This post is about links to the Report Problems threads, the next is about naming those threads.

This thread was inspired by this exchange over on the Science board.

[River:]I won't post a link, as the right thread changes from time to time, but just put

problem rosetta version 5.40

into the search box on this page and it will take you there (alter the number, of course, if you are on a different version of Rosetta).

[Tim:]I started the Problems with Rosetta Version 5.40 thread the other day. For those of you reading this now and have questions or concerns about the current application errors please click XXXX

I recognise that Tim is intending to be helpful in posting a direct link to the thread, but I feel this is not good advice.

I still say that the right advice to post is to look at the version number you have got, and if you don't already know the thread to go via the search box.

Tim's advice works fine today. But it will still be on the boards in a few months time, saying that people with questions about the current app should click "here". In six months time, no they shouldn't. But they will if we tell them to.

People (including long time participants who you might expect would know better) have a tendency to ignore the date posted at the top of each message, and to assume that anything on their screen is current.

People have a tendency to think that "today" means the day they are reading the post, not the day it was psoted.

Tim tries to get round this by saying "those of you reading this now". Trouble is, people are not computers, they do not carefully read every line, they skim and read the bits that they are looking for. People will not stop to think what "now" means, even with a clear statement like yours. Does it mean when the post was made, or when the post is being read? The assumption that is obvious after you have thought about it is *different* from the assumption you would have made before you thought about it.

What is the time now?

Interesting isn't it - how many of you looked at your watch, the clock on the wall or in the corner of the screen. How many of you looked at the date/time above this post? In the middle of thinking about this very issue, many of you still read "now" as meaning now-for-you-dearest-reader rather than now-for-me-as-writer.

People will take "current application" to mean the app that is current when they are reading this post, not the more logical meaning of the one that is current when you made the post.

Click here links are fine for a pointer to a fixed target - to David's online journal, or to a particular post. Click here links are a heffalump trap when they point to a date sensitive target, unless they front a PHP script that updates the url dynamically.

Teaching people to find their own way is better than a fixed link when they will want to go somewhere different in future. It is not helpful to be too helpful. At least, not in my opinion.

So my suggestion is not to put links to the problems with version 5.40 thread with words like "current" in the same sentence as the link. Ideally, teeach people to use the search box as that is a general skill which they will use to find future problem threads. The brighter ones will then also start to use the search box to find other threads they want...

Finally, I hope Tim, you will not take these comments as criticism (or not as the negative kind). I appreciated your desire to be helpful, and am hoping you will receive these comments as they are intended, which is to make your helpful intentions even more effective.

---

Names

Most of the Report Problems threads have the word report in the thread title, for example Report problems with Rosetta version 5.36. Consistent naming helps to encourage use of the search engine to locate similar, new, threads.

In fact some variation of names does not hurt - Rosetta delegates these searches to Google which is amazingly good at them. "Report problems version 5.40" in the search box does get you to the right thread, even tho the thread leaves out the word "Report" from the title.

But I would ask that we try to be consistent with these thread names, so that using the search box does continue to work. I'd suggest that the words "problem" (or "problems"), "rosetta", and "version" should always be in the thread title, together with the version number of course!

River~~

Actually... I'd prefer to leave "problems" OUT of the title. There is a set of links to the thread for each Rosetta version in the Project Info. Index... but it is outdated. This is part of what I hope the new Mod.Zilla ID will let us bring up to date. I'll chalk you up for one vote to recreate the project information index under the Mod.Zilla ID.

edit, now that I see there's a specific thread for the problems links, and the index points to the thread, not the specific msg, I see we could just update that to address this immediate concern.

---

Rosetta Moderator: Mod.Sense

Finally, I hope Tim, you will not take these comments as criticism (or not as the negative kind). I appreciated your desire to be helpful, and am hoping you will receive these comments as they are intended, which is to make your helpful intentions even more effective.

River: Constructive criticism is always fine by me. Thank you for directing my attention to this issue and next time I will be more wary of my future audience.

Tim

---