Articles/Turorials

[RobDog888]

Brad and Moderators, I was wondering after reading Brad's article
"Mobile/PocketPC Development Jump Start" on devlpoer.com why
don't we have here at the forums our own articles. There are
allot of stickies with tutorials, FAQ's, etc and even the Tutorials
forum where the users have posted small tutorials, but couldn't
we have a section where we could have articles like the ones
Brad writes. We could also have others and guest writters
posting articles too. It could be a top-level forum so new users
could find it easily.

I don't think this would be duplicating anything that the Tutorials
forum contains because those are usually something very specific
and not general or how to get started type of articles. I
remember those article that used to be on vbworld and vbsqare.
I would like to see something along those lines posted here. I
learned allot from those sites back in the day.

I don't know, just putting this out there, what do you think?

[Danial]

Rob,
Yes, Before JupitarMedia took over VBF, we used to have articles on all possible topics similar to the Developer.com. There were some very good aritcles there and Forum was only a part of the resources of VB-World(the old name).

I do not know what happened to them now, since JupitarMedia owns other similar site I doubt they would restore those article since some of their other site already cater for VB Articles.

Here is how it used to look for user who joined later, you can still see those articles in the arichive.

http://web.archive.org/web/200010171....vb-world.com/

Good old days of VB-World ..

[Electroman]

*sigh*, good old VB-World .


BTW Brad, a few weeks ago you mentioned something like this being a work in progress, nothings really been said for a while though .

[RobDog888]

I don't want the old articles re-posted, I was just refering to the
format of the site. I actually have copies of many of those articles.
I want to see new articles on things. The articles are good to
learn from or strengthen your skills.

We could also have guest writters from some of our guru
members that wanted to participate. The articles would have to
be approved by one or more Mods for accuracy, appropriateness,
copyright acceptance, etc.

[brad jones]

Yeah, my time is monopolized on a lot of tasks on a number of sites.

A simple solution for articles here is to create a forum for articles Just like we have for the CodeBank and UtilityBank (maybe ArticleBank to keep with a theme). We can have the first articles posted in a general forum. As more are posted, we can create subforums for the articles.


The questions would be -- do we force articles to be submitted to a moderator and then posted, do we use a submission forum that is moderated (the articles don't show live), or do we open the forums in a "free for all" manner and moderate after the fact? Additionally, do we let people respond to articles or do we not allow discussions in the article section so as not to clutter it?

These are just a few of the questions. We'd also need a volunteer or two to technically review the articles to make sure they are okay and appropriate as well as do some light editing.

Thoughts? Comments?

Brad!

[Merri]

Well, the article forum would take a need from me to make a site, as I could just post my articles here. Actually I've posted them already, to get comments. In case interested to see them, click here and there.

They need a reformatting though, as I have written them ready for the site, not to an article forum. Not a big deal.

I wouldn't mind looking over the articles. And I think it would be good to let people comment the articles, so errors could be fixed and new content added if required (of course it could be handled through private messaging). Though the allowed post length should be bigger in the articles forum, if possible to do so. As you can see, I had to split some articles because they were too long to fit one post.

Also... I believe in free posting. In the other hand, I'm not all that sure how much people are interested to write articles. It is a matter of doing it and see how it goes.

[brad jones]

Originally posted by Merri
Also... I believe in free posting. In the other hand, I'm not all that sure how much people are interested to write articles. It is a matter of doing it and see how it goes.

We accept articles on other sites such as CodeGuru that are freely submitted. Lots of people submit articles because it gets their name posted on a big Web site. Additionally, a lot of employers look favorably on their employees posting articles -- especially consulting companies -- as it helps build their credentials and credibility.

I recommend people post articles both here and on CodeGuru. (Maxmimum exposure )


We will need to get a moderator to manage the article submission stuff. Once we line that up, I'll look into creating the area.

Brad!

[RobDog888]

Cool, thanks Brad. I also think thatsome of the submission rules
should be that the article would be on something that is of a new
or popular subject. I am surprised to see that there are only 9
threads in the Tutorials forum. Actually I didn't even realize that
there was a Tutorials forum. I came accross it when I was
writting the original post for this thread.

What do we have to do in order to get more users to participate
in these forums? How about the next contest be an article
writting contest. Then we can post all the submitted articles that
are within the guidelines to the new forum? We would get plenty
of content on a broad range or make the contest on a certain
subject only? The winner could get a custom title or logo
designating them as a "VBF Writter" or "VBF Author"?

Ps: Is the Moderator a paying job?

[brad jones]

Originally posted by RobDog888

Ps: Is the Moderator a paying job?

I think the tutorial section should be shifted into whatever is done with articles. We'll see what everyone decides.

And no, it is voluntary, but as one moderator has noted today -- being a moderator gives some nice bullets on your Resume/CV

Brad!

[Danial]

Originally posted by brad jones
I think the tutorial section should be shifted into whatever is done with articles. We'll see what everyone decides.

And no, it is voluntary, but as one moderator has noted today -- being a moderator gives some nice bullets on your Resume/CV

Brad!

Indeed, I wouldnt mind volunteering either ,

I have nearly finished to article on Classic ASP and was gonna post it in ASP Forum. It would be great if we have a article section. I would look into how I can post my article in CodeGuru aswell.

Personally I would prefer if the articles was proof read first by a moderator beore making it public. This will also ensure that there is no duplicate article on the same topic also if it is appropriate like you mentioned..If you look at CodeBank there is lot of duplicate entry but I guess intially we wont have too many people writing articles so that should not be a big problem to start with.

[Merri]

And as I already said, I wouldn't mind the job either. Though I'm not sure how active I can be over a long time, as it tends to vary. I don't know if I catch a non-programming season later on. Of course being a moderator would make to visit more often even when I'm not into programming that well.

The advantage of a hobbyist programmer: can not do programming when not feeling like it

[RobDog888]

Never thought of it like that (resume content). Maybe like I suggested
about a contest for articles will get the ball rolling. I would like to
definately write several articles too. How about a group of Mods
for the Articles/Turorials since it seems like allot of work for one
person? Maybe I could help out also?

[RobDog888]

Every article posted could qualify the writter to win a temporary
additional status title like "VBF Author" to be displayed in the
thread view because I dont know if we could have two lines
under the user's name in post view? We would also have to
make it so any custom users could not edit their own to say "VBF
Author" in order to preserve the prestiege of an author.