What questions should we have in a Permies.com FAQ?

I was thinking of making a "Frequently Asked Questions" page. It'd probably look a lot like https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads, but have questions leading to the links. Would this help new people navigate the site better?

When you first came to permies, did you look for a FAQ?

No, but everything was still in flux back then. The rules hadn't been firmed up.

I think it is a good idea. Are you looking for the membership to help generate a list?

-CK

Chris Kott wrote:I think it is a good idea. Are you looking for the membership to help generate a list?

-CK

Yes! I would love people to ask their questions that they had when they first came to permies. Some things that are intuitive aren't intuitive to others, so I'm sure I won't think of all the questions people usually have.

I'm not planning on giving definitive answers/rules in the FAQ, because--like everything in permaculture--"it depends." But, I'll try to answer each question with a link to a thread about that subject. At least, that's what I'm thinking right now.

I like the idea of an FAQ.  

Okay, I thought of some questions. I haven't had time to answer them yet, but hopefully tonight I'll have time to word things well.

Why can't I reply to some posts due to having no apples? (Also What is the Cider Press and why can't I  post there?)

What do apples and thumbs and pie mean?

What does Gardener, Steward, Pollinator, Pioneer, etc mean?

How do I post a picture or video?

What do you mean by "Be Nice"?

I don't want to use my real name--can I please use a fake one?

I want to write a review--how do I make it show up on the Review Grid?

Why can't I type the letter "U"?

https://permies.com/t/115110

What is permaculture?

https://permies.com/t/2594/permaculture

What is homesteading?

What is this "Scavenger Hunt" thingy?

What other questions should I have?

Looking good.



How do I reply to a thread?

How do I start a thread?

Permies is huge.  how do I find my way around? - link to all forums

Where do I ask if I need help with this website? - tinkering (maybe link that automatically starts a new thread?)

What is permaculture?

Who is this Paul Wheaton guy and why is he so great?

How do I change my email settings?

How do I promote my stuff?  

How do you search for threads and have it actually give you good search results?

Why did you delete my post?

What's a gir-bot and why does it love tacos?

What's this apple core thing?

What's up with all the censorship?

How do you get those badge thingies in your signature?

-CK

Love this idea and suggestions so far.

What's up with the tiny ads?

Can I ignore threads? Certain posters?

two FAQ?

One for new accounts - very simple.  Maybe five questions to get you started?

Another for 'intermediate' users.  Lots more questions about posting images and stuff.

The how permies works could be 'advanced' user resources.  

Why can't I talk about x(enter edge case subject here)?

What's a Purple Moosage?

The gir-bot asked me to edit a post, but I don't understand what I did wrong. What do I do?

I'm feeling persecuted by members or mods. Why is that/What about my online interactions have led to this? What do I do?

Member flamewar protocol (what anyone should do in the event of an impending/ongoing flamewar. Hint: it involves the Report button and walking away).

-CK

No, I did not look for a FAQ. I looked for answers on my questions and I found topics with many answers in the forum. That was just what I needed.

I'm such a dinosaur.
1. It took me years to figure out that if I wanted to send a PM, I had to go to the person's profile by clicking on their name in a post they'd written, then once in their profile, go to the little envelope and click there. To me, I figured PM's would work like email so I'd go into my PM and tried all sorts of ways to try to get a persons name to work - nada. If there is a way, I certainly didn't find it.
2. I still haven't found a successful way to search for a person's profile by name. The member listing is *not* alphabetical. It must be useful to the site in some way, but it certainly doesn't help me find people. I think I've even tried the "Control F", but we've got too many members for that to work easily.
3. Definitely link to a step by step for loading attachments and maybe mention how that button differs from the Img button (which I've actually learned how to use recently!).
4. I'd also mention somewhere that the quote button above is good because you can just quote part of a post that's relevant, or several parts in a sequence with responses in between. There are a few newbies that I think are using the brown quote button and I suspect it grabs the whole post which clutters up the thread when really only a part is needed. The downside of the grey quote button is that you have to type the poster's name in, which is easier to do from this screen than the thread itself.

I have no idea if what I've just written will make sense to you more computer literate people - in fact I can hear my son rolling his eyes from the other room - but as much as I *love* permies, I do find the technical aspects trying at times.

Jay Angler wrote:I'm such a dinosaur.
1. It took me years to figure out that if I wanted to send a PM, I had to go to the person's profile by clicking on their name in a post they'd written, then once in their profile, go to the little envelope and click there. To me, I figured PM's would work like email so I'd go into my PM and tried all sorts of ways to try to get a persons name to work - nada. If there is a way, I certainly didn't find it.

On every post, there should be a little PM button , I never did figure out how to type in a person's name in my moosage box to send them a PM. Pretty sure that feature is broken...

Come to find out, the button is a PIE preference, that can be turned on in your profile settings.

r ranson wrote:two FAQ?

One for new accounts - very simple.  Maybe five questions to get you started?

Another for 'intermediate' users.  Lots more questions about posting images and stuff.

The how permies works could be 'advanced' user resources.  

Or one FAQ with 'sections'?

Here's the rough-draft I've been working on. Should we have the five MOST frequent questions, followed by sections. If so, what should be those 5, essential questions?

Most Frequently Asked Questions"

Question 1

Question 2

....

Titles and Terminology and much more:

What is permaculture?

Permaculture means, literally, "permanant agriculture." It's the application of ecolgy to growing food. It's a way of looking at the world and designing things based on their properties. It's so much more. Find out what others have to say, HERE

What is homesteading?



What do apples and thumbs and pie mean?
Apples and thumbs and pie are given to post that people think are excellent. Only Pollinators and moderators (Gardeners and Stewards) can give out apples. Anyone can give out a thumb on any post. People who have Pie can give out two thumbs-ups. Pie can be given by anyone who has pie or wants to buy pie. If you have pie, you have access to a secret forum, as well as the ability to block ads and much more. Pie can be bought, given, or earned (at the time of writing, 20 apples earns you one piece of pie.) Find out more about PIE HERE.. Find out more about apples HERE

What does Gardener, Steward, Pollinator, Pioneer, etc mean?
These are our shiny, gardening-related titles. Pioneers (like pioneer plant species) have completed the scavenger hunt. Pollinators are helpful and lovely posters that get to give out an apple a day. Gardeners and Stewards are our forum moderators. Find out more

What is this "Scavenger Hunt" thingy?
The Scavenger Hunt is a way for you to learn more about our forum and how it works. AND, if you complete it, you get the shiny title of "Pioneer" (like pioneer plants)

Who is this Paul Wheaton guy and why is he so great?
Paul is the creator and owner of this forum, gives away all sorts of free stuff and has run countless sucessful kickstarters to make the world a better place. Find out more about him (and our other staff) HERE.

What's up with the tiny ads?

What's a gir-bot and why does it love tacos?

What's this apple core thing?

How do you get those badge thingies in your signature?

is there a profile list?

What's a Purple Moosage?


Forum Policies:

What do you mean by "Be Nice"?

I don't want to use my real name--can I please use a fake one?

Why did you delete my post?

What's up with all the censorship?

The gir-bot asked me to edit a post, but I don't understand what I did wrong. What do I do?

Why can't I type the letter "U"?
we have an international forum, and a lot of people posting here know english as a second (or third or fourth...) language. Words like "thanx" and "U" are hard for these people to understand. So, we avoid them. Find out more, HERE.

Ahh! I've somehow found myself in a flamewar--what do I do?
Flame wars are nasty. They're when everyone gets angry and starts yelling about how right they are. We don't like flamewars here on permies. In fact, if you see one happening, hit the report button on the flamy post. You can walk away, knowing the mods will don their capes and come to the rescue. You're also more than welcome to try to deescalate the situation (preferably without quoting the flamy posts, that way we can delete those posts easily.)

Why can't I reply to some posts due to having no apples? (Also What is the Cider Press and why can't I  post there?)
Apples are given by Pollinators and moderators (Gardeners and Stewards) for posts that they like. The The Cider Press is our place to talk about contiversial subjects. To keep internet trolls and flame wars from feasting on these topics, we limit them to the Cider Press. Basically, if you wouldn't talk about something over a big family dinner (religion, politics, parenting, toxic pollution, etc) don't talk about it in the main forums. Make a bunch of great posts, and soon you'll be able to post there. Be warned, though, the Cider Press is thusly named as it's a great way to lose apples if you make unkind posts. More about the Cider Press HERE.


How do I __________???

How do I post a picture or video?

How do I reply to a thread?

How do I start a thread?

Can I ignore threads? Certain posters?

Permies is huge.  how do I find my way around? - link to all forums

Where do I ask if I need help with this website? - tinkering (maybe link that automatically starts a new thread?)

I want to write a review--how do I make it show up on the Review Grid?

How do I change my email settings?

I'm not a spammer! How do I promote my stuff?  

I think I asked about a FAQ section longggg ago, but now I can't remember what I thought should be in it.  I do think a section with terms and acronyms would be helpful.

Hey Nicole, how about a 'facts and figures' section?  Would it fit into the FAQs?  Things like:

- how many members are on Permies.com

- how many countries are represented

- what's the most popular topic

That's all I've got right now.

Bonnie

Jay Angler wrote:I'm such a dinosaur.
1. It took me years to figure out that if I wanted to send a PM, I had to go to the person's profile by clicking on their name in a post they'd written, then once in their profile, go to the little envelope and click there. To me, I figured PM's would work like email so I'd go into my PM and tried all sorts of ways to try to get a persons name to work - nada. If there is a way, I certainly didn't find it.
2. I still haven't found a successful way to search for a person's profile by name. The member listing is *not* alphabetical. It must be useful to the site in some way, but it certainly doesn't help me find people. I think I've even tried the "Control F", but we've got too many members for that to work easily.
3. Definitely link to a step by step for loading attachments and maybe mention how that button differs from the Img button (which I've actually learned how to use recently!).
4. I'd also mention somewhere that the quote button above is good because you can just quote part of a post that's relevant, or several parts in a sequence with responses in between. There are a few newbies that I think are using the brown quote button and I suspect it grabs the whole post which clutters up the thread when really only a part is needed. The downside of the grey quote button is that you have to type the poster's name in, which is easier to do from this screen than the thread itself.

I have no idea if what I've just written will make sense to you more computer literate people - in fact I can hear my son rolling his eyes from the other room - but as much as I *love* permies, I do find the technical aspects trying at times.

I didn't know 1. or 4.  :)  Thanks for that.

Bonnie Kuhlman wrote:Hey Nicole, how about a 'facts and figures' section?  Would it fit into the FAQs?  Things like:

- how many members are on Permies.com

- how many countries are represented

- what's the most popular topic

That's all I've got right now.

Bonnie

I don't even know how to find the answers to 2 and 3. People don't tell us where they live, so we really don't know. We could do a poll, but most people probably wouldn't respond, I'm thinking.

Most popular thread can be seen on the left of "My Forums" where "Best of All Time" row is. If one goes to https://permies.com/forums/forums/allForums, the numbers next to each forum indicate the number of posts in that forum, so that might kind of be an indication of which is the most popular topic/forum?

That is an awesome idea. I found this thread looking for a FAQ. Cheers!

Hi Nicole,

I have a couple here :

>> Why does my Gravatar (https://en.gravatar.com/efis707) appear in my profile pic when no links are placed in the preferences ?
>> Why is there no delete option for posts ?

Best Regards Eric

I ran across an error in a thread I started but do not have the option to correct it, how come??

Perhaps under a "Getting Started" section, something like, "I want better soil. Can I make what I have better, or do I have to buy some?" This could like directly to, say, the List of Dr. Redhawk's Epic Soil Threads.

So maybe a subsection that dealt exclusively with getting people from their starting point questions to the information, as close to step-by-step as we can get here, to be written as such if it doesn't exist for specific questions, would be a good idea.

I mean, if I just found permaculture, and I want a healthy lawn-like playspace, if I can access that information quickly, permaculture suddenly might seem more accessible and a more viable solution to other problems that might come up. That is a bad example, because if people want to read Paul's Lawn alternative article, or hugelkultur article, or his writeup on Diatomaceous Earth, they are readily available.

The FAQ could easily be a place to lead people to information that they actually came to permaculture looking for, like transitioning to lawn-alternatives, or growing more of your own food, or any of your own food.

-CK

Maybe an icon FAQ?  What do all the icons mean?

I've been tinkering around on this for the last few months, and I'm wondering how it looks. Here's what I've got so far: https://permies.com/wiki/115625/Permies-FAQ

Any questions I missed?

I didn't do a "Most Frequently Asked" section, because I didn't know what to put there. Any ideas of the top 5 or so questions?

Also, please tell me of spelling/grammar mistakes in this thread.

Thanks!

NIcole Alderman wrote:

And so, when it came time to name our little forum bot, we named it Gir Bot.

Maybe I'm the only dinosaur on the interweb, but would a simple description such as, "a forum bot is responsible for automatic notifications and runs useful tracking programs" or some such thing which summarizes a bot's key responsibilities?

Jay Angler wrote:NIcole Alderman wrote:

And so, when it came time to name our little forum bot, we named it Gir Bot.

Maybe I'm the only dinosaur on the interweb, but would a simple description such as, "a forum bot is responsible for automatic notifications and runs useful tracking programs" or some such thing which summarizes a bot's key responsibilities?

I added some more stuff in there. I didn't say "tracking" because that sounds like he's going to send people google ads or something based on what they see on the site, and he doesn't do that.

A common question is how to acces content that is bought. When using a smart phone, click the "desk top view". Go up top to " my stuff".

Not sure if that is in your FAQ.

wayne fajkus wrote:A common question is how to acces content that is bought. When using a smart phone, click the "desk top view". Go up top to " my stuff".

Not sure if that is in your FAQ.

I did not put that in there--thank you! I just added it in

FAQ wiki edit recommendations.  Reference location is: https://permies.com/wiki/permies-faq

Under the Titles, "Terminology, Icons and much more:" section

Who is this Paul Wheaton guy and why is he so great?
Paul is the creator and owner of this forum, gives away all sorts of free stuff

Recommend adding a period and making it into two sentences.  Paul is the creator and owner of this forum.  He gives away all sorts of...


Under the 'Forum Policies' section:

Why can't I reply to some posts due to having no apples? (Also What is the Cider Press and why can't I  post there?)
Apples are given by Pollinators and moderators (Gardeners and Stewards) for posts that they like. The The Cider Press is our place to talk about controversial subjects. To keep internet trolls and flame wars from feasting on these topics, we limit them to the Cider Press. Basically, if you wouldn't talk about something over a big family dinner (religion, politics, parenting, toxic pollution, etc) don't talk about it in the main forums. Make a bunch of great posts, and soon you'll be able to post there. Be warned, though, the Cider Press is thusly named as it's a great way to lose apples if you make unkind posts. More about the Cider Press HERE.

Consider:

Changing "Apples" to "Apples (and occasionally pieces of Pie)"

Deleting the extra "The" in front of "The The Cider Press"

Inserting direct link to new Cider Press requirements. For instance,  "Make a bunch of great posts, and soon you'll meet the requirements to post there."

Consider adding these two FAQs, perhaps in the "Forum Policies" and first thing in the "How do I __________???" sections.  The answers provided are only my opinion, of course, and may not reflect site's actual policy/view.

Can I edit or delete my own posts after I hit "submit"?
Not necessarily.  So before you hit "submit," be extra smart, kind, and careful about what you are sharing with the rest of the world!  

Why can't I edit or delete my own posts?  Aren't they my posts!?
There are a variety of reasons for the low/no editing policy.  Ultimately, this site is hoping to achieve perennial discussion about permaculture, and the low/no editing and deleting policy helps achieve more of a permanent culture experience, rather than an ephemeral experience.

Thank you, George! Those are good suggestions, and I think I got them all added!

Question suggestion for FAQ page: How do I change my profile picture? I'd like to know the answer to this one too :)

Question added to the FAQ!

And here's a direct link to the Add Cover/Profile Picture Tutorial!

Thank you Nicole!! Successfully changed cover and profile pics.

Thank you Nicole for the FAQ forum.
Can a "FAQ" link be put up in the top left of the web page?  So it would show "Home| Subscribe | Forums | FAQ"
This FAQ page is invaluable and IMHO needs to be readily accessible.

Imagine the world if each of us could facilitate one other person subscribing to https://permies.com. It could be a new BB or a scavenger hunt task at the pioneer or pollinator levels.  It would involve giving the new subscriber a code to enter that links the subscription to the person who invited them.  Pereto has said and I find it is true, 80% of what we do is wasted effort, we just don't know what is included in that 80%.  20 out of every 100 who become subscribers will become more involved and of that 20%, 20% of them will potentially work to save the world, one step at a time.  It took me 5 years to truly get it as I just became a subscriber to get a set of Permies playing cards.