Prompt message for new forum topics
Following discussions in chat, this is a suggestion to improve the web forum.
In the Inkscape forum, new posters often ask questions that have already been answered. This wastes the time of people who have to respond. They also fail to include basic details to help with troubleshooting.
I'd suggest they are shown an alert or pop-up message when they try to start a new thread, encouraging them to search for answers before they post their question. The alert would also ask them to include relevant information in their question. Possible wording...
Hi, new poster!
Before you ask a question, have you tried searching the forums for an answer? Many common questions have been asked before, and the information you need might be there already. Here are a couple of links to help you.
Search page (link) / Inkscape manual (link)
If you can't find an answer, please go ahead and ask your question and include the following details...
- Give your question a descriptive subject that summarises the problem ('Error' or 'Please help' are not descriptive subjects)
- Include your operating system and version
- Include your Inkscape version (available via menu Help / About Inkscape)
- Explain fully what you're trying to do and what problem you're having. The more detail you can provide, the more likely you'll get help.
- Where appropriate, include screenshots or attach an SVG file to the comment that shows the issue.
This alert could be shown to anyone starting a new thread, or possibly to those starting a new thread who have less than, say, 5 comments.
There's actually a stickied comment in the forum here that could be used for wording...
https://inkscape.org/forums/questions/get-good-answers-here/
Sadly, many people don't bother reading above comment before they post, so we have to respond asking for more detail. This is time wasting/frustrating for us and no doubt for the original poster too. Therefore, showing a prompt when the thread is created could help significantly.