The Glossary category is for short, clear topics which aim to explain common knotting terms, to explain acronyms, and to provide information about organisations, websites and other ‘inside’ knowledge.
We then use the Discourse ‘Watched Words - Link’ feature (admin only) to automatically ‘linkify’ the glossarised word in posts, linking to the appropriate Glossary entry.
(the word IGKT automatically links to the Glossary page)
The Glossary category idea is a work in progress, and is currently a new idea under development. If you have thoughts about the idea, please discuss it below.
A few of the prominent members, those who post quite wordily, should be asked to at least use the full meaning of a used acronym, either once in the beginning or several times if their post is quite lengthy.
If indeed the aim is to insure that what they are sharing is best understood, not just expend words.
I fully agree that prominent and wordy posters should spell out acronyms at least once (preferably on first use in a thread or long post) for the sake of clarity and welcoming newcomers.
Proposed short addition to slip into the Code under “Encouraged Behaviors” or “Special Knot-Tying Reminders”
OK well not quite fully automatic, but semi-automated.
To try to demonstrate I’ve created a Glossary topic for ‘Marlinespike’ (works with the other spelling ‘Marlinspike’ and is case-insensitive)
When someone uses a word like ‘marlinespike’ it would be really useful for that to automatically link to more information on what that is.
In the above examples the links to the Glossary were added by Discourse, not by me. They are added at the point the post is saved. They can be edited by the user if required.
If we can make glossarisation automatic then it means users don’t have to always explain themselves, if they know it will be automatically ‘glossary linked’ for them.
Obviously it will take a while to gradually create all the glossary entries, and we have to create the Watched Words linking for each one manually (unless I can find a way to automate this).
This is where we crowdsource: I would ask those very users of the acronym with flying fingers to create the Glossary entry for me (via PM) and then when it’s done, I review and add Watched Word linkage.
sounds like a plan.