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Perhaps it's my inexperience with the stack model, but I find it exceptionally difficult in many cases to find a link to a common issue. Often it makes more sense to link to some discussion or question rather than explaining a whole mess of things.

One example would be my comment here:

Critique: Modified template for a greeting card service
Well not now :) comments have been purged on that question apparently :)

To find a link to the critique guidelines I have to search meta. Which was okay for this particular use, but often when searching there can be a whole list of similar but unrelated items if you aren't familiar with the exact post wording.

Example: https://graphicdesign.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1085/what-dpi-ppi-for-print-initiative-on-gd (Didn't need to delete this Yisela :).. it was a prime example of why this is needed, not a commentary on the post directly. )

I can't find a FAQ link anywhere. I think the help center revamp wiped it out. Or am I missing it?

I don't know how to access the "Community Wiki". I don't think I've ever seen a link to that. Or I've missed it for, literally, years. I see the wiki posts... but no wiki "roll" as it were.

There are a number of common questions/meta posts which should be easy to find... Critique Guidelines, Font ID guidelines, Stock image resources, type resources, to name a few.

Would it make sense to have a common area where these informational posts are all located to try and separate them from the general Q&A? Not entirely, but more of a predetermined search parameter.

I think what's really needed may be:

  • A) a link to view the Community Wiki as an actual Wiki (bottom of Community Bulletin sidebar perhaps?).
  • B) Some moderator-only ability to designate a question/meta post as "common information" or "FAQ" then a link to view only those designated questions/posts.
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    This would be AMAZING, some way of using snippets in-site. I can't tell how many times I have written the same message, with slight variations, and how much time I've spent looking for questions I kiiiind of remember are similar. Where there is a need there could be a feature, 100% for this.
    – Yisela
    May 8, 2014 at 6:59
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    This is definitely the most glaring UX problem with SE generally. When experienced users are perplexed, what chance do the noobs have?
    – Alan Gilbertson
    May 8, 2014 at 7:03
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    Hell yes. I suggest that for now we MacGyver something together as a stopgap using meta posts and a tag like guidelines, and also drop a proper feature request to meta.meta. Maybe have a master post that describes the series and links to and is linked from them all, that is permanently "featured".
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    May 8, 2014 at 9:42
  • Excellent idea @user568458 meta.graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/1087/…
    – Scott
    May 8, 2014 at 10:05
  • Not an answer, but a stopgap: You can find all Community Wiki posts by searching with wiki:1 (and add is:q if you want only questions in your results list).
    – hairboat
    May 8, 2014 at 16:05
  • The faq tag still exists on Meta, too. Not really sure what you're asking for here.
    – hairboat
    May 8, 2014 at 16:12
  • @AbbyT.Miller Just a standard FAQ. One document, one link, where all the common answers are posted. The FAQ in the help section is both scant and generic. I've never known where to begin looking for critique guidelines. Why can't this be nicely organized?
    – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
    May 8, 2014 at 16:53
  • @LaurenIpsum By "the help section" I take it you're looking at the URL graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/help. It sounds like you want it to be replaced or augmented by a single page that lists site-specific information, for example What are the guidelines for asking for a critique of my work?, rather than what it has now, which is mostly the same for every site in the network. Is that right?
    – Pops
    May 8, 2014 at 18:17
  • @Pops YES, exactly. So an actual list of the Questions which are Frequently Asked on GDSE (and the answers), not just boilerplate SE guidelines which barely apply here.
    – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
    May 9, 2014 at 0:28
  • I don't think a FAQ needs to replace anything. I feel it should be a site-specific link. While the "Help Center" refers to how the Stack model works, the FAQ would refer to how GD.SE works. Both are needed. And I imagine every single Stack site would benefit from something similar.
    – Scott
    May 9, 2014 at 0:32
  • @AbbyT.Miller but the FAQ tag results in.... a blank page. And it's a moderator-only tag :) Which is fine, if it were used, that may help considerably. :)
    – Scott
    May 9, 2014 at 0:32
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    Basically, I envision a "FAQ" link which when clicked, it brings up something similar to this meta answer. The primary difference being that rather than needing to copy/paste questions into an answer, a moderator can simply flag (or tag) them as FAQ content and that question/post gets added to the page. Honestly, if Mods add the FAQ tag to these types of thing it would be very similar. But can you add FAQ tags to the main site?
    – Scott
    May 9, 2014 at 0:38
  • One big issue is actually accessing the Community Wiki. I admit I didn't do a great deal of research on that, but I didn't have any clue how to get to it until I read Abby's comment above.
    – Scott
    May 9, 2014 at 0:40
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    Apparently the FAQ link is only blank when accessed from Abby's link above because it refers to the main site (again, can FAQ tags be added there?) Actually adding the tag as a favorite on meta, then clicking it does bring up 5 meta posts. Some of which aren't really faq but refer to editing the faq (which is gone), others are exceptionally good information to share with users of all experience levels. But how many new users are going to search for the FAQ tag? That's my general point. I feel it needs to be a UI item
    – Scott
    May 9, 2014 at 0:55
  • @Pops: the Meta Answer which Scott linked to above? THAT'S effectively what I want. But in the menu. Somewhere easily accessible.
    – Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
    May 9, 2014 at 10:26

1 Answer 1

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tl;dr: I think you can achieve your goals by using existing functionality.

To be frank, I don't understand your first request at all. I think of "Community Wiki" as a status that can be applied to individual posts, not a single monolithic entity that can be linked to.

Historically, CW has never quite served the purpose it was designed for. Heck, ask five long-time SE users what its purpose is, and you'll get seven different answers. Views on CW have been changing for about as long as the network has been around, and they're still evolving as of two weeks ago.

(I must admit I don't spend much time on GD SE specifically, so if you have a local convention I'm unaware of, I apologize. I did a quick search and didn't see any obvious differences from what I'm used to or a clear unifying theme.)

As for your second request, moderators already have a superpower for creating FAQ entries. Only mods may apply the tag to posts on Meta GD SE. If the number of site-specific rules you have is limited, you might be able to get away with posting each one as an answer to a single "official FAQ question." A more robust solution is to give each site rule its own -tagged question — after community discussion, of course — and maintain a central "directory" page like Meta Stack Exchange does.

Also, the site's mods can already edit the "What topics can I ask about here?" page within the help center. It's not exactly what you're looking for, but I think it's similar enough to deserve a mention.

The use case that I haven't covered yet is questions frequently asked on the main site. Traditionally, other network sites have handled this situation by selecting one question to be "the canonical one" and closing new questions on the topic as duplicates of that canonical one. Another approach is to use tag wikis to link to common questions about those tags, like the Scala folks did on Stack Overflow. I think it would be fine to maintain a master list as a -tagged question here on meta, too.

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  • Good stuff. I guess my Interpretation of the CW was yet another vision :) - Wasn't aware mods could edit "What topics" area. That would help. As would adding the FAQ tag where appropriate (and removing it where not). Ultimately it sounds like it's more a localized organizational issue than a feature issue.
    – Scott
    May 9, 2014 at 1:31

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