Enough is Enough

[Forci Stikane]

Alright, Diamond & Pearl have been released in America. Now we have so many small threads popping up that individual threads get pushed off to the second/third pages in less than 24 hours.

My point is, isn't it about time that we got back a stickied Simple Questions thread in the Diamond/Pearl section? Wasn't the reason that the last one was taken down to "promote activity"? Well, it seems pretty active to me now.

 

[Absolitude]

Yeah, so active that i can barely even connect to PC because of all the DBE's. Doesn't someone have the guide? Couldn't they take pics and put them in the thread to keep all the newby questions at bay. I'm not saying they can't ask a simple question, but 50 threads a minute? Nope, that's just not right.

 

[Chikara]

That's just because the game just came out. Give it some time, and we'll go back to our normal half-dead board.

 

[Forci Stikane]

That's just because the game just came out. Give it some time, and we'll go back to our normal half-dead board.

But why wait when something can be done NOW to alleviate the problem? There are already at least two pages' worth of threads for simple questions...I just don't see why we can't stick them altogether in one thread already.

It works pretty well in the R/S/E and FR/LG forums...

 

[Cherrim]

Haha, I get confused in simple question threads. But that's probably because I haven't really ventured into the gaming forums since 4 years ago when RuSa came out. XD;

:\ Maybe a subforum for the simple questions if a thread isn't enough. It is kind of enough trying to find interesting discussion threads whilst scrolling past a bunch of questions.

 

[Chikara]

Well I really dont see the problem with people asking question, but I understand it now. They're asking for how to do thing, and what what your sick of right?

 

[Kylie-chan]

Wow, chill, at least we're not Serebii.net. @_@ A simple questions thread'd be good, but what with people registering just to ask stuff, I doubt it'd do much good; I think it'd be good if we could set up a walkthrough of sorts with screencaps ideally, especially for frequently asked questions.

Anyway, this site is going down so much I can't see how people can even get on to ask. D:

 

[parallelzero]

The problem is, a thread is going to move just as fast and its going to be the same thing all over again, won't it? Oo;

Apparently we have a new server, but some people are putting off the move until next month for some reason...

 

[Abby3563663]

I think Simple Questions is a terrible idea; I know that if I was browsing the D/P forums and saw a question that I could answer posed in a topic, I'd be much more likely to do so that to peek into the Simple Questions thread. Even if there is a new post in the thread, you can't know if it's a question or an answer. I think that SQ kills forum activity in a bad way—it takes a lot of the excitement out of the new games. oo;

 

[Absolitude]

Maybe we should put a link to a d/p guide on all the themes so that we can get all that activity lag off our servers and onto someone else's. I know a site that has a superb guide, and if everything were put into the right places it would be the best ever. In my bookmarks i have guides for items, super contests, legendaries and other stuff. Maybe we could have a thread with a couple of frequently asked questions, with a link to the site/sites. Would that work? Although i haven't been experiencing massive downtime at PC (thanks to the new server?) if this doesn't get resolved and we start getting 100 viewers...

 

[Melody]

I do agree The DBE's are very annoying I hope whoever that 'someone' in the staff is hurries up and gets PC moved to the new server B/C the DBE's are enought to drive me bonkers!!!! I love PC and I hate to see so many DBEs per day...especiallly when they happen while I am posting or Pm-ing something...

 

[_Prince_]

Too many simple questions are being asked in the d/p section. Most of those questions could be answered in the Simple Questions thread. So perhaps a stickied Simple Questions thread should be back.

 

[Forci Stikane]

I will have to reiterate my last few statemens, won't I? Basically, I deem it unnecessary, and perhaps the opinions of members like Abby should be taken.

The FAQ is being updated constantly to answer the questions needed - any threads that are made asking questions that are already in the FAQ will be closed. In the past, Simple Questions threads weren't effective anyway - threads were still being created. That happens much less in the Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen forums because it happens much, much less.

I also mentioned how database errors aren't helped by creating a thread. We also will not offload activity to a guide in another site - I daresay that the Google ads take enough space, and people join a forum to post, no? They don't go to another site for help now, do they, when they could conveniently come to the forum and post?

......I hope I've worded this correctly: when you say "I deem it unnecessary", is that your personal opinion or the opinion of the staff in general? Since it seems only one other current staff member has actually posted here (and, no offense AT ALL to them, but that staff member didn't exactly give much of an answer to what I'm asking)...

Part of the reason why those threads aren't created as much in the R/S/E & FR/LG areas is attributable to the existence of a Simple Questions thread stickied there, though. With that resource, many (admittedly not all, but quite a few) of those people can put their questions in one location instead of filling the area with seperate threads. And, let's keep in mind that in order for a question to be added to the FAQ it has to be asked first...holding up all of those threads in the system memory can't be good for the server, right?

And there's one other problem about using seperate threads: they push actual, promising discussion threads off the first page, which means that most people won't even get to see them. I like the way Lightning put it:

Maybe a subforum for the simple questions if a thread isn't enough. It is kind of enough trying to find interesting discussion threads whilst scrolling past a bunch of questions.

I DO appreciate the fact that a FAQ was put into effect, though, and have noticed a bit of a decline in the problem, but...

 

[Forci Stikane]

I wouildn't expect a new thread to help. If we even created a new forum, I don't see it as something that will have permanent residence at the forum. I don't see a large mound of questions that can't be added to the FAQ, but I'll make it clear that I'm trying to remove these single-purpose "I have a question, plz help me" threads anyway. With people, including newbies, coming in and posting, they may more than likely ignore the presence of a Simple Questions thread anyway. The way we close threads due to a person's ignorance of the sticky threads is the same - if a new member didn't read our FAQ and posted a question, we'd direct him to the FAQ. If a member didn't see Simple Questions and just didn't post in that, we'd have a locked thread nonetheless.

My point of view is mine, regardless of whether it's shared with the other staff.

You don't see many questions...I do, though. Major example: "Where do I find (insert Pokemon name here)?" These pop up quite a bit, and the only ways I can think of to keep them from coming up all over the place without a single thread to stick them all in would be either to add EVERY Pokemon's location into the FAQ (unrealistic with the current number) or set up a link to an external site (which would, of course, be sending activity to another site). If you can think of another way, then please tell me and I'll retract this paragraph.

I'll agree that the newbies that post threads for their questions would most likely do so regardless of the presence of a Simple Questions thread OR a FAQ. However, the older members (or rather, those that were more knowledgeable with the setup of the forums) most likely WOULD use the Simple Questions thread if it were offered. And you might have a locked thread nonetheless, but with the Simple Questions option you not only have the option to merge the thread into it, but the poster of said thread also has a place to get additional help if he/she so chooses.

I recognize your point of view and respect it, but to be honest, I'd really like POVs from other staff members (particularly The Hunk, being the creator of the other major Simple Questions threads and all).

 

[Cherrim]

Well, most preferably, the Community Sites would be the places to direct traffic but...well, PPN is the only one with a working dex and even it doesn't really help when it comes to D/P. I've just ended up at Serebii all the time when I need help finding a Pokémon or its moves. :| And TP...doesn't exist right now?

Yeah, I think a forum for all these questions is probably the best way to go. At least for now--while DP is still hot and everything. It'd be insane to condense everything to one thread, but it IS cluttered with all the help threads. x_o; The forum doesn't have to be permanent--actually, I'd expect it to be removed once DP has been out for a considerable amount of time. But I don't think a FAQ is really the way to go. This kind of stuff should be on the Community Sites, if they actually want to have a useful role in the forum. <_<;