Suggestion Open GMS1.4 Help Articles to user comments

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signal

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Is there any chance of opening up the GMS1.4 Help Articles to user comments? I know there's a bunch of people that still use 1.4 exclusively, but a lot of these articles are outdated.. For example, I'm looking at Android extensions right now, but about halfway through the article it becomes unclear what to do next because the interface has changed so dramatically. Not to get too specific, but there's no mention of placeholder files in the article, or for example, why the directory creates iOS folders when you have selected only Android. If you use the Help Manual in tandem with the articles, you make a little headway, but there's still gaping holes, as evidenced by forum posts I've found with no solutions.

Personally, I would be happy to give insight to these articles if I can, and I'm sure other users would as well, but right now there's no way we can do this other than responding to individual topics here in the forum. We're left to use the search system, which is unreliable in many cases.

With YYG focusing on GMS2, we understand why these articles aren't up to date, so why not open them up to user comments at the very least? We understand that you have a lot on your plate. I just ask that you make it easier on users to help themselves.

OR, if they can't be opened to user comments (because the comments can't be moderated) perhaps creating a sub-forum here in the community for "legacy" articles so users can discuss them in a central place?

This would be a win/win situation for YYG and its users.
 
S

signal

Guest
Please just file a docs bug report and they'll be updated.
But if a user is not inclined to submit a bug report, what other option is there? That's a potential lost customer for YYG. It seems unfair to leave this particular task to the userbase.

I propose that the YYG staff take it upon themselves to go through the latest Release Notes for GMS 1.4 and update related Help Articles as a sign of appreciation to the people who continue to use this great software.

Typically, any relevant documentation for a piece of software is updated with a new release. This seems to have not been the case for the last few updates.

This is why personally, I think it would be great to have access to these articles here on the forums so that users can discuss each article in one place.
 

Nocturne

Friendly Tyrant
Forum Staff
Admin
But if a user is not inclined to submit a bug report, what other option is there?
The only official route to getting anything fixed is through the helpdesk... if someone is willing to post in a topic to contribute to getting something fixed, then I don't see why they wouldn't be willing to do the same through the helpdesk. In Both cases you need to actively write something and send it off...

As for the docs, they are all written by me and only me, and I have to balance the priorities of what needs fixed and when with the current release schedule and what gets used by most people. I do the best I can, but there is a LOT of information for both versions of GMS around now, and it's easy for me to miss a small change in things. If you file a bug it means I can see the issue and then assign it an appropriate priority and get it fixed.
 

andev

Member
I think the issue is not to do with the OP, but rather random users who might not know how enthusiastic you are for keeping everything accurate and up to date. They might not even know the helpdesk exists, or even if they do, might assume it's only for program related issues and not articles. Not to mention it seems you now have to make an account to submit something, which if I would not be doing as a random passer through.

What might be useful is if it said "If there's something wrong with this article, please let us know at the helpdesk" at the bottom, but I still don't think that fixes the issue for users that would have to make an account.

But I think comments are a really important aspect of an article, because if I get stuck with something that's the first place I look. What is the reason for comments being closed?
 
S

signal

Guest
As for the docs, they are all written by me and only me, and I have to balance the priorities of what needs fixed and when with the current release schedule and what gets used by most people. I do the best I can, but there is a LOT of information for both versions of GMS around now, and it's easy for me to miss a small change in things.
That's a huge undertaking for one person. The articles I've read have been great for the most part. I'm not even trying to bash the articles.. I'm just imaging how convenient it would be for users to have a central point where they can discuss each article without having to go on a scavenger hunt here in the forums. This search engine is infuriating sometimes..

Honestly, if you put all the GMS1.4 articles here in it's own sub-forum, with one topic for each article.. how much easier would that make your job? If there's something wrong, a user tags you, you make the change right here in the forum.. done.

if someone is willing to post in a topic to contribute to getting something fixed, then I don't see why they wouldn't be willing to do the same through the helpdesk. In Both cases you need to actively write something and send it off...
There's an additional login required. Also, there's no indication of how often articles are updated, so there's higher risk involved from the user's perspective. Just because there's no bug reports doesn't mean people aren't viewing the articles, because I see plenty of posts here in the forum asking for clarification. I'm curious if you have access to page view statistics for the articles? If I'm the only one viewing Android articles.. I will gladly shut up :)
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
No thanks.

The last time they opened the helpdesk for user comments, it resulted in a spam surge of over 60000 messages that took a week to clean out. YoYo's support staff has better things to do than to open opportunities for such abuse.

And if you want to know what actually happens to official documentation that allows open user input, look at PHP's Manual. It's a hodgepodge of mixed, mostly crappy posts from people who don't know what they're doing, and it's a harbinger of what to expect with your idea.
 
S

signal

Guest
The last time they opened the helpdesk for user comments, it resulted in a spam surge of over 60000 messages that took a week to clean out. YoYo's support staff has better things to do than to open opportunities for such abuse.
I figured that would be an issue, thus my second suggestion.. Bring the articles here to the forums. Allow for centralized, easily searchable, user discussion.

And if you want to know what actually happens to official documentation that allows open user input, look at PHP's Manual. It's a hodgepodge of mixed, mostly crappy posts from people who don't know what they're doing, and it's a harbinger of what to expect with your idea.
That may be the case, but I'm willing to bet there's some useful information scattered in there as well. But with PHP.. it's an entirely different story. There's an abundance of easily searchable info on the language on the internet. With GML.. it's quite the opposite.

------

Say I'm reading the Android extensions article and I come to the section titled "Creating the GML Functions", but the tutorial skips the step of Right-click>Add placeholder>Add generic and tells me to right-click a file called "GenericTest.ext". Well, that file doesn't exist. Also, since the placeholder file takes the name of the extension, if you didn't name your extension GenericTest, your .ext filename will not be called GenericTest.ext. At the beginning of the article, you are told to simply give the extension a name, and the name in the screenshot is not GenericTest. Yes, you can rename it, but now you're left to wander what the naming requirements are for the .ext file, is it required to be the same name as your .java file, and so on.

In that situation, all you need is clarification, but what are your options here? You can't leave a comment on the article, and there are no previous comments to search through. So you either create a login, submit a bug and wait for it to get fixed or go on a scavenger hunt here in the forums. Let's be honest, this search engine is not Google.. it's not stackoverflow.. it's almost useless.

So yeah... just centralized user discussion.

Or simply update relevant articles when there's changes to the IDE. Give Nocturne some help. It can't be an easy task keeping that many articles on so many different subjects up to date.
 

Mike

nobody important
GMC Elder
Sorry, as has been said we can not open up the comments section - or allow user editing of these pages in anyway. There are simply too many bots, or people posting rubbish/abuse for this to happen.

If you spot an issue, file a bug via the help desk and someone will take a look when they can.
 
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