Make it clear where to discuss a style

[jameshowison]

At the moment the general advice seems to be, "In the Zotero Styles Forums". That's fine as far as it goes, but there is a lot of noise there and noI think it would be great if every style file on http://zotero.org/styles or https://github.com/citation-style-language/styles had a link to a specific (sub)-forum to discuss it. Maybe a tracker system so that previous discussions can be referenced? Hmmm, maybe this is really a request to the Zotero forums, but one placed I looked for this was in the metadata of a CSL style.

[bdarcus]

I agree this isn't well-settled now. I don't actually think the zotero forums are a good long-term solution, given that these styles are usable in multiple projects. I'd also prefer the discussions be concentrated or collected somehow here, given this is where changes happen.

@adam3smtih - do you have any thoughts about how best to handle this in the short-run?

[adam3smith]

I don't see an issue with having a thread per style - this has been working quite well so far - most of the time the threads just exists for the style to be created. In about 5-10% of styles someone will post in the thread later with requests for fixes/updates - which will automatically notify the person who coded the style in the first place.
edit: There are currently 388 unique styles in the repository and more than 18,000 threads on the Zotero forum - which is just to say I really don't see an issue with having a thread per style - if people really want they can include a link to the thread in the summary section of the style, but I just don't feel that's necessary.

I understand the incentive to move that process away from Zotero, but at this point a) for the foreseeable future that's where the repository is hosted and b) moving all the existing threads would be a major PITA & people would likely still post to the Zotero forums, which means I and other style coders would have to monitor multiple places, which I find highly undesirable.
So, frankly, the status quo seems to work quite well, not just for me, but also for the increasing amount of people who post new styles to the Zotero forums - including recently the first Mendeley users.

[jameshowison]

I think that a thread per style is much better than nothing, but at the moment I can't find them. I go to Zotero forums, choose "Styles" and I'm presented with an "all in" reverse chrono listing. Let's say I'm saavy to the style naming and I search "MISQ", I then see five results, none of which are obviously "the thread" and I can't actually tell which one has the newest posts ... I suppose the most relevant one is the "New Style: MISQ" thread, but it's relatively short (should I be posting notice of changes in there?)

[bdarcus]

My main point is there should be an integrated style viewing/downloading/commenting/editing interface, however, and whenever, that happens. The current situation is far from ideal. That won't happen unless and until someone steps up and writes the code, of course. But I still think we should have in mind ideal end goals, and consider shorter-term solutions with that in mind.

But given this, it sounds like you might want to start a thread for that style James, and maybe point people to your pull request?

[adam3smith]

"I suppose the most relevant one is the "New Style: MISQ" thread, but it's relatively short (should I be posting notice of changes in there?)"
Yes. One style with several threads is the exception, so that's not a common issue, but if there is a thread opened for the creation of the style (i.e. either New Style or Style Request) I'd always post there.

Bruce - I agree that ideally styles should have comments directly integrated (see also our brief exchange in the past on quality markers for styles). Do you have any thoughts on a short-term, no (or little) additional code solution that would work towards that goal, though?

[bdarcus]

I don't have a good option, but one possibility is that each style in the previewer has a link directly to a forum thread and/or the github issue tracker? E.g. when people have complaints with styles, I would think it preferable that they list them on github, in the issue tracker. But admittedly, that introduces its own problems.

[rmzelle]

FWIW, Mendeley has introduced a form to report style problems: http://support.mendeley.com/customer/portal/articles/1392513-i-would-like-to-report-an-incorrect-citation-style-in-mendeley-

(@adam3smith deals the reports that come in from there)

[adam3smith]

that's working very well, btw. About 1-2/month on average, about 2/3 of them actual style errors.

[stale]

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