FAQ Section?

[Craigerrr]

Thete is an FAQ related to the software. Would it make sense to have an FAQ sub forum with sections for the various types of brewing, AG, BIAB, Ectract. Subsections for different aspects of brewing like mash, boil, fermentation, packaging. Maybe beginner, Intermediate, and advanced level references? Certain threads that have dealt with different types of questions could be linked there in the appropriate area. Don't want to discourage people from posting their questions, but this could be helpful. I would think that if there was such a thing that it should only be editable by mods.

Just thinking out loud

 

[Nosybear]

I've thought it too, also out loud... Bloody tired of answering the "no airlock bubbles" question...

 

[Pricelessbrewing]

I'll leave this up to @Yoopers discretion, but if so I'd be happy to help maintain it as desired.

 

[Craigerrr]

I've thought it too, also out loud... Bloody tired of answering the "no airlock bubbles" question...

I get that Nosy, a perfect example of an FAQ subject! There are so many FAQ's, but getting something like this off the ground is a big task.

 

[Yooper]

That’s a good idea. It does sound like a very big undertaking however. I wonder how we could do that. Let’s think about this for a bit and see if something can be done that doesn’t require a lot of (wo)man hours

 

[Nosybear]

Not so difficult... We need a list to start, what are the questions we see most, generally something along the lines of "did I screw up x." And which ones are we tired of answering. Biggest issue I see is how to avoid "RTFM" answers, offputting to readers and the general BF vibe as well.

 

[Craigerrr]

One thing I have seen on this forum time and time again is a multitude of quality responses to a question. So, as opposed to doing write ups for various subjects, I am thinking about putting up links to these great threads that already exist. I will put something brief together to show what I am thinking. The work will be organizing it so subjects will be easy to find.

 

[Craigerrr]

These are my thoughts.
Add a Forum menu item similar to the following.

Once you click on the Homebrew FAQ section you would see something like below in a single post. There you would see one post like below that would be closed to input by users, as well as the sub forums noted in that post. The blue text would be a hyper link to a sub forum in this forum, which would then contain hyper links to any threads that have been deemed to be very helpful threads on the subject. Alternatively, the hyper link could be a list of hyper links breaking down the subject further. When a new thread, or a revisited thread that is a good resource on the subject, mods could add a hyper link to that thread under the appropriate sub section. Once this has been populated with good information, the experience folks here that are so helpful with beginners could offer a lot more thorough information in a link to the FAQ section.

We don't want to discourage people from asking questions, but we also don't want to be answering the same questions over and over again.

 

[Craigerrr]

This could be created with a smattering of information, and added to as questions arise.

 

[Nosybear]

And we old-timers could nominate answers to be posted to the FAQ.

 

[Craigerrr]

Precisely!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Have you read through the doc pages?

 

[Craigerrr]

I don't know what you are referring to, could you post a link?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

It's under the learn tab

 

[Nosybear]

Different focus: This "FAQ" would concentrate on brewing questions. The FAQ under "Learn" is more targeted toward using Brewer's Friend.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Or something simpler, like a stickied post along the lines of https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/faq/newbrewer

 

[thunderwagn]

Or something simpler, like a stickied post along the lines of https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/faq/newbrewer

Well done.

 

[Head First]

Definately need to consider this but will require plenty of discussion and consideration. There are tons of times new brewers begin there question with "I searched for this but couldn't find any info on this so my question is........." If done right this could really make it a more enjoyable experience for new users and old. But needs to be kept simple and doable for mods who carry a huge load already IMO. I like the initial layout by @Craigerrr. Yooper was correct in not jumping and running with this. This could be a great enhancement if done properly for all, encouraging new brewers and reminding old. The admin' s could maybe help with some of the structuring too.

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

One thing I have seen on this forum time and time again is a multitude of quality responses to a question. So, as opposed to doing write ups for various subjects, I am thinking about putting up links to these great threads that already exist. I will put something brief together to show what I am thinking. The work will be organizing it so subjects will be easy to find.

If I had had time yesterday I would have posted this very idea! But I would definitely not gone above and beyond to mock something up. Good job @Craigerrr

 

[Craigerrr]

Or something simpler, like a stickied post along the lines of https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/wiki/faq/newbrewer

This looks like a good resource, but in my opinion there are far better responses to brewing questions from newer brewers from the fine experienced folks here on BF, including you sir. Having said that this could also be a linked resource in "our" FAQ area.