Project Pokemon FAQ System - Help & Discussion

[Poryhack]

For lack of a better name, I want to start what I'll call the Project Pokemon FAQ (frequently asked questions) System. It will be hosted on the main site, and all users will be expected to have checked it before asking questions. It should be searchable or at the very least easy to navigate. The goal is to provide a better experience for our members as well as cut down on repeated questions in the help forums.

I'd like for this to be a community project for several reasons. I think having all of you involved will make for a more well-rounded list of questions, your input will make for more intuitive answering, and doing it myself or even between all 5 admins would just be too tedious.

The purpose of this specific topic is to get your input and, eventually, your help building and maintaining this system. Please reply only if you have something valuable to contribute.

The obvious point of discussion here is what questions/answers to include, but I'd like to put that on hold for a short while. Instead consider some of the following points:

• Technical aspects - How would the backend of this system work?
  
• Intuitiveness - What is the best way to structure this system so that users can find an answer without confusion?
  
• What is the most efficient way to ensure that users have checked the system before asking for help?
  
• That's all I've got for now; there's probably more though.
  

Don't let what I've mentioned limit you; I want to hear any and all suggestions.

[Guardna]

FORMAT THE FAQS INTO SECTIONS

Break your FAQs into groups – maybe by doing a bit of card-sorting on them. Think about some sort of organising principle: by topic, by time of the month, even by alphabetical order. Anything to help people find their way to the one that’s relevant to them.

[fenzo666]

We will definitely be using anchors so you can jump to different questions.

[Poryhack]

We will definitely be using anchors so you can jump to different questions.

It should generate pages somewhat dynamically, or at the very least sort them. Anchors will be used but it's not as if we'll have extremely long pages.

I'm gonna jot down some random ideas I've had. Feel free to build on them or shoot them down.

Tagging system - Keyword searching only goes so far; there might be a lot of different ways to write the same question/answer.

User feedback - Allow the user to give feedback on whether they solved their problem or not.

I will be doing some googling to see how other sites solve this issue; I'd suggest that you do the same.

[Poryhack]

I'm a bit disappointed at the lack of interest so far.

If you've been to any of the help forums you know that something like this is very necessary, and I would hope that at least some of you out there are actually interested in furthering this site rather than just leeching off it.

As for why we can't throw some half-assed, 1-page FAQ up, I'm pretty sure that would be a waste of time. Frankly, when I say I want this to be intuitive, I mean retard-proof; that's the only way I see to actually cut down on the unnecessary crap in the help forums.

If this post seems a bit hypocritical, that's because it is. I've been busy with life and am just returning to some sense of normalcy; I hope it's the same case with all of you. Thanks.

[Greencat]

Sorry, but TBH I'm just a bit confused. Post questions that may be frequently asked in here?

[pokemonfan]

I think this is a great idea and would definitely avoid useless clutter. Ways, to see if someone checked before asking well how about everything would be catagorized historically like I asked a question in the forums "Can cows fly?" and lets just pretend that it was a frequently asked question and it is in the FAQ. I didn't check because then I would not be asking. You could look up in the history somewhere if they have been checking the FAQ and when was the last time they did.

I'm not sure how you guys would work that and I'm not sure if that was clear. However, I think there should be a way for Admins only to check the history of FAQ viewing of a member.

??Can we say frequently asked questions or questions that generated a lot of debate here??

If the question I asked above is answered yes then my question to say would be this: Which sinnoh starter should I choose?: I know that question generated a lot of debate. I think the answer is chimchar because of how his evolutions can destroy the gyms.

[damio]

If we needed to check, we would read what they have said, and if the answer is something not on the FAQ, or they said it didn't work, then we would know.

[Jayc]

Intuitiveness - What is the best way to structure this system so that users can find an answer without confusion?

Bigger categories branching out to smaller ones for browsing, like the way WikiAnswers does it.

I think it would be better to have more (linking to less similar questions, including questions in different sections) anchors than less, IMO, it might save a lot of hassle (in having to try out keyword after wrong keyword).

Tags could help there too, I suppose.

What is the most efficient way to ensure that users have checked the system before asking for help?

A big, fat sticky/announcement .

BTW, how will the FAQs be updated? User requests, new questions from the Help threads, etc.?

[randomspot555]

Announcements would be useful for updates to rules and policies for already registered users. For users before registration, a FAQ/rules on the main site can have a link near the Forums link, and maybe somewhere in the registration process.

[Ardipa]

I have a question people. When I use pokesav for platinum every thing works except the complete box. Can anyone tell me why or what can I do to fix that?

Thanks

[Neo]

When you say ''complete box'' Do you man as in the complete pokedex box or the actuall storage box itself?

[Ardipa]

yes, sorry for the bad information.

[Okami]

Perhaps there should be a section detailing all of the different pokemons hex values for Platinum? I know that would be a long list, considering how many pokemon show themselves in different areas. But it would also speed the process towards getting better legal-looking Sav'd pokemon.

[Cryptyx]

Preston's Hex guide helped me out a bunch.

http://www.projectpokemon.org/forums/showthread.php?218-~Guide-to-44h-45h-46h-47h-and-85h-Values~

There's a link to a hex converter there as well.

Another thing that would help make pokes more legal looking would be a legal guide. Mostly for people just getting into pokesav but also as a reference in case someone forgets something.

General info as far as what's possible with things like "Ball caught with", "Met at level", "Met in Place", "Date Met", "Egg hatched at", "Date egg received", "Region" (I forget to put that one A LOT).

I guess it would be possible to throw together a slot by slot reference for newbies but it would be time consuming and I'm pretty sure I've already seen one or something like it floating around. I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, so if there isn't one I could do one but I'd probably just reference Preston's Hex guide in the hex section as it covers everything well.

PS - I know I have a low post count, but it's because I'm mostly a lurker. Hahaha.

[ijea4444]

Is there a reason why COM has new versions of pokesav that have yet to be updated? I understand that their minor changes and not anything drastic from the current pokesav but still a new version nonetheless.

[JKrump]

I'm having problems with pokesav for HG that I havent had before. I edit a pokemon as I wanted and saved it as an AR code. I tried the code and it didnt work. Anyone got any ideas why? Thanks in advance