*graon* now I KNOW we are cross-talking here.....Ok.... let me see if I can break this down and hopefully you will then understand my POV: (I'll take it one para at a time)
Up at the top of this thread is this post by Lorelle:
<blokquote>If you are helping or interested in helping on the WordPress Forum here, we need you. As you know, this site is run entirely by volunteers who give of their time and expertise with WordPress to answer questions.
Sounds like a call to those interested in helping others out in the forums. More specificaly, for those with nitch knowledge.
For information on what is involved in volunteering on the WordPress Forum, see http://codex.wordpress.org/Support_Forum_Volunteers
This links to a Codex page which explains the layout of the forums, what each forums section is all about. Oooookaaay.... still kinda fall in line with the first para.
Sign up on the mailing list for WordPress Forum Volunteers. Remember, this is not a mailing list for support, but to support the supporters by providing information and help in answering questions on this forum.
Ok, so now we're asked to sign up on a mailing list so we can share information with each other to aid in the helping of answering questions. So now we end up with all this back room chatter on how something works in particular.... and that info isn't readily shared. I just don't get it... I don't see the point.
Volunteers are needed throughout all the different aspects of WordPress. To find out more, see Contributing to WordPress.
Contains another link to the codex with a comprehensive listing of the kinds of things people can do to help WP.
No where in ALL of this was it about making the forums a better place. At this point all I'm seeing is the beginings of a system where people might get "prefered" status because they've "officialy" signed up to help, leaving those of us, who come in here from time to time, offering what little help I can.
Now, what you've posted podz, makes more sense, but seems to be at odds to what lorelle posted.... one has to do with helping others while the other had to do with how to improve things on the forums.
I help out on the forums when I can as I can. I really do my best to provide what info I've got and share my experiences on various things. I have some ideas that I think would help alot in the forums. But I'm still not going to sign up and share them. It's all stuff I've said before and was dismissed. The other problem with this is that it's been made an open call.... something about too many cooks spoiling the broth comes to mind.
You want to come up with a unified way to respond to problems. Fine, but unless you can get EVERYONE who helps to sign off on it, then it's useless.
As for the increasing number of requests for help for code not written my Matt & co...... 90% of the time it's a plugin, which should be the responsibility of the plugin author. Sometimes that isn't possible. People drop off the radar, life gets in the way, stuff happens. Ok, then it's up to the rest of us to do our best to help these people out.
I may be out of line, but that's how I see it. If history holds, then anything I say won't make one ounce of difference. But at least I've had my say.
Tg
