Single official topic for each linux distribution and other common issues

320 points posted to IdeaStorm by theblackcat 02/23/07

As many other people have pointed out, things are becoming unmanageable with the duplicate posts promoting the same small group of ideas. It would be unfair to just delete them all, so I have a proposed solution.

Have specific, official topics on each of these issues (in no particular order):
-Preinstalled Linux in general
-A seperate topic for each common Linux distribυtion (one for Redhat, another for Suse, another for Ubuntu, etc.)
-Hardware support for linux
-Mac OS X
-Continued Windows XP support
-No OS whatsoever
-Webcams for laptops
-Do away with proprietary hardware (including video cards, Bluetooth, etc)
-Tablet PC
-Better laptop power supply
-No offshore tech support
-No preinstalled software (just the desired OS)
-Preinstalled Openoffice
-Preinstalled Mozilla products (these can probably be lumped together)
-Preinstalled Gimp (maybe)
-Preinstalled Gaim (maybe)

These will be the official topics for each of these particular issues. They will be "pinned" at the very top of the list so people cannot miss them. No duplicate topics on any of these issues will be allowed. Voting and commenting will still be allowed in all of these topics, although they will have to be monitored for flame wars.

After these are started, add a keyword filter. Any topic containing "linux", "open source", "freeware", "gnu", "mozilla", a distro name, or any other words associated with any of these topics will be put in a queue where they must be approved by an administrator before they are will appear on the site. That way we don't get the flood of duplicate topics that we have now, but legitimate new ideas that may contain one or more of these words will also not be automatically deleted.

Put a notice up that this could happen, and warn people with a prominent, colorful page when their ideas have been flagged. That way they are not confused as to why the ideas are not showing up and start re-submitting them. Monitor the site for people purposefully avoiding the filters and update them routinely to catch tactics people are using to do so. Keep an eye out for issues that are getting a lot of duplicate posts and make official, pinned topics for them as well.

This way everyone is happy. People are able to support their own favorite OS or piece of software, while the board will not be flooded with duplicates. People who ignore these rules will have more trouble getting away with it, and people looking for truly new ideas will be able to find them. This includes bother users and Dell themselves. It is currently becoming extremely difficult to get through all the clones to find interesting new ideas, but it is unfair to deny people the right to have their ideas heard. This allows people to have their say while still keeping things manageable.

Note: this idea may itself be a duplicate. I know for sure that the idea of getting rid of all the duplicates has been posted many times. I am fully aware of the hypocrisy of contributing to the problem I am trying to solve but I felt it still needed to be said.