phpBB alternative for "solved" threads?

[huw]

Relying on the OP to edit the first post's topic title is not very successful.

Is there a phpBB extension that allows the OP and "The team" to tick a box somewhere easy to see (not up by the first post) that changes the topic icon or otherwise indicates a topic is resolved?

If non-team members could tick the box to request a team member to mark a topic resolved, that would be good too.

I know this would add to the workload of team members, but "View unanswered posts" & "View new posts" does not catch all unresolved topics, and being able to quickly find unresolved topics could greatly increase the "quality of service" supplied here.

[TerryE]

It's on the list of wants. It would be a lot quicker to click a solved button both for the the moderators and the initial posters, that to edit the title or add a "please edit your ...{solved]" at the bottom of the post.

[huw]

That's good. Hopefully such an extension will turn up eventually.

As an extra specification I'd suggest a "partially resolved" setting, although this may be too complicated in practice. It does however make me think "red", "amber" and "green" topics would be a good visual representation of resolution status.

[crusader]

For quite some time now, I have been meaning to add my two cents worth to this topic...

A lot of solved problems may not be read because someone searching may choose to omit the posting (falsely) believing that that particular posting does not have an answer. Getting more posts labeled solved (when they are solved), will result in faster answers and lesser need to post.

Anecdotally, there are a lot more solved topics than appearing with the "Solved" label. I believe there are two reasons for this:
1. Posters lose interest once their question has been answered
2. Posters just forget to add "Solved"

Most of the time, I believe it is a combination of the above.

A check box will be much easier and will give posters some incentive to "tag" their post as solved. The idea of the team having the authority to check off the solved box is good; however, I am wondering if that would be imposing on the team. My suggestion is sending automatic emails to posters reminding them to check off the solved box once their issue is solved. The timing of the email can be determined based on the average time it takes to resolve the issue or based on the average number of responses to resolve the issue -- or any other mechanism deemed appropriate by the team.

Thank you for the excellent work!

[DrewJensen]

Candidate 1 - http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 0&t=559217 ( Beta but developer has great rep, and it looks well thought out )

Candidate 2 http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 0&t=887815 ( Dev, but sometime simple is right )

While where on the subject of tags...
{

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 0&t=582237 ( RC, has search feature )

}

[Hagar Delest]

Any update on this?
In the mean time, the French forum has a nice trick to do that. See that index for example: Installation et configuration. They've limited the kind of icon tags and the green one is used for the Solved threads ([Résolu] tag in French).

[DrewJensen]

I like that - how does one go about marking a topic as solved then?

[Hagar Delest]

You've to edit the post and add both the icon and the [Solved] tag (either the original poster or a moderator).

Here are the options when you edit the first post of the thread:

Solved tags 2.png (7.53 KiB) Viewed 32634 times

The green one could be the only available.

[DrewJensen]

OK - thanks

[DrewJensen]

The checkmark is not part of the en forum...not really sure this is the final solution...but it is something to look at.

[r4zoli]

+1 for hu forum, too.

[DrewJensen]

( of course I better do this one...I hear you guys in Hungary start tossing things, like eggs, when you get upset about something...LOL...oh you knew someone had to poke a little fun about that didn't you.. )

I'll move the graphic over post haste...

Still though it is not what I would call a final solution..for a couple of reasons...but I do like the graphical approach..

[r4zoli]

OFF topic

( of course I better do this one...I hear you guys in Hungary start tossing things, like eggs, when you get upset about something...LOL...oh you knew someone had to poke a little fun about that didn't you.. )

We have a lot of guys trained egg throwing on politics from last year, but not all are learning informatics in university.
ON topic
For a time beeing it will be good.

[Hagar Delest]

I agree this is not a final solution (the examples you've given earlier are quite good) but since it's a long term enhancement, this temporary solution could do the trick.

I hope you've noticed the post icon!

[DrewJensen]

I did -

Most of the forums are set up so that the Icons are not visible when posting - in fact I just changed that a few minutes ago for this forum.

The question now is should we go ahead and make it visible for the forums generally - and at the same time I can turn off the visibility for those icons that we would not want to use, if we want.

[acknak]

Can I suggest changing the design, or at least the color. It's very hard to see the check-mark icon with the current theme. A plain dark-red or dark-blue would serve as well (it's the shape that's important, not the color) and be far more visible when scanning the message list.

I'd be happy to make the tweaks if that would help.

Edit:

resolu_blue.gif (637 Bytes) Viewed 32434 times

resolu_red.gif (637 Bytes) Viewed 32436 times

[DrewJensen]

I can add them both into the configuration so that we can see them in all in use, and pick one ...BRB..

[DrewJensen]

Ok - go ahead and take a look at this forum in topic list view and there are all three colored check marks.

[Hagar Delest]

My rating:
1. Green
2. Blue
3. Red (that color has a rather negative connotation that doesn't fit a 'solved' message IMHO).

[DrewJensen]

I agree that red is not likely the way to go...

[TerryE]

It just seems that this solution is a little manually intensive. How about we add either post-process or batch functionality so that if the Originator or any Volunteer sets the solved Icon for the post, this is automatically propagated to the Topic Icon?

[acknak]

Well, I don't agree that red is a problem--a check mark is always used to mean "OK". An "X" is used to mark a problem. However, I do agree that a red check could carry a mixed message, so I'll concede the point.

Here's a couple more tries: a green check that stands out more (1,2), and one that's a little more obviously blue (4,5).

I'm just fooling around here. I can't say that any of these are drastically better. I've no problem with using any of them, including the original.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

This is how its done at PC Advisor.

A green tick is the way to go. Get rid of the red and blue ticks.

PCA Solved Threads.png (5.73 KiB) Viewed 32792 times

[Hagar Delest]

I like 1 and 2, darker color should indeed be more readable.
And I agree with Bhikkhu Pesala, the green color definitively carries the right message.

[acknak]

#2 stands out a bit more to me, but here they are:

[Hagar Delest]

Do we implement it now (I mean give back the ability to add the icons)?

BTW: I think 2 icons are fine, one for solved threads and one for issues, the 3rd one (used for duplicates in the French forum) has no real added value IMHO since duplicates are deleted after a while. For issues, I find the 'radioactive' one has a better visibility.

[Hagar Delest]

I've allowed back the icons for Beginners and Setup and Troubleshouting sections as a test, it's rather nice I think, do we implement it everywhere or do we wait to see how users react?

The only problem I can think of is that users will tend to use the flame or the radioactive icons quite systematically. If we implement the icons, I'll modify the survival guide about that.

[DrewJensen]

I still thank that something more is needed, but truth is I don't see that getting a lot of attention in the short term..and I like the use of the icons..so for me

+1 to turn them on board wide and update the guide.

[Hagar Delest]

I still thank that something more is needed

Sure. What about the mods you had pointed to? Does it need a lot of work to implement them?

Edit: Done for the survival guide: http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 7&f=5#p717.

[DrewJensen]

not particularly - but it does require time and if we roll it out to each forum then each needs updates to the language packs..etc..again more time.

Also, I am thinking about the subject Terry brought up again about getting us to a more shared code deployment scheme..so I am not saying it would be next year before we could do that...but it won't be this month I don't think either.