Group: ipernity FAQ work group

Under construction... Idea is to copy the same method as we have used for iga2019 blog posts lately. Text on each topic becomes posted on comments, and then "permalink" to each of them on topic opening post.

And naturally separate pinned topics at least on three languages: English, French and Germany.

I have not thought this through, but I throw the idea at you. One group for each language.
Obviously a starting point is one language, so then consider 3, or 7, times the amount of text and discussions, if all in the same group.
But separate group means keeping them in parallel.

Or if each discussion is rather long with many comments for the various question and answer, that could reduce the number of discussions.

From FAQ point of view only, having three separate groups is maybe better than put them all in one.

What comes to "help", I would have one multilingual group because we do have the translation tool.

So after all, maybe four groups then, FAQ in three languages and multilingual help.

What comes to FAQ, I then see a better option than putting items on comments. We could then have separate topic for each item, in Wikipedia style, and even allow moderator discussion on them.

And following Guido's original idea, we indeed establish a separate "Ipernity Help / Aide / Hilfe" group just for the help.

Some more ideas to start with:

I plan to make a Google drive copy out of current FAQ at first, in three languages.
Then we start to copy paste them to group(s). Help could be established right away. But then we need more volunteers to moderate and indeed help people there.
Which we could post at ipernity news, a call for volunteers to join.
Then FAQs can serve as database for replies at help, where to direct people.
And moreover, help also help us to find out what FAQ should cover.

I think the "Help" link in footer should still come to www.ipernity.com/help in 7 languages.
The difference is where FAQ goes. Probably only need one page, without the left panel menu, so that the Ticket options from "Contact us" can be included.

Two distinct area, Help is open to all, needing "forum moderator" style control.
FAQ is closed to general input, people do not join.
But the FAQ can be 'live', answers improved. New answers moved from Help.
The key issue being addressed is being able to find answers, currently lost in comments under blogs. So having the questions grouped under themes, is as good as any.
With each question having its own discussion, the search discussion can be used.
This may mean a lot of discussions, but has the advantage that the comments under each can have the other languages.
So there would need to be 3 main index lists, first to be readable (not all mixed up), and second so that the links can be to the specific comment with in the discussion.
This system allows expansion to more languages, if that was desired rather than rely on built in translate link.
I like the inclusion of images, to highlight where and what to click, and suggest that only images in English would be acceptable, provided the accompanying words are language specific.

Notice for others who join this brain storming later.

Rob and I have come up with a better solution:

1) Instead of having a "ipernity FAQ" group for public, we will establish a new "ipernity FAQ" user account. Under that account we then publish all finished FAQ articles. The advantages is to utilize all ipernity search options and keyword features. This group can still stay as a place where we continue the work together. We can also make articles ready in here, to be copied then to the actual FAQ.

2) Following Guido's idea we also open a "iperniy Help / Aide / Hilfe" group, where people can just ask. The ipernity FAQ can be then used as source to refer to, if the answer is can be found there. But also the help group can be used to discover and cover out new FAQ issues.

Some thoughts:

In my view it is a good idea to let this group stay as a place where we can jointly develop and discuss FAQ-texts. We then could discuss in the comments directly below the respective text.

Further more I think we need to discuss the general structure of the FAQ (Which topics? Which order of topics?). Some examples: The topic "Sign in" might be renamed to "Registration and Sign in". Then, off course, we should add a subtopic about how to register a new account. Further more we could add a topic "Payment". Just today there has been a question with regard to payment via bank account.

Maybe for such discussions on the general structure of the FAQ we could use the comments below the main FAQ-discussion in this thread?

Probably I will contribute some more ideas within the next week. Today I have only a smartphone and it is a hassle to write long texts with that.:-)

Good point Guido!

Yes topics that should be included can be posted as comment there under FAQ topic:
www.ipernity.com/group/2441566/discuss/192366

And yes, take your time. No pressure.

What comes to planned "iperniy Help / Aide / Hilfe" group, I assume I can add you to there as well? Once I get it opened.

Moreover Guido, do notice you can also edit the topics directly, I think. So, you can add areas right on the index.

We just need to avoid editing the topics and comments at the same time ;-)

Yes, You can add me there as well. Have You read this and the following Posts?

www.ipernity.com/blog/team/4718206/comment/56840354#comment56840354

I have now. I will try to contact Tomibam, in case he could make me as an administrator of that group. Would save us a lot of effort to take over that group. A lot of useful topics there already.

Guido, as you probably already found out, we manage to take over the old help group after all. You are now moderator there.

We also more or less have now found out we also need "HowTo" for all cool tricks one can do. Christian is had already done some work on it. And then we have Audrie's old post on that:

www.ipernity.com/blog/ima.moderator/4635226

But we need some more visible and permanent place for such. Working on it... But ideas and suggestions are always welcome.

Sami, I think that we maybe could integrate much of the existing material with the FAQ. For example we could add a topic in the FAQ and write a short text for the FAQ that includes a link to an existing blog article with a detailed description. So the FAQ could always be the starting point when users search some explanation or description. But we wouldn't have to rewrite everything from scratch if we set links to existing articles where appropriate.

So maybe the FAQ could be the more visible and permanent place You are envisaging? Maybe there are other good solutions, too. But in my experience it can be confusing for users if there are too many parallel resources.

You have already done more than a lot of good work! =)

Please do notice we (Rob and I) have come up with a solution to establish an user account for FAQ: www.ipernity.com/home/2319670

That is planned to become as a new home for FAQ articles, once they have been worked out here on this group. So, the articles you have done so far will help us to a lot. We can then just copy paste them to final FAQ.

Advantages of this solution:

- Texts including their formatting can be easily copied to final FAQ
- Articles written on "photos" are easier to work with.
- Articles under FAQ user account are easy to search, locally and globally. For example group search turned out to search only on titles. Search on "photos" directs to all words, even to those that are on comments.
- "Photos" as articles also makes it possible to use keywords.
- And the reason why to use photos instead of blog articles is that links from one blog article to another always seem to open a new browser tab, no matter what is done.Turned out this also happens on groups.
- Moreover, the user FAQ is easy to find in general. Just try to write faq on top search bar for users.

I have completely rewritten the "General Questions". The old text even didn't take into account the acquisition of Ipernity by IMA and it didn't describe the new subscription packages offered as of April 1.

In the answer to the "What is Ipernity?" question I tried to describe the most important facts about Ipernity that may be relevant for potential new members. The old text mentioned a lot of other features that in my view aren't that important. For example in may view we shouldn't emphasize the mobile apps at the moment as there is no I-Phone app in Apples App-Store and the Android-App has a quite modest rating. Once Ipernity has been reprogrammed and there are better mobile apps things may change. But maybe You have different views which features of Ipernity shoul be mentioned in this text?

The new "What subscription plans does Ipernity offer?" text would replace the old "Free or paid service?" text that is completely outdated.

I am not sure if the new "Is Ipernity a free or paid service?" text is really necessary as the existing subscription plans are already described in the answer to the "What subscription plans does Ipernity offer?" question. But for many users the question "Free or paid?" may be the first question. Thus I tend to think that we should have this question.

As English is not my mother tongue some native speaker should look at the texts, too. Once we have agreed on the English version I could also write the German texts. But maybe it is better to perform these steps at the end when we have rewritten the complete FAQ.

Great work indeed!

We of course need to reconsider also section and article titles. "Is Ipernity a free or paid service?" indeed seem to be no longer needed.

Guys, I started to use check boxes on titles to indicate what is done ☑ and what is not ☐ to help me to see what has been already implemented at FAQ: www.ipernity.com/home/2319670

The work has of course only just started. So, any additional suggestions are welcome =)

Moreover, I adjusted the group title a little, to make clear what this group is about.

Hello guys, I would like to make some suggestions how to streamline the text for the question "How do I subscribe?". But at the moment I am a little bit confused. Maybe You can answer my following questions first:

1. When the new subscription packages become effective on April 1 will the subscription page www.ipernity.com/club/subscribe be replaced by a reprogrammed subscription page like displayed here at www.ipernity.com/doc/team/47762888 ? Or is the reprogramming of the subscription page planned for a later time? If a reprogrammed subscription page starts on April 1 we would need to update the screenshots.

2. The text of step 6 says: "Click onto "6 months"".

Why 6 months? My understanding is that currently new users can subscribe for the basic package by clicking on "6 months" and subscribe for the standard package by clicking on "12 months". That is how I understand the initial subscription offering explained here: www.ipernity.com/doc/subscriptions/47761250. Or what happens when new users click on "12 months"?

if a reprogrammed subscription page shall be launched on April 1 the text probably would need to be adjusted to the new subscription page. In this case it might make sense to wait until April 1 for further refinements to the FAQ-text. Will the page www.ipernity.com/club then be updated too?

If no reprogrammed subscription page is launched in the forseeable future the text in my view should explain the difference between the two options "6 months" and "12 months" and how these options relate to the basic and the standard package. As said above I am a little bit confused at the moment and the FAQ-text should help to avoid confusion. :-)

Exactly what I was thinking as well, Guido. Although I am at ima team, I have managed to miss the discussions and decisions on these matters (April 1, and 6/12 months?).

Anyway, the subscription article is still at the draft stage. I will discuss about this with Rob and Bernhard later.

EDIT: Although, I would not declare anything serious done on April 1st ;-)

HI Guido!

1 We currently have no way to implement the additional tariff levels into the ipernity program. This is subject to reprogramming. Required in addition to [0=free] and [1=pro] are at least [2=guest], [3=basic], [4=standard] and [5=trial]. If we were to set these flags today, ipernity would get mixed up in dozens of places.

2 We have no way to implement other amounts of money. Until reprogramming, we only have the two levels 23.90 EUR and 43.90 EUR available - no matter what we call them.

3.) We have no possibility to link to any other payment service provider than the existing (PAYPAL). The interventions would also be too big for this.

4) We can, however, optimize the user interface(subscibe site) and should do so. As soon as Rob has access to the test server, we want to start.

5) A first proposal is already being discussed:


6) We have to be cautious not to turn this into a big project that will take weeks. Users need to be helped quickly. I prefer many small steps, starting with the one that has the greatest impact.

In case any of you wish to join us using "ipernity FAQ" Discord chat, please feel welcome to join here:

discord.gg/sJ3NXqd

Numbering added on index and already made articles.

I also pinned this topic to avoid this useful communication channel getting hidden under other topics.

I have just written a text for the section "2.1 How to register for free trial",

One remark: I have only described how to register with an email address. The registration page offers to use a social media account for registration purposes, too. But that didn't work for me when I tried with my facebook account and my twitter account. Thus I assume that there is something broken when new users try to register with their social media accounts. Can You confirm that?

But if registering with social media accounts doesn't work we shouldn't describe it in the FAQ. Maybe it would be better to remove this option from the registration page?

Topic 2.3:

Changed the question from "My email address is incorrect" to "How do I change my login email address?". I think that this is a little bit more precise.

Copied the answer from the existing FAQ to this group and made one minor change: Replaced "To change your email address:" by "To change your login email address:"

Good suggestion, and accepted.

I have just seen that there was already a new text for topic 2.3 at the FAQ user account (see: www.ipernity.com/doc/2319670/48196930). But that text wasn't in this group.

The texts in this group and at the FAQ user account differ slightly. Due to the link under step 2 the description in this group needs one step less than the description in the FAQ user account. Thus I would prefer the text in this group.

Should be fixed now at FAQ user account.

Having a link in the answer is a neat idea.
It works if the user does a right-click on the link to open in a new tab,
but a single click means the rest of the FAQ is no longer available to read.
Also, in this example, it would only work if the user was logged in.

I can only speak to my habit, which is to have the answer I have found, in a forum for example, open in one tab, to then do the steps in another tab. And switch between them.
Rob

There are different user habits. For some users it may be easier to click on a link especially if that reduces the number of steps. For other users it may be more convenient to see a description of how to navigate to a certain page. Another benefit of the latter method would be that once a user knows how to navigate to a certain page they don't need to consult the FAQ again.

So there are pros and cons for both methods. For consistency purposes it might be a good idea to decide on one or the other way. I could live with the second option (description how to navigate to a page). If we take this decision I would amend those texts where I had chosen the other option initially.

Thanks Guido,

As you indicate, not a right or wrong answer, but I do think consistency is very important.
Another thing with a link, who knows what file names may change with the reprogramming?
So I leave you to amend those texts.
And if you saw in the index, you can mark them in the title with ☑, meaning Completed. The editor considers it can be copied to FAQ account.

Rob

Hi Rob,

I have changed 1.1, 2.1 and 2.3.

The text for 1.1 now contains a link to another paragraph of the FAQ. This link needs to be amended when the text is copied to the FAQ account.

In the texts for 2.1 and 2.3 I have replaced the former links by detailed descriptions using screenshots of how to navigate to the desired page.

Guido

Thanks Guido, I used them, and you will have noticed the discussions here marked.

Languages: See French index in FAQ account and link to 2.3

Abandoned the following earlier idea
Add translations under each embedded image. When it is a single sentence, and if only [fr] and [de] this could work. (not good)
The built in translator displays all the steps together, possibly not too bad with the smaller images because the steps are numbered.
A separate index already intended in required language, which would still link to the same photo, with English title. (not good)
BUT the 'Back to index' link would go to English index. It would be messy to add links to the [fr] and [de] indexes.

Je viens de poster mon guide du site en PDF avec lien par chapitres qu'en dites vous.??
Je fais un appel a traduction !
mon fichier peut facilement être mis a jour (mais ça prend du temps !)
de plus je prépare des vidéo courtes d'explication (en visuel !

Thank you Christian =)

That is indeed the next phase we need to consider. How and where we publish "How to use Ipernity" articles.

Christian, I removed the contribution to save us from unnecessary scrolling on group front page.

But be assured your work is noticed and taken into account here:
www.ipernity.com/group/2441566/discuss/192494

Topics 1.1 to 1.4:

I have just slightly revised the German versions.

Topic 1.4:

In all three language versions I have added EUR as currency.

Sami has discovered that posting a non-public photo to a public group makes it accessible by everybody (look here: www.ipernity.com/group/36014/discuss/192640/comment/57090542#comment57090542). Such a photo is still not shown for everybody in the photos section of the account but even logged out users visiting the group or knowing the URL can view the photo page.

That might be confusing for new users. On Flickr for example non-public photos posted to a public group become visible for group members only. Thus new users coming from Flickr might accidentally expose a non-public photo to everybody by posting it to a public group.

Therefore we could add a warning at the end of the answer 8.1. ,e.g.:

Attention If you add a non-public photo to a public group it becomes visible to everyone who visits the group or who knows the URL of the photopage. In the photos section of your account and on album pages it will still only be shown to authorised users.

What do you think?

That is a good point, and worth to mention!

I have already changes the text.

Repeating myself also here, just in case...

@ Guido - 9.3 revised after having discussion with Rob. Please see whether the German addition on 9.3 B) 3) is alright.

www.ipernity.com/group/2441566/discuss/192580/comment/57075268#comment57075268

just started looking this over. i see one spelling error in 1.1 it says
"And off course you can add your own photos to them."

the word 'off' should be 'of' - only one letter 'f'.

Thanks! =)

Rob forgot to reply to you directly, but Rob has fixed it now. Keep on posting observations please, if you find anything else.

Thank you. DeepL was clever enough to know what was meant for the French translation.

Just checked/edited the French version

All French articles available so far or just the index?

I am sorry, but I need to change those symbols as they were. The idea was to indicate there on index what articles statuses are.

But no worry, index and titles are then checked through =)

I had just done the index. Today I went till 2.5, except fotr 1.3 because of doubt exposed on discord chat

To help our translators jump to the comment to be checked, the indexes have links.
It is only when there is an x box in the index that this indicates a comment exists to be confirmed, not the fact that it is blue.

Note to translators:

In the FAQ workgroup I have changed the following parts of topics 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 compared to the current text in FAQ account:

1.2: I have only changed the last sentence

1.3: In the description of the standard package I have added one sentence. The description of the basic package is now a separate paragraph. Further more I have added several sentences to the description of the basic account. The description of the plus account ist new. In the description of the guest accounts I have extended the last sentence. Further more in the last sentence of the whole topic I have added the word "detailed".

1.4: The paragraph at the beginning is new. Steps 1, 3 are unchanged. In step 2 only "Sign in" was replaced by "Log in" in the English version because the user interface had changed. The new step 7a) coincides with the old step 6a). In the new step 7b) the second and third sentence coincide with the second and third sentence in the old step 6b). Only the first sentence has changed. In the new step 8 the first sentence coincides with the first sentence of the old step 7. The second sentence of the old step 7 was deleted. The second sentence of the new step 8 coincides with the third sentence of the old step 7 with the exception that there are not bonus months mentioned at the end of the sentence anymore.

1.5: This topic is completely new.

2.1: The last sentence of the second paragraph was changed. Step A)2) was changed. B)3 and B)4) were also changed. Everything else is unchanged.

Wierd Folkersma invited to join as NL proof reader. I will give him moderator (writer) rights as soon as he joins.

Some ideas shared here:

We could also consider using ScreenCastify on some photo articles OR ipernity-howto blog articles:

www.ipernity.com/doc/serola/50344996

I am considering to rewrite my first attempt with it here:

www.ipernity.com/blog/serola/4732852

Based on the feedback, one probably should provide number of short videos, and not to try going through all in one video.

Moreover, it would be better to upload the videos directly to ipernity. There can be copies at YouTube, but since we can, we probably should provide such videos right at ipernity.