[SOLVED] How to mark a problem "SOLVED"???

[tomcloyd]

It sure seems like I've asked this before, but forum search isn't affirming this. I have spent at least 10 minutes trying to answer this question myself. It should take 5 seconds to answer it!

So...how do you do it? And what can be done to make sure this question never comes up again?

[Snowhog]

Return to first post. Click Edit and select from the dropdown list to the left of the Topic Title.

[Snowhog]

And what can be done to make sure this question never comes up again?

Write the steps down?

[Qqmike]

This IS funny, or at the least, a phenomenon! I had the exact same situation/problem: I learned it once (because Snowhog told me), then couldn't do it again in the future. Something is not intuitive about it. "Prefix." I spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure it out (the 2nd time), and by luck, I stumbled upon it.

[Fred47]

I just did a search and had no problems finding the solution, I'm just saying

[claydoh]

I just did a search and had no problems finding the solution, I'm just saying

lolololollol lol ol l
That search shows this every thread, plus a ton of now-outdated info, since it has changed since the forum upgrade-orama . Twice actually, if you go back to the fourth post on that image. I *think* we were till using SMF back then. (oops, nope)
Definitely were still on it in 2009

[tomcloyd]

Here's my problem with the current situation:

I spend significant time developing, publishing, and maintaining webpages, which are interfaces for information consumers. It is axiomatic in the website development community that core functions must be EASY, which is to say intuitive and obvious. That's a goal not always easily achieved, and that's an understatement.

But in this case, marking a post SOLVED has major benefits for community members. MOST posts should end up so marked. It's clear that more than one of us are wasting time trying to do this and failing.

It's interesting that Fred47 [https://www.kubuntuforums.net/member/34578-fred47] quickly found an answer that I failed to find. I do a ton of research, but still failed. So..."search" is not the quick fix for this issue.

Looking more carefully at Snowhog's Feb 22, 2022, 07:06 PM solution, I see a definite problem. That "prefix" dropdown menu conflates content categories with status categories. Not good. Furthermore, the difference between "SOLVED" and "RESOLVED" is hardly obvious!!!

What must we do to fix this issue once and for all? Is the forum interface itself utterly inaccessible to forum managers?

UPDATE: I just perused the support tab of the vBulletin software site [https://www.vbulletin.com/en/learn-m...dministration] - I do NOT see a way to easily fix this. Not surprising, I suppose. Sigh. So....it will come up again...and again...and....because the solution is not obvious and out-front where it needs to be. I will try to communicate this problem the the vBulletin developers, for what it's worth...

UPDATE #2: I just communicated with vBulletin support - here's the email:

Greetings -

I'm a member, not an administrator, of the Kubuntu operating system user forum, which runs on your software.

I have identified an interface problem which occurs repeatedly, with significant impact on community members: It is not at all obvious how to mark a forum post "SOLVED". This tag is available in a dropdown menu accessible in the forum post edit interface, but on multiple occasions I have simply not thought to look there for it and so after at least 10 minutes of search for a solution simply abandoned the search without any solution at all. I am not the only one with who has had this problem.

Ideally, most forum posts which report a problem should end up with a "SOLVED" tag in their post title. Getting it there should be easy and HOW to do this should be obvious. The solution? Put a "SOLVED" checkbox in the edit interface footer - or even the header. As we say in the website development world: "Don't make me think!"

I hope this is a helpful suggestion. We do get a great deal of excellent us out of your software, be assured.

Tom Cloyd

[Snowhog]

Whether 'good' or 'bad', it is simply a function of how the developers of vBulletin 5 Connect designed the core software. And not to be sarcastic, nor to be demeaning, one would just have to ask at the outset, "How do I mark this topic as SOLVED?" A qualified answer would be given in short order.

Even we; the Admins; went through a brand new learning curve when KFN was upgraded to vBulletin 5. In point of fact, we are still learning.

We had no acceptable alternative but to upgrade. Significant issues were being experienced in 4.2.5 that just couldn't be resolved or fixed. That, and 4.2.5 was no longer a supported version, so no official support or security updates to it.

I am sorry that you are, or have, found the new format frustrating. I am also grateful that you haven't let that frustration drive you away. We (KFN) exist because of our members. We try our level best to establish and maintain a site that existing members want to remain with, and that non-members want to join.

Nothing is perfect.

[tomcloyd]

Thank you for your (as always) thoughtful response. To be clear, this Kubuntu forum and the user forum for the Lilypond music score programming software are the two absolutely most helpful and friendly forums I have had the pleasure of using in almost 30 years of Intenet activity. Truly! This forum, in fact, is a major reason I returned to Kubuntu after about 4 years of exploring the wilderness of Linux OS alternatives.

My own problem (this is a problem? actually, at root, no....), I have so little reason to come here for help that my learning curve simply doesn't get sustained. That's a testament to the high level of usability inherent in Kubuntu. Kudos to all for this.

I hope my attempt to dialog with the vBullletin folks is seen as a good-faith effort to improve the system. To my mind that was its nature. I am always very interested in improvements of social systems...

Meanwhile, relative to this "SOLVED" issue that I've had more than once, I will make a note about this in my own computer-user notes, and hope that the next time this problem arises and I don't recall the solution I think to look there...heh heh....

[Snowhog]

Thank you for the very kind testimony.

I've tried hard to find the Thread/Topic that I 'think' I remember, when you (I believe it was you?) first joined KFN and had trouble getting a very needed program to work in Kubuntu that you used in Windows. Does that ring a bell with you? Were you that person? It involved Java and Netbeans IIRC.

[tomcloyd]

"It involved Java and Netbeans IIRC." - Java - never! Netbeans - yes for a time, but abandoned in the distant past, so your recall just may be on target. Can't rule it out! That you have this association at all, with my name, rather dazzles me. Of course, you COULD just be a snoopy Russian bot who knows everything and is pretending to have a shakey memory...however, I do suspect NOT. This computer business...murky at best.

[Snowhog]

tomcloyd T'was you. Found it: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...java-mysteries

[GreyGeek]

tomcloyd T'was you. Found it: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...java-mysteries

I cannot view that link either.

Sorry, you are not authorized to view this page. For assistance contact the site administrator.

[Snowhog]

GreyGeek Are you attempting the link here, in KFN, while logged in?

[tomcloyd]

tomcloyd T'was you. Found it: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum/...java-mysteries

Wow...you did indeed. Memories...that was a looong time ago. How interesting. I've learned a lot since then, although I still end up in the ditch fairly often - likely 'cuz I'm not driving that old Model A any more!