Re: Empathy survey results

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Sat, 2009-08-08 at 14:14 +0100, Phil Bull wrote:
> > > I love this piece from you: "how not to be a jerk when
> > > asking question on the #telepathy channel".  I think it
> > > would be great if documents each had a page telling you
> > > where to go for more help (IRC, mailing lists).  And I
> > > don't see any reason why we can't include some tips on
> > > netiquette in those pages.  (Of course, in the case of
> > > Empathy, directing people to IRC might be an ironic
> > > insult, if what they're having problems with is IRC.)
> > 
> > A small listiquette would be a good topic to write anyway, even if
> > it's not really easy to use the Empahty IRC feature.
> 
> I'm a bit worried about adding material because we think that it's a
> good idea, rather than because there is a demand for that information
> from users. While a topic on netiquette surely would be a good idea,
> will people read it? We run the risk of falling into the same trap that
> we did with the old documentation: Answering questions which no-one has
> asked.
> 
> Maybe there are questions which users *do* want the answer to, which
> fall under the umbrella of netiquette. Maybe "Why isn't anyone replying
> to my questions on IRC?" or "Why am I being told-off for using
> all-capitals?".

I don't think users are going to go looking for a page
on netiquette.  And I don't think users are going to
go looking for answers to answers like "Why aren't
people helping me on the forums?".  This is a case of
providing information that users don't even know they
need.

My thought was that the page would be about how to
get more help.  That's information I think the user
would look for.  And then within that page, you have
a tip or something with basic netiquette.  You want
to be careful that this doesn't get in the way of
the main content, but it is ancillary information
that is relevant to what the user is reading.

--
Shaun