Little things annoy me

Well said Ian; I couldn't agree more, and I'm a luddite usenetter from the mid 80s. So anyone can change their opinion when a little older/wiser. ;-D

I'll wager tho that most new users who come here for a problem and then leave, won't even notice the "answered" icon.

This is really much ado about nothing IMO. People have to have something to gripe about when the status quo is whacked a bit. LOL

Same goes with the copyright issue; Why these people simply just don't get an expert opinion from a qualified legal begal in these matters is just incomprehensible. They just want to rant like imbeciles. Ah well the "unwashed masses" ;-)

Oh :( I was so enjoying handing little bundles of sweeties points to the nice people.

>This means that the helpful poster with the Right Answer badge will actually have helped a number of users destroy their ability to edit the text which may have some severe consequences, especially if their design needs later amendments; this could be the case if the customer paying wants to make changes.

bingo.

>Strangely, those, such as myself, that are here portrayed as elitist, condescending, etc, although many of us have never in any forum expressed anything to justify such a characterization, are actually the very same that ask for the continuance of a democratic forum style where everyone is equal.

and are also the very people who give most of themselves and their free time to help other adobe customers. is it so much that "we" the "experts" ask for a say in how things are done?

someone said "you're not that important. if you leave, someone will take your place". of course they will, but why force those who care about the product and the people to leave in the first place. not one of the so called "experts" gets paid for sharing his or her expertise. does that sound like an "elitist" mentality? if you want that go to: http://www.experts-exchange.com/ . there you can pay to have experts help you and feel like you're really getting your money's worth.

>I feel they included the "answered" button, and the "helpful" button, to assist in efficient browsing.

of course they did oz. it's just unfortunate that that scenario doesn't fit with many of adobe's products. sometimes yes, there is a right and a wrong answer. black and white. good and evil. done and done. but many times there's not.

> Someone reading a question that has an answer will assume that answer is correct unless someone else says it isn't - whether it's marked as correct doesn't actually matter.

i've actually helped people here in my office who said "this is the answer that was marked in the java forum" who were wondering why something didn't work. i went back and read the same thread and realized that yes, it was marked "correct", then after it was refuted and corrected. going back and asking if he had read the entire thread was met with a blank stare and an 'oops'.

so no, that's not always (often?) the case. even with extremely bright people (this guy was sharp, but he was in a hurry. he went to "correct answer", took it and ran).

> but some might expend their efforts elsewhere instead.

where?

>So maybe the indication that a question is considered answered might lead me to prioritise and to read those not marked that way first.

so those that may be wrong or incomplete might not quickly be corrected as they are now? that's a bad thing, imo.

>And my point is - I don't think this is going to be that big a deal at the end of the day

might or might not be, but i get the feeling it doesn't matter what we think. as i said to pj above, it's part of the package so we're just p*ssing into the wind here.

and that's sad.

My take on the "answered" thing has already been stated on the ephemeral test forum, but for posterity (who cares?!) I'll restate it -

I think you have to consider much of the Jive software in its entirety, not as a collection of features which you can omit or add to or change without affecting the underlying view of the overall purpose expressed by the software designers in the product we see.

There's no 'proper' read tracking in the Jive software. They do not envisage people reading everything. Here, some people do read everything (within their area of interest) but many don't.

So the designers were thinking in terms of people dipping into threads based on their titles, on the amount of reads and posts (eg the display of popular topics) and so forth.

I feel they included the "answered" button, and the "helpful" button, to assist in efficient browsing. So Joe Bloggs comes along, asks his question, and (say) a thread develops with about a dozen posts. Some of this are inconsequential or ask for more info or otherwise do not in themselves merit later close reading, but a few are considered to be the key contributions. These can get marked as such, to help point out the wood from the trees. Finally a point is reached where Mr Bloggs considers that the answer has been given (it could be that he's told and accepts that there is no acceptable answer) and he signs off the thread as answered, because he's not planning to come back to it. Anyone can add to it of course, but they won't be telling Joe Bloggs that actually there's another better answer, 'cos he's gone.

The fact that it's marked as answered doesn't stop wrong answers being corrected. If the answer is wrong, any corrections (or suggestions that the answer is wrong without the actual correct info being given) will tend to follow in short order anyway. So although I guess someone might pick up on the wrong answer in the short interim period before correction thinking that it's gospel, the same could happen here. Someone reading a question that has an answer will assume that answer is correct unless someone else says it isn't - whether it's marked as correct doesn't actually matter. In other words, I don't see that logically there's a big difference with the situation we have now - chief difference is that perhaps we'll see that the OP is gone, whereas now quite often stuff gets added to threads on the incorrect assumption that the info is being read by the OP. Sure, it's good to have the right info on the record whether or not the OP will see it, but some might expend their efforts elsewhere instead.

Which is where efficiency comes into it. Say I'm a major contributor to a forum. I've only got 'n' hours a day to expend on it. Perhaps with lack of read tracking etc I won't be able to read everything. So maybe the indication that a question is considered answered might lead me to prioritise and to read those not marked that way first. Then check the supposedly answered questions if time allows.

And my point is - I don't think this is going to be that big a deal at the end of the day. I don't think it's going to make a logically big difference from the way things work here. But time will tell - it's only when the new forums really get used for product discussions that the full picture on many aspects will emerge.

The issue of the right post(s) was actually covered rather well in this thread:

http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.59b7f674

And some of the dangers/inconconvenience of the Right Answer button was detailed in this post and the thread it links to:

Jacob Bugge, "Will "answers" be obvious?" #24, 5 Mar 2009 8:24 am

And it could easily be worse, as Illustrated by this:

In Illustrator, sometimes a helpful poster unconditionally suggests that type (live text as a shapeable object) be outlined in order to enable certain changes such as effects, and the troubled akser, perhaps an awestricken newbie, may grasp it and run, leaving a mark to ensure that others will do the same.

However, in many cases, the same changes may be obtained while keeping the type live.

This means that the helpful poster with the Right Answer badge will actually have helped a number of users detstroy their ability to edit the text which may have some severe consequences, especially if their design needs later amendments; this could be the case if the customer paying wants to make changes.

Thus, the helpful poster may cause a good deal of wasted time and/or monies for recreation of what should never have been destroyed, and perhaps even an inferior design because the decisive creative moment has gone for ever.

Strangely, those, such as myself, that are here portrayed as elitist, condescending, etc, although many of us have never in any forum expressed anything to justify such a characterization, are actually the very same that ask for the continuance of a democratic forum style where everyone is equal.

In contrast, those that attack the supposed elitism etc, are the very same that are welcoming the badges, medals, and ribbons, we seem to have in wait.

>The right to stop anyone expressing their opinion about a topic they raised is a right that should be treated very, very carefully.

No-one is trying to do that. Of course the person asking the question has every right to say 'thanks, that worked perfectly!'.

The point at issue is that they should not have the ability to mark the question as done and dusted - because it might not be.

Should have been 500,000

"Tut, tut.", said Christopher Robin, "It looks like rain!"

but can he dance?

Kevin Bacon, Adobe Certified Expert with a badge and a gun.