Two New Forums

[Brandon Martus]

Hi,

You may have noticed the two new forums. I'll go through & explain what they are here for.

Q&A: A place to ask a question, and get an answer, without all of the extra discussion & off-topic interference. Questions will be answered by a select few of veteran FIRST participants. This is especially a good place for rookie teams to ask questions, and not be bombarded by talk of previous season, off-season events, and other discussion besides the answer they were looking for. Note: the few initially selected to answer questions are not the only people that are going to be allowed to answer questions. The group will grow as time goes on.

Extra Discussion: A place where threads on particular topics are automatically started. Particular topics include Q&A thread discussion, Image Gallery / White Paper discussion (each image/paper could have their own thread), Ventures System, etc.

The Extra Discussion forum allows replies only. The Q&A forum allows new threads only.

So -- in the Q&A forum -- once a question has been answered (meaning, the thread has 1 reply) there will be a 'Discuss this Thread' link that will show up on each post. Click it -- you will be taken to a thread to discuss this question/answer in further detail, if needed.

As usual -- post comments, questions, suggestions, etc.

Thanks

PS: If you haven't already -- go check out the Ventures System

[Jack]

Now, is the generation of the post in the 'other' forum from the reply in the 'Q&A' forum automatic?

Otherwise, exelcent idea

[Brandon Martus]

It creates the new discussion thread when its needed....automagically. (when someone clicks the 'discuss this thread' link) Both threads will also have links to each other, so you know what thread each reference.

[rbayer]

Very cool. If you can only create new threads in the Q & A forum, how does anyone give the A to your Q? Is it a "submit for review" type system or something entirely different?

<edit>
Ditto on the "Extra Discussion." I understand the discussion for stuff in the Q & A being created automatically, but how do you discuss a white paper? Will there eventually be a "discuss this paper" link next to each white paper?
</edit>

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by rbayer
Very cool. If you can only create new threads in the Q & A forum, how does anyone give the A to your Q? Is it a "submit for review" type system or something entirely different?

The answers are only given by people who have been invited to do so, based on their experience & knowledge of FIRST. If, after a period of time, nobody has the answer, it may open up for anybody to answer [via the 'discuss this thread' link]

Will there eventually be a "discuss this paper" link next to each white paper?

eventually. didn't have time to do it last night.

[Ken Leung]

Originally posted by Brandon Martus
The answers are only given by people who have been invited to do so, based on their experience & knowledge of FIRST. If, after a period of time, nobody has the answer, it may open up for anybody to answer [via the 'discuss this thread' link]

Just go into the Q&A forum and take a look at the list of moderators. Yesterday, an e-mail was sent to a small group of people asking if they are willing to help answer questions in the Q&A forum. The list of moderators right now is only 1/2 to 2/3 of that group.

As we try out this Q&A forum and see how it is going to work out, and as we go further into the build period, we will see who else have lots of experience & knowledge of FIRST and are really helpful in supplying answers to people who have questions, and add them onto the list of moderators.

Like Andy Baker commented:

Originally posted by Andy Baker
OK... as for the question of who and how to determine them, I think that anyone should have the ability to answer these questions. Some of the best stuff that goes on in the CD forum is when a student comes up with a great answer to a difficult question. Sure, it is nice to see "experts" give their opinions, but it is also good to see experienced students show their stuff.

So, for those of you out there who know the answers to questions, feel free to PM one of the moderators on this list, and submit your answer to them. You answer will be credited if they are good . This way, we will all know some of the potential answerers and suggest their name to CD to be added on the list.

It would be great to see lots of "experts" in FIRST from different regions join in the list, so questions about specific regions like "where can we buy pneumatics in bay area, california?" can be answered.


The only concern I have is how to make sure this Q&A forum doesn't get clogged up like the Yahoo Board... It got pretty bad when a lot of people ask some tough questions, and FRC engineers didnt want to answer them until they get confirmation from Eric R. But the good thing about doing this Q&A forum here is:

1. Our words won't become new rules for the competitions,
2. The really tough questions we can't answer we can open it up to discussion, and if that doesn't work, we can suggest the person to ask FIRST. Hopefully this will make sure we get through all the questions.
3. We got a lot more answerers than the number of FRC engineers last year.
4. The questions won't get lost in the other forums with lots of discussions going on.

Oh yeah, and we shall see if anyone will actually ask questions in here at all...

[Brandon Martus]

There are now links in the image gallery and the white papers. Woo.

Also! Next to each white paper there is a 'link' link. That is a link to the individual white paper. Now you won't have to go 'its somewhere in the white papers'... you can actually give someone a direct link to the particular white paper you are referencing.