Questions about ask.fp.o

[Paul W. Frields]

On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 03:27:58PM -0600, Pete Travis wrote:
> On Mar 11, 2015 3:01 PM, "Paul W. Frields" <stickster at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 06:28:05PM +0000, Ankur Sinha wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2015-03-11 at 11:58 -0400, Paul W. Frields wrote:
> > > https://fedorahosted.org/fedora-infrastructure/ticket/4187
> >
> > That's fine, but how does someone not familiar with ask.fp.o know to
> > do that?  Why not change the link and investigate the problem in the
> > background?
> >
> We should definitely fix this, and probably add more signal to the
> feedback/help section.  Many site moderators (as defined by contribution
> karma) don't idle in #fedora-ask - mostly just admins like myself or Ankur
> and a few others.  I would rate this a lower priority than the askbot
> upgrade, though.

Probably -- after the upgrade, if the link isn't magically fixed, :-)
I recommend changing it.

> > > The moderation queue in the version we're using is quite badly designed
> > > - it's an upstream issue - that's how askbot is. All those posts aren't
> > > actually waiting for moderation - even if a mod approves a post, it
> > > still seems to show up in another mod's moderation queue :(
> >
> > OK, I understand.  What should I do about the 10,000+ items in my
> > queue?
> 
> Skim over the most recent ones for obvious dupes and offensive or harmful
> posts.  Once you hit one that's already been approved or deleted (this is
> where I check the fedmsg links), it's fairly safe to assume all subsequent
> posts have been moderated.  Askbot moderation means that each post must be
> moderated by each moderator; there is no shared moderation queue.  However,
> anything you do to an already moderated post has no additional affect.
> Bonus, askbot defines new users as "watched users" and the can be
> administratively changed to "approved users" - which has no noticeable
> effect.  We're really hoping the new version works better.

Is there a way for me to clear from the queue the 9900+ items I'm
unlikely to skim?  Or is it likely the upstream update will remove the
problem?

> > > We informed upstream about this and they've apparently rewritten the
> > > moderation part and made a new release. None of us have managed to find
> > > the cycles to update the package and test it out in staging so that we
> > > can update the production instance. It's high time I looked into it,
> > > though - it's been on my todo list for quite a while.
> >
> > I'm happy you are looking into it, and I see from your other post
> > there is an updated package.
> >
> > However, this raises a potential issue about future maintenance.  It
> > appears the site gets quite a bit of visitors and use.  What's the
> > plan to find cycles for the maintenance required for such a service?
> 
> I found cycles to update the package and test locally, but haven't found
> time to test in staging yet.  maybe this weekend, if I can work it in with
> the other Fedora commitments I've made.  As for a plan... well, I keep
> adding to my reading list when you drop quotes, Paul, the secret has to be
> in there somewhere :)  Joking aside, when the work required exceeds the
> available volunteer manhours, the plan is a best-effort endeavor and good
> communication.  We can probably improve on the second part.

This is an issue with any community-supported service, and that's a
reasonable response.  However, to avoid the "kick the can down the
road" syndrome, I suggest setting some sort of review date for
assessing whether that improvement has happened.

One additional item of interest, but this may go OT for the
infrastructure list: AIUI there is recent Docs team interest in how to
better focus on audience.  Unless our project is radically different
from the rest of the Internet, I surmise users are looking for more
succinct help and answers in general.  This means there might be a way
to build a sort of positive feedback loop into how we use ask.fp.o(*)
to (1) engage Docs team members, especially new people who pop up to
help; (2) deliver better answers to users; and (3) create content that
can be effectively reused elsewhere.

(*) or something like it, depending on how its maintenance goes


-- 
Paul W. Frields                                http://paul.frields.org/
  gpg fingerprint: 3DA6 A0AC 6D58 FEC4 0233  5906 ACDB C937 BD11 3717
  http://redhat.com/   -  -  -  -   http://pfrields.fedorapeople.org/
    The open source story continues to grow: http://opensource.com