Keeping How To's up to date

[Dan_Brooks]

I feel bad for saying this, but I hope it is taken as helpful.

This topic is now three years old, and the videos referenced are nearly.

It is very important for topics like these to be reviewed and updated more frequently (frankly, anytime a significant new feature is added, even if nothing changes). What’s important is to know that the information is reaonably up-to-date (it is not). Agenda is now at 18 and 5 minutes into this I found info that was incorrect for the current version.

Please review this info and be sure it is not inaccurate, and repost it with a more recent date, even if there is nothing to change here, just so we can know that it has been reviewed and updated if needed. Yes, I know it has been edited since then, but that doesn’t tell us it is up-to-date.
One option would be to simply place someting like this at the top of the topic:

Up-to-date as of version 18.3.1 (please share any corrections here)

[mekentosj]

I moved your comments in a separate thread.

This topic is now three years old, and the videos referenced are nearly.

This is a bit misleading, yes the topic was created over 3 years ago (in fact it was created over 5 years ago, but we bumped the date once), but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t edited in the mean time (31 times actually). Unfortunately a bit of a shortcoming of this community software that this isn’t communicated better.

It is very important for topics like these to be reviewed and updated more frequently (frankly, anytime a significant new feature is added, even if nothing changes). What’s important is to know that the information is reaonably up-to-date (it is not). Agenda is now at 18 and 5 minutes into this I found info that was incorrect for the current version.

That’s actually something we do, with every update we make changes to this section. Having said that, keeping it up-to-date and 100% accurate is a bit like Agenda itself, there will always be some issues and open ends, it’s the nature of changing software and changing environments (OS updates etc).

As you know we’re a small team, two man, we don’t have an extensive QA or support department, which means that any time spent on the community is time that directly goes from improving the product itself. This is not to say that it’s not important, on the contrary, but it does mean it’s a balancing act, and a constant juggle of priorities.

The good thing is that you and others can help us here, by either posting a question whether something is correct (or sending us a direct message on the forum), or pointing us at what you think is incorrect.

Just like with bug reports, generic remarks like “review this info, it’s not correct” while pointing at the entire page is a bit like saying “the app crashes, it shouldn’t” without saying what you did before it crashes. Not saying that it isn’t helpful, but it would be a lot more helpful with some pointers to where you encountered what you think is incorrect or outdated information… Doing so will probably mean anything else like the “up to date as of version X” messages aren’t needed as we usefully can patch those things within minutes. In contrast, a full review of the entire content is something that just doesn’t make it on the priority list often.

[Dan_Brooks]

Thanks for moving this off-line Alex.
I know you are a small team, and I also know that every thing you do (or don’t) has a much wider exponetial impact on your many users; I’m conscious of you individual time, my time and the collective time or users. Your 30 minutes could save users collectively hundreds of hours (don’t you wish you could get paid for all the time you save others?).

You are right; it is hard to know when topics are updated if you edit original content and the posting date doesn’t change.

My suggestion seems like it would be a good solution:
One option would be to simply place someting like this at the top of the topic:

Up-to-date as of version 18.3.1 (please share any corrections here)
Perhaps also include the date, just as a date is added when you post updates to the App Store.
The link for how offer errors/corrections, can keep such issues off the thread, which is likely a distraction to most users.

Do know that I do apprciate all that you do, and how you all do it.

[mekentosj]

Sorry, I’m not a fan of that approach as it can suggest that things are completely out of the date or a sign of no development of the app while a particular area of the app just hasn’t changed (hmm,. last updated version 16 and now we’re at 19, is this all incorrect?). And we don’t have the time to go through dozens of pages to update that line on each, every time we do a release. Adding a link like that can really give a worse image than a few screenshots that have slightly changed, just like how the fact that the topic creation date already gave you a feel that the page hadn’t been touched for 3 years.

In the end of the day, this is a community and it’s called that for a reason, by working together and pointing out things that are incorrect, you can help us spend more time on improving the app while delivering high-quality documentation.