suit when they come to the forum and see the type of thread titles that are here already.
If people check email notification, then they will be able to find their thread no matter how different the title from what they started with.
I'm an optimist, I guess,
once this issue is discussed enough, people get the message, I think.
david p.

[Cadence]

I will certainly start editing thread titles to have them actually "fit" the thread content ... Besides, I (and other Mods) read nearly every single (and usually every) post that gets posted ... So, I will do my best to help clean things up around here ...

Peaces,
Cadence

[david petley]

bumped so everyone can read it. This is the reason why the search function seems useless to some people, because threads are called 'please help' and not 'problem with load/unload movie into a sprite' or similar.
david p.

[Libertarian]

A thousand apologies. Just saw this. Even without your reminder, I should have known to be more descriptive. Please change my latest thread, "Bug? Problem? Ignorance?" to something like "Problem with 3D Spin in Mask". Thanks.

[Libertarian]

LOL! I guess great minds think alike. Thanks, David!

[Knomad]

Originally posted by Frets
Most that will reply to this are not the offenders.
Those that are probably won't look.

Ummmm you make me sound like a criminal.

Seems a bit harsh since, as a new member, i've only ever posted three topics.

My apologies if my posts were wrongly titled, i'll be more descriptive in future.


Knomad

[Libertarian]

Knomad,

Don't let it get to ya. I don't think they were angry, just trying to be helpful. But like I said above, if they select the training route, they need to be prepared to redo the same training every day. Time doesn't stand still. People come. People go.

Now go and sin no more!

(For what it's worth, I think you're a valuable asset to the community. And I bet the mods do, too. What they worry about are trolls and such.)

[david petley]

Originally posted by Knomad

Originally posted by Frets
Most that will reply to this are not the offenders.
Those that are probably won't look.

Ummmm you make me sound like a criminal.

Seems a bit harsh since, as a new member, i've only ever posted three topics.

My apologies if my posts were wrongly titled, i'll be more descriptive in future.


Knomad

knomad,
I deliberately set out to not achieve this response. It's not a matter of wrong, just more helpful to all if the thread titles are easily searched.
david p.

[Knomad]

I understand this

And understand why, i just felt the comments about "offenders" not bothering to look was a little harsh is all.

Just wanted to make the point that i didnt do anything realsing it was inconsiderate, and that i do bother to look.
This post wasn't in view when i joined, if it had been i wouldn't have ignored it.

I didnt intend my last reply to come across as me being highly offended, was just pointing out that its not necessarily that people dont read just that they dont realise. All though i guess that may not be true in all cases.

Anyway, i took the point on board and will be more useful with my topics.

Knomad

[Frets]

I believe David is sincere he's not out to get anyone. He just want's it to be easier for all to reply as well as making it much easier on the search engine when looking for a specific topic.

This is not the first time this topic has been covered here. It is a noble goal. The same thing occured last time this topic was covered much heated debate. My stance at that time was/is similar to yours Knomad when a new member posts they are looking for answers. However at the same time
that thread was active and recieveing much attention from people of over 200 posts. meanwhile at that time most new users didn't bother to respond to the thread. And it was business as usual. Hence my comments about preaching to the saved.

From the looks of the topics currently. It has all the appearances of goals being accomplished. For that kudo's to the mods on editing thread titles.

[david petley]

i personally have changed two titles in this forum since this thread began.
I wouldn't be presuming that the more descriptive titles you are seeing are because of mod edits. I think that members get the drift when they see how descriptive other thread titles are, it's a domino effect and I believe that on the whole it has worked here very well with little reminding.
david p.

[jamescover]

David Petley:


This is off topic for this thread, but I wanted to point out a slight bug in your scroller. If you mouse over the "down" button until the text has scrolled as far as possible to the top, then remove your mouse from the button, and mouseover again, the text will jump back to the beginning.

There are, I suppose, several ways to correct this, but a simple fix would be to go to the end of the "move" on the text (in the text sprite), and change the "stop" to "Goto Previous Frame" (play)".

IF this scroller was originally done by a certain unnamed party, it will just be our little secret. Just letting you know that I have since fixed this bug. Oops, did I give it away?

Anyway, I may be mistaken about the orgin of the scroller, but it does bear a striking resemblance to a scroller made by a, um, "friend," of mine :-)


James


If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ,
And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
You shall be saved.

[david petley]

Originally posted by jamescover
David Petley:


This is off topic for this thread, but I wanted to point out a slight bug in your scroller. If you mouse over the "down" button until the text has scrolled as far as possible to the top, then remove your mouse from the button, and mouseover again, the text will jump back to the beginning.

There are, I suppose, several ways to correct this, but a simple fix would be to go to the end of the "move" on the text (in the text sprite), and change the "stop" to "Goto Previous Frame" (play)".

IF this scroller was originally done by a certain unnamed party, it will just be our little secret. Just letting you know that I have since fixed this bug. Oops, did I give it away?

Anyway, I may be mistaken about the orgin of the scroller, but it does bear a striking resemblance to a scroller made by a, um, "friend," of mine :-)


James

.....aaah james it was your sprites I used..... i grabbed one of the many examples, I thought it was jofta's solution but it may well have originated from you. If so, very nice. I used it on my dark/light footer as well. When I was having problems making sprites go backward I posted and got a heap of workable solutions.
I will try your bug fix and see if it fixes my bug as well.
cheers,
david p.

[jamescover]

David:

Well, I should know my own children, shouldn't I?

At any rate, looks like this is going to be necessary, after all:

"EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY STATED IN ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND JAMESCOVER, ALL CONTENT, SERVICES, PRODUCTS AND SOFTWARE OFFERED BY JAMESCOVER ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. JAMESCOVER DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE APPROPRIATENESS OF ALL MATERIAL AND ITS CONTENT OFFERED BY JAMESCOVER FOR YOUR INTENDED APPLICATION AND USE. JAMESCOVER DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE MATERIAL
HE OFFERS WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. SUBJECT TO THE TERMS OF ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND JAMESCOVER, JAMESCOVER
SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, EVEN IF JAMESCOVER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS--NOT."


Sign Here__________________ :-)



James


What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

[Cruise]

My god david, Are you in your "i change my footer every week" period?

[fabiopao]

for what it is worth, i totally agree with David

[ahinalu]

Originally posted by david petley
i personally have changed two titles in this forum since this thread began.
I wouldn't be presuming that the more descriptive titles you are seeing are because of mod edits. I think that members get the drift when they see how descriptive other thread titles are, it's a domino effect and I believe that on the whole it has worked here very well with little reminding.
david p.

Hi mods,
As a newbie, and i'm sure frequent offender of many rules (I still post in the wrong board, site check vs. help). Now I know it's my fault for not reading the "rules of engagment" when I signed up. So I thought maybe requiring new sign-ups to read a VERY basic rules page ie, no foul language, look at previous posts to see if you question has already been answered 50 times in the past two days, etc. But, keep in mind that there might be people out there that can only learn, and create after a long day and may be prone to being a little lazy or not thinking straight, so even if they "know" might be prone to mistakes.

I would like to see more descriptive thread titles to make it easier to find stuff (and it's quicker than waiting for replies, because you mods gotta be busy to make some of the stuff I've seen here).

Maybe a "read and comply or you can't come in" entry form?
I would have appreciated some very basic information that I was (still am <g>) too lazy to read.
"Hang Loose"

Aloha Ahinalu