Long Forum, Or Short Forum?

[Tony]

Since we upgraded the site, I have been thinking about some things and I want to get the members thoughts on what we should do with the site and the layout. The question for this thread is, do you prefer a short forum (which is what we have tried to achieve since day 1) that has "condensed" topics or would you rather have a long forum where there are many more sections to choose from that are very dedicated to the topics?

To try and explain this a little more, the way the forum is now is very condensed. Meaning there are very few sections for ALL of the topics that we can discuss. Lets take Gyro's for example. Would you rather have just a "Gyro's" section where we talk about the BeastX, Ikon, Skookum, Deamon, V-Bar and so on all in one section, or would you rather have a dedicated forum for each gyro?

The same can go for helicopters, airplanes, quads, cars, trucks, motors, batteries and everything else we can think of in this hobby. As you can see, if we do a very detailed and dedicated layout, it can and will get quite long unless we get into subforums which I have to say are a little better on this forum than they are on the last forum.

So post your thoughts on what you think would be better. Condensed or Detailed?

 

[Geena]

Condensed works for me. It`s easy enough to find what I`m looking for, and it`s nice and clean. It also seems like it would mean a lot more work for you, if it were to be detailed.

 

[Tony]

It would be a bit more work to add all of those forum and move posts around, but if that is what the members want, that is what we will do. I know you and I talked about this last night, but something hit me today and I thought I would ask the members and see what they think.

 

[Jacob Davis]

Wouldn't it take forever to look through all the helicopter forums to find the info one would be looking for? I'm not seeing a search that would be needed in such a case.

 

[Tony]

That is one thing that I need to address on the forum. Back in the day of vBulletin, there was a link that said (search this forum). But on here, it's the same search box at the very top of the page on the right side. Once you click on that and start entering text, there is a check box at the bottom where you can "Search This Forum".

As for looking through all of the forums to find what you are looking for, having a long forum would actually make it easier. If someone was looking for a post or wanted to make a post on the AR7200BX, it would have it's own forum and they would just have to go in there. If all gyro posts were in one forum, then instead of having a few pages of threads, there could be 100 pages of threads to search through. Again, this is where that search function would come in handy if it was easier to see. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Jacob Davis]

I've tried the search. It's not very friendly

 

[Tony]

I'm working on that. There is an advanced search that you can purchase for the forum, I just can't afford it right now.

 

[RandyDSok]

I prefer a more condensed forum myself.... but I never had trouble when using a search either, perhaps for newbies that never seem to get teh concept of searching, the other format would be easier... of course they'd like complain about the forum being so long then also.

 

[Heliman450]

Condensed works for me. The Forum has improved greatly during the time I've been around, especially since the subject helpers or 'Moderators' have been around. I was also a Newbie and it does take a bit of time to get used to things.

Maybe if there was a location where questions are raised and the longer standing members help out by leading the individual to the correct location for the subject. You would only need to clear out the one location once the issue transfers. It could be a combination of the 'New Member Introduction' and 'RC-Help Lounge'. It could be right at the top of the page alongside the search field.

 

[Tony]

Are you talking about a "Need Help Finding Something" forum to help with forum navigation only? A place where people can ask "Where do I post a question about gyros?" and those in the know just reply with a link on where to post it?

 

[Heliman450]

Sounds a bit like that, I'll try a bit more...............

It seems to me that the majority of people are just visiting to view/watch threads. There are currently 24 people shown online. 3 members, 5 guests and 16 Robots???? Not sure what a Robot is..... Not many people actually ask questions and maintain a dialogue about an issue and I've seen many interesting subjects just peter out. I've surfed around many times to find out what's going on.

If there is one location where things start, I'd go there first and every time I visit the site to see what's going on elsewhere and follow what I find interesting. For example, it could be to do with RC vehicles if and when I admit defeat with helicopters

 

[dazacx2]

Condensed forum you look foe helicopters the use the sub directories to search Align,SAB, Gaui etc the from there more sub directories on size of heli.
Same for gyro All under gyro then sub categories Ikon, Align, BLAh Blah, cant think of others at moment but you get the idea.

I do agree i have had trouble with the search also but have managed to change or shorten what i am looking for and usually find it.

Off subject(I like the chats, i enjoy reading and talking live with people about issues or what they have done.)

Daza

 

[Heliman450]

Hi Daza, I don't have any problem Surfing around, it just takes a bit of time. Mine's a suggestion for another way to condense the Forum e.g. move the 'Lounge' up to the top of the homepage, combine it with the 'New Members' and maybe call it something else.

 

[dazacx2]

Hi Daza, I don't have any problem Surfing around, it just takes a bit of time. Mine's a suggestion for another way to condense the Forum e.g. move the 'Lounge' up to the top of the homepage, combine it with the 'New Members' and maybe call it something else.

We could call it the Hell Pad where we can all land when first get to the site.

 

[dazacx2]

We could call it the Hell Pad where we can all land when first get to the site.

Whoops Heli pad not Hell pad. Dam auto text.

 

[Heliman450]

Some topics are Hell, so no problem there
Sounds like a great title to me

 

[Tony]

The problem with one place where all things start is that everything will be in there. If you are looking for a place where all new posts are going to be located, that is where the New Posts link in the gray bar at the top of the forum is for. You also have a Recent Posts button to the left of that that will show ALL posts that are recent as well as the Unanswered Threads that is to the right of the New Posts. Furthermore, there is the Watched Threads, Watched Forums areas up there as well so you can keep track of what you are watching.

 

[Tony]

Not sure what a Robot is.....

A robot is known as a Spider. From places like Google, Bing, Yahoo and many more, it is a program that scans the website for all new data. It is how every website shows up in a search engine with relevant information.

 

[Heliman450]

The problem with one place where all things start is that everything will be in there. If you are looking for a place where all new posts are going to be located, that is where the New Posts link in the gray bar at the top of the forum is for. You also have a Recent Posts button to the left of that that will show ALL posts that are recent as well as the Unanswered Threads that is to the right of the New Posts. Furthermore, there is the Watched Threads, Watched Forums areas up there as well so you can keep track of what you are watching.

Hi Tony, I was thinking that the location would be cleared out routinely. We could discuss off topic stuff there, too.

 

[Heliman450]

A robot is known as a Spider. From places like Google, Bing, Yahoo and many more, it is a program that scans the website for all new data. It is how every website shows up in a search engine with relevant information.

I read your reply but still don't know what it is. Is it a person, programme or linked website. Sorry for being so dense.