Level 88
I'm 100% up for it! It would make some questions a lot easier!
2 likes
Jan 3, 2018
9
Level 4
Maybe add a default markup for a new discussion
Hello @JeffreyWay, I have made a account at the end of last year, because I got inspired to also help people out with there question on Laracasts, do to the post of @bobbybouwmann on Twitter about what a great people we got on Laracasts and how great it is to help out. I know it’s a long intro but stay with me, so if been doing so for the last days and I found it hard to notice on with version people are working. Some people tell it from the start and others don’t, so I thought why not give a bit of boilerplate to start with when you create a new discussion like you would when you make a issue on for the laravel framework repo.
My thoughts on how it should are as followed, when you select a “channel” you get some boilerplate in your “ask away” textarea and if you think you don’t need just remove it. By adding based on the channel you can write some custom boilerplate for every channel that maybe helps out by giving a better answer on the question of the discussion.
I would like to ask everyone to note there opinion or opinions on this question and maybe if it is a good idea you could make a video above it.
Already many thanks for reading this
Level 55
@GertjanRoke I wrote a guide to posting on Laracasts a couple of years ago, and although it isn't 'boilerplate', it certainly is in the spirit of what you're suggesting.
https://laracasts.com/discuss/channels/general-discussion/guidelines-for-posting-on-laracastscom
Level 10
This would be very nice!
1 like
Level 4
@mstnorris I understand what your saying and appreciate that you made that great guide, but to be honest I’ve been using this forum for more then 2 years and I never found your post about this subject and I think new people will also never find it. Just because they are only interested in finding the correct answer for there question and not thinking about “what is the correct way to ask my question?”.
So thats why I brought this up and you can call it boilerplate or guidelines, or what people think the best name is. it is just a easy way to help people ask questions with better pre information without reading more then 300 lines of information.
Once agean your guide is great but for a person like me with dyslexia, I'm on the second paragraph and my mind will say forget this just ask the question. Not because I’m lazy but my brain doesn’t work like that. So yeah you could call it my problem but in the couple of days that I have been helping out I also see people take that approach and just ask, instead of first figuring out what the best way is to ask the question.
I'm not trying to say your way is wrong, but I just see a habit of people to just use the shortest way to what the want. Thats why I asked this question.
Level 67
I wish Laracasts used a basic markdown editor...with buttons for code etc. Many people don't seem to understand how to use markdown, don't know the forum uses it, or don't see the little Use Markdown with GitHub-flavored code blocks. link under the reply window to show them how to post here. Simple buttons above the reply window would be very useful. Like, if I see a ton of code that isn't formatted in a question/post, I usually don't even bother trying to decipher it and just move on.
Level 4
Is there any change that @JeffreyWay will even read this and maybe consider this a feature?
Level 88
No idea :P
Level 50
I think expecting users to read any guidance before they post is a hopeless task - though maybe I'm just ground down & cynical after too many years on the internet ;-)
But maybe a highlighted link just before the textarea where you type your question like 'Click here for some help on asking questions and formatting your post' that opened a brief simple example markdown of a short formatted question (and showing you how it would look once posted) would be worth a shot.
I'm thinking something really short like a little paragraph of question-text and a short code block. It'd go about 90% of the way to cleaning up a lot of peoples questions (again, if they bothered to read it). I think linking to anything longer or more complex will end up being tldr.
Possibly also a little reminder when you post saying something like 'Remember to say thanks if someone helps!' - that would go some way to keeping the place friendly :-)
Level 25
@ohffs +1 ...hopeless task!
some don't even search. there are so many questions that have already been answered.
search for answer: hmm???....no
post the question: why am I still thinking, just do it already!
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