What I REALLY would like in this forum...

[eluser]hightower[/eluser]
I take this approach to searching for answers:

1) User guide/wiki's
2) Search forums
3) Search Google
4) Post something on the forum

Sometimes though I struggle to find an answer so I have to post what can seem a stupid question. As soon as I post 10 people can point me to an article straight away that will help. For instance, I just posted something yesterday and someone told me to look at Hooks to solve the problem. I would never have known to look at hooks without that person telling me to.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's only easy if you know the answer, and a lot of people know the answers here and want to help. That's what makes this a great forum

[eluser]Dam1an[/eluser]
[quote author="Phil Sturgeon" date="1246365306"]I could knock up a phpBB mod that would ask new registrants 5 random questions about CI. If they fail to get 4 out of 5 right, they will not be registered. [/quote]

Here's a suggested 5 step plan as part of the registration process:

Google a solution for a PHP function which has nothing to do with CI
Find the page on removing index.php in the user guide
Read the MVC, extending classes, AR et all pages in the user guide
Find an auth libray on the wiki
Are you a spammer?

The idea of a seperate forum for more advanced stuff is a nice idea but just wouldn't work
A n00b would think removing index.php is advanced

Edit: @hightower:
Your welcome for the hook suggestion , part of the problem is knowing what the question is, then you can easily find the answer via Google

[eluser]xwero[/eluser]
i suggest a forum that is only accessible via search, just a wild idea.

[eluser]Dam1an[/eluser]
[quote author="xwero" date="1246369663"]i suggest a forum that is only accessible via search, just a wild idea.[/quote]

There's an idea, could easy make an 'elite' forum but with no link from the main page, so only people that know the forum ID can access it, or it could also appear in the search results (so no fear of it being found that way)

[eluser]Evil Wizard[/eluser]
[quote author="Dam1an" date="1246368669"]
Edit: @hightower:
Your welcome for the hook suggestion , part of the problem is knowing what the question is, then you can easily find the answer via Google [/quote]
But some even want you to do that for them

[eluser]TheFuzzy0ne[/eluser]
I think we should have an oracle like on The Never Ending Story, which will only allow cool people to pass. That oracle was freaking sweet!

[eluser]sl3dg3hamm3r[/eluser]
As a matter of fact, elite/advanced/whatever simply won't work. I saw all that stuff already on other forums. It only means more administration-work for the admin since he needs to shift around posts everyday. After a while, these kind of seperations were gone again. Seperation according to different topics makes more sense IMHO.

What I REALLY would welcome is a nice, detailled sticky post where you would find the most important points, like:
- how to debug in php
- read the ci-doku
- read the php-doku
- how do I post correctly (netiquette)
etc.

If something can be answered or corrected with these points, a link to this sticky will be enough. No more "could you format the code"/"could you describe the problem in detail"/"did you read about this function in the doku" each time...

[eluser]sl3dg3hamm3r[/eluser]
damn, answered instead of edited...

[eluser]TheFuzzy0ne[/eluser]
ubuntuforums.org have system in place that does a search based on your post before the post is committed. I think that's a great idea.

[eluser]Dam1an[/eluser]
Digg do a similar thing to stop repeat submissions, pointing you to similar articles
One possible downside of this is people rely on that as a search instead, so they subm,it things without even looking first