Directing Beginners to Beginner Forum
When I started, I did a Google search, logged in, and posted in what I considered to be a relevant thread. I think most beginners do this before they know about the forum. I suggest that beginners always be directed to the home page when logging in for the first time, so that they will check the list of forums and post threads in the beginner forum first. I also suggest this for guests, with an explanation message and a link to go to the page that was found by Google.
Directing People to Search Before Posting A Thread
I thought this was the idea, but it appears that instead people are simply starting a new thread for each issue of their own because they are not trained to use the advanced search engine or cannot find the search button. Myself included before I found the search button. I'm good at searching now, but before I only used single-function single-field techniques.
Allowing Users to Delete Their Posts
I believe this would be appropriate, except in the case where someone is distributing malicious code, or when the post only needs to be changed. However, a problem arises when the issue has already been solved, or the person puts their thread in the wrong category and wants to move it. See my first post--I consider it kind of a mistake, and I found a solution instead by using the search engine.
Making the Thanks Button Bigger and Making the Solved Option a Button Next to It
This would eliminate the problem of people not thanking or marking the issue as solved. Unfortunately, if I did not start the thread, and my issue is not exactly the same, it does not seem right that I should be able to mark the entire thread as solved.
Which goes back to the earlier issue of whether each person should start their own thread for their own issue, even though it may be a duplicate entry. Another option is to tell the new person with a new problem to start a new thread, but that might defeat the purpose of the forum. Therefore, I would recommend the possibility of simply listing the number of users whose difficulty was solved in that thread, and possibly what level of satisfaction they received in the solution.
Allowing Updates on Marked Posts by Feed in a Corner on the Forums Home Page This would provide links to updates on threads that the user made posts to, and would allow users to sign up without submitting an e-mail.
Request That All "Help" Dropdown Menus in Ubuntu Programs Include Ubuntu Forums as an Option Just suppose that "Help" in any Ubuntu program would not link to any pre-written help, but to the official forums instead. Otherwise there would theoretically be mass Googling, and people would try to start blogs in order to find help, rather than going to the forums. To put it another way, we'd prefer the teacher rather than the textbook when the teacher is available. And that's not to say we neglect studying on our own.
Change the Language of the Display Modes Menu The Display Modes option could use simpler language, such as "Limited Posts on Screen" for "Linear Mode," "All Posts One-by-One" for "Threaded Mode," or offer the option of "All Posts Linear." By the last suggestion, I am implying that a person like me would not care how long it took to load, and would want to see all of the posts in full on a single page so that the only input needed is Page Up and Page Down. This would help slow down the redundancy of posts. In addition, this feature could be added to the advanced search. Alternatively, the user could select number of posts displayed per page(if that is not already available and I simply didn't notice the button)