Please use English on xda-developers.com - About xda-developers.com

I know I have let this slip, mostly because of a lack of spare time over the past weeks. But there has been a flurry of messages posted in Italian over the past weeks, and I've decided to ask the italian community on xda-developers to start speaking English instead of Italian. A slightly different version of this same message has been replied to active topics in Italian.
I know that discussions of Italian ROMs seem to hold little of interest except to Italian speakers, but that's not always true. On browsing the discussions I see many things that could be of use to others that now cannot read what's being said. And it's anoying to those that want to keep up on all new messages posted to keep having to find out the thread is in a language they don't speak.
I could ofcourse create an Italian forum. And as it so happens, I read enough Italian to make sense of most of it (as I speak Spanish). But then when the Koreans and Polish want a sub-board next week, I end up with all these discussions on our system that I cannot read. Given the legal risks that surround an open-forum operation such as this, this would be unacceptable.
So, I'm marking the subject of existing threads that contain Italian, and I'm afraid I have to politely ask the Italians to return to English (which I have seen most Italian posters actually master quite well).

Related

LOOK HERE WM7 photon build for hermes

Im sure that got your attention...
There seems to be some recent issues with the massive amounts of new members that just learned how to type but dont know how to read or click the search button located in the upper right corner of your screen...
Now look, enough is enough, if your not going to read, or search, or post things in the proper threads then dont ***** when your being flamed... This forum has very simple rules and i used to think they werent hard to follow...
some of you will say, "The search button doesnt work, just brings up a bunch of junk and i have to sift through useless threads and cant find what i am looking for".... anyone wanna guess why?!? its because of the people that post without reading, its becoming a cluttered mess and a few noob's short of xda-developers.howardsforums.com
So some suggestions before you post:
Search
Read the f*cking wiki
Make your posting it in the right thread
If you have to start a new topic then make sure you include very detailed information if you want help, otherwise you will be ignored
If you like a rom then dont waste thread space by telling the creator how much you like the rom, update your signature and proudly display what rom you are using, or donate some $ to XDA, or to the creator(s)
Be smart and the other members will play nice
Oh one other thing to the frequent senior members (or the ones that dont post useless ****)
Instead of flaming on the noob's(which i know is fun ) could we just ignore them instead? im shooting for a less hostile enviroment.
p.s. any useless replies to this topic could be subject to edit
my new hero
dude you are so my new hero
A heuristic noob post filter would be nice, automatically diverting such posts to the New Beginners Forum called /dev/null . . . or "Recycle Bin" for you Windows guys
Yes, lately there have been a huge number of new members, and yes, the noob questions are sometimes annoying.
But to
3) Flame the crap out of them
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is in my opinion not the right way to react.
Some more or less senior members have tried that in the last few weeks, and it didn't work - there are still as many noob posts as there were before.
But that approach definitely changed this place - from being a friendly and helpful forum to a hostile place full of foul language and an arrogance from some "senior" members who seem to think newcomers are inferior human beings. You know, there are areas where the Wiki has outdated or incomplete information, so "Read The F*ing Wiki" is not always the appropriate answer.
And even in cases where it is, insulting people like it has become standard here by a few "senior" members is extremely rude, and for me is not an acceptable way of communication.
Thanks for listening,
Daniel
tadzio said:
But that approach definitely changed this place - from being a friendly and helpful forum to a hostile place full of foul language and an arrogance from some "senior" members who seem to think newcomers are inferior human beings. You know, there are areas where the Wiki has outdated or incomplete information, so "Read The F*ing Wiki" is not always the appropriate answer.
And even in cases where it is, insulting people like it has become standard here by a few "senior" members is extremely rude, and for me is not an acceptable way of communication.
Thanks for listening,
Daniel
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I totally agree with you, moderators or seniors should never use such language, no matter hoe right they are.
Shogunmark and some other "seniors", you should be ashamed of yourself...
pietrucci said:
I totally agree with you, moderators or seniors should never use such language, no matter hoe right they are.
Shogunmark and some other "seniors", you should be ashamed of yourself...
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Just to clarify: my comment wasn't directed towards shogunmark. In the first post of this thread, he also asks senior members to stop flaming noobs.
that might not be in a proper place to say , i may sound noob .
but i have a suggestion , why don't you make a spam bot like some forums do .
that spam bot detects autimatically any posts by the same user if they are close in time of posting ,
example : user named Noob posted 4 threads with the same exact content in less than 10 minutes .
"hi i'm noob and i don't know **** in this forum and i'm having fun ."
so the spam bot detect this noob posts and informs the moderators of it .
i hope it might help .
WBR
shogunmark said:
some of you will say, "The search button doesnt work, just brings up a bunch of junk and i have to sift through useless threads and cant find what i am looking for".... anyone wanna guess why?!? its because of the people that post without reading, its becoming a cluttered mess and a few noob's short of xda-developers.howardsforums.com
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in point of fact, the search button is "useless" because it defaults to the "show thread" mode in displaying query results. the "show thread" search result display mode presents only the topic ("thread / thread starter") under which the relevant result was posted (and thus only the ability to click into the thread from the first post). the response to any given query is therefore a list of top-level post titles (topics) which may or may not have relevance to the more deeply-nestled posts that the search engine has deemed pertinent to the user's inputted keywords/constraints. this is exacerbated by the default forum settings, which yield in excess of 50 display pages for many threads-- a condition that becomes all the more likely when a thread generates a lot of traffic/discourse (i.e.; when a thread might likely contain a worthwhile and relevant search result).
i find search results displayed in this fashion to be utterly useless. if i'm looking for an answer to question A, which was raised under topic X three weeks and 400 posts after the thread began, i'll never find it. i'd probably then start a new thread with just that already-answered question as it's topic-- certainly and evidently to the chagrin of moderators forum-wide, but within their power to remedy.
incidentally, what if any advantage is there to the default display method? i may be showing some naivete here, but i've never found it at all useful (quite the contrary); i use the forum's search engine only and precisely in those cases where my brain's proprietary search agency has failed-- that is, *because* no thread topic seems applicable to my question, i pose it to the engine, and on its default setting, it responds by reiterating the top-level subjects i've already discarded.
that is the very definition of uselessness in search results, the blame for which, i think, does not lay with new users as you claim, but with a (seemingly?) foolish server setting.
shogunmark said:
Instead of flaming on the noob's(which i know is fun ) could we just ignore them instead? im shooting for a less hostile enviroment.
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it's never the new users who are hostile, though, is it? in fact, they're usually overly obsequious, probably owing to the fact that every time in the past that they've asked a question of one of the hallowed mobile-device-forum moderators, they've been made to feel stupid for lacking experience enough to solve their own problem. systematic ignorance of any one sector of the mobile device community would conspicuously diminish the broad appeal and utility of xda-developers amazing wealth of techknowledge.
Simple. When people register - send them an email that explains some of the forum do's and don'ts and how to search for individual posts.
I never meant for this to spark such a debate,
the point i wanted to make was this is a "technical development forum" and should be treated as such
if the situation spirals into too much garbage then the people who actually contribute to this community might give up due to frustration that could have otherwise been avoided.
i much prefer to be a forum troll rather than a post count hungry noise creator.
But at the moment even being a reader not poster sucks
/rant
endipott said:
in point of fact, the search button is "useless" because it defaults to the "show thread" mode in displaying query results. the "show thread" search result display mode presents only the topic ("thread / thread starter") under which the relevant result was posted (and thus only the ability to click into the thread from the first post). the response to any given query is therefore a list of top-level post titles (topics) which may or may not have relevance to the more deeply-nestled posts that the search engine has deemed pertinent to the user's inputted keywords/constraints. this is exacerbated by the default forum settings, which yield in excess of 50 display pages for many threads-- a condition that becomes all the more likely when a thread generates a lot of traffic/discourse (i.e.; when a thread might likely contain a worthwhile and relevant search result).
i find search results displayed in this fashion to be utterly useless. if i'm looking for an answer to question A, which was raised under topic X three weeks and 400 posts after the thread began, i'll never find it. i'd probably then start a new thread with just that already-answered question as it's topic-- certainly and evidently to the chagrin of moderators forum-wide, but within their power to remedy.
Blah blah blah
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Have you never seen the link for "SEARCH THIS THREAD"? its not hard.
I want to know, mmm, which SPL to use, i get a myriad of search results, some CLEARLY from the headers useful.
However, i've searched something a little more ambigeuos, i find and open what i feel are relevant threads, then search them. The 5 mins it takes to do that search will 99.9% of the time result in an answer, and take them less time than waiting for someone to answer.
Currently there are a massive amoun tof new idiots on the forums. Im fairly new myself, but i read the Wiki, read most of the current threads and searched before i asked for something. Its not hard.
Personally i think the forum needs for stronger moderation, in that users are given a three strike rule. Post utter rubbish without searchinig three times, and they become banned.
Clearly anyone not capable of the simplest of forum ettiqette doesnt belong here and will never really contribute anything.
tadzio
you dont have to be politically correct, you can name me as being a senior member who uses foul language. the fact of the matter is i dont give a crap!. i have to deal with hundreds of PM's per day asking the darn same thing and its getting frikken annoying.
i think from this point forward i will hold off on new builds of wm6 till this forum gets sorted.
One thing you have to realise, these noobs who ask the same darn thing over and over again are mostly (not all) here NOT to contribute to the vast pool of knowledge, they are here to frikken leach, then if something dont work for them they frikken complain, *****, winge, and post numerious threads and posts.
I am not ashamed of myself because i dont give a ****.... i think i got the right to use foul language when enough is enough.,
my ****en 2cents worth!
anybody doest like what i am saying can go **** themselves and use wm5! Welcome to the Land Down Under ****wits!
tadzio said:
Yes, lately there have been a huge number of new members, and yes, the noob questions are sometimes annoying.
But to
is in my opinion not the right way to react.
Some more or less senior members have tried that in the last few weeks, and it didn't work - there are still as many noob posts as there were before.
But that approach definitely changed this place - from being a friendly and helpful forum to a hostile place full of foul language and an arrogance from some "senior" members who seem to think newcomers are inferior human beings. You know, there are areas where the Wiki has outdated or incomplete information, so "Read The F*ing Wiki" is not always the appropriate answer.
And even in cases where it is, insulting people like it has become standard here by a few "senior" members is extremely rude, and for me is not an acceptable way of communication.
Thanks for listening,
Daniel
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Tadzio,
the wiki might be outdated with some information but not the basic! which is the answers to 90% of the questions asked! Im with Jaz in that they are here for one thing and thats to leech and leave, if there is a problem then ***** and whinge... i thought this was 'xda-developers' not 'xda-noobs', i have some patience for noobs for resonable questions but when they download a ROM and cannot be bothered to read the 'How To' and where to post sections enough is enough... its hard enough for us Cookers to keep track of real bugs and issues enough without sifting through useless threads about crap.
i came here for one thing to broaden my knowledge of PDA's and Windows Mobile and i have learnt so much from this site, because i read and read before posting.
I am not ashamed of the way i speak to ppl who dont take the time to read the pages that we write to help benefit the noobs in the first place.
my ****n two cents!
tadzio said:
Just to clarify: my comment wasn't directed towards shogunmark. In the first post of this thread, he also asks senior members to stop flaming noobs.
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This was so funny ...
Oops, sorry but I really couldn't help it.
Mr Tadzio just means well. You can see he does not want to offend anyone as you can see from his immediate note.
I'm also a newbie, as you can see from the amount of my posts, but I really really really try to search and read everything you guys post. It is a difficult task, though, to encourage everyone to read, read and read and then ask questions later but I guess nothing comes easy.
I also like the 'heuristic programming' to block noobs from posting. Hilarious. Like, you can create key phrases like 'how do you hard-reset' or 'where are the office applications' and just block them from posting. haha
jasjamming said:
Welcome to the Land Down Under ****wits!
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That must be from the live version of the Men At Work song...
junior my self
I agree with the senior members, Mods, as a junior I flashed my universal countless of times without asking too much questions on the board it just took time reading through the wiki and sometimes reading through the posts relating to topics you want your question to be answered.
Having bought my new MDA Vario II it took me one week reading through the wiki, forums almost everything topic relating to Upgrading my device and the risks involved, since my first flash i havent encounter any bad flash of sort.
I read through the posts every hour and sometimes, I get irritated of the questions been asked repeatedly, so in terms of the senior members, Rom Cookers devoting thier own time giving us thier great work to share and let our devices look and feel as if it couldnt be better the least we do is just read, think and just before posting just think ( Is this question been mentioned before?)
I think the Mods,senior members should introduce some sort of membership before registering to new or to make it fair even existing members as to lessen new members who just want to come and go when they find what they want and also this would incorporate fundings towards XDA DEVELOPERS,
jUST MY 5CENTS
where can I download photon....
Eh?
.... seriously though... I used to have problems with the search function - hadnt taken the time to use the "show posts" option rather than the "show threads". Once I'd made the switch.. easy street...
mxlaser said:
Have you never seen the link for "SEARCH THIS THREAD"? its not hard.
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yes, we'll i spent about a year on the site thinking i couldn't use the search function at all because of the issue discussed above, only to recently discover the "search posts" option. you've just blown my mind with that "search thread." maybe now i'll be able to enable the internal gps on the hermes or successfully cook a simple damn ext_rom. ok, so i really missed the boat on the search functionality, but this illuminates the apparently widespread issue of search confusion, no? there is no treatment on queries in the wiki of any kind, aimed either at beginners or SQL engineers. i'm really rather technologically adept (notwithstanding present evidence to the contrary) and for whatever reason, i, too, managed to miss those functions. now, granted, in two years this is the first discussion i've been involved in, so obviously i worked silently through that very newbish failure to read the whole page without disturbing any other community members, but we can't expect all people who find themselves in the possession of a PPC to be able to immediately comprehend all that's needed in order for them to even begin to practically consider messing with the device.
unwired's point here is "simple," (as advertised) but really kind of elegant. i'd maybe extend it thus: perhaps someone (i clearly am not qualified, having missed that button which would have saved me many fruitless google domain searches) should draft a wiki treatment of the query interface. perhaps another could take up general forum ettiquette. mxlaser, maybe you could take up an introduction to SPL. make each section efficient and accurate, and call it the "new member welcome package." update the FAQ. do these things, and then you have a right to "flame" users who abrogate those then explicitly-posted regulations.
ultimately, the only way to ensure that threads stay on topic and avoid duplication is to heavily moderate. intrusive measures like probationary no-posting periods for new users run counter to the underlying concept of this type of web forum. i don't know how any system of regulations would or could work, but moderators should at least be deleting off-topic posts, and removing those other posts, too. you know the ones, where established users get all angry at a newbie for something or other and wax profane about how that newbie might better spend his time? yeah, well, those just waste more of everyone else's. if someone wants to give me privileges, i'd take on the challenge of cleaning up a little corner of the xda universe.
just as long as we're all on about the moderators, i think we should remember something my grandpa used to say: "everything in moderation, including moderation..."
oh also quickly:
mxlaser said:
Clearly anyone not capable of the simplest of forum ettiqette doesnt belong here and will never really contribute anything.
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in which canon of bulletin-board etiquette did you read that it was acceptable to intentionally misquote the person to whom you are responding? ["blah blah blah"] that seems to me to be a pretty simple, basic, fundamental requirement of discussion forums in general, i.e.: respect the written record... it looks as if you're behind in the count; you'd better protect the plate...
Can the board software be modded to set search posts as default?

Changes to rules, practices and standards while on XDA?

Have there been some rule, practices or standards changes to how members should be interacting on the forums of XDA?
More now than ever I see an increase in moved threads, derogatory comments from older members and a lack of consistency in regulating and allowing questions, answers and comments to be made on the forums. Is this a fabrication of my own mind or has there been an increase that other have noted?
If there have been changes and if there has been an increase in complaint about usage of the forums, conduct, etc, than why have members not received an updated TOS or an email indicating what the changes are? Why are pinned, stickied threads not universally posted across forums so all members see them regardless of what sub-forum they are in?
In other words, why for 4 years does the forum seem polite, friendly and awesome but today I fear to press SUBMIT on anything?
Is the community being stiffled because there are so many new HTC users and they are newbs and taking advantage of the positive community that XDA is?
Anyway I hope that XDA is not seeing an influx of stupidity in it's user community and thus causing pain to the real heroes on this forum. Some of us have politely used this forum as a resource and LIFE SAFER for our devices and we definately don't want things to change.
Thanks for any input to help me ease back into posting and having dialogs with the rom devs and cooks.
On my personal opinion, I´m not a Mod or Dev, I´m just a simple member
Of course XDA-DEVS has been changing and adapting
Is not the same to have a site with 30 members with more personal and friendly contact between them than to have a site with hundreds of users...
personal friendly contact of course is lost in certain way, I don´t mean that XDA is not friendly anymore, but rules must change and adapt to the big site that has become now
Of course more rules have to apply.
Also imagine you are a Mod and you find that in a year you answered the same question like 1000 times!, of course you´ll be more sensitive when someone ask the same again.
80% of the members here never READ the rules so they don´t care about them, they just want to be attended and answered by their personal needs
In a few words only a few people really respect this site.
Just my personal point of view, not intend to offend anyone
Cheers,
There have been a lot of threads being moved to help with the organization. Mainly with the floods of anonymous questions in the wrong areas.
One major problem seems to be the people who never think to read the wiki, seems that 90% of the 'help' posts could have been answered by looking at the wiki.
(I'm definitely a wiki fan as it helped me to learn to flash my phone correctly).
I imagine the problem is that now these phones are more accessible to a wider public, people turn up without any real idea of how things function in here (and indeed in many forums of all sorts).
I've only been here a short while & at first (after learning how to modify my device) did try to answer a few questions with links to the wiki, but after a few days I've become lazy when I see those 'help ! my phone is bricked !' type threads. Which is actually pretty crap on my part as I'm a noob who learnt by looking (& has still much to learn & look through) & I should make an effort to help out other noobs & relieve a bit of the pressure off the older members & mods.
Maybe an idea would be that someone (or some people) could make a small section of noob help to be added to the first mail a member receives when signing up. It could contain links to the wikis & the general hints upon searching before asking obvious questions.
That´s the main problem
Nobody READS, so if more threads pointing to the Wiki are created is going to be the same, noobs will not READ, because as I´ve said before only a few members really care for this site, the mayority only cares for it´s own device problems, want to be answered and in the best case you get a thank you...
Thresher said:
Have there been some rule, practices or standards changes to how members should be interacting on the forums of XDA?
More now than ever I see an increase in moved threads, derogatory comments from older members and a lack of consistency in regulating and allowing questions, answers and comments to be made on the forums. Is this a fabrication of my own mind or has there been an increase that other have noted?
If there have been changes and if there has been an increase in complaint about usage of the forums, conduct, etc, than why have members not received an updated TOS or an email indicating what the changes are? Why are pinned, stickied threads not universally posted across forums so all members see them regardless of what sub-forum they are in?
In other words, why for 4 years does the forum seem polite, friendly and awesome but today I fear to press SUBMIT on anything?
Is the community being stiffled because there are so many new HTC users and they are newbs and taking advantage of the positive community that XDA is?
Anyway I hope that XDA is not seeing an influx of stupidity in it's user community and thus causing pain to the real heroes on this forum. Some of us have politely used this forum as a resource and LIFE SAFER for our devices and we definately don't want things to change.
Thanks for any input to help me ease back into posting and having dialogs with the rom devs and cooks.
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Please See:
TheChampJT said:
There have been a lot of threads being moved to help with the organization. Mainly with the floods of anonymous questions in the wrong areas.
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aE3-ink said:
One major problem seems to be the people who never think to read the wiki, seems that 90% of the 'help' posts could have been answered by looking at the wiki.
(I'm definitely a wiki fan as it helped me to learn to flash my phone correctly).
I imagine the problem is that now these phones are more accessible to a wider public, people turn up without any real idea of how things function in here (and indeed in many forums of all sorts).
I've only been here a short while & at first (after learning how to modify my device) did try to answer a few questions with links to the wiki, but after a few days I've become lazy when I see those 'help ! my phone is bricked !' type threads. Which is actually pretty crap on my part as I'm a noob who learnt by looking (& has still much to learn & look through) & I should make an effort to help out other noobs & relieve a bit of the pressure off the older members & mods.
Maybe an idea would be that someone (or some people) could make a small section of noob help to be added to the first mail a member receives when signing up. It could contain links to the wikis & the general hints upon searching before asking obvious questions.
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orb3000 said:
That´s the main problem
Nobody READS, so if more threads pointing to the Wiki are created is going to be the same, noobs will not READ, because as I´ve said before only a few members really care for this site, the mayority only cares for it´s own device problems, want to be answered and in the best case you get a thank you...
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So yeah, there have been an influx of "stupid" newbs. people who take without regard for the informal structure that has existed for years.
There haven't been any Changed to the Rules. Just maybe MORE enforcement to respond to MORE infractions.
orb3000 said:
That´s the main problem
Nobody READS, so if more threads pointing to the Wiki are created is going to be the same, noobs will not READ, because as I´ve said before only a few members really care for this site, the mayority only cares for it´s own device problems, want to be answered and in the best case you get a thank you...
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What I meant was to not create new threads but answering the posts with the link to the wiki. I just did a few here :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=481763
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=481739
Mainly trying to make them go to the wiki to find their answer.
I guess it's doing half the work for them but I can imagine that some people come along & aren't used to digging around & sometimes need a wee shove to help them along.
Of course some just don't care & I imagine you long timers & mods/admin get really tired of them, so us newer members should start to help out even if it is only in a small way.
orb3000 said:
Of course more rules have to apply.
Also imagine you are a Mod and you find that in a year you answered the same question like 1000 times!, of course you´ll be more sensitive when someone ask the same again.
80% of the members here never READ the rules so they don´t care about them, they just want to be attended and answered by their personal needs
In a few words only a few people really respect this site.
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Good point, well taken.
Thanks, for the input. I do appreciate it.
Actually, if you read the guidelines Peter P wrote all them years ago they still apply.
For example:
1. Check if something hasn't been asked before - a lot of the mod activity is enforcing this, removing / closing redundant questions that already have answers. The other day I closed a thread with the answer of the wiki home page, nothing more (I was feeling mean ), and 10 minutes later I saw the user download the software they asked for - they must have found the software by searching and reading the wiki .
Just my 2p's worth,
Dave
@Thresher
I guess JimmyMcgee is a bit harsh (stupid newbs), but has a good point anyways. I have been a member of this since July 2005 and this place has not changed a bit. Every single value and rule is the same as when I joined. The structure that this site has, has worked for many years, making this a haven for people that either want to learn or simply need help. It is not the site's rules and regulations that have changed, but the quality of people joining the site...
Over the past year, I have seen virtually every single one of the main and most common sense rules being broken. Point and case, do you know how many threads in Chinese, German, French, Italian (I have yet to see one in Spanish but I have seen a few posts with a lot of cursing in Spanish ) and an endless number of other languages have been started over the last year?? This is an English speaking forum and if I am not mistaken, one of the rules is "please post in English so others can understand"... one would think thats common sense. Of course, you will have the good ol' fashioned person (to avoid name calling) that will rant about how they don't speak English and that it is very unfair how they cannot ask questions (or read the comments) because of that... To that I say, "Google is a wonderful thing, you know? You can do things such as writing your stuff and then using the translate function to turn your question into something that some people might actually be able to understand." Believe me, my first language is Spanish and I would like nothing more than to make less effort into writing, but hey it's not a matter of what I like and what is more convenient... it's common sense.
Now, I read your original thread in the Q&A question where you complained that you posted something in the Raphael forums and got moved somewhere else. That thread where you placed your post clearly stated that no posts/replies were supposed to be made. So, the mods decided to move it where they saw fit to belong. That is what the mods are here for, to turn this utterly, disorganized, never ending chaos that we call a forum and make it enjoyable for them as well as for other members. And they do a great job at that!
Long story short, (again quoting JimmyMcgee)
"There haven't been any Changed to the Rules. Just maybe MORE enforcement to respond to MORE infraction."
Thanks for understanding.
The longer one is on the site, the more one answers the same questions over and over the less nice you are going to be about it.
Loads and loads of people have google search XDA link in there sig, and 90% of questions have been answered at least once before, sometimes even on the same page.
People are lazy, and want it handed to them on a plate, its sad.
The world is constantly developing and changing, the internet reaches more places in the world than ever. With satallites, virtually the whole earth is covered by some sort of cell service ( well except my downstairs office where I can never get a signal ). With the advent of global email and texts, more people than ever have cell phones, and the number of PDA's grow every month.
What used to be a small forum of enthusiats trying out and sharing hacks, to try to make their phones better, has turned into one of , if not the best source of information on the net for Windows Mobile phones. I have not been to a windows mobile , HTC or carrier forum on the net that doesn't reference XDA to people with " unanswerable " questions.
With this designation of " the authority " comes the influx of human nature. "The I want it and I want it now's." The people who think that this is HTC's tech support. The people who don't really care about their phones and don't want to, but just have one question and cannot see why you cannot just anwer it and let them get on with their lives, etc...etc.... Go to any other enthusiast site and see how ignorant ( ie: unknowledgeable ) people get treated, not much differently. " I know that this is a high performance engine forum, where people trade ideas on how to increase the horse power of high performance cars, but can someone tell me where the dipstick is on my 1999 mini van ?"
Too bad there wasn't a way to route every noob or web redirect through a home page that includes the " what XDA is " and the posting rules page, before they can navigate to the site itself. Maybe for at least their first 10 posts or more. The fustrations with redundant questions, ungrateful noobs, people that think this is tech support are endemic of any forum. But I really think that ti is not a problem here, as much as I have seen on other sites. And if someone wants to remedy it, I think the remedy has to work friom the noobs up and not from the seniors down.
Google is a wonderful thing but as Google admits to: human nature, vocabulary, language and grammar make search engine results wildly different for each user. Google also has issues with short words and abbreviations which are used a lot throughout XDA.
The WIKI is great.
I guess other forums I use have a feature to show you similar questions based on the language you used before you finish your post. I wonder if this forum has that ability. I think it comes as part of the vBulletin package but it takes a toll on the server due to DB hits.

Xda-Devs sister site - another approach

Hi everyone,
this issue has been discussed for a very long time and to date there is no solution.
The Problem:
Many people are frustrated with HTC-devices (Qualcomm CPUs etc) and would like to switch to other devices (non-HTC devices).
Their fear is to loose the incredible support provided at Xda-Developers. To loose all the custom ROMs, themes, hacks and so on. In my opinion, this site really adds value to HTC devices.
Previous solution suggested: Add sub-forums for non-HTC devices. BUT we all know the problems (stated probably a hundred times by admins and mods).
New solution:
My suggestion is simple. Found a new forum with a similar name or take an existing one, maybe customize the design a bit so it somehow resembles this site).
Then add a small bar at the very top of each page with a list of links in a horizontal row:
Xda-Developers --- WinMo-Developers --- [whatever]
The "Pro"s:
-Everyone asking for additional subforums for non-HTC devices could be forwarded to the new forum. Not to any forum but that specific one. So all people with non-HTC devices would gather in one place.
-Xda-Devs users would notice the bar and (probably) register in this forum as well to have another place to promote their things (for example a lot of stuff in the Dev-and-Hacking section could be used for other devices as well).
The "Con"s:
-Main problem as always...servers, money, committed people (for admin/mod-jobs)
-Some may be annoyed by the bar (although it could be kept very small; 15px or so would do)
-And of course it is up to Xda-Devs users to help in the new sister forum.
But since I know this community and all the amazing, friendly and committed people that belong to it I think many will join the new forum and help with Hard SPL, cooking etc.
I really hope the Admins consider this solution. It is not that hard to realize and nevertheless it would help.
well istarted a site a while ago
winmodevs.com
Yes, I know your site..the question is if the admins are willing to turn my idea into reality. And it also depends on you of course.
i have spoken the admin here and all im willing to say is ive not been told that there wil never be some sort of recognition between boards at a professional level just not yet
i have a link to xda on my homepage already
I´ll wait for the reply of an admin, let´s see.
of course all i was telling you is what they told me
iasked if they wanted to be officail partners and the answer was not yet
I see another big con. It is all about WinMo, so there is vast number of apps which is working on almost all WinMo devices no matter if it is or isn't HTC. How are you going to deal with it? Make double topics on both XDA main and sister sites?
every replication means more coverage and also ex
tra mirrors

I propose a rule change for Chinese speakers

Hey there guys and gals,
I'm an American, ex software developer, living in China with otherwise no ethnic relation to anwhere but the USA, Germany, Holland, and Scotland.
I recently saw a Chinese language thread closed by a mod because it broke the rules on English only threads. However, I think this is counter-productive and guarantee's this site a back seat. Why? Because HTC is a Chinese company, and together with Dopod, their mainland incarnation, are staffed by Chinese speaking developers who often have an extremely limited knowledge of English.
You want to explain to me why our HD2 here, has a xda-china.com custom ROM, yet there is NO hardspl yet for HD2. Do the math. Many of us native English speaking developers have learned Chinese and can speak it just fine. We'd like to converse with the core of the HTC community -- Chinese speakers. Why should we have to leave our own development website to do so?
My question is about weighing benefits to costs, and I think the answer is 100% benefit, no cost. Please welcome our Chinese only speaking friends.
Rob
PS I know there are Chinese XDA websites -- I'm asking why they should be the main xda sites and not this one. Being English only puts us in second place.
The rules say that you ARE permitted to post in Chinese or any other language, but a translation must be given (even a poor quality google one).
We have this rule for boring practical reasons to do with Moderation and Administration of the site. The Moderators and Admin, must be able to read and understand what is being posted - and for pure convenience the chosen language is English as it is the most widespread language (... and I don't necessarily mean that it is spoken by the greatest number of people.) Keep in mind that the owners of the site are Dutch, yet they setup the forum in English to make it broadly accessible.
I appreciate what you say, but as yet I think we need to retain a language that is broadly understood across country boundaries - yet as I say allowing posts in any language with a translation provided. (though I do admit this is a time consuming inconvenience for non-english speakers)
Mike
That's a very reasonable rule. Thanks for clarifying that for me.
Rob
Lolz, Why don't you go to Copenhagen mike. You got nice pursuasive skills bro. Thumbs up.
lol,that sounds funny..
hey the other gentleman, can you plz get us some mood about china? whats happening with mr.jintao..btw why dont you try to mediate in usa and china, you are in a better position,dont you ! lolz, sorry for being off topic.

Repeat threads - potential reason

ok, so over the last few days ive been thinking, is there a reasons why people keep posting the same question time after time. Then the other day over at the WP7 on teh HD2 forum i thought i might have an answer
yes this is an english based site, we all know that, no ones questioning that, however is there a a chance that people simply do not understand the english on the website its self, forget the threads, im talking the website.
so for instance, you type in a new thread name and it comes up with a selection of possible threads already out there, well, if your grasp of english isnt that good then perhaps you dont understand what that is going on about.
So i was wondering, is there a way to get the website to change to different languanges, just site, not the forums, posting a new thread would bring up the same list of alternatives out there but it would have a line or two detailing what users should try to do first, in there language.
yes yes a lot of work but the simple fact is, people dont read whats available on here, potentially because they dont understand it, the search isnt great, and if you dont speak or read english too good than your on to a bad start, then you will get a torrent of abuse from over critical members which gets everyone elses back up
anyhow just a thought
Hmmm ... I don't think it would change anything. We can all notice the same issues on our native languages forums so this is not a matter of people who don't understand English.
Same questions and threads are posted as people are just lazy and don't want to search. They think a forum is a place to post their own question even if it has been posted 100 times before, not to search. Just look at the number of threads that start with "Sorry if it has already been posted but I don't have the time to read previous pages or search the forum".

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