Help talk:Contents

Start

Okay, here is my first attempt at creating a Contents type page for the Help topics. What do you think? We have gotten along here without a lot of help pages, but it seems that people want more, so I am trying to give it some structure. Thanks to Dawn for the Image help page! Specific questions:

1. Do we need to have a specific Help Desk? Would a community talk page be easier? Better? Delete this entirely?
2. Do we need a community talk page?
3. I created the page on deleting, moving, etc., and just left a vague, "leave a note for an admin" when things got hairy. We don't have an easy way to leave a note for an admin except to leave it on the talk page in question, find the user talk page for Romancewiki (or me). What would you like to see as the solution? Keep in mind that we are all volunteers and not here ALL THE TIME! It just seems like it. Other users are just as welcome to jump in to help someone out, so people don't have to wait for an administrator to fix most things.
4. Do we need to create help on the topics that have no links? just link to wikipedia or wikimedia for those? Copy from wiki and customize it for here? Volunteers to write?
5. Does the organization here make sense to you? Any burning issue you would like to see a help page on?

Thanks for your input. --Kay T 11:25, 15 September 2007 (PDT)

Dude, first off, nice fricking job. I saw you playing with this in your sandbox and was just impressed. I think this is a good structure.

1. I think we need something community oriented. A Community Talk page would work. Not sure what a Help Desk would be. But at least a designated place to put community questions and note interesting discussions for people to contribute to. At some point check recent changes is going to get overwhelming.
2. See above. I think.
3. You could create a 'Note for Admins' page. That way notes can go there and your (and Romancewiki and any other future admins) could all check a central location. And like you said if it is something a 'normal' user could fix then they can also view/see that info.
4. For now, for any blank link, I say link to Wikipedia and note on this talk page that volunteers to write equvalent articles for here would be appreciated.
5. Makes sense. I'm sure help pages will come up as needed.

Again, awesome job Kay. --DawnBurn 12:28, 15 September 2007 (PDT)

Kay, you do rock. Totally. So in response (I feel *almost* guilty about not being more active in the creation of these pages, but you really rule here!)...

1. I think it's time to create a water cooler/parlor/back fence type page that allows for free-form discussion. Any thoughts on what to call it? I like that people are using the talk pages for discussion -- when I check the recent changes, I skim for changes to those pages first, but it's not an optimal solution...hmm, I wonder if there's a way to have a daily "changes" schedule sent to me so I can find an easier way to find this stuff -- but there does need to be a place for general discussion. I am still considering adding a blog component (not SitePoint (g)) as well. And maybe a mailing list for discussion. Different modes of communication for different types of communicators.
2. A Help Desk is a fun idea. It would require active monitoring, of course, so there's that consideration. At least in case, the solution (unlike real life) will very rarely be "turn it off and turn it back on".
3. A "note to admins" page might work, and I like the idea that "normal" (and if you can define that concept (g) users can offer assistance. I freely admit to limits in my knowledge. Plus as much as my sister believes I was a dictator in another life, I really do prefer a collaborative, community approach. What I see as a simple solution might be the clunkiest thing ever when compared to someone else's streamlined approach! Back later...--Romancewiki 09:21, 16 September 2007 (PDT)

Help Desk options

We could:

• Create a new user named Help Desk and put "someone's" e-mail to receive e-mail when someone posts a question. Maybe have that e-mail address forward it???

-or-

• Create a new Help Desk project page (in the namespace RomanceWiki:Help Desk) and mark it watched for the admins

-and/or-

• Create a new Community Discussion page (in the namespace RomanceWiki:Community Discussion (name???))

Any of these options would not prevent any user from answering questions.

I don't know if we should have a separate chat page/help page. In some ways I like having separate, but on the other hand it might just be confusing? Any suggestions?--Kay T 18:39, 16 September 2007 (PDT)

Name: Coffee-house, tea room, assembly (very Jane Austen), Almacks! --Kay T 18:41, 16 September 2007 (PDT)

I like options 2 & 3. Option 1 as an additional on the Help Desk page with a note like "If your question hasn't been answered in a few days, you may email the admins for additional help here." And I like the name Tea Room for the community discussion page, though just having it be called Community Discussion I think would be best. The talk pages for those pages should be about how to organize the page, not a place for 'talk' of that type to take place, I think. Does that make sense? --DawnBurn 18:58, 16 September 2007 (PDT)

Yes, on Wiki the project pages for Help Desk and Village Pump are for the questions/discussion and the talk pages are for talk about the project pages. In exploring the preferences for other purposes (ahem) I found that you can have an e-mail sent when something is changed, e.g., on a watched page, or your user talk page, so you could have that set up automatically if that was your only watched page or if you were the owner of the page (maybe). And as you said, you could have an e-mail address for a last resort. Anyway, it is not as if we are going to have thousands of questions at this point. Ha! --Kay T 19:55, 16 September 2007 (PDT)