Revise the "IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help" sticy topic?

[Jee-Bee]

- Search the forum.

Most important one

[DeepSOIC]

My opinions...

the version must be current.

Not "must". Maybe just "better"?

It seems that lately people are including images in .docx and .pdf files instead of uploading them directly to the forum.

Yes, and I find this quite annoying... But I noticed that most users who do are on Windows; contrary to Mac and Linux, when you press the Print Screen key, the screenshot is not automatically saved to an image file but only copied to the clipboard. In my experience, most people only know to press PrintScreen, open MS Word then paste. They have no idea how to save it as an image file.

I made a search last night and found that in Windows 10, it's now possible to save a screenshot as a PNG file, I posted the link to the tutorial that shows how in two topics where OPs had attached PDFs.

That is most likely a sign of how popular FreeCAD is becoming. Probably being pushed forward by availability of 3d printers.
..We wouldn't include a tutorial on how to use mouse on windows, right? What I'm afraid of, is that if the read-first topic includes too much stuff, less and less people would bother to read it through and follow, and will either freak out altogether, or post just some "Please help me please" topic.

Since Windows 7, Windows is equipped with a "Snipping tool", which allows to make a screenshot by selecting an area on screen, draw some stuff on it, and save as png, jpg, gif or mht (and defaults to png).

[chrisb]

To keep the intro short we may have two short lists: The first is what we need here as information to provide sensible help. The second list is some kind of quick help list containing the evergreens like search the forum, STL and DXF export etc.

[chrisb]

There is another one:
"If the feature (Pad or Pocket) you added doesn't show make sure that only the last element in the tree is visible."

[NormandC]

I agree with DeepSOIC that the "Read first" topic should not include everything and the kitchen sink.

EDIT: what if the "Read first" topic was only listing the bullet points, and would link to a wiki page for details and step-by-step instructions? The upside would be that the wiki page could be translatable and be used by the other language forums.

Frequently asked questions shouldn't go there, it should only link to either a a new forum FAQ or a revised wiki FAQ (it's currently a monster, maybe it should be broken down into separate specialized FAQs - one for installation, one for usage, etc. ?).

Not "must". Maybe just "better"?

We're not worrying about the wording for now, just about the content.

We wouldn't include a tutorial on how to use mouse on windows, right?

No, but if the person doesn't know how to use a mouse, do you think they'll have managed to get here?

I'm not talking about doing a tutorial on how to create a screen capture, but at least say something like:

Windows users: please do not attach screen captures in Word or PDF format. Use Windows' Snipping tool to save your capture as a PNG image. (Here's how)

Optional instruction to add: remind the new user to enable email notifications (which are not enabled by default).

[NormandC]

OK, first try...

How about minimalism. No pictures. No detailed step-by-step. Neutral tone. One single post, that's it.

------------
IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help

Welcome here, and thanks for your interest in FreeCAD! We are a small but active community of users and developers.

We are eager to assist you, but please read the following before posting.

1. Make sure your FreeCAD version is up to date.
   Bug fix releases are published a few times a year as needed. Make sure you are using the latest version (0.16 Revision 6706/6707). Download
    
2. Search the forum first.
   Chances are other users had the same problem as you before. Also have a look at our FAQ, the FreeCAD Manual and the Documentation.
    
3. Please provide your FreeCAD version info.
   Open the Help --> About FreeCAD menu then click on the "Copy to clipboard" button, and paste its content in the text box (better word needed?). This will provide us valuable information on your exact version and revision number, your operating system as well as FreeCAD's internal libraries. (Mac users: the About FreeCAD menu is under the Apple menu.)
   Please do not attach a screen capture. Don't add your FreeCAD info to your signature, as it will put it out of context.
    
4. Please provide a complete description of your problem.
   The best way to get quick and efficient help is to not spare any details. What workbench and tools are you using? What steps did you take? What was the result? This will avoid back-and-forth exchanges and save time for everybody.
    
5. Add your FreeCAD file and/or screen captures.
   Your FreeCAD file (*.FCStd) can be useful to troubleshoot the problem, and screen captures can also be useful. Under the text box (?), click on the Attachments tab, then click on the Add files button. (Many different file formats are supported)
   
   Please don't zip your *.FCStd file, it is already zipped. Windows users: please do not attach screen captures in Word or PDF format. Use the Windows Snipping tool to save your capture as a PNG image. (Here's how)
   
   File attachments are limited to 1MB in size. If your *.FCStd file is too big to attach, you can use an online storage service (many are free like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox).

Useful links
Would such a section be of use?

[NormandC]

Are you guys aware that jmaustpc added two replies under the Read first topic?

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 264#p64293

I think that almost nobody goes that far. I'm considering not keeping these two posts that nobody reads anyway...

Maybe the "Anti-spam Measures" reply could be split into a separate topic to be added to the Announcements?

[jmaustpc]

Hi everyone

Are you guys aware that jmaustpc added two replies under the Read first topic?

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 264#p64293

I think that almost nobody goes that far. I'm considering not keeping these two posts that nobody reads anyway...

Maybe the "Anti-spam Measures" reply could be split into a separate topic to be added to the Announcements?

The information is important but how to best display it is another question.

The reason I originally posted the information about how to do a quote was because many people we're not correctly posting quotes such that they included the original persons login. This is a big problem because the system uses this information to send you a notification that you have been quoted because usually you will want to know about that as it is likely a reply to something you posted. Actually Werner it was one of the ones who was doing that a lot but I don't know why. Perhaps he was trying to use a smartphone or something similar. The problem was I missed a few things that I needed to read because unless you read every single post ever made it is easy to miss somebody's reply.

Regarding the other topic about anti spam measures, I added that because some people seem to think we were being unfriendly and making things unnecessarily complicated and difficult. I was trying to let people understand that we were actually friendly but the spammers were becoming a serious problem that we had to deal with.

About the images being attached the docx format, I was surprised because I thought that the doc x file extension was not an approved file extension in the settings. I have to log in from my computer to have a look at the admin controls for this forum. I am currently using my smartphone.

I think you guys are correct that this topic needs to be simple as possible and to the point. Updating this topic I think is a good idea. As Norm said earlier, the other thing to remember is that the non English language forums have all made a similar copy of the post in their native language. So if we we do this for English they then have to redo all of their languages as well. So I guess this adds some pressure to make sure we get it right once and don't keep changing it all the time.

[chrisb]

OK, first try...

How about minimalism. No pictures. No detailed step-by-step. Neutral tone. One single post, that's it.

Very much appreciated. I would add one further link in the search recommendation:

Search the forum first.
Chances are other users had the same problem as you before. Also have a look at our FAQ, the FreeCAD Manual and the Documentation. The 3 (perhaps 4, not more than 5) most common questions are covered here.

Everyone has an FAQ and everyone has seen too often that the FAQ contains questions which someone thinks might be interesting but aren't. So let's do something that looks more worth reading.

[bejant]

My opinions...

the version must be current.

Not "must". Maybe just "better"?

Whoa... "better" for sure! It's so badass that I love it!!!!

1. Your FreeCAD version better be current.

EDIT: what if the "Read first" topic was only listing the bullet points, and would link to a wiki page for details and step-by-step instructions? The upside would be that the wiki page could be translatable and be used by the other language forums.

+1

------------
I embedded my comments in the quoted text:

IMPORTANT: Please read first before asking for help

Welcome here, and thanks for your interest in FreeCAD! We are a small but active community of users and developers.

We are eager to assist you, but please read the following before posting.

Your FreeCAD version better be current.
Bug fix releases are published a few times a year as needed. Make sure you are using the latest version (0.16 Revision 6706/6707). Download

Search the forum first.
Chances are other users had the same problem as you before. Also have a look at our FAQ, the FreeCAD Manual and the Documentation.

Please provide your FreeCAD version info.
Open the Help --> About FreeCAD menu then click on the "Copy to clipboard" button, and paste its content in the text input area. This will provide us valuable information on your exact version and revision number, your operating system as well as FreeCAD's internal libraries. (Mac users: the About FreeCAD menu is under the Apple menu.)
Please do not attach a screen capture instead of posting the Help > About FreeCAD information from the clipboard. Don't add your FreeCAD info to your signature, as it will put it out of context.

Please provide a complete description of your problem.
The best way to get quick and efficient help is to not spare any details. What workbench and tools are you using? What steps did you take? What was the result? This will avoid back-and-forth exchanges and save time for everybody.

Add your FreeCAD file and/or screen captures.
Your FreeCAD file (*.FCStd) can be useful to troubleshoot the problem, and screen captures can also be useful. Under the text box input area, click on the Attachments tab, then click on the Add files button. (Many different file formats are supported)

Please don't zip your *.FCStd file, it is already zipped. Windows users: please do not attach screen captures in Word or PDF format. Use the Windows Snipping tool to save your capture as a PNG image. (Here's how)

File attachments are limited to 1MB in size. If your *.FCStd file is too big to attach, you can use an online storage service (many are free like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox).


Useful links
Would such a section be of use? My answer: I believe so, yes

Are you guys aware that jmaustpc added two replies under the Read first topic?

Yes, I had seen that a while ago because sometimes I read the Read First to see what may have changed.

I think that the AntiSpam portion is good because some new people have wondered why their post didn't appear in the forum right away.

As for the How To Quote part, IMO it should be included if we expect people to use the quote tool a certain way.

Just kidding about the "better be current" but I don't know what @DeepSOIC actually meant; I doubt my interpretation was actually the intent.