Suggestion: consider default categorisation, perhaps a separate issue tracker - 49 views
started by Fuzbolero . on 08 Jun 07
started by Fuzbolero . on 08 Jun 07
started by Fuzbolero . on 08 Jun 07
started by Fuzbolero . on 08 Jun 07
Then make that a single-select, and give it a column in the forum overview, plus a way to select/filter so we only get a list of for example "feature requests". When viewing, it should be possible to click on "next" and "previous" to get move between those within that category.
Technically speaking, we are really talking about two beasts here: forum and "issue tracker". That is a practical separation, I think. Here you only have a partially working forum feature right now, and no issue tracking (at least not available to users).
So I suggest taking a look at how it is set up at Drupal.org:
Example taken from the issue tracker at Drupal.org:
(see http://drupal.org/project/issues/flickr , for example):
Categories: bug report, task, feature request, support request
Priority options: critical, normal, minor
Status options: active, fixed, wont fix, by design, closed, postponed
(Hm, I wonder if it would be practical for you to even consider integrating Drupal CMS here, then all such things would be readily available and you could concentrate on the development of the core Diigo community features.)
However, it would be great just to be able to select a default category per post, even with no issue tracking features: simply a drop down that we can choose either bug, feature, task, support or "open discussion" etc. from. And a way to filter on each of those.
Please do note that this diigo group forum is "generic" and used in all of our group forums. Its primary purpose is not for bug / issues tracking, but rather a place for a group discussion (Diigo group forums can be structured with either tag or category... http://blog.diigo.com/2007/04/05/diigo-group-forums-is-here/) - so while the CMS suggested here is quite feature-rich, is that an overkill for most group forums?
Back to your post, we do use a similar system internally for bug tracking, so we do see the value of what you're suggesting here. So, I suppose the question is that should we or do we really need to consider offering a completely offtheshelves CMS system - for just the Diigo site user forum or for all Diigo group forums?
Although understanding the benefits of such feature-rich forums would bring, we still hesitate to throw a stand-along forum out as it is, since we have a lot more plans for the groups and everything requires tight integration.
Also, as you rightly point out, our efforts should be focused on the core Diigo platform features... afterall, user forum is a great "help" but not quite the core of Diigo - this wont' be the key contribution of user adoption. So, we must carefully balance out the nice-to-have wishlists vs. mission critical must-have's.
Cannot go into details of all our considerations here, but I think there are several things that can improve the userabilty of current forum:
A) here is a tip for searching http://groups.diigo.com/Diigo_HQ/forum/topic/579.
B) two additional solutions will be available soon: 1) full text search that coupled with the existing tagging, 2) I will keep this one unwrapped for now :-)
sharing the effort of selecting, copying, pasting the given link ;-)
-- fridemar