Questions.TechnicPack.Net

[littleweseth]

[Posting this here because there doesn't seem to be a more appropriate subforum for it. Please move to more appropriate subforum if one exists.]

As a long time user of Stack Overflow I'm a great fan of Stack Exchange type websites, especially over forum type websites.

I've been trying to use the Technic Questions site but I've run into a few things:

1) I can't find the ask question button.

When I went to the questions.technicpack.net website, I can see I'm signed on using my existing forum account, but I can't seem to perform any actions (commenting, or asking questions.) I have no comment or answer entry fields on existing questions, nor do I have an "ask" button in the top bar.

I googled for a Question2Answer sandbox website and I can see that the url for "ask a question" should be questions.technicpack.net/ask. However trying to use this URL manually results in a "You don't have permission to perform this operation."

Should I be able to ask questions when signed in using my forum-linked account? Is there a minimum rep limit to ask questions that I'm not aware of?

2) 95% of questions are about Technic Launcher troubleshooting and bug reports. Is this by design?

Is Technic Questions intended as a place for these types of troubleshooting questions and bug reports (replacing or supplementing the bug subforums on forums.technicpack.net)?

If so, is there a way of filtering them out from my view? Personally I have very little interest in reading or answering questions about the Technic Launcher or bugs - the N variations on "Java Error Please Help!" don't catch my fancy. I'd rather be asking, reading, and answering questions about gameplay, such as "How can I design a 2000 EU/t nuclear reactor using bucket CASUC?"

If the Technic Questions website *is* intended for these kind of support questions, is there a way to segregate them away from questions about gameplay?

3) Is there a meta.questions.technicpack.net?

Stack Overflow has a "meta" site for discussions about StackOverflow itself - is there an equivalent for questions.technicpack.net?

The questions site is only a few days old, so hopefully we can all make it better. :)

[Torezu]

1) There's the 'Ask a Question' button on the top bar as soon as I load the page.

2) Yes and no. The Bug Boards were/are not the best place to ask and answer troubleshooting questions. As far as a filter goes, I am unaware of one, though the topic filters should help.

3) Not that I know of.

[littleweseth]

@Torezu:

Actually, I only got a "Ask a Question" button after *answering* a question. Very strange. I still don't have comment privs (at reputation 0), which is probably by design (or default Q2A site config rules.) I know that StackOverflow doesn't grant comment privileges until reputation 50 or so.

I agree that the bug boards are a fairly lame place to ask troubleshooting questions - as usual for forums, the actual solution to the originally posted problem gets buried five pages into the thread, and then it gets drowned by "THANKS FOR YOUR HELP I FIXED IT" and "THANKS, FIXED IT FOR ME TOO" posts. On a Stack Exchange type site, the solution bubbles up to the top of the answers list and all is well.

Any plans for a meta.questions.technicpack.net? A subforum on the regular forums would do fine.

[Edit:]

I've asked a couple of gameplay questions to break up the endless list of troubleshooting/bug-report questions.

Is there a way to mine Nether Ores without them exploding?

What hot/cold blocks do Redpower2 Thermopiles work with?

I believe I just invented the 'gameplay' tag to describe questions that are about gameplay mechanics. Hopefully the tag becomes a de-facto way of marking a question that is about gameplay (rather than troubleshooting.)

[Edit 2:]

New users aren't able to ask questions. Here's how the top toolbar looks as a new user:

New users aren't able to comment (despite senior members advising them that they should post non-answers as comments, or new questions.) Here's how an answer looks for me as a zero-rep user - notice that I don't have a button that lets me comment.

Sidenote: Agelian - please don't chew out new users for posting answers instead of comments when they don't actually have the capability to post comments in the first place. It gives a very un-welcoming first impression.

[MisterAgle]

The people who run this site, and maintain and update the Technic Pack itself, do a lot of work for not a lot of reward and a lot of headaches. I honestly appreciate the hell out of all they do, and I don't want to add to their headaches.

I'm not a Technic or Tekkit expert by any means, but I am what I'd consider a skilled user. I've been able to fix what few problems I've had with the launcher by checking the forums a couple of times. The answers I needed were always there, even if I had to dig a little to find them. (I'm a Minecraft player - I don't mind digging.) When I first played with the launcher, the website featured a list of mods included in the pack, linked to the mod pages themselves - that was a huge help, as it let me read up on what the mods did before I played. I've bookmarked the more useful wikis and visit them often while I'm playing. I watch a lot of YouTube videos to see other people using the mods, and get answers and inspiration there.

That said, I still find myself stumped sometimes. I love the look of the new website, and the questions page has a ton of potential. I was trying to point out some dysfunction on the site, not trying to criticize the mods or the designers personally. (Well, not much. I was put off by the criticism / constructive criticism ratio.) When these bugs are worked out, I look forward to participating in what I expect will be a really fun community.

EDIT: Today, I have the Ask A Question button, and comment buttons have appeared. I don't know if that's because when I posted an answer yesterday (which should have and would have been a comment if I'd been able to comment) I somehow became a 'real' user, or if it's because you folks have fixed the issue.

[NightKev]

It's probably because you posted an answer or something, since I don't have any of that.

[littleweseth]

EDIT: Today, I have the Ask A Question button, and comment buttons have appeared. I don't know if that's because when I posted an answer yesterday (which should have and would have been a comment if I'd been able to comment) I somehow became a 'real' user, or if it's because you folks have fixed the issue.

I got the "ask a question" button after posting my first answer, and I got the commenting and upvote privileges after gaining a bit of reputation (from answer upvotes.)

You got the comment privilege after I upvoted some of your posts. Reputation is great. ;)

[sven stanley]

Im sorry I know this is all wrong but this is the only forum I have been able to type in if I select any others my internet crashes, all I wont to know is if there is a place to get a post/apocalyptic map for tekkit.

[Xylord]

Im sorry I know this is all wrong but this is the only forum I have been able to type in if I select any others my internet crashes, all I wont to know is if there is a place to get a post/apocalyptic map for tekkit.

Erm, your best bet would be the Get Lost Grotto. But your issue is weird.

[Arun]

i cant ask a questtion

[Neowulf]

Are you getting counseling for it? I know questiaphobia is a very serious illness, affecting only 1 in 100million people, and is life debilitating since it makes interactions with groups near impossible.

See a psychiatrist and stick with your therapy, then one day you too can ask questions like a normal person.

[littleweseth]

Are you getting counseling for it? I know questiaphobia is a very serious illness, affecting only 1 in 100million people, and is life debilitating since it makes interactions with groups near impossible.

See a psychiatrist and stick with your therapy, then one day you too can ask questions like a normal person.

This was actually a serious comment. New users *still* can't ask questions, until they post their first answer.

[Neowulf]

His first post after registering was necroing a 3 week old thread (a month since the last relevant post) with a punctuation-less question answered 3 posts above his.

"No questions till you answer one" is probably by design to weed out:

"Question: it no work, yopu fix now!!! stupod tekknic peeps cant make a game to save there ass!"

[littleweseth]

His first post after registering was necroing a 3 week old thread (a month since the last relevant post) with a punctuation-less question answered 3 posts above his.

"No questions till you answer one" is probably by design to weed out:

"Question: it no work, yopu fix now!!! stupod tekknic peeps cant make a game to save there ass!"

If that's the design intent, it's not working. There are still lots and lots of those questions on the Q&A website.

A questions website is for asking questions. It doesn't really make much sense to restrict that. It especially doesn't make sense to mysteriously hide the "Ask Question" button!

[Cheap Shot]

Questions is in super Alpha. It's being built by Agelian who is busy with a real job. Don't expect too much too fast. We're trying to puzzle out how to make it work properly when 90% of the questions are sub-retarded white noise. Then the other kinks.

[littleweseth]

Questions is in super Alpha. It's being built by Agelian who is busy with a real job. Don't expect too much too fast. We're trying to puzzle out how to make it work properly when 90% of the questions are sub-retarded white noise. Then the other kinks.

My approach thus far (as a 5k rep user) has been to try and reduce the number of duplicate questions. Check out the `faq` question tag - it contains the questions I've edited up to be *the* canonical answer for frequently asked questions. Example: "Can't connect to Minecraft.net" - gets asked about once a day. Have one question and one set of answer for it, and point users there instead of re-answering. What I can't do, at the moment, is delete the really incredibly stupid questions/answers entirely. There are definitely some questions and answers that deserve that fate. (Maybe I get this at 10k rep?)