How should this work after Resident Answers moves here?
For the nonce, let's assume that after the official forums move to Jive/Clearspace, there will be some place for open, broad-ranging discussion similar to the way Resident Answers has been operating for the past few years, ever since the official general discussion forum was closed. (We don't know for sure that will happen, but it's now clear that if it doesn't, there's no need to move anything; they could just archive the old forums and call it a day.)
Starting from that assumption, then, there's a kind of grey and wavy line of demarcation between SLA and RA. It's much more ambiguous than I appreciated before--and more than I think the Linden's appreciate, either.
For example, I'd thought of SLA as a kind of straight Q&A help area. You know: Ask a question, get some answers, thread marked "Answered", on to the next question.
But it's not like that at all. And it's easy to see why: it would be deadly boring for the responders. So instead, questions get answered and, often, hilarity ensues. That's perfectly healthy, it seems to me; that's how RA works, too.
And not every thread is really a question. For example, there's Angela's "What would you do?" game, which is pretty much indistinguishable from forums games played everywhere, including Resident Answers (e.g., Argent's "Right where you are sitting now" thread). So that's familiar, too, and seems healthy for building an online community of helpers.
Now, the flip-side: RA has thrived on a steady supply of resident questions. There are a lot of contributors with unmatched expertise in innumerable topics of interests to residents, and residents get answers there. And a lot of the productive, in-depth discussions that happen in RA start as questions from residents. So RA folks want to answer questions, where some of those answers become interesting discussions. Surely that must happen here in SLA, too.
My point is emphatically not that there's a rivalry or competition here. Rather, it seems to me that the distinction is artificial: SLA is becoming RA, and RA has been SLA all along. One might think that the distinction is in the posting guidelines: SLA is supposed to be a sort of "just the facts, ma'am" answers site--but you know what? If you read the guidelines, that's exactly what RA was supposed to be, too!
And you know what else? Neither site functions--nor can function--within those guidelines. Exactly the same thing is happening in SLA as happened in RA: it's a fun-loving community of volunteer helpers, doing their thing. This is just how that thing is done.
It's a completely different thing if a support forums site is staffed by employees of the company whose products are being supported. If half the posts here were by folks with a Linden surname, it could be all strictly business. But we don't get paid for this, we do it because it's fun. Part of the fun is helping folks with questions, and part of the fun is getting to know fellow helpers and goofing with them.
So anyway, that's how it looks to me, an interloper from RA. Does any of this ring true to SLA "natives"? And if so, what does it mean for how things should be structured, going forward?
[Yes, I realize this thread is itself a violation of the extant interpretation of SLA posting guidelines. Warn me if you must. But one can't very well get input from SLA regulars by posting this discussion in RA, right?]
For the nonce, let's assume that after the official forums move to Jive/Clearspace, there will be some place for open, broad-ranging discussion similar to the way Resident Answers has been operating for the past few years, ever since the official general discussion forum was closed. (We don't know for sure that will happen, but it's now clear that if it doesn't, there's no need to move anything; they could just archive the old forums and call it a day.)
Starting from that assumption, then, there's a kind of grey and wavy line of demarcation between SLA and RA. It's much more ambiguous than I appreciated before--and more than I think the Linden's appreciate, either.
For example, I'd thought of SLA as a kind of straight Q&A help area. You know: Ask a question, get some answers, thread marked "Answered", on to the next question.
But it's not like that at all. And it's easy to see why: it would be deadly boring for the responders. So instead, questions get answered and, often, hilarity ensues. That's perfectly healthy, it seems to me; that's how RA works, too.
And not every thread is really a question. For example, there's Angela's "What would you do?" game, which is pretty much indistinguishable from forums games played everywhere, including Resident Answers (e.g., Argent's "Right where you are sitting now" thread). So that's familiar, too, and seems healthy for building an online community of helpers.
Now, the flip-side: RA has thrived on a steady supply of resident questions. There are a lot of contributors with unmatched expertise in innumerable topics of interests to residents, and residents get answers there. And a lot of the productive, in-depth discussions that happen in RA start as questions from residents. So RA folks want to answer questions, where some of those answers become interesting discussions. Surely that must happen here in SLA, too.
My point is emphatically not that there's a rivalry or competition here. Rather, it seems to me that the distinction is artificial: SLA is becoming RA, and RA has been SLA all along. One might think that the distinction is in the posting guidelines: SLA is supposed to be a sort of "just the facts, ma'am" answers site--but you know what? If you read the guidelines, that's exactly what RA was supposed to be, too!
And you know what else? Neither site functions--nor can function--within those guidelines. Exactly the same thing is happening in SLA as happened in RA: it's a fun-loving community of volunteer helpers, doing their thing. This is just how that thing is done.
It's a completely different thing if a support forums site is staffed by employees of the company whose products are being supported. If half the posts here were by folks with a Linden surname, it could be all strictly business. But we don't get paid for this, we do it because it's fun. Part of the fun is helping folks with questions, and part of the fun is getting to know fellow helpers and goofing with them.
So anyway, that's how it looks to me, an interloper from RA. Does any of this ring true to SLA "natives"? And if so, what does it mean for how things should be structured, going forward?
[Yes, I realize this thread is itself a violation of the extant interpretation of SLA posting guidelines. Warn me if you must. But one can't very well get input from SLA regulars by posting this discussion in RA, right?]
Make of it what you will.
