Topic: Suggestion for new sections

[Hitman]

Do you guys have any suggestion for new topics or section on the forum?  I know I got some suggestions in before, but when I made the change over, I lost those suggestions.  So, if anyone has any suggestion on new sections of the forum let me know.

[784mula]

Hitman,

Can you search profiles, for example: forum members lists & filter by states. You used to be able to do this on your old site.

[turbota400]

How about a section for engines and engine pics?

[rkellerjr]

I think you've covered the basic as far as forum topics but I'll think some more on it and check some other sites for ideas.

[rkellerjr]

How about a section for engines and engine pics?

You could break that down even further and go with...

 Paint and Body
 Engine
 Suspension
 Drivetrain
 Heating / Cooling
 Brakes
 Electrical
 Wheels and Tires

[784mula]

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A SECTION ON WHEEL & RIM PHOTOS, THE DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS, STYLES, RAISED WHITE LETTERS, ETC...

[Hitman]

Here is the thing, I do not want to create a huge Monster type forum that is tough to navigate.  Have you been to the National Firebird and Trans Am Club Forum?  It is a bear to naviagte.  They have every section for engine, brakes, transmission, blah, blah, blah..... then each one of those is broken down into 1st gen, 2nd gen, blah, blah blah.  Then that is broken down, then that is broken down, blah, blah, blah.  So, you have to go through about 2 or 3 or 4 layers just to get down to where the posts are.  To me, I think that is a waste of space and also a waste of time for the people who post there.  Heck, it takes 2 minutes just to get to where you can post.  So, I may play around a little bit and add a few more sections or maybe break a few of them up, but I am not going to go as far as making a section for everything.  I think that would be too cumbersome to naviagte through.

But that is just my opinion... what this forum is really all about is the members who post here....I am just an observer.  Maybe we should put it to a vote?

[Rick]

I agree Brett.  I'd also observe that part of what makes the forum tick is "velocity".  You need a certain amount of partiicipation in the sections to keep it interesting.  If you have too many sections they'll just set there forever, with no new posts, and it will be boring and soon people will stop visiting.  But you might look at some of the longer threads (the ones that go 5+ pages) to see if those might suggest some subdivision -- a way to keep them from growing so long that newcomers won't want to page through all of them to catch up.

I think your philosophy has done us well -- but hey, you asked!

[Hitman]

One of the reasons that the topics grow so long (like longer than 5 pages) is because I have "pruning" turned off on all boards except for the "Sale" sections.  So, in the "For Sale" sections of the Forum, anything older than 60 days that has bot been posted to is dropped.  But all of the other sections, there is no pruning.  So, there could be topics there that have not been posted to in over 6 months.  I did this because I remember when I had the pruning turned on, there were many times where I tried to go back and find a post and I couldn't because it had been removed for the reason that no one had posted to it in 60 days.  So, which is better.... having alot of pages of posts, or losing topics or posts that you might want to find at a later date?

[rkellerjr]

I'd leave the posts there.  Unless the site is getting cumbersome with too many posts. I think doing that for maybe the Lobby would be OK but certainly not the techinical or TA photo sections, stuff like that.

[Rick]

I think leaving the pruning off is a good idea -- UNLESS it starts causing you problems.  We do NOT need a TAC-style crash over here!

Otherwise it's nice to be able to search for things, and a larger database yields more/better results.  I'm registered on a slew of message boards just so I can use the search engines on them.

[bandit nz]

Hi Brett
Ive read the replys on this, from Rich, Rick and 4mula and some of the other members.
Here are some observations based on my experiances as a newbie:

I spend a lot of time surfing the forum pages, sections and as such, I often add coment or advise to many topics and strings over the course of a visit or even a number of visits each day.

Firstly I found it confusing that following a string, the oldest pages have the highest page number and the latest page has the lowest page number, this is confusing, as it runs backward to what one might expect.

The other thing I would find really helpfull, would be a list of pages and sections I have most recently visited, as an example I offerd some advice the other day on a topic "t top linning a pain in the neck" Ive since been trying to find that topic again, to see if I was any help or how the guy with the problem got on, but ive been unable to find the topic again to follow up.

I dont know if what im asking is possible, but a simple list somewhere on the name bar telling me where ive been or better still where ive recently posted, so i can track my postings, would be very helpfull to old farts like me with poor memories.

Hope this makes sense.
Anyway thats my 5c worth, reguardless of any of this, its an awesome site and you do a fantastic job, thanks heaps.
Stu
East bound and down under   

[Joker (§ir£Ğragon)]

Hi Brett
Ive read the replys on this, from Rich, Rick and 4mula and some of the other members.
Here are some observations based on my experiances as a newbie:

I spend a lot of time surfing the forum pages, sections and as such, I often add coment or advise to many topics and strings over the course of a visit or even a number of visits each day.

Firstly I found it confusing that following a string, the oldest pages have the highest page number and the latest page has the lowest page number, this is confusing, as it runs backward to what one might expect.

The other thing I would find really helpfull, would be a list of pages and sections I have most recently visited, as an example I offerd some advice the other day on a topic "t top linning a pain in the neck" Ive since been trying to find that topic again, to see if I was any help or how the guy with the problem got on, but ive been unable to find the topic again to follow up.

I dont know if what im asking is possible, but a simple list somewhere on the name bar telling me where ive been or better still where ive recently posted, so i can track my postings, would be very helpfull to old farts like me with poor memories.

Hope this makes sense.
Anyway thats my 5c worth, reguardless of any of this, its an awesome site and you do a fantastic job, thanks heaps.
Stu
East bound and down under  

I still don't get why you're getting the threads running backwards unless you have the box checked that says "Show most recent posts at the top" on the look and layout page of your profile settings. But to find things you've posted you can go to your profile page and down at the bottom is a link that says "Show the last posts of this person".

[bandit nz]

  Lol ok thanks, SirL maybe i should have asked some questions instead of making suggestions.
Cheers

[Hitman]

Did you still need help with something?