Jump to content

Questions.TechnicPack.Net


Recommended Posts

[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. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@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:

ub5fH.jpg

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.

fO4qF.jpg

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...