Sticky spring clean

Rik · Mar 09, 2007, 19:00:13

Following my burst of prose this week, the list of stickies at the top of this board was getting a bit long. I am now working on amalgamating some of the stickies. The 'host' will be the ADSL Max FAQ, so far I have moved the sticky on IP profiles/sync speeds and the exchange status checker.

I'd be grateful if members would keep an eye on the amalgamated version, and point out my mistakes in this thread. Thanks.

jupiter · Mar 09, 2007, 20:57:06

Whilst I appreciate you are adding to a sticky first produced by someone else a long time ago, its purpose is to be helpful NOW.

So it is a bit of a turn off in so fast moving a field as computing to see a date so long ago as July 2006!

It follows that some phrasing is now odd - in para 1 line 1 Max isn't "new" any more, and in para 2 a month is mentioned, but that is now 12 months ago! And so on - some of the stats now wrong too.

Good idea to amalgamate stickies, but better to edit the whole text and to date it as of now (with acknowledgments to Scott if you like).

Rik · Mar 10, 2007, 10:37:22

Hi Jupiter

It's a WIP at the moment, so bear with me as I sort things out. I shall be (assuming I work out how to do it

), staring a new FAQ, so that the date is current, then adding in the current one, and newer sections, eg the wiring sticky, so that I can build onto it more easily.

So, if you see some odd blank posts (because I don't seem to be able to do the assembly out of the public view), you know I'm beavering on it.

Thanks for the pointers, I'll re-read Scott's original text. What stats were you thinking of, btw?

jupiter · Mar 10, 2007, 10:59:19

Hi
Appreciate it is in a state of flux and I will look forward to the blank posts - they are often the best ones.

The only stat that looks out of date is the mention of 180 exchanges in an early para.

Rik · Mar 10, 2007, 11:09:25

Thanks, Jupiter, I've just nailed that one and added a section on profiles. I can't do what I was planning, which was to give the whole thing a new 'contents' page at the top - which would have allowed me to link to later posts - as the forum software merges on an 'oldest first' basis, so I've changed title, which has given it a new date for now...

jupiter · Mar 10, 2007, 11:22:34

Unless I'm missing something the date seems to have stayed Jul 2006 despite title change, ie date at top of text.

Apologies if I'm getting picky now, but in the Internal wiring sticky para 2 and the penultimate para are rather too long for easy reading without a para break. There is a certain number of lines beyond which at least my eyes go woozy without a line space.

Told you I was picky. It is looking good IMO though, but a pity about the contents list idea not working. At present the way the stickies are listed in the Help forum posts list isn't prominent enough. Can their titles take a colour?

Rik · Mar 10, 2007, 11:29:41

Hi Jupiter

I've just addressed your paragraph lenght concerns in the wiring sticky. See what you think.

The date of the original post cannot be altered, but I'll put a last edit at the top.

Colours are in Adam's domain. I'll ask him to take a look at the possibility.

I greatly appreciate your input. I have my nosed pressed up against the glass, so can't always see things as clearly as I would like.

jupiter · Mar 10, 2007, 12:26:10

Much better I reckon.

Now it is an amalgamated sticky do you think the title is still OK? It has internal wiring content and I guess will have more things eventually, so I'm still a bit concerned that people may waste their own time by asking stuff which is in there because the signposting is not strong enough.

I know queries will still be made and get answered but equally I know that often people do not read what is under their noses.

Is there an argument for retitling in a very utilitarian way? At the moment it could be, for example: FAQ: ADSL Max; speeds; internal wiring.

A portmanteau title can only go so far, but it is having to serve as a sort of mini contents list and may be better than nothing?

Rik · Mar 10, 2007, 12:39:05

Fair comment, Jupiter, and about to be addressed.

Rik · Mar 10, 2007, 13:16:40

The sticky re-organisation is now complete for the time being (E&OE

). I do plan to add another section on tweaking, as soon as I get around to writing it. If anyone has any thoughts on the present content or further additions, I'd welcome them.

Note that, in their new form, the FAQs are broken into individual topics which can be selected from hyperlinks in the menu, and each topic can also be referred to in a post by right-clicking the icon to the left of the subject line and selecting 'copy link location' in Firefox or 'copy shortcut' in IE.

Thanks.

Rik · Mar 11, 2007, 02:52:26

Note that any reference you may see before entering the board to a posting called WIP was me creating the new FAQs.

ou7shined · Mar 14, 2007, 18:36:42

Och man, that means my fairly-popular-considering-the-traffic specially-made-for-IDNEtters pinger utility has been iced yet again. My first thread got spammed so far off topic it became barely a fibre and now you've whacked the sticky. I loved that wee ut.

Rik · Mar 14, 2007, 19:01:01

Sorry, I couldn't work out a way to lift the files for inclusion in the new sticky. If you want, you could email them to me, I could then upload them again?

Let me know if you want to go down that road and I'll Pm you my email addy.