Re-organizing the forums

[zzvyb6]

I'd like to see a sorting option for posts not yet getting any responses. Since I only respond to subjects I have knowledge, experience, and recommendations for, that list might make me more likely to address, since high volume even on an interesting issue probably has been beaten to death.
I'd also like to see more 'solutions' to problems reported back from the originator. Don't know how to make this happen, but if there is a fixes, findings, causes and solutions database accessable, that should be very high value to many of us. Plus statistics on common problems (like loader hoses 'miswired' after new hoses or loader removal).

 

[paulsharvey]

So, one feature, no idea how easy to impliment for the forum, but Polls? Is that possible, i think it would be intresting if that could be added

 

[Sportsman762]

Can we kill the "here are some similar links" to ancient threads? I am darned tired of zombie threads. Another option I have seen is where forums mark threads that have not been active for over 6 months with a note above the posting box "This is an old thread do you wish to revive it?" This would cut down on Zombie threads. For the most part the dead should stay dead. Zombie threads are a pet peeve of mine.

 

[Wagtail]

These guys do not even change their underwear. It is WHY they are on here. No one will talk to them in real life. Would recommend No Changes as the big improvement.

I'll have you know that I changed my underwear just yesterday.

And it was a THURSDAY!

 

[masseyrider]

Change?

'We' don't like change.

Changes? We don't need no stink'n changes!

 

[masseyrider]

These guys do not even change their underwear. It is WHY they are on here. No one will talk to them in real life. Would recommend No Changes as the big improvement.

Speak for yourself Mr Oh So Popular.
I wear fresh underwear when I go see the doctor.
Even sometimes when I don't.

 

[masseyrider]

I'll have you know that I changed my underwear just yesterday.

And it was a THURSDAY!

Dang southerners half way around the world always ahead of us.
Tain't fair.

 

[garry1p]

I don't know how you fix the off topic posters, this very thread is a perfect example.

You ask a question and next thing you know it about underwear.

 

[camshawn]

I used to read the individual forums but now mostly I look at the new posts after any alerts. I did recently read through the Mitsubishi form while researching a problem for a friend and look through the build it forums once and a while.

 

[sixdogs]

Things that might help.

The sheer number of sub forums within the main forum. Is Kubota Buying and Pricing that much different from Owning and Operating? Where do I post? Where do I read? That's a 50% overlap right there plus doubles my effort to post or look for something.

Minor tractor brands and topics getting equal placement footing to hot topics. Less popular brands and slower moving topics could be combined or let natural selection combine them.



Posters that just need attention and want to stir the pot rather than offer something meaningful. In a roomful of people discussing something, they would be ignored or shunned but forums give the cranky guy in his underwear equal footing with a machinery design engineer discussing personal experience.


Old and valuable threads of meaningful technical things or solutions that are lost in the shuffle. It's said that information needs to be re-told every six months for new people coming into the fold or old people that need a refreshing. It's not that you would want to totally use old answers to new questions but some way to make things easier to find and broaden the dialog.
Maybe it's fewer forums or a better search function? I don't know but do think the "similar links" suggestions at the bottom of a thread a good idea.


There is far more right with the TBN and the decisions so far and possibly the greater risk is to do too much. Things function petty well as it is and people ignoring certain areas is, in a way, telling you what doesn't work.

 

[2manyrocks]

Some of the discussions in old threads are still relevant today, but the posters who offered their valuable insights are in some cases no longer living to respond to new threads.

The search function is the only way to access that information, but people tend to post a new thread asking the same questions.

 

[ArlyA]

I don't know how you fix the off topic posters, this very thread is a perfect example.

You ask a question and next thing you know it about underwear.

If the OP had the ability to delete off subject posts, this could be stopped.

Some years ago, I posted in the land and garden section "I'm looking at a X brand battery powered mower, who here has used one?" and seen some good replies, while some just posting gibberish.` Then one guy posted "are you looking at this purchase as a religious or a political statement?" which I would have deleted if I had the ability to. The thread fell in a wasteland of !*^# and I left it. Some folks just can't control themselves and need to have there posts monitored or control in some way.

I've started a few threads, and later just left it because of the unfriendly or worthless gibberish fill thread it became.

 

[Jstpssng]

Off target thread drift is what keeps them going after everything has been said. After 2-3 days, anything important has already been said. There is one poster in particular who I simply avoid as he guards his thread... but it IS his thread after all.
Conversely, how many times has an OP posted "thanks, I solved my problem" only to have people post solutions for weeks on end?

I am curious if anybody still reads the Marketplace. The last few times I've been there I quit after perusing two pages of auction items. I was going to list a couple of items but they would get lost or overwhelmed... besides, nobody lives near me and I'm not about to ship a 50 YO IH mower...

I realize that they are paying the bills so that I can peruse the site for free.