There was a time when I could post an inquiry and there would be a response almost immediately by someone with knowledge of the program and a logical solution. Now it seems the average members online at any given time is 3 and usually non are core developers. Now querries (not just mine) go unresolved and alternate sources on the Web provide a fix.

I think XOOPS is the most ideal CMS because of its all-round simplicity, module availability, third party script adaptability and easy theme construction. Yet it doesn't win the highest awards and the community seem to be fading. Maybe it's because the core guys rarely show up. Maybe the core guys rarely show up because the financial support isn't there.

What XoopsOrg should do is set up a paid support system where a determined amount is paid annually by those (serious users) who choose to. Others who refuse to join that level of membership would just wait until someone responds. It works well for Agora and a few other opensource programs. I don't mind donating to the XOOPS project but it's pointless to give continually if there is no structured support system. Surely it's worth a lot more than free but I'd rather pay for something knowing that I can get the help when needed.

Please consider establishing a paid support department. The program is too good to lose appeal.

I disagree... I'm now getting onto my soapbox.

I think there are a excessive number of queries placed on the XOOPS site by people who fail to perform basic searches on the information they request or offer clear explanation of their need.

1. On a daily basis I find about 5 queries from beginners who should read the documentation that this community provides. The answer ro their information is often already here (either in the Documentation or FAQ areas).

2. I also find numerous queries (daily) that are double or triple posts of the same item... I guess the authors' assumption being that placing the same question in 2 or more places will somehow yield more positive results.

3. Too many requests for help don't state the actual problem or provide a link to allow for viewing the difficulty. It is impossible to debug something that is poorly explained or shown.

I think these basic issues, among others, cause those of us who have been around awhile to be discouraged and a bit reluctant to respond. I doubt that the XOOPS community itself needs to do anything in particular to solve this that hasn't already been done. For example,

1. If there is a query about a particular module, feel free to contact its author. Most often they'll offer help for free. If not, offer to pay them. I'd guess that might move things along.
2. Research any inqueries throughly before asking for help.
3. Read existing documentation before asking for help.
4. Explain problems clearly and provide links.
5. Make friends within the community, develop a small, trusted group who are willing to help you and whom you are willing to help.
6. Reach out and share your expertise! Don't expect others to do for you, what you are not willing to do for them.

These simple acts will go further to resolving this problem than anything else... IMHO.

I'll get off my soap box now...

I second rabideau's opinion.

Thirded.... there's nothing worse then logging in to do the odd bit of help, and spending all your time deleting multiple postings from people instead of trying to help them.

And why don't people ever use the SEARCH button? Isn't it big enough? Perhaps we need to make it about 500 x 500 pixels so people may just about see it?

Or maybe that would still be too small?

Same to many people with the same question's being asked, we really need this new XOOPS site and hopefully it has the site wide Wiki or someway as to express answers that are regularly asked and then just once needing to be explained.

People will still not use any FAQ or search Wizanda... they'll still take the method of not bothering to look first.

I agree, yet even I struggle to find some post's on here at times, that could be laid out systematically...don't you feel if the information was correctly presented, less people would need to ask, as it would be far quicker, just to read down a Wiki to where someone had the same problem....


Also like I am doing (or trying) with my site wide Wiki, there are keywords I use allot, so now I am placing each as Wiki word for later use.
Same would easily work on here, we are Web-Masters just a case of directing people to the elements to begin rather then after.

There are problems here - but I don't agree that payment is the answer. As I moderator I plug away at coaching users to be wise with their questions and postings. Encourage them to read before they jump in with a problem. But the mess of the forums is hardly the worst of our trouble right now. The repository must be fixed first and I know that is being worked on. Once that is fixed I think we will see gradual improvement in the XOOPS community. I can't wait for the docs site workspace to be back up and running again either. I really miss that as a resource.

We need to look at this more closely. I cant tell you how many times Ive seen the phrase 'use the search button' Ive used it myself and quite honestly, the XOOPS search facility is one of the worst Ive ever come across.

It's sloooow, and when the results come it there is NO content snippet to filter what we want to really find.

We have flagged this up many any times, and yet there has never been any move to improve this problem. There was even talk of using different data structures for the search to improve things. It's a genuine problem as it causes heavy loads on the server on peak times.

I had similar problems ( as all XOOPS users do) so I started to use Google co-op search engine. It seamlessly incorporates into the host website and is very discrete. See my site here

You will see that I have made a simple hack to allow the XOOPS search system to share the google code. Users have a choice of module categories without content snippets from XOOPS search, or a full content, context snippet from Google

I would strongly recommend that xoops.org uses the Google search engine, or seriously upgrades the XOOPS search feature. I have frequently given up trying to find stuff here and turned to site:xoops.org them searched within the results of the google search engine.

Agreed - search does need a kick up the bottom.