Posting a question

If you go to the bottom level of a category where you see just a listing of postings for that category you will also see a listing of four options just below the category heading, with the one on the far left being "post a new topic". If you want to post questions on iDVD 08 you need to go [here|http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1196] and choose post a new topic.

Message was edited by: Limnos

Yes, I wish apple would fix this, but if you go to lke...

http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=160

You'll see several catagories, choosing any one will give you the link/option to Post a New Topic.

you are wright, the forum is very difficultto use and to post a question and does not make sence for for apple to make their web site user unfriendly

Come on Apple make it easier for us novices you pride yourselves in being user friendly but I agree with the post whole heartedly, as finding this has taken valuable time I did not have.

When you go to the top level page, did you notice how many headings there are? This is a very large support site. It's not really possible to make it brain dead easy. But neither is it all that difficult.

From the top page, pick the appropriate forum. Let's just say "Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger", since that's where we are now. Notice there's no place to add a topic yet. That's because it would be too much of a mess to group every single question you could ask about Tiger into one category. So there's a bunch of subcategories which are now listed to logically separate what you're either looking for an answer on, or want to post about. They are:

Installation & Setup
Administration, Accounts & Login
Automator
Finder, Dock & Dashboard
Getting Online & Networking
Mail & Address Book - Tiger
Looking for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and earlier Mail & Address Book?
Printing & Faxing
Spotlight
Universal Access & VoiceOver
Using Mac OS X Tiger

Choose a subcategory and you will now get a Post New Topic button.

Hia,

Your "It's not really possible to make it brain dead easy." comment is not helpful.

I'm confident in my own intelligence and can confirm that the 'post a new topic' link is difficult to find.

I've asked others to take a look at this problem and it definitely does appear that Apple need to reconsider it.


Cheers,

David

Your "It's not really possible to make it brain dead easy." comment is not helpful.

Well, it's not a suggestion. It's my opinion.

But again, this isn't a small forum where there's usually less than a dozen headings total, with each one having a Post Topic button right up front when you enter a heading. As I noted above, there are numerous sub headings you must choose from first.

If you believe you have a way to make these forums easier to use, I'm sure Apple would love to hear it. Website Feedback.

Thanks, I have already done that.

It's perhaps not a good idea to ridicule people on the site who are having trouble.

I suspect you may be missing the point of forums.

Cheers,

David

It's perhaps not a good idea to ridicule people on the site who are having trouble.

I wasn't ridiculing anyone. It's a pretty common term here where "brain dead easy" simply means "anyone should be able to figure it out". So not being that way meant there's no good way to make a site this large that simple to navigate.

I suspect you may be missing the point of forums.

No, I understand just fine, thank you.

My work is in getting people to use the internet for knowledge transfer and collaboration (also see recent work by Tim Berners-Lee in this field).

Research has show that wording such as yours discourages people and that frustrates me. Can you understand?

Okay, one final response.

You came into this thread after the post that offends you. How you could have possibly perceived that it was somehow personally directed at you is baffling, to say the least. No one else seems to have been put off by the comment, instead taking as it was intended; minor humor.

Please move on.

Hi HolyScraps!

The Hosts are considering posting an Announcement, with info similar to, that posted below.

If you have a question, or suggestion, about using Discussions, from this page Feedback about Discussions, click on Post New Topic.
This is the Forum where you erroneously posted your issue.

If you have a Technical question about Apple Hardware, Programs, Services, Technology, Software, Applications, Products, etc, from this page Discussions - Forum Home, select an appropriate Category from one of the sixteen divisions.

For example, under Mac OS X Related Software, choose the Category Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger.

On the page that opens, select a Forum, such as Installation & Setup, or Using Mac OS X Tiger.

Most Category pages, have numerous Forums within them.
But some may have only one, two, or three.
For example the Safari Category page has four choices listed under Forum / Category, but only two of them, are Forums:
Safari For Windows
Safari for Mac Support forum.

And the Apple Remote Desktop Category, has only one Apple Remote Desktop Forum.

On Forum pages, there is an option to Post New Topic.

Click here for all iPod Forums.
Click here for all iTunes Forums.
Click here for all iPhone Forums.

More info here How Is Discussions Content Organized.

It can be confusing, but explore the different areas, and you will acquire a better understanding of the hierarchy.

ali b

My work is in neuroscience. Speaking personally, as one who examines dead brains on a daily basis, I can appreciate the minor humor of the term "brain dead easy," even though is not in common usage here.

I am bit unclear on your statement that you suspect Kurt Lang is missing the point of the forums. While I agree that there are perhaps better ways to implement posting a new topic (and as ali brown indicates, efforts are underway to facilitate that), there are also perhaps better ways to acknowledge replies to one's posts as helpful or solved, and despite the apparent difficulty some users have with the latter, +a minimum of 2,100 of those users+ have made the effort to inform Kurt and other viewers that his replies were beneficial.

Wow, ali,

That should make it really simple to follow for everyone!

(now where did I put that "irony" icon! ) 😉

I tried to put something similar together myself a while back, but the structure of the forums really does make it very difficult to do effectively, I think.

Cheers

Rod

Hi David, I think I see this thing clearly on both sides.

First let me assure you that Kurt had absolutely no intentions of turning anybody off, unfortunate if that was the case for anybody, which is a distinct possibility.

Secondly, I think the helpers here try very hard to help as many people with their problems as they humanly can... and it isn't for any pay, just an occasional Thank You, an even rarer, (like 1 in 20 Helps or Solves), that awards a Star for such things.

Thirdly, I'm certain every helper here will endeavor to improve in how we put things... happens all the time. 🙂

PS. Maybe you could help come up with a method/statement, on why a new person/poster should likely open a new topic to get full service for their problem(s), most react very negatively to the suggestion, or maybe never even hear from them again.