[ros-users] [Discourse.ros.org] [General] ROS Answers needs your help

[Tom Moore]

I have no real feeling for this outside `robot_localization`, but I wonder how many questions that get asked have been answered before. I know from personal experience that I've answered the same non-trivial question on multiple occasions.

Part of this, I think, comes down to search. For example, I often get asked, "Can I use robot_localization with just a GPS and IMU?" If users search for that on ROS Answers, [here's what they get](https://answers.ros.org/questions/scope:all/sort:activity-desc/page:1/query:robot_localization%20gps%20imu%20only/). None of those initial results are all that relevant to the search. If we search using Google, [we get this](https://www.google.com/search?ei=gg0qW8bICYrzgAaC47mIBw&q=site%3A+answers.ros.org+robot_localization+gps+imu+only&oq=site%3A+answers.ros.org+robot_localization+gps+imu+only&gs_l=psy-ab.3...6880.11606.0.12292.23.23.0.0.0.0.98.1654.23.23.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.19.1344...0j35i39k1j0i67k1j0i131k1j0i131i67k1j0i20i263k1j0i10k1j0i22i30k1j0i13i10i30k1j0i22i10i30k1j33i22i29i30k1j33i160k1.0.8PMJOdGyaGg).

Obviously, part of this is a failure of the package documentation, too, and @fkromer's idea to reference the questions in their package wikis is a good one. I'm just wondering if there's anything we can do to make previous answers easier to find.

Regardless, I learned a lot from ROS Answers when I started using ROS, and I think we owe it to new users to give them the same level of help that we received. I'll try to carve out more time to answer questions, and will encourage my team members to do the same.





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