Question&Answer system evaluation

users
#1

Hi everyone,

while discussing the possible platforms for an official user forum, the idea arose[1] to also evaluate a Q&A forum, similar to the well-known stackoverflow[2].
I've set up an instance of askbot to allow users to test such a forum and comment on this idea. You can access it at http://osqa-test.libreoffice.org.
Feel free to register an account (at the moment, local user accounts, Facebook, twitter and various openid providers are supported) and test the installation.
Comments, bug reports and improvement suggestions are very welcome, either by using the "give feedback"[3] link at the bottom of each page or at the website list or, of course, in askbot itself[3].
For a explanation how such Q&A platforms work, please see the faq[4] and my short explanation here:
* Q&A forums don't provide room for general discussions, polls, rants etc. and are therefore more targeted.
* Users can select correct answers and vote for answers. Selected and most voted answers are shown first, drastically improving clarity.
* User activities such as answering questions or voting answers leads to karma. With more karma, the rights of users grow until the user has full moderation rights. This allows to grow a self sustaining community.
* Answers can be edited collaboratively (so called "community wiki" posts)

Of course, trying it out is worth a thousand words :slight_smile:

Cu,
Alex

[1]: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/website/msg06443.html
[2]: http://stackoverflow.com/
[3]: http://osqa-test.libreoffice.org/questions/ask/
[4]: http://osqa-test.libreoffice.org/faq/

#2

Hi Alex

It was not a 30 second process :slight_smile: At some point when filling the form fields
it lost the original question and I had to type it again. The tag
libreoffice which shows on the tag list on the right side is not available
from the list of tags, so I used "meta" which doesn't make much sense... If
you type "libreoffice" it replies that "At least one of the following tags
is required : writer, calc, impress, base, draw, math or meta"

BTW you should have mentioned that this is an official test supported by the
TDF Board of Directors :wink:

#3

Hi Alex

"Alexander Werner (blä)" wrote:

Hmm… can you describe what exactly you did when the original question got
lost?

When I pressed the Login button without having chosen one of the available
tags. I typed libreoffice because it wasn't available from the list.

The tag
libreoffice which shows on the tag list on the right side is not available
from the list of tags, so I used "meta" which doesn't make much sense...
If
you type "libreoffice" it replies that "At least one of the following tags
is required : writer, calc, impress, base, draw, math or meta"

"Alexander Werner (blä)" wrote:

You can use any tag you want, but at least one of the tags writer, calc,
impress, base, draw, math, meta must be included additionally.

You should include libreoffice as a tag. My question referred to the whole
suite, there is no point in checking all programs (especially because there
is a 5 word limit for tags :wink: )

I think that having some fixed tags is better. This will prevent typos and
improve search.

Cheers,
Pedro

#4

Hi Pedro,

When I pressed the Login button without having chosen one of the available
tags. I typed libreoffice because it wasn't available from the list.

Okay, so the question was discarded because of invalid content (no mandatory tag included).

You should include libreoffice as a tag. My question referred to the whole
suite, there is no point in checking all programs (especially because there
is a 5 word limit for tags :wink: )

I tend to call the tag "common", as the whole site is about libreoffice, so every question should then
be tagged libreoffice.

I think that having some fixed tags is better. This will prevent typos and
improve search.

Exactly.

Cu,
Alex

#5

"Alexander Werner (blä)" wrote:

Okay, so the question was discarded because of invalid content (no
mandatory tag included).

Yes. But luckily the description wasn't discarded, only the question :slight_smile:

"Alexander Werner (blä)" wrote:

I tend to call the tag "common", as the whole site is about libreoffice,
so every question should then
be tagged libreoffice.

Agree completely :wink:

#6

Hi,

Agree completely :wink:

Added a "common" tag at the beginning of the required tags list.

Cu,
Alex

P.S: Don't forget to select the correct/best answer of your question to mark it solved :slight_smile:

#7

Could you post a link to the work you have done so I can see it?
I did not see the original posting, so I do not have that link.

I would like to see what has been done so I can make an informative comment about what is being asked and how it is set up.

#8

Hi,

Could you post a link to the work you have done so I can see it?

The askbot is available at http://osqa-test.libreoffice.org

I did not see the original posting, so I do not have that link.

The original posting is here: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/msg13366.html

Cu,
Alex

#9

Hi,

Thanks for the information Alex.

I feel that it would be inappropriate to not mention at this early stage
that three platforms of this style service have been put forward as
possible solutions.

Shapdeo:
http://libreoffice.shapado.com/

The above site is a hosted instance of the software, the package itself
is FOSS and could be hosted within the TDF infrastructure.

Questions2Answers:
http://www.question2answer.org/

There is not a LibreOffice specific test site, or hosted running site,
for this package - so just a link back to the projects home, where you
can find links to existing site.

The three packages are quite similar, as would be expected, but do have
slight differences - also each is developed using different
language/toolset which can be a factor in determining which makes sense
for our use.

Thanks,

Drew Jensen

#10

I do like askbot, although it seems a little "green". The colored icons can
be distracting. The only icon that needs any color is the green check on
answers that were satisfyingly answered. (e.g. national flags of the users
just add visual confusion)

The shapado interface has too much "noise" (e.g. what is the relevance of
the Top 5 groups on the right edge?)

questions2answers looks clean and efficient but it is difficult to evaluate
without a test site.

Why was the previously mentioned stackoverflow not considered? Is it worse
than these 3?

#11

I do like askbot, although it seems a little "green". The colored icons can
be distracting. The only icon that needs any color is the green check on
answers that were satisfyingly answered. (e.g. national flags of the users
just add visual confusion)

The shapado interface has too much "noise" (e.g. what is the relevance of
the Top 5 groups on the right edge?)

It's a vestage of the hosting environment as best as I can tell.

questions2answers looks clean and efficient but it is difficult to evaluate
without a test site.

If there is any interest I could setup one, just not within the
LibreOffice domain - let me know.

Why was the previously mentioned stackoverflow not considered? Is it worse
than these 3?

Isn't stackoverflow hosted only? I'm not sure, but I think so.

//drew

#12

Hi,

I do like askbot, although it seems a little "green". The colored icons can
be distracting. The only icon that needs any color is the green check on
answers that were satisfyingly answered. (e.g. national flags of the users
just add visual confusion)

There's another theme included that looks more modern, but it is not yet
production ready.
The "greenish" look is caused by the fact that I tried to adapt the
theme to the LibreOffice color scheme.
Due to the nature of the used framework, it should be very easy to
create an own LibO theme and remove visual clutter.

The shapado interface has too much "noise" (e.g. what is the relevance of
the Top 5 groups on the right edge?)

Unfortunately I really don't like the look of shapado.
And I also have only little experience with Ruby on Rails, so it would
be hard for me to fix bugs/customize it.

questions2answers looks clean and efficient but it is difficult to evaluate
without a test site.

I also like the look of q2a, but there are some things I don't like
about it:
- You can vote from the question list.
- There seems to be no such thing as selected/correct answer.
- The default editor is *heavy*
- There is no efficient full text search
- Difficult to integrate SSO
- And some other problems

Most of these issues surely can be solved, so this may be a worthy
alternative to askbot.

Why was the previously mentioned stackoverflow not considered? Is it worse
than these 3?

Yepp... hosted only, closed source windows asp .net application.

Cu,
Alex

#13

<snip>

Unfortunately I really don't like the look of shapado.
And I also have only little experience with Ruby on Rails, so it would
be hard for me to fix bugs/customize it.

<snip>

Hi Alex,

Staffing is certainly a legitimate decision point.

Will you be filling the role, forum site admin designate for whichever
platform is selected? Maybe put another way will any admin tasks that
might be required on such a new service, requiring a logon to the
server, require the use of an existing member of the admin team in that
role.

Thanks

//drew

#14

Hi :slight_smile:
Nabble already allows people to mark their favourite answers (or comments)
with a star, or to flag the post.

Also there is already a forum that was set-up as a temporary measure
http://en.libreofficeforum.org/
The owner might be very willing to upgrade it to a different system and open
it for more people to be administrators.

The original plan for it was to just set something up quickly and then TDF
would take it over and make it more professional. Sadly TDF steering
committee totally rejected the idea of forums and apparently the website
group was told to link to old OpenOffice forums bit NOT to any LibreOffice
ones. By then the forum already had a few fans and so the poor fella
running it felt honour-bound to keep it open as long as he could cope with
it. So, there is a usable and known address and a rudimentary system that
could be useful for this project.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#15

Also there is already a forum that was set-up as a temporary measure
http://en.libreofficeforum.org/
The owner might be very willing to upgrade it to a different system and open
it for more people to be administrators.

#16

<snip>

Hi Tom,

Well, your portrayal of the events is not accurate to put it succinctly

Also there is already a forum that was set-up as a temporary measure
http://en.libreofficeforum.org/
The owner might be very willing to upgrade it to a different system and open
it for more people to be administrators.

The original plan for it was to just set something up quickly and then TDF
would take it over and make it more professional.

No.

Sadly TDF steering
committee totally rejected

Actually the SC overall remained mum on the subject and rightfully left
it to the general community to duke it out *chuckling*

the idea of forums and apparently the website
group was told to link to old OpenOffice forums bit NOT to any LibreOffice
ones.

That is not totally accurate - though the end result is - the website
group was not told, it was worked out on the mailing list.

[in all candor I would like to see us offer links to all the sites, in
some way - but that is a different discussion]

  By then the forum already had a few fans and so the poor fella
running it felt honour-bound to keep it open as long as he could cope with
it. So, there is a usable and known address and a rudimentary system that
could be useful for this project.

As for your last paragraph - there were conversations that took place
privately with the owner and I will not break confidence here - but I
seriously doubt Sam feels he got shafted here.

Best wishes,

//drew

#17

Hi :slight_smile:

Well, i'm glad to hear he is not feeling aggrieved. I've always felt guilty
about me pushing him into this.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#18

Mas/_gemini wrote:

I like the forum idea over the askbot option . the forum at
http://en.libreofficeforum.org/ is a good start and should be adapted
as an official forum. The change that will need to be made is adding
categories

I agree that the askbot does not replace a forum. It seems however to be the
best tool for managing questions and answers.

BTW that forum seems to be in such an initial state (no subforums, no
structure) that starting from it or building a new one is probably the same
effort.

The mailing lists have some advantages but do not replace the organization
and flexibility of a forum either.

Can this community handle all these sites? Isn't that too much dispersion? I
have the feeling that the "core" members will stick to the mailing list and
will not participate in other sites so the official answers will always be
at the mailing list...

(Nabble is an hybrid which is bad as a mailing list interface and is even
worse as a "forum". I have to disagree with you on this one, Tom :wink: )

#19

Hi Alexander,

Had a look, but really not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. It reminds me of those dreaded QA lists that pop up in Yahoo, LinkedIn, etc, and in which I find it almost impossible to actually find the response I'm looking for, even with the rating system.

Alex

#20

Hi Alex,

I also had a look and it just looks like a system where people looking for help would have to work too hard to figure out how to use it to look for help.

We should have a system that is familiar to users where they feel "right at home" and able to browse through the posts without problems. After all, this is the reason we are looking into a forum, otherwise, Nabble would be fine to keep as is. Users were complaining that Nabble was just not like a forum and they didn't feel comfortable using it.

Cheers,

Marc