Copying posts from forums

[wordmunger]

What do we think about the idea of copying other people's posts in the forums for use in the guides? Sometimes people write really great, authoritative posts, but these people aren't necessarily the ones working on the guide. Is it okay/kosher to use the forum posts of others to build Guide pages?

What kind of credit is necessary? If we're going to give credit, how would we do that without making the Guide one big credit line?

[Diatribe]

If anyone wants to take parts or everything of my Mac Starter Guide that's fine with me. I'm gonna write some when I find the time too but until then I'm fine with someone using it. I don't need to be credited it's all common knowledge.

[wordmunger]

My inclination would be to say we should feel free to copy anything anyone's posted in the forums. After all, they're posting because they want others to see it. Anyone got a problem with that?

[arn]

Yes, definitely.

I would copy any good guide-like posts into the wiki... but please at the end of the wiki page please link to the original post as Discussion Thread.

I think one of the main advantages is articles can be updated... and kept up to date

arn

[andysmith]

I did this with the Core Image guide.

I don't think the posters will mind, as long as they're credited.

[arn]

Ok, so starting to bring together everything.

Look at the Mac OS X forum

http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=69

There are a lot of stickies up there. I moved two of them into the Mac Guide links up top. I think this is an improvement.

We should move more up to eliminate most stickies.

arn

[HexMonkey]

I've created a template called basedonpost that can be used to credit the source of an article. An example of its use would be:

{{basedonpost|thread=121414|author=DXoverDY}}

Which would produce the output:

This article is based on a forum post written by DXoverDY.

This method provides a consistent way of crediting the source thread and author of an article, while its wording ("based on") allows for changes to the article.

I've implemented this in the Core Image and Installing Mac OS X 10.4 without DVD articles if you want to see what it looks like.

What are people's thoughts on this?

[wordmunger]

Originally Posted by HexMonkey

I've created a template called basedonpost that can be used to credit the source of an article. An example of its use would be:

{{basedonpost|thread=121414|author=DXoverDY}}

Which would produce the output:

This article is based on a forum post written by DXoverDY.

This method provides a consistent way of crediting the source thread and author of an article, while its wording ("based on") allows for changes to the article.

I've implemented this in the Core Image and Installing Mac OS X 10.4 without DVD articles if you want to see what it looks like.

What are people's thoughts on this?

Hey, looks good. However, I think rather than the thread number why not allow people to just cut and paste the the entire URL into the template? I think that would be easier.

[HexMonkey]

Originally Posted by wordmunger

Hey, looks good. However, I think rather than the thread number why not allow people to just cut and paste the the entire URL into the template? I think that would be easier.

I created it using a thread ID because it seemed slightly more elegant and easier to read when editing. It doesn't seem any harder to use, as you are just copying part of a URL compared to a whole URL. Another advantage is that is forces consistency, eg you won't have one article linking to a thread, another linking to a printable version of a thread, and another linking to a single post.

As an example to my first point, which of these is easier to read?

{{basedonpost|thread=121414|author=DXoverDY}}

{{basedonpost|thread=http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=121414|author=DXoverDY}}

I'll wait and see what others think, and if the popular consensus it to use the full URL I'd be happy for it to be changed.

[mainstreetmark]

I vote thread number. The template knows it's a macrumors post - no need to drag that info around all the time.

However, there may come a day when the forum post is from a different forum entirely, which may mean you'll need an alternate method. A second template may be in order, should it ever come up.

[arn]

a Forum Posts category is unnecessary, imo.

there's no need for these to be cateogrized like that, it's an artificial distinction.

arn

[mainstreetmark]

I replied on the talk page for that category. This is intended to be a maintenance type category, much like the Stubs category is. It's a way to manage them collectively, and adds no further work for the author of the article (as categorization is part of the template)

[AmbitiousLemon]

Originally Posted by Diatribe

If anyone wants to take parts or everything of my Mac Starter Guide that's fine with me.

Anyone working on this?

Mac Starter Guide

[HexMonkey]

Originally Posted by AmbitiousLemon

Anyone working on this?

Mac Starter Guide

[AmbitiousLemon]

Originally Posted by HexMonkey

Mac Starter Guide

thanks. i'll do the easy part then and add the forum link to it.

[Diatribe]

Thanks guys for adding it. As I wrote in the thread I was pretty busy moving, getting accustomed, etc. but I promise to update it in the guide section as it desperately needs an update.
So thanks again for your work.