explain Answers is for questions, not complaints

[Danielle Foré]

Above the description field there should be a short blurb explaining that Answers is for asking questions. If there is a known problem it should be reported as a bug. "Suggestions for Midori" is very obviously not a question.

[Cassidy James Blaede (cassidyjames)]

I had an idea for this, too. Baiscally, when they type something in the little box, it would be nice to come up with an intermediate page with something like:

-------------------------------------------------------------

Ask a Question!

You'd like to ask "[whatever they typed]". Let's just make sure of a couple of things before you ask!

- *It is, indeed, a question.* If you're reporting a bug or have suggestions, the proper place to do that is here [link to Launchpad with their text filled in the box].

- *This question hasn't been asked.* Click here to search through the existing answers. [Better yet, it'd be nice to pull in search results here automatically!]

- *This question relates to elementary and our stable software.* If it's a question about third-party or unstable software, the support channel is a better place to ask.

If the above is all good, feel free to expand on your question:

[question body text box]

---------------------------------------------------------

Perhaps I'll mock something up. :)

[Cassidy James Blaede (cassidyjames)]

Here's a little mockup: http://cassidyjames.com/answers-intermediate.html

[John McHugh (mrmcq2u)]

Nice mockup James.
One criticism I would have is that the feedback could be smarter.
You already give the user the ability to view similar questions but if you already have the ability to see similar questions then why not parse them correctly.
I presume it will check a repository of previous questions, bugs and suggestions so why not call the user out when all of the similar entries which show up are bugs or suggestions and not questions.

So instead of this:

You'd like to ask "Suggestions for Midori". Let's just make sure of a couple of things before you ask!

You would dynamically greet the user with one of these:
1. You'd like to ask a question. Let's just make sure of a couple of things before you ask!
2. This looks more like a bug. Lets just make sure of a couple of things before you ask or the query may be rejected!
3. This looks more like a suggestion. Lets make sure of a couple of things before you ask or the query may be rejected!

The whole point of this is not to annoy the user but to help them get whatever feedback they have contributed as fast as possible so that they are not put off when they eventually receive a response explaining that they have posted in the wrong place.

What I have learned from my own experience working in tech support while in college is that people get pissed when they get transferred from one place to another, even if its their own fault e.g calling tech with a care issue and vice versa.
If you can parse it like above then you can give them the option to post what they have already typed as a bug or suggestion instead.
I am also a firm believer that this will just be a brick wall for users who may be constrained time wise, if they see that you think its a bug or suggestion then they are more likely to look at the similar queries and if they are just going to flat out refuse then at least they will be more likely to push the bug or suggestion button and thus help reduce the amount of queries that have to be manually re-assigned.

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

Trying to revive this report a little... We should have something like the mockup below on the top of the page. Not sure if it makes sense to do it contextually (in this case the trigger was the presence of a "?" in the subject line) or just to always show it.

I would advise keeping text to a bare minimum. If it's something long winded, nobody is going to read it (and for those that know what they're doing it's just annoying). Short and sweet, to the point is what we need.

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

+1 on Dan's mockup.
A must-have indeed.

[Satchit Bhogle (satchitb)]

Might want to make that sound a bit kinder. Search automatically through the Questions, and say, "Is this what you meant to ask? You might find the answer here already!" Similarly, for bug reports or complaints, you might say, "Requesting a feature? Noticed some bugs? Why not file them here: <launchpad>?"