Oolite Bulletins

Hi,

shortly ago there was some discussion about writing a "new users guide", which is a very good idea.

Since the few months I am playing this game and visit this board, I've seen quite many people having the same questions - usually answered in a way that seems to be helpful to me.

Maybe we should have another forum area aside from discussion or expansion pack which gathers such threads.

The result would be that many newbies could find their answers much more quickly and that those working on a manual to cover these topics could find possible articles to include.

I guess it would be something helpful for all of us!

Screet

Well, we have already the wiki, especially the Instruction Manual and the FAQs, and of course Mr Gimlet and other tidbits. And at least for Mac users—but for everybody else as well through the wiki—there is the Oolite ReadMe. And all of these are linked nicely to and from each other, and from the board. There is even a sticky in the discussions forum that explicitly asks new forum members to read it first.

Usually the answer to any question by any newbie can be found in these resources.

Thus the problem is not that there are no easy references for newbies. The problem is that usually the newbies ignore these easy references and ask their questions on the board anyway. Which means that the same questions are asked and answered here continuously, and I don't see that changing if we provide yet another resource. Fortunately this is the Friendliest board this side of Riedquat™, and the members have a lot of patience, and are willingly providing the same answers over and over again.

Commander McLane wrote:

Thus the problem is not that there are no easy references for newbies. The problem is that usually the newbies ignore these easy references and ask their questions on the board anyway. Which means that the same questions are asked and answered here continuously, and I don't see that changing if we provide yet another resource. Fortunately this is the Friendliest board this side of Riedquat™, and the members have a lot of patience, and are willingly providing the same answers over and over again.

I do see that exactly the same way - and I'm willing to answer, as you might have seen in the past. However, these requests are nor really part of discussion/expansion/suggestion/bug report! Furthermore, the likelihood of newbies to read these things would be increased by having a dedicated area!

I also agree that the FAQ should be read and should cover all those problems. As you know, it doesn't and a FAQ typically is something that evolves over time by adding other frequently asked questions. Sometimes the answers are not enough for a commander. Therefore, such a forum area would in my eyes even help to fine-tune the FAQ.

Maybe a newbie area with a few sticky threads would help to ease this for everyone? I guess the time it would take to make it that way is far less than the time to be saved by as few as two commanders asking (or even not asking, just searching for that info).

Screet

Screet wrote:

shortly ago there was some discussion about writing a "new users guide", which is a very good idea.

I am working on it at this very moment. I've just been distracted by doing the Reference Sheet this last month. To that end the final version will be winging it's way to Another_Commander in 24 hours. For the moment the six pages will cover the basics in short form while I carry on with the main text. (See this thread for the links to it https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=4050. )

It's at 14,000 words and counting, and I've only done about a 10th of it. Once I've completed the first draft I'll put it up for peer-review so any areas I've missed or short changed will fixed. In the end it's impossible to fit all of Oolite in to a 100 or so a5 pages, so it's only ever going to cover the generality of the game.

Screet wrote:

The result would be that many newbies could find their answers much more quickly and that those working on a manual to cover these topics could find possible articles to include.

I guess it would be something helpful for all of us!

As Commander McLane so ably put it "Fortunately this is the Friendliest board this side of Riedquat™, and the members have a lot of patience, and are willingly providing the same answers over and over again." Let's face it, no matter how much information you put in the manual (or the wiki or forum for that matter), some people never read it or totally get the wrong end of the stick (including yours truly with the second problem .) It's this vibrant and friendly network of enthusiastic supporters that makes me so willing to take on the project in the first place.

Perhaps the moderators could make a sticky thread in the about the manual when it's finalised so I can keep it up to date and accurate.

As for a separate sub-board for the newcomers, I think it might be worthy addition once the manual has been completed. It would help to tie together a whole lot of threads that are currently scattered across several sections and could have several sticky threads of the 'How Do I...' variety.

It's defiantly something to consider for the future as the game develops.

First of all, good to see that we're on the same side here.

Screet wrote:

However, these requests are nor really part of discussion/expansion/suggestion/bug report! Furthermore, the likelihood of newbies to read these things would be increased by having a dedicated area!

Yes, but... there's one thing I forgot to mention: According to my experiences new members also seem to have the habit of posting in the Discussions forum anyway, whatever their question is about. Don't think that would change very much with having another forum.

Screet wrote:

I also agree that the FAQ should be read and should cover all those problems. As you know, it doesn't and a FAQ typically is something that evolves over time by adding other frequently asked questions. Sometimes the answers are not enough for a commander. Therefore, such a forum area would in my eyes even help to fine-tune the FAQ.

This is exactly how it has been done in the past, and as a matter of fact the FAQ is only in existence because of this process. (There is even a sticky which contains much of the fine-tuning discussion.) Also as a matter of fact I did quite a few of the contributions to the FAQ. And have updated it occasionally. And of course you are invited to do the same. (Okay, there is currently the technical difficulty of not being able to amend the wiki, but as soon as this is solved, please feel free to go ahead.)

Reading the new commander's sticky, especially the part about one ton of slaves when scooping escape pods, reminds me (again) of Jack Of All Trades, there was one mission where you had to pick up this guy named White Bear - he takes a full ton of cargo space. Also data storage devices in another mission take up 1 ton...