We Need Generic Forums

[glennmac]

The brand-specific structure of TBN artifcially forces many questions and topics that are really of general interest into a brand-specific forum. Examples of topics that get forced into a brand forum when they are of generic interest are: how to negotiate the best price; what tires should I get; what size do I need; should I get hst or gear; how do I use a brush hog. Indeed, I think MOST of the important purchasing and operation questions are generic rather than brand specific.

I think there should be a generic "Purchasing a Tractor" forum and a generic "Owning and Operating a Tractor" forum. I would also keep the brand-specific purchasing and operating forums. Furthermore, I think the Pricing forums should be folded into the Purchasing forums (for both the generic and the brand-specific Purchasing forums) because pricing is part of purchasing.

An additional benefit of this proposed structure would be that users could better target the messages we want to read. With the ever-increasing volume of messages on TBN, it becomes impossible to keep up with everything unless you spend many hours a day here. If we had generic forums, I, as a Kubota owner for example, could limit my reading or "subscribe" to the generic forums and the Kubota forums, and ignore the Green and Blue purchasing and operating forums. The reason I cant do that today is because there are always items of generic interest in the brand-specific forums. So I end up futilely trying to read everything.

I know that this site evolved from a brand-specific Kubota forum, but perhaps it is time for a change.

 

[patrickg]

Right on , man, yoi got my vote.

Patrick

 

[BobT]

Glenmac,

While I agree that time-saving and organizational changes are always good to consider, I am not certain that your suggestion would produce the result you desire (quicker review of threads and messages of personal interest).

There already are non-brand specific sections under "Related Topics": Attachments, Tractor Customizations, Tractor Projects, Tractor Safety, Oil, Fuel & Lubricants, Rural Living, Photos, and Off Topic & Just for Fun.

After all, there ARE brands. And, the differences among them are significant, often crucially so. I know I'd want to be able to go talk with Kubota owners as a specific segment, and be able to assess their "group" experience. That would be difficult or impossible to do under your scheme.

While it is true that some drift of message topics inevitably occurs, it is certain that the moment a shift occured over to "general" topics, people would start clamouring for brand specific section forums.

Your suggestion about combining the pricing and buying sections for each of the brands has already come up, and Muhammed mentioned he had decided to do that in the next revamp.

Whichever way one tries to organize forums of this type, you will always miss stuff here and there due to incorrect placement of topics by users. I think the forum has almost reached the point in size where a moderator or two may be needed just for thread maintenance to eliminate as much off topic posting as possible.

BobT.
A Indiana Boy

 

[Muhammad]

We do plan to merge the buying and pricing forums for each brand, but there are some issues with the generic forums. The organizational structure we've elected to use here is such that we don't have just one big threaded forum with all messages about everything. We organize it as much as possible without breaking it up into too many forums to read and contribute to.

If we were to add a few generic forums for buying, operating, etc, then we would have an issue with messages being posted to the wrong forums, I think, and also even more forums to scan through. Technically, anything posted to any of the brand-specific forums could then be posted to the generic forum as well. So the decision comes down to a changeover to all generic forums, or a keeping a mix of generic and brand-specific forums.

A changeover to say, a generic buying/pricing forum, while keeping brand-specific buying/pricing forums, would mean dozens of hours of sorting through old threads to reorganize them into the proper forum. If generic, they would have to be moved into the new forum. The owning topics would require probably hundreds of hours of work to reorganize, since threads must be reviewed individually before moved.

One of the reasons for the specific forums is just this. We didn't want a situation where we had to review 1,000 threads and organize them into brand-specific forums when the generic forums got too popular to follow effectively.

I think it's almost an all or none option here, and right now I'd lean toward keeping organized, brand-specific forums for buying/pricing, and owning/operating, considering the amount of traffic we have now.

If you're after just an easier way to view all new messages, we'll be working on that and hopefully have something to resolve that next time we upgrade the forum.

 

[BobT]

Muhammad,

The ONLY thing I need is a "new since you last visited" button. With that I could just catch the new stuff and save a whole lot of time now used up to search through lots of irrelevant items.

BobT.
A Indiana Boy

 

[DVerbarg]

Muhammad,

Like BobT, I would also like a "new since you visited" button but with a little twist. It would show "new" items from selected/subscribed forums or items that contained certain key words. I guess in a way it would act like a search...

DaveV

 

[Harv]

Okay, since we're visiting Fantasy World here --

Since I'm a big fan of Flat Mode for rapid viewing, I would extend the "Since Your Last Visit" scenario by having the results sorted and grouped by Subject, and then allowing Flat Mode viewing of each subject goup. Something like this:

This would make me one happy TBN camper. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

If wishes were fishes...

 

[BobT]

Harv,

That's a great screen capture. What do you use for that???

BobT.
A Indiana Boy

 

[RobS]

Ooh, I do like that approach Harv. Would the "click here to open" show the entire thread or only the new ones? Only new ones would be my vote... as long as we're wishing /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Harv]

Bob -

To make the mock-up, I used an ancient piece of Macintosh software called "MacDraw Pro". Totally outdated, but still useful for stuff like this.

In restrospect, it would have been quicker and easier to just whip up the HTML. Didn't occur to me until I was done. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[glennmac]

Bob, I was not proposing to eliminate the brand forums but to supplement them with two (only two) generic forums on purchasing and using tractors. I was also proposing folding the princing into the purchasing for each brand specific forum, a proposal that seems to have already have been accepted. Therefore, the totality of my proposals reduces the total number of forums: it adds two and eliminates three.

Muhammad, I hadnt thought about reorganizing the existing posts. My reaction would be not to bother. Archive it all with instructions that the organizational scheme is completely brand specific.

I understand there is a risk that people would put brand specific topics into the generic one. But I think that is a far less probable "evil" than what is going on today: most of the topics in the brand specific forums are really generic.

I never use the threaded mode or the "new messages" icons. So, improving the new-since-last-viewed in flat mode would be welcome, and I do like Harv's proposal.

I would also consider eliminating some of the least used named forums and combing them into Other.

 

[Bird]

Right on the money, Harv! Of course, I have no idea what it would take to do that, but it seems that would be the best arrangement if it's possible.

Bird

 

[glennmac]

Would a "since last viewed" capability require registration? I dont really care since I'm registered. But I find that I usually view posts before I log in, and those new post icons dont seem to go away unless you are logged in. So I have all these new post icons on threads I really already have read, and it all is a confusing situation to me.

 

[Muhammad]

The idea is, to stay logged in whenever you view posts, if you are registered.

Yes, the view all since last visit would require registration.

 

[Bird]

Simple solution, glennmac; I just never "Logout" so when I go to the forum I'm always logged on./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[glennmac]

Now, that's a downright useful piece of computer knowledge, Bird. I don't understand much of the lingo in the nuclear war between Harv and Muhammad, but that tip I understand.

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>the nuclear war between Harv and Muhammad</font color=blue>

Holy Cow! From "discusson" to "slug fest" to "nuclear war" in less than 24 hours! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Hey, Muhammad! If we ever had a real argument, we could be responsible for the loss of millions of lives!!!

(Pssst.... Glenn! I don't want anyone else to hear this, but your subtle humor had me LMAO. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif)

 

[Bird]

Yeah, Glennmac, I'm not very "technical" minded; that's the reason I quit reading about things like tire overtreads, speed of light, and color photography./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif So, quite naturally, I have no idea what Harv & Muhammad are talking about./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif Besides, if I ever Logout, I might never figure out how to Log On again./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[MChalkley]

You mean it's possible to Log Out??? /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

MarkC

 

[Harv]

Come to think of it, I never log out, either. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Okay, I amend my shoot-for-the-moon proposal -- instead of "Messages Posted Since Last Visit", we have "New Messages Posted Since The Last Time I Asked For New Messages". Perhaps some of you would prefer calling it, "New Messages". That would work too.

This, I would imagine, also requires that you be registered and logged in, but in this case you wouldn't have to log out and then back in to "clean the slate".

Heck, this stuff is fun when you have no idea if it's even possible and especially if it's not you that has to do the work. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif