Good Forum Manners

[Charlie G]

Like I said, I understand it in principle - but in practice there needs to be a system to kill old threads.
If this forum is still active in 10 years, will all posts regarding the engine be merged into a 10,000 post "the elio engine" thread?

There comes a point where old threads should be allowed to die.

Honestly, from the perspective of someone who isn't on here every day - it's very difficult to come into the forum to check out the latest buzz. From time to time I try, but because anything new about the engine (for instance) is merged into the same thread, I have to read through pages and pages of people making sarcastic comments at each other to catch up, whereas if there were new threads from time to time I might be able to pick up on a topic that's 'trending'.

Here's a real world example:
If I hit the "What's New" link, the first result is the gas cap post from April 4, with 470 replies. I have no way of knowing whether there's actively some new news/discussion in super gas cap technology, or whether it's just a single comment resurrecting the old thread.
The reservations thread has 1232 replies

Contrastingly, I see a thread from last week titled "Tell All Your Friends, The 50% Bonus Is Back!" with 217 replies already. So I know that's an active discussion of recent events which might be worth reading.

I'm just trying to provide a little perspective rather than just.... not coming back.

 

[Jeff Bowlsby]

Thanks Charlie, you get the point. A site with only a few threads, each with 10 million posts is quite daunting and intimidating.

 

[Charlie G]

Thanks Charlie, you get the point. A site with only a few threads, each with 10 million posts is quite daunting and intimidating.

I'm just trying to emphasize the difference in point of view that a new or infrequent user has vs the regulars.
I 100% get that if you're actively following a thread on a given topic, it becomes more like a conversation - with each post following on the last and ideas evolving with time and information to provide an up-to-date picture of things.

But that's also the problem, it becomes a conversation - so you can't properly participate unless you're fully up-to-date.

One thing that could alleviate some of this - and here's my suggestion (rather than just whining) - is to have someone (mod/regular/etc) that is actively following all the news/status/etc - and there are a few people like that on here - to post a weekly/monthly "State of the Elio" thread (sticky?) with the current news/status/rumors. Naturally this thread will become a place of discussion - probably news-centric with a healthy dose of speculation thrown in - but the kicker is that each one should be a new post with the old post un-stickied. Not necessarily locked, but allowing for conversation to naturally flow to the new one.
That way a new/infrequent user could get a decent sense of things reading a maximum of 1 week/month of posts, rather than many.

I'd like that at least

 

[wheaters]

I can't help but wonder how things will change when we finally get our Elios and become Elio OWNERS and can actually talk about our experiences with this amazing vehicle.

At least we'll know which side the fuel filler cap is on, so that will cut down the forum traffic a bit!

(Please feel free to merge this post with the "you know what" thread).

 

[ks6c]

Let me start by saying I absolutely love this forum for its information, for the expertise of its members (wow, have I learned a lot about engines, body panel molding, paint cost drivers, high finance, etc!), for the civility of the membership (for the most part <grin>), and for the active conversational participation of the moderator crew! I can't tell you the number of forums I'm active in that I have no idea who the moderators are, let alone any basis for their "power". I like it here.

As G1 has said, different forums are moderated in different ways - some in response to their membership, many at the direction of their owners. No right way and no wrong way.

That said, I would prefer to see threads NOT merged, for a handful of reasons:
- From a practical point of view, the practice of merging will not be a sustainable one as this forum grows. Imagine 1,000 new members actively posting (and we know "they" will never use search). There won't be enough moderators to merge stuff.
- I fully agree with Charlie G: let old threads die. The first several dozen pages rarely remain relevant, but how will a newbie know where to jump in? Most threads, if not all, eventually diverge from the title topic in our conversational (hijacking) way - let 'em go!
- Merging a new question with an old conversational thread that most veteran members have long since abandoned because they know it's no longer on topic isn't helpful IMHO.
- There can't be many topics that haven't been discussed, yet, so what's a newbie to do? New posts by newbies aren't welcome? We all know that searches often return nothing or everything, and are most influenced by the jargon/shorthand we use. Let a newbie post a new (duplicative) thread, and his welcome can be something like "welcome to the family, here are some threads that might answer your question", or "here are some key words that might be helpful in your search" rather than "use the search engine, dummy - now we're merging your thread". And, no, that's never been the tone here, but I certainly see it all over the interweb.

Just my $0.03 (inflation, you know!)

 

[Sr.MailMan]

Right now this forum seems to be a free for all. Thread Jacking is common place and a little annoying. BUT... opinions are welcome.
I just think when you want to announce your new born baby,etc. You should start a new thread.

Once the vehicles are in the hands of the owners, I would like to see a forum for non-tech Elio talking (like what I did with/to my Elio today,etc.) and a moderated "Tech Talk" for mechanical how to's,help requests and aftermarket changes only.

Just a suggestion... no need to "flame" me.

 

[goofyone]

Right now this forum seems to be a free for all. Thread Jacking is common place and a little annoying. BUT... opinions are welcome.
I just think when you want to announce your new born baby,etc. You should start a new thread.

Once the vehicles are in the hands of the owners, I would like to see a forum for non-tech Elio talking (like what I did with/to my Elio today,etc.) and a moderated "Tech Talk" for mechanical how to's,help requests and aftermarket changes only.

Just a suggestion... no need to "flame" me.

Thanks for the suggestions.

We do have plans to add a number of areas along the lines you mentioned and we do welcome suggestions as this would be the point of the 'site suggestions' forum. Of course it is not likely we will be able and/or willing to implement every suggestion we do enjoy getting feedback from our members.

 

[Norahsbed]

Right now this forum seems to be a free for all. Thread Jacking is common place and a little annoying. BUT... opinions are welcome.
I just think when you want to announce your new born baby,etc. You should start a new thread.

Once the vehicles are in the hands of the owners, I would like to see a forum for non-tech Elio talking (like what I did with/to my Elio today,etc.) and a moderated "Tech Talk" for mechanical how to's,help requests and aftermarket changes only.

Just a suggestion... no need to "flame" me.

Whoosh......! ( flame thrower ) your right, often threads are hijacked for a few minutes but someone usually puts the brakes on it and we get back on subject. Well most of the time anyway. That's one of the reasons Norahsbed Banter Thread was created. Everyone is welcome to post trivial BS or move off another thread with friendly banter or information to there, it's not just for me to spit things out! With that said, your other ideas for threads sound great, I'd also like to see one for "DIY for Dummies" like myself! With all the mechanical knowledge on this forum, some of us dummies just might learn something!

 

[Bert]

Remember, use a napkin and don't put your elbows in the gravy bowl...