Prompt text when creating a new topic

Meta
1

I just noticed that more than a few people create topics that provide NO clue to their actual question! And while I haven’t gone back, the last few I’ve seen came from people who, apparently, joined the forum just a few minutes before creating their topic. In other words: They’re “Newbies”.

So I checked what appears FIRST when you start to create a Topic:
image

The yellow highlights are mine.

My idea? Change the wording of the instructions!

Instead of “Type title, or paste link here” - might the administrators be able to say something like:

“Describe your problem, suggestion, or idea. Be as specific as you can while being short enough to be the title of the forum thread you’re about to create”.

Yeah, I know, this is too long! It will need editing. I left it as I originally thought of it to bring across my point in this forum topic - that better Topic Names lead, generally, to shorter topics and often quicker help fromForum members!

And the “Select a category before typing here”? Add “Review ALL categories and choose the one that is most specific to your topic.”

I can’t count the number of times a Topic’s category has been MOVED from something generic to something more specific. But why not encourage a full review of available categories before choosing one?

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Probably a good idea.

But this forum is hosted by Discourse.org and perhaps the idea should be posted in their meta forum category as a feature request ?

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Hi @DanRathbun,

I have a bitter taste in my memory from previous attempts to interact on the Discourse.org forum. I’ve found the frequent posters to be … hmmm … how best to say this? … How about: NOT friendly to people who aren’t at least somewhat familiar to Discourse forum administration (like me.)

So I’d rather hash this out here - at least the wording - then, if the wording isn’t something our Forum administrators can already customize, let THEM deal with a feature request through Discourse.

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There are a lot of optional settings in Discourse, things like you’re talking about may be under our control.

@jody would know if it’s something we can adjust.

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