Advise on asking good questions

[Sherri is a Cat]

The easiest would be to edit it and point to the new link - but the old link will redirect (301 redirection) to the new link in perpetuity. It'd be far easier just to edit that out.

I'm not adverse to making it a sticky, I'm just not sure if there's a benefit to be had. If other think there's value in it, I'll happily clean it up and have it point to the new URL to ensure future-proofing. It was originally written for the first (the .gq domain) instance of Linux Tips, the one that got nuked in favor of the .us domain and all the new features and yada yada yada...

I can certainly clean it up and sticky it.

I thought it was fine exactly as is. Unless something needs updating, I personally don't think any cleaning up is necessary.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

@KGIII

On the banners...

I also read your post, "We actually have some rules" and "I provide inexpensive Linux-based web hosting"

Rules are always good to read. Don't want to get kicked out!

Web hosting is something I'm most likely going to seriously consider. I'm going back into business for myself, hopefully sooner than later.

 

[KGIII]

On the banners...

Just an FYI - those aren't banners, they're 'signatures'.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Just like yours, Sherri

The hardest part of doing anything new is overcoming the fear that I won't be able to do it.

 

[Condobloke]

Having said all that, I would be the first to agree that the linux.org search function could do with a boost.....it is not always the most user-friendly thing to use.

To be fair, I didn't look.

Nor do I blame you for not looking.....but......put yourself in the shoes of 'noobie' (i hate that word) who is digging around the net, and comes across Linux.org. he/she says to himself....hey this cool...these people are cool !...friendly !!....and thy've got a download Linux on their fron t page !!....no more searching for that....ultra cool

So they download it.
Then....how to install it....what in hell happens next?...oh, they've got a search function,.......I will just type in there "How to Install Linux"
His/her search looks like this, below::

He or she then hits enter.....and the result is::

Loading…

www.linux.org

.....Which just to save you yet another click....looks like below:

ok....so the 'coolness' only lasted so long, I guess.

 

[KGIII]

Nor do I blame you for not looking.....but......put yourself in the shoes of 'noobie' (i hate that word) who is digging around the net, and comes across Linux.org.

Oh, I only found it by searching for exact terms and limiting it to content posted by KGIII.

Search is actually hard. That's why the search here is so 'basic'. It's not even close to as good as a real search engine. You could probably use site:linux.org while searching at Google/Bing/wherever. That should limit the search results to just this site.

Yup. Ye olde Boolean search expressions may sometimes still work.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Nor do I blame you for not looking.....but......put yourself in the shoes of 'noobie' (i hate that word) who is digging around the net, and comes across Linux.org. he/she says to himself....hey this cool...these people are cool !...friendly !!....and thy've got a download Linux on their fron t page !!....no more searching for that....ultra cool

So they download it.
Then....how to install it....what in hell happens next?...oh, they've got a search function,.......I will just type in there "How to Install Linux"
His/her search looks like this, below::
View attachment 18119

He otr she then hits enter.....and the result is::

Loading…

www.linux.org

.....Which just to save you yet another click....looks like below:


View attachment 18121

ok....so the 'coolness' on lasted so long, I guess.

That pretty much looks like every search I come across in any forum. I usually stumble across forum post when I search the internet using the same terms.

 

[Condobloke]

Oh, I only found it by searching for exact terms and limiting it to content posted by KGIII.

Search is actually hard. That's why the search here is so 'basic'. It's not even close to as good as a real search engine. You could probably use site:linux.org while searching at Google/Bing/wherever. That should limit the search results to just this site.

Yup. Ye olde Boolean search expressions may sometimes still work.

So there is no 'joy' for new people searching this site

That pretty much looks like every search I come across in any forum

and all that simply means we are attracted to the lowest common denominator

That may well be::

That's actually the number one result for "ask a good support question" on the various search engines.

""Search is actually hard.""....not so hard on the various search engines apparently

.....and that is where the smile ends. We get them in because it is the number one result....but, do we retain them?

I think not.

 

[wizardfromoz]

https://www.linux.org/threads/new-to-linux-this-is-a-must-read.21578/post-63942

The link from that thread is a post by the late great Arochester with a link to a guide that is still valid today.

The parent thread is pinned as the 3rd item in Getting Started.

If people do not read pinned articles, we cannot make them.

David G @KGIII and I (and likely you too, Brian) already spend 50 hours a week here just doing what we can do - I have not the extra time to search for a better internal search engine, but if someone else has, and finds one, they can post in Forum Assistance and we could take a look.

I can take the time to look at the Debian Forum's setup, and if it is good, I can ask of our new friend there (and member here) what they use.

...but, do we retain them?

Thousands of them, since I first joined in 2014, but thousands drop off and retain membership. On my watch, I have not had one person say they were quitting because the search engine was no good.

Not getting riled, just explaining, lol.

Wiz

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

https://www.linux.org/threads/new-to-linux-this-is-a-must-read.21578/post-63942

The link from that thread is a post by the late great Arochester with a link to a guide that is still valid today.

The parent thread is pinned as the 3rd item in Getting Started.

If people do not read pinned articles, we cannot make them.

David G @KGIII and I (and likely you too, Brian) already spend 50 hours a week here just doing what we can do - I have not the extra time to search for a better internal search engine, but if someone else has, and finds one, they can post in Forum Assistance and we could take a look.

I can take the time to look at the Debian Forum's setup, and if it is good, I can ask of our new friend there (and member here) what they use.



Thousands of them, since I first joined in 2014, but thousands drop off and retain membership. On my watch, I have not had one person say they were quitting because the search engine was no good.

Not getting riled, just explaining, lol.

Wiz

I'm not asking for a new search engine.

 

[KGIII]

So there is no 'joy' for new people searching this site

I wouldn't say that it's useless, just that it's not that good. It doesn't understand context. It searches just for the terms entered and not related terms. There's no spelling correction. The list goes on...

Search is hard. Search is very hard. We have maybe a dozen good general-use search engines that make up the majority of search traffic. I'd say the search we have here is similar to what we had pre-Google in results and features.