Form-fields in WWF?

Hi Borg! :)

I have an excellent idea (at least I think so :P) to a feature that would be nice to have in WWF. I don't believe this has ever been done in any kind of forum software (at least none that I'm aware of).

The idea is quite simple yet unique:
On most forums that deals with popular software, like ex daemon-tools, WWF Community (this site) etc. you would get a lot of "stupid" questions from users that just jumps into the site an post topics like "HELP!!! My software X doesn't do Y!!!", "Program doesn't work. PLS HELP!!!!" etc. you get the idea.

Now, most of such problems appears BECAUSE they
A: are to lazy to do a search, or...
B: are ignoring the stickys on the forum/site.

OK, honestly: How many users actually READ a sticky topic? I believe it's just a handfull people doing it. Most people don't care 'cause they just want an easy and fast solution.. and what's better than just posting a topic then?

Now, wouldn't it be nice to have some sort of way to MAKE THEM read important information?

It's here my custom form-fields appear. I would love to see some way of adding custom form-fields to a "Post Topic" schema..

That way, you could be able to get important information from users BEFORE they get a chance to post a topic without even reading the stickys.

Ex. I've been here on WWF 8 forum at a daily basis for the last weeks, and honestly: I've seen dozen of replies and topics like ex "How to upgrade from WWF 7.97 to beta1", "How to disable CAPTCHA?" etc.

Man, if I were you, all those stupid (yes, stupid because they don't read the stickys) questions would have driven me crazy. Your wasting hour after hour after hour on answering questions that already is answered in the stickys. How nice it would be then if on the "Post topic" page was able to FORCE them to first read the sticky before they got to the post field..

Or on a technical forum, you would maybe like to get information like ex browser, OS, DB type, software version etc included in the post when they posted. Instead of wasting a reply on aksing for such information, you would have fields for those kind of informations that they HAD TO fill out before they could post the topic.

Now, I could have used plenty of time elaborating on how this could be implementet, but I'll waut with that. First I want to now your opinion on this before I waste my sparetime on writing this stuff down :D


Just my 2 cents
Cheers!
Kristoffer

Yeah, I know :P

It's a time consuming job, and would require heavily testing, but it could turn out to be a great thing in the end :)

I'm just trying so see new and innovative ideas to make a forum software. 90% of all forum software that I'm aware of uses the same techniqs and ways to display information.

I don't think the way things are done is bad (WWF is actually the best forum app I have ever tried and I have tried all the big ones), I just think that we often tend to just follow the easy and narrow road when software is being developed.. which gives the side-effect that we end up with dozens of applications that are almost identical to each other. It's those small differences and layouts that divides them. But the main idea with ex. forums remains the same no mather who you choose.

Therefore, I think it's good to actually "take a break" sometime and try to think out new and innovative ways to display information on. I know that users often tend to like to have things in the usual way, 'cause that's how the human nature is. We like things to be as they've allways been.

But sometimes we just need to make changes, so that things can be easier, more fun and more innovative than before.

Office 12 is an excellent example of that. Probably, most people will hate the new way that toolbars work, but I'll garantee you, 2-3 years from now on people will love it, and they will never ever want to go back to the old way again. And others like ex OpenOffice will follow in the paths of M$. That one thing I really love with the company: There may be some serious bugs and lacks here and there, but when it comes to innovations then M$ is GOOD! And in my eyes: The BEST! :)

Just my 2 cents again, lol :D

Cheers!
Kristoffer

PS: Think I found an Issue with the Quick Reply box.
If I select a word or a sentence and then fx. select "Bold", the Forum codes are not applied correctly.
appears at the bottom (and after the last word) of the box, and the words I tried to highlight and apply the formatting to, isn't being sourrounded by the tags.

I'm running Xp home sp2 (OEM) and latest version of Opera (8.52)