On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 12:49 PM, Philip Olson <phi...@roshambo.org> wrote: > > Although the user notes have been discussed many times*, I reckon > nothing new has been implemented because current ideas either don't > feel right and/or require too much work. So let's define what user > notes are for: > > - Original purpose: To find content, and fold it into the manual > - Current purpose: ??? > > I can only speak for my reasons for using them, which involve two > main points: > > - Finding examples > - Reading about gotchas/workarounds > > Why do other people here use user notes? Why do newbies use them? And > what makes a "good" user note? We each use our gut while determining > this now let's embrace it. > > * https://wiki.php.net/ideas/usercomments > > Regards, > Philip >
I disagree that the feature is completely useless and that it would be better to get rid of it entirely. I agree the current system leaves much to be desired, which is why when Philip asked me if I'd like to help I agreed. I do see some very good potential for the contributions in user notes (albeit they are few and far between). What I find most helpful is that some of these users can spot things we either missed early on or have simply ignored for far too long. I've spent hours sifting through user notes and it's not pretty. I've deleted quite a few of these harmful/misplaced notes as Adam pointed out. It's not a desirable task, but that's why I've offered some new suggestions that can greatly improve what we have rather than just kill it entirely. * We need to start bringing more attention to those notes that have potential. Currently the notes are always listed in descending order by date of submission. This is completely useless since most people don't bother to scroll down far enough to find good notes if the first few dozen notes on the page are completely distasteful. As an example I spent a couple of hours one night trying removing nearly all of the top 10 notes on a few pages none of which I could objectively say provided anything remotely useful (some were even harmful). However, by the time I scrolled down to the very bottom of the page and had read through every single note, I realized there were still some gems there from as far back as 2003 (things I would still consider useful for anyone to read). Not bringing enough attention to these notes and focusing just on who submitted the most recent note is clearly a problem I intend to fix. * As Rasmus and others have pointed out we have plenty of people with karma to the notes. Not everyone bothers, but I honestly believe this to be a fault of the system not the people. We can positively influence people to help with notes by giving them easy to digest information that will help them make an intelligent decision. For example, allowing users to flag notes can help pinpoint which notes are currently getting flagged the most and bring them to our attention for either deletion or whatever course of action needs taken. I should have some time this weekend to start getting some of these new features into notes and we can test them out. If users take great. If not I'm all for finding ways to do better.
