What is this forum for?

I think anyone should be able to read here. A potential resident may come out of information here

Seriously... we don't want people hesitating to ask.

I always chuckle when people spend more energy bitching in threads that annoy them instead of just ignoring them.

I find the search inadequate. It filters out all search words less than 3 letters, and it only does an OR search, not an AND search unless you know the words will appear next to each other and you can put them in quotes. It is a rare occasion where the thing i'm searching for can be described with word(s) strictly greater than 3 letters long.

every couple of months i take all the posts and turn them inside out and totally skew the fact (if there were any to begin with) and create "news" from it

I agree that the search function does leave a lot to be desired but for example one post in the last few hours (not delibrately singling just this one out) is entitled "object selected / sat on"...

If you do a search for "object select /sat on" or "object selected" the answer is on the first page of results...

Gomez

Yep. If any thread doesn't belong here,it's this one. IMO.

Ignore is your friend. Use it liberally.

I suppose if one is breaking in a new account, a secret alt, asking questions that you really already know the answer to in the forums here might be a way to to break the ice and make friends, some of whom might already be friends of your older alt.

Certainly it can be annoying when people make no effort at all to use the forum search here, or to use Google or some other search engine to search the vast wealth of information there is to be found on the net about Second Life - or to use the Linden knowledge base and and other support info, or to use the wiki.secondlife.com, which has tons of info in it. Some people are just lazy and some people get annoyed by lazy people.

However, no one is under any obligation to answer questions here, so if you are finding yourself aggravated and annoyed by what you perceive as laziness on the part of question askers, there's no need to hang around and be be bothered, and certainly no need to vent your frustration in the forums. Just stop reading these forums if they bother you too much. There are plenty of other worthwhile things to do other than read the Second Life forums. If you are just fixated on SL, read the wiki for a while, or better, read Cristiano Midnight's forum at SLuniverse, or the SLexchange forum. They are both perfectly good places to read SL related stuff at. There's other good places to read and write SL related stuff at.

If you tend to read only the Resident Answers forum, and its bugging you, and you want to do something useful, switch to the content forums - read threads until you find a question you can answer - answer it. If you really want to kill some time, find a question that you can't answer without research - then do the research and answer it. You not only avoid reading the stuff thats bothering you, you also learn something, assuming you can remember any of it.

Another place to read and write SL stuff at is at individual's blogs - the ones that have comments sometimes have threads worth participating in. The Second Life Herald and the Metaverse Messenger have tons of stories about SL's past that can fill time just as well as the Resident Answers forum can, and there's lots of discussion going on in the comments at the Herald.

A thing people can do to promote better searching of these forums and the internet in general for answers to SL questions is to put links to useful sources of information, search engines, etc. in their signatures. This is impaired by our lack of vBcode but you can still list an urls in such a way as to avoid the annoying visible [vBcodeword] stuff.

It might be nice to have an automatic search mechanism. When you post a question, your post is analyzed and links to posts with matching keywords or phrases appear in the sidebar. That way, even if you post a question because you are too lazy to look it up, and you so lazy you won't even look at the posts the autosearch produces, at least the people that will answer your question might not have to spend so much time searching for the answer.

From the freakin' sticky at the top of the forum. I think that the person being accused here is posting appropriately.

dont take this wrong but just about as helpful as you are being at the moment

*scribbles widly in his book with a giant crayon*

is it a purple crayon?

it was time to skew this biotch.

WoW!! Chas, my very own number one fan. Why thank you Chas, you rascal you. This is the second time you write about me. My own admirer or is it a crush you have on me? Who knew? Sorry, old boy. Hate to dissapoint you but I don't swing that way.

But now you're busy writing about someone else, you're making me jealous.

I've heard about people like you, so no sl stalking, ok?

On your op, you're showing your stupidity by picking on one person simply because they're asking questions you feel they should or already know. Are you serious? Who are you to judge anyone here much less try to put them down like you did the person you're referring to? Not only this person but others who ask questions about tringo and such?

If you're going to be my numero uno fan you can't post dumb things like this, ok? How will that reflect on me you being my #1 fan?

As for me, you're no challenge and I'll post what I feel unlike you who post ridiculous comments about others simply because you don't like them asking questions.

But although you're a knucklehead I do have good news for you. You can continue to keep tabs on me and I'll always recognize you as my number one fan. But no more bitching about others, ok?

My own fan, I'm touched. *Reaches for a hanky to dry my tears*

Hey, Chas

You're losing points. I don't know about you, son. Here you've just made a big fool of yourself in front of the entire forums judging by responses. Clean this mess up or you're no more my #1 fan.

Its very confusing when you're new and seach is confusing or tricky to use.
Heck half of time I tried to find information sometimes I would read things and didn't understand.
My first alt was born in 2003 and there is heck of lot of stuff I still don't know.
There is so much to know, and it can be extremely overwhelming even if you're constantly
reading stuff, sometimes I don't know about any one else but it doesn't always make sense.
How about just ignoring threads that are annoying or are you as bored as me that is why I am posting LOL?

Your Question (Thread title) is "What is this forum for?"
I take it that you don't already know the answer.

See the Stickies at the top.


Happy to be of help to you

Hear, hear to this. When I have a question I do usually try to find help via support pages, or the wiki; however, both those sources seem to be designed to be deliberately difficult to actually use! It really isn't easy to find one's way to relevant areas. A help/support facility with an intuitive interface for us non-geeks would be an immense leap forward.

I've learned a lot of helpful info from recent discussions in this forum since I started reading. Lots of questions every day from one person can be irritating to some I guess, but it'd be a pity to put new people off asking things that are genuinely stumping them.

--
Aes

It's been said. The search tool is pretty poor. It's been a complete brick wall to me many times.

Vague thread titles are a minor gripe but as pointed out in another thread, it doesn't take long to just read the first few lines and choose to carry on or ignore.

The scope and demand for knowledge here in SL is vast. Everything from the purely technical to the philosophical. Those of us who are merely seeing SL as a tool might not care for some of the philosophical. Some of the philosophers might rise at the 'how do I get the box off my head?' We're in it together ... or we go ... it's our choice .. just like BDSM and .. and .. the 'g' word!

The forum I used to belong to had a finite limit of technical answers. The regulars would go wildly off topic to maintain interest in staying. Here, there is so much more to get involved in. There are no stupid questions. Some of my answers might be stupid .. or worse, wrong, but in my re-reading I often get corrected .. so I learn more.

So how do I get this shoe out of my bum then?

True. "Resident Answers" is one thing, "Building" or "Texturing" is another.

Somewhat annoying when someone in any of those forum sections asks a question thats easily answered in the Sticky's.

But hey! We were all NOOBS once.

Just for the fun of it:

How Do I Make Money????

Why would you want to, it's the latest trend

I'd be more worried about the other one ... what colour do you call *that*?!?

*moved to Brenda's Answers*

Hobbity Linden

Its not a bum, its a feature

imogen

To not get attachments in one's bum...don't wear them or plan and prepare to move and adjust shoes, hair out of one bottom often.