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New content experiment underway!

Hi everyone! Just a quick heads-up that we’re experimenting with a new kind of troubleshooting page, centered around a single problem (example: Whirlpool Dishwasher Not Drying). The idea is to put all the most helpful information about that specific problem (as well as links to similar problems) in one place.

While we’re in the testing/verification phase, I’ve borrowed (copied) solutions from a handful of top posts in Answers, and also added links to those posts pointing to the new page. This is just a test to see how well Google likes this particular form of content. Please bear with us while the experiment runs its course!

If our test is successful, we have grand plans for integrating this with Answers so that the folks who contribute the most helpful solutions get proper credit (rep) and attribution. But for now, we just need to prove the concept. Thanks for bearing with us while we tinker! Let me know if you have any questions.

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@jeffsu - This is great! Very helpful on repeated queries!

I would add one element at the bottom of the page ‘Did this answer all of your concerns?’ A button then opens a fresh question based on the troubleshooting page so its traceable to it. But not held with it like we do within ‘Answers’ it’s held in Answers (treating it more like how we spin off questions from the device listing.

So why do this? First it doesn’t clutter up the Troubleshooting page with follow up stuff of a problem. I would still allow people to comment on a step if the step is confusing. Then edit the troubleshooting step if needed with the additional info. If the spun-off concerns are common then we need to improve the troubleshooting page.

In some cases there is a fork in the road! While not common we have some cases where depending on the given diagnostic test might require a different path to fix. It’s also possible the person jumped over a given troubleshooting page/s and needs to be pushed back to the previous page.

You want to emulate the approach Apple & IBM did things http://ohlandl.ipv7.net/books/ps2-hmm.pd... Of course not to the depth they did things but note the flow of the process. Apple has a similar approach in there troubleshooting sections which is simpler (can’t post it but you can find them out there)

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Jeff Suovanen will be eternally grateful.