What is the Knowledge Database?
For those of you who don't know, Yibbles and I came up with an idea for how to make troubleshooting/help easier for Gazelle. The idea is for an interactive and user-friendly solution that will hopefully replace the FAQ and get users the answers/help they need in a more streamlined fashion than just IRC and the forums.
The Knowledge Database will be a wiki-styled system containing articles on everything associated with music, pirating, and the site. While it will not exactly look like a wiki, staff and trusted users will be able to edit and add to the information, hopefully keeping the articles up-to-date and as useful as possible.
Each article will be based upon one word, much like an encyclopedia or dictionary, and will give a detailed definition, along with links to related articles, a tagging system, and tutorials. Each article will also contain multiple troubleshooting links which will cross-reference other articles and serve as a replacement for the current FAQ.
I'm hoping this type of system will be much easier for users to search and browse, will educate users on popular and confusing topics, help control misinformation, and lighten the (rather chaotic) load on the help forum, especially, and the help channel on IRC.
So, what will it look like?
Oh, good thing you asked, because I already have a mockup. :D It's been decided that the side bar will most likely be moved to the right side, along with a few other tweaks, but this is the general idea:
http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/1034/layoutzu3.jpg