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Rename the "Tech Support" sections to "IDE & Runner Support"

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FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
It seems rookies are still putting coding questions on the "Tech Support" sections because they think code counts as "Tech". I propose renaming those sections to "IDE & Runner Support" to help clarify their actual purpose. Any thoughts?
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
There was moderator discussion about this when the forum was set up. And also among YoYoGames personnel (I'm told). I think "Tech Support" has worked fairly well, although I agree some forum newbies get confused.

Fortunately it only happens once per member. Because when misplaced topics are moved to Programming, it's easy to send a message explaining why. So it's not a big deal. We accept that some misplaced topics are inevitable. Heck, we even get programming questions in the Community forum. And lots of them in Tutorials as well.

That said, a name change might help. The phrase "tech support" is rather generic, so a more specific name might help. Likewise, re-naming Programming to Programming Help or Programming Questions might help too. To emphasize it's a place to get code help.
 
S

signal

Guest
The fact that Tech Support is broken up by GMS version while Programming is not probably adds some confusion as well. I could see how a rook might be compelled to post in the first forum that indicates their GMS version..

Then there's the fact that the Tech Support forums are sandwiched in between Programming and Advanced Programming.. at first glance, this might give the impression that the GMS1.4 and GMS2 TS forums are just more specific programming forums. Possible solution is to group the TS forums in their own category (and place them towards the bottom of the forum)? If you do this, you'd probably have to rename the GameMaker group as well (perhaps Development or Game Dev?).

If I'm being picky, there's also the wording in the description for the forums: For Programming, the first word is "Discuss" while for Tech Support (and Advanced Programming), it's "Get help". Small detail.. but worth looking into. For brevity's sake, you can probably eliminate the word "Discussion" from the AP title. To further reduce clutter, consider shortening the TS forum names to e.g. GMS 2 Tech Support since the description already specifies it is "community" tech support and it is implied since it is in the forum.

Then there's the situations where a topic can fall into either category. Let's say you are certain a function is not working as intended.. do you post it in Programming section, or TS? I could see how either one would be valid in this case. But then you might have rooks seeing these "Programming" topics in TS and think it's okay to post code there.

Personally, I'd be okay with "IDE & Runner Support", but I'm wondering if that wording would be off-putting to YYG's target audience.
 
K

Kios

Guest
Maybe simply "GameMaker Studio 2 Editor Help", or something like that. Along with "Programming Help" of course. If you are really green do you know what a runner or an ide are?
 

Tsa05

Member
And a de facto suggestions area would be nice to have again. The ticketing system occasionally "resolves" a feature request by advising me to take the idea to the GMC first to gather community feedback. It's a clever stratagem, since there's no clear way to solicit feedback and approval for suggestions ;D

(Not attempting to hijack--just seems related to clarifying the forum names as that forum is now the catch-all GMS2 "stuff" forum)
 
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