>To be blunt, the 'users' mail list suffers from beginners. Not just >beginners, but beginners who don't seem able (or willing even) to put >in a little effort to help themselves.
To be totally honest we get the same problem on the discuss list, except that we get the folks who for whatever reason, can't seem to tell the difference between 'discuss' and 'users' >Fewer and fewer people actually know how to use e-mail. The "September >that Never Ended" has started to afflict e-mail. I would imagine that would be because there's a larger percentage of people who aren't interested and don't think learning will help them in any way. Not neccesarily because the number of competant e-mailers is actually going down, just the proportion :P It's this rising tide of disinterested people that are probably the one's that OOo needs to steal from MSO, so we should make it as easy as possible for them to get to FAQ's, without hassling us in the process. Ergo: >To cut to the chase, my initial thought is to replace the moderators >with some sort of FAQ engine: an /unsubscribed/ user's email would be >scanned automatically for keywords and matched against a selection of >common FAQs. The most likely answers to be returned, along with a >reference to the online documentation (including the list archives) and >maybe google; also a note on how to subscribe if that doesn't help. A >subscriber would get straight through on the basis they probably >understand how the list works. Yes, actually i would argue having a handy web interface where people can ask a question that gives results based on an algorithm that searches the FAQ's and list archives for relevance, and then a "Not found the answer?" link that directs people's to a clear and unambiguous page on accessing the mailing lists and issuezilla etc? The link to this web interfacer should be clear and prominent on the front page, possibly with links within the OpenOffice Help. Appealing to the masses, i'm afraid is the way forward if we want to start cutting into MSO heartland. -- Chris Monahan --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
