Well we all know the scenario, a user (often someone new to the site though maybe not new to Dynamics), asks a question that has already been answered 100 times. So we see the usual replies of "use the search function"
Join up here
Well in answer to my question here, I must say A BIG YES I have just been looking at statistics on postings and searching, and notced that since the MBSOnLine data was moved over, the postings have increased a lot, but not as much as you migh imagine. Take a look at this post I made on MBSOnLine before it closed down. Then we averaged about 3 guests searching the site, for every active user logged in browsing active topics. Well now on Dynamicsuser.net that has changed. The ratio is now about 7:1.
This means that for every member browsing the site there are 7 or so guests using the search tool. There are also about 20-30 bots scanning the site at any time, but we can ignore those numbers. There are actually more guests coming in directly to use the search feature than there are coming in through search engines (typically Google). Which indicates that these people find this site, and then probably just bookmark the search page.
Anyway it is great that people are using the site like this, but it would be even better if those guests joined up and maybe even introduced themselves or asked some questions.
I do need to add that this post is not about SQL performance issues on Dynamics NAV (Navision), nor about BI on Navision and Business Intelligence with Dynamics NAV, it really does not tell you have to move from Navision Native C/SIDE database to SQL 2005, even things like Getting started in C/SIDE programming or online Navision books free and pdf files Dynamics are not in this thread. Commerce portal and web portal also are not discussed. And if you want to know how to print report from Navision you can use the search tool for that. And even though this post does not discuss Hardware configuration for Navision on SQL server, at least once you got to this thread, you would know to sign up, and become an active member will help you a lot more.
Of course, even though those topics are not covered here, discussing them may help put this thread first on your search results, and encorage you to join up. Please it only takes a few seconds.
I know some people are really shy or don't want to take the trouble of signing up to a forum like this. Here's a couple of things I can think of that prevents people form signing up:
1. Being ridiculed of their question. 2. If a person signs up and gives their e-mail, how can they be sure that e-mail won't be sold to a spam company?3. It takes too long to sign up4. The mentality of "what do I get if I sign up?"
How does a moderator control abusive postings?
No information is so valuable that it cannot be shared.
These are very good points.
1/ Yes that's a big concern, which is a reason that we started up the Beginners Forum, one of the rules in that forum, is "no question is too silly". Of course there are cases where a user continues to ask questions after being given the answer, and its hard to know what to do in these cases. If someone is asking about how to do solve a problem, but already have in their mind how they want to solve it, is it better to keep them as a happy member and say "Yes its very easy to delete GL entries, just open table 17, filter on the bad ones and hit delete" or do you risk upsetting them in the aim of giving them a better skill set by telling them "you will have to post reversing entries". I know that I for one am pretty tough on this. And maybe i need to just let people shoot themselves in the foot sometimes. But as you say, even though its anonymous, people do get intimidated, so I can see that this would be a problem, thanks. Any ideas on how to let people know that they can post in the beginners forum without fear?
2/ Trust I guess. The majority of members use a free account like hot mail to sign up, which helps somewhat, except what then if they lose their password, and forget also their temporary hot mail login. If we allowed to join up without email, then we would be bombarded by bots that place dummy links on the site. We had that happen just a week ago in blogs.
3/ On this I pretty much disagree, all you need is a user ID, password and an email address. I think that if it takes a long time, the biggest part, is the time it takes to create that dummy hotmail account.
4/ Yes what can you do about that. People are very nervous about stuff they get for free. In the world of comuniteering, this is a common problem.
I am a frequent visitor to this site and i do use the search feature quite a bit...(very helpful) .... I must use the above pointers ...I was however unsure about replying to old posts -I take it theres no problem if this marks them as active...
Nikolas: I am a frequent visitor to this site and i do use the search feature quite a bit...(very helpful) .... I must use the above pointers ...I was however unsure about replying to old posts -I take it theres no problem if this marks them as active...
Nikolas, thanks for your reply, that's exactly what I figured from the stats.
For sure we would really like you to reply to old topics. There are two reasons. The first is that its always nice for someone that posted some useful information, to get feedback and a thank you, even if its 3 years old. And this encourages that person to get more communiteering and helping more people, eventually helping you even more. Secondly and even more importable, is that there are over 1,000,000 Navision users out there, and if you have a problem, even if something that was resolved years ago, there is a good chance that other users have the same issue. SO bumping the topic helps everyone know what the hot topics are, and gets better community response and activity, that again helps us all.
So please if you read a post and it helps, just hit reply, and let the poster know that it helped you.
David Singleton: Nikolas: I am a frequent visitor to this site and i do use the search feature quite a bit...(very helpful) .... I must use the above pointers ...I was however unsure about replying to old posts -I take it theres no problem if this marks them as active... Nikolas, thanks for your reply, that's exactly what I figured from the stats. For sure we would really like you to reply to old topics. There are two reasons. The first is that its always nice for someone that posted some useful information, to get feedback and a thank you, even if its 3 years old. And this encourages that person to get more communiteering and helping more people, eventually helping you even more. Secondly and even more importable, is that there are over 1,000,000 Navision users out there, and if you have a problem, even if something that was resolved years ago, there is a good chance that other users have the same issue. SO bumping the topic helps everyone know what the hot topics are, and gets better community response and activity, that again helps us all. So please if you read a post and it helps, just hit reply, and let the poster know that it helped you.
Will do David -......................
Nikolas:Will do David -......................
Even saying thank you is a part of being an active communiteer Lets hope to see you around more.
Just wanted to bump this thread, since it looks liekt he search page is now really the big one on The Dynamics User Group.
Its great to see this site being used as a reference source like this.
For me I only use search if I don't remember a post about something I want to know. Because I visit the forum every day, I know whether something has been discussed so if I can remember something having been discussed I'll search, but I suck at searching so it takes a long time for me to find answers :).
DenSter: For me I only use search if I don't remember a post about something I want to know. Because I visit the forum every day, I know whether something has been discussed so if I can remember something having been discussed I'll search, but I suck at searching so it takes a long time for me to find answers :).
Another good way for someone "like you" is to use the "Favorite Post" function. This way you can "store" the post in you personal profile. On top of that doing this is way to give the poster "Kudo" or credit for his post (well you don't get post for make your own posts your favorites!)....
Best regards,Erik P. Ernst - webmaster at dynamicsuser.net
That's a good idea. The thing is though, there are so many good posts here, that I would have so many favorites that I'd have to search those
Alex Chow:How does a moderator control abusive postings?
Just found out that this part of the question had not been answered.
The moderator can simply delete the post. Then you can select a special template where you explain the reason for this action, and explain that the user should make the post again.
If a special user is giving the same problem again and again, then we can mark the user as moderated, this means that all the users posts must be moderated before posting. But how many of you moderators is actually checking the forum moderation list?