Forum Moderators: open
A major problem/annoyance with forums is repeated questions continually being asked. Of course, you might want these repeat questions to help with the freshness and bulk content of the site. It would be impossible to get rid of repeat questions, but I think more can be done.
I think displaying the "site search" more prominently would help out immensely. Maybe even going as far as putting a search bar above the start of each forum. Next, you're relying on the person writing a new thread for the title and description of the thread. This combined with the content created by the responses in the thread do not provide optimal search results.
I suggest adding another field to the database containing the forum, where a trained moderator can add keywords that specifically pertain to the thread. Then you could create a new search that queries your database and finds those keywords in that field. I would have faith that the moderators of these forums could accurately attach keywords to threads. And I'm sure this human method would be much more accurate than search engine algorithms.
the moderators of these forums could accurately attach keywords to threads- Agreed, but i think the mods are busy enough already, maintaining such a great resource.
Although i do echo your call for a more accurate site search :)
One thing that makes the search tool better is if we all made better use with our thread titles, too. ;)
moderators of these forums could accurately attach keywords to threads
[webmasterworld.com...] (messge #9)
...I've had no problem searching for whatever I'm looking for on this site (thanks again bill!). As for the keywords, you'll notice that the mods already spend what must be considerable time changing the thread titles and descriptions.
2odd...
But I was talking about adding a search bar for all (maybe with the possibility of removing it as a preference) to lower the number of repeat posts and for greater usability. The casual new user isn't going to add their own google search bar code. I've occassionally found it difficult to find exactly what I'm looking for and it's a tempting choice to just give up and post a new topic.
Yes, it may be too much extra work for our great forum moderators, but maybe others might volunteer their time. The casual, new, repeat poster also probably doesn't know that it's more effective to search this site with google than the site search tool on the header.
I believe that the tactic of users posting a new thread even if the topic has been previously addressed adds life to a forum and encourages postings. We want newb's unafraid to post and it's quicker if you've got a question to just ask it rather than slogging through searches. It also makes for a much more personal and friendly forum.
