Tags on the forum + pages introducing this forum

Kirk_Masden · 12-12-2019 04:59 PM

Even though I’ve been on this forum quite a while and post fairly frequently, I sometimes have difficulty choosing the proper “tag” for my post. First of all, here’s a list of the available tags:

account
action
behavior
bugs-issues-errors
data
deep links
expressions
integrations
map
references
reports
security
slice
users
ux
view
workflow

Many of these tags are self-explanatory, particularly if you are familiar with the AppSheet platform. If, however, you are new to AppSheet, you might think that “references” refers to materials published on the web by AppSheet that we can “refer” to as we build our apps.

The distinction between “UX” and “view” can be difficult to understand even if you are familiar with AppSheet:

When one creates a new “view” in an app, one does it in the “UX” part of the editor. So, when one has has a question that relates to a “view” does one use the “view” tag or the “UX” tag or both? I just reported about a problem with how my app displays on a browser:

I was required to chose a tag in addition to bugs-issues-errors. I chose “UX” but wasn’t sure if I chose the right one. That prompted me to look for a page on this forum that explains the tags but I could find one. I think a nice page explaining all of the tags and what kinds of issues should go with what tags would not only help people who participate in this forum; it would also serve as an introduction to key aspects of the AppSheet forum. In the process of creating a page about the tags and how to chose them, it would be nice to have some discussion about “missing” tags: tags that we need but that are not currently available. For example, I have written about the need for an “Editor” tag:

Finally, shouldn’t there be a section of this forum or community site that tells people how to post, how to deal with friction, etc.? I remember seeing something about when to flag a post and when not to, etc. but I can see a menu that takes me directly to such topics.

Thanks for your consideration!

Aleksi

@Peter Any thoughts?

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Hi @Kirk_Masden,

As requested by @Aleksi, I am sure @Peter will share his thoughts /guide on your post. Just for the last part of your post, I believe are you probably referring to the menu called FAQ that is available under main hamburger menu.

Kirk_Masden

Thanks very much! I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I had completely forgotten to click on the sandwich menu in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. As you indicated, @Suvrutt_Gurjar, the posting guidelines (focusing on civil, constructive engagement, etc) are there. I also noticed this page:

https://community.appsheet.com/tags

It’s interesting to see how some tags are used a lot while others don’t get used very much. I’m quite sure that if an “Editor interface” or some such tag became available, it when get a good deal of use.

Suvrutt_Gurjar

Hi @Kirk_Masden,

You are welcome. And absolutely no need to be emabarrassed. You have always been referring the most relevant posts while participating in community discussions. We all tend to forget links etc. once in a while in this massive online world.

GreenFlux

Great points, @Kirk_Masden. I have trouble selecting a relevant tag some times, as well.

Also, I don’t think it’s a good idea to have the Bug Reports button default to opening a new draft post.

We should be encouraging users to SEARCH the bug reports prior to posting. Yes, drafting a post does display similar posts off to the right-- but none of the other buttons open up straight to a draft.

I see a lot of ‘bug Report’ posts that aren’t bugs, and I’ve posted legitimate bugs that get buried and never get a response. It would probably be a lot easier to keep up with all the new bug report posts if that one button just went to a list view like the other post categories.

Sorry for piggy-backing, @Kirk_Masden. But I figure, we’re talking about improvements to the forum, which doesn’t have a tag!

Kirk_Masden

I agree! We need a tag like “forum” or “community” or something.

Kirk_Masden

I’d like to add the tag “Great minds think alike” to this comment:

GreenFlux

EXACTLY! I’m sure this is having a negative effect on the quality of posts, and response rate to posts in the Bug Report section.

Kirk_Masden

While we are on the subject of bug reports, here’s an odd thing I’ve noticed. First, if you click on the icon to start writing a bug report (that is, if you click on the plus mark when you are in the bug report section of this forum), you automatically get the bug report tag:

But, after preparing your post and trying to post it, you are told that you have failed to choose a tag:

So, you need to erase the tag and select it again:

The following image shows the item I succeeded in posting after I erased and then reselected the tag. I immediately withdrew the post as I only wrote it as an illustration for this comment:

peterdykstra

@Kirk_Masden @Aleksi @Suvrutt_Gurjar @GreenFlux this thread is great, thanks for bringing some of this up. We’ve been thinking about how to better expose these popular topics or existing posts by using tags better, so it’s great to discuss.

I just added ‘community’ tag by the way and tagged this thread with it.

I agree that we need to do a better job helping new users find existing answers to questions/topics before they feel the need to post their question - I think the first step is exposing those existing, popular topics better from the start. @JCadence and I will keep you posted about updates regarding this in the next few weeks.