It's just occurred to me that it might be a bad idea to have the mediawiki "talk" feature activated. It might split things between the wiki and the forums, and cause confusion. Should it be turned off?
The reason that it occurred to me was because of this exchange. It's lucky Helen picked up on the comment, but as the wiki grows, pleas for help could go missing! Much better that the pleas come to the forums, where hundreds of users are likely to spot the message, surely?
In reply to Dan Stowell
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by Helen Foster -
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comments. As you say, pleas for help should be posted in the forums and not in MoodleDocs talk pages. However, I think it would be a shame if the talk pages were removed, because they are useful in many ways, such as providing a place to comment about a protected page. Also, I think that learning how to use the wiki involves mistakes being made sometimes.
Perhaps we could consider re-naming the discussion tab, as suggested in the developer conference?
Thanks for your comments. As you say, pleas for help should be posted in the forums and not in MoodleDocs talk pages. However, I think it would be a shame if the talk pages were removed, because they are useful in many ways, such as providing a place to comment about a protected page. Also, I think that learning how to use the wiki involves mistakes being made sometimes.
Perhaps we could consider re-naming the discussion tab, as suggested in the developer conference?
In reply to Helen Foster
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by Julian Ridden -
I am with Helen on this one. The talk pages are a valuable resource for commenting on and thus improving the quality and content ot the docs.
It should be made clear somewhere on the page that it is not an area for requests but rather constructive comment and critique.
A rename may not be a bad idea either.
It should be made clear somewhere on the page that it is not an area for requests but rather constructive comment and critique.
A rename may not be a bad idea either.
In reply to Julian Ridden
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by Dan Stowell -
Yes, I agree with what seemed to be the general opinion in the developer conference.
The renaming will help, but I think it's more important that the talk pages should have a 'disclaimer' of sorts, such as:
This page is for discussing the content and layout of MoodleDocs documentation. It is NOT a place to get help with using Moodle.
If you would like help with Moodle, please visit [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 Using Moodle]
Is there a wiki "template" that is automatically applied to all Talk pages? That would be one way of applying this.
Seriously - when MoodleDocs is integrated into every Moodle 1.6 on the planet, there are going to be lots of students and teachers who will click on "MoodleDocs for this page", then on "Discussion" (or whatever the better name is), and not unreasonably a large proportion of them will assume it's a good first port of call to ask for help with writing a quiz (or whatever)...
In reply to Dan Stowell
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by N Hansen -
And the disclaimer should also have a link to the relevant discussion forum in Using Moodle so that it is easy for people to post their questions in the proper place.
In reply to Helen Foster
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by Martin Dougiamas -
I agree with the rename. Some ideas:
Suggestions
Comments
Feedback
Suggestions
Comments
Feedback
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by koen roggemans -
I would explitily mention it is meant for this doc page
Page suggestion
Page comments¨
Page feedback
Page discussion
Page suggestion
Page comments¨
Page feedback
Page discussion
In reply to koen roggemans
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by Martin Dougiamas -
I'll leave it to Helen to decide a final one, it can be updated here: http://docs.moodle.org/en/index.php?title=MediaWiki:Talk&action=edit
In reply to Martin Dougiamas
Re: Moodle documentation: Should MoodleDocs talk be on or off?
by Helen Foster -
Thanks everyone for your comments. 
The tab is now named "Page Comments".
As MoodleDocs MediaWiki:Talk is a protected page, if anyone has any further comments they may add them to the talk page via the page comments tab.
I'll investigate the possibility of adding a disclaimer too.
The tab is now named "Page Comments".As MoodleDocs MediaWiki:Talk is a protected page, if anyone has any further comments they may add them to the talk page via the page comments tab.
I'll investigate the possibility of adding a disclaimer too.