Solved Topics in Flash Forum

[CircleNineStudios]

I have seen in other help/tech support forums they have a "Solved" option for the topic starter. This is so he/she can let everyone know his/her problem has been solved without bumping the topic and perhaps inviting more answers from people who only read the first post (bumping it further, etc.) This makes the forum more efficient, letting solved problems filter out more quickly.

I looked up "solved" to see if anyone had already posted about this, but couldn't find anything. I did, however, see a few posts titled "solved" that were specifically for telling everyone a problem had been solved. Understandably, they were locked by moderators.

I think a "solved" system on the Flash forum would be a great addition. It would clean up the forum faster and might make it easier for those searching to find answers. They could filter the search by "Solved Only," giving them much less to look through before starting a new topic, if they even found that necessary after looking through the solved topics.

I can think of two ways this might be done.
-1: The topic starter is allowed to modify the name of their topic. Something like "V-Cam Issues" would become "*Solved* V-Cam Issues."
-2: The topic starter would check a box in their thread labeled "solved." Now an icon would show up next to the topic in the forum (a thumbs up or something). This box could also be unchecked if more help was needed later.

What is everyone's opinion on this? Do you think it would make the forum run more smoothly or do you think it might be abused to the point where the entire idea becomes completely void? I honestly believe it would work if people used it properly and with some etiquette (like clicking "Solved" instead of bumping.

Discuss.

[Hate-or-Hate]

that would be nice and usefull!
Great idea!!

[putzpie]

I personally think it'd be a great addition, but for some reason I don't see it happening :\. It'd be pretty cool though, I'd go for it.

[MLL]

Great idea... I hope to see it someday and an edit button

[Hate-or-Hate]

At 6/9/08 05:48 PM, MLL wrote: Great idea... I hope to see it someday and an edit button

espacialy the Edit button!!! it's peacing me off!!

[CircleNineStudios]

At 6/9/08 05:47 PM, putzpie wrote: for some reason I don't see it happening :\. It'd be pretty cool though, I'd go for it.

I admit it would take the NG staff some time to develop a good system for this, but it would probably be worth the effort (as most updates to this sit have been).

I do agree, though. They have probably talked this (or a variation) over at some point and found a good reason not to implement it.

[Nuggs]

Email/PM Tom, Wade or one of the other admins. I'm sure they will appreciate the idea.

[CircleNineStudios]

At 6/9/08 05:48 PM, MLL wrote: ...and an edit button

I'm assuming the reason there is no edit button is so moderators have some evidence of an offense. If anyone could edit their post at any time, they could easily say a mod wrongfully banned them or locked their post.

It could be argued that once a post has been locked or a user banned that that user would not be able to edit the post anyway, but there are other reasons why editing is probably not going to happen.

1: The Newgrounds forums encourage people to think before they post. I even write all of my posts in MS Word before copying them onto the post form. Having an edit button would sort of encourage people to be sloppy, because they could always fix their crappy posts later.

2: If you have to edit something or need to say something new, you can just as easily post again and quote yourself if you wish to redeem a particular part of your post.

3: What would people be editing? The smallest grammatical and spelling errors? If you mess up on one word, who cares; if you mess up a full post, you shouldn't have posted it to begin with.

On the other hand, an Edit button would be nice...