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GTman
08-18-2001, 12:41 AM
What ever happened to the good old days? It used to be that you asked a question and got a ton of answers. All of these new boards are making answering questions and asking questions harder to do. What ever happened to the days when a person with a simple question could ask something like “how do I install the steering linkage on the RC10GT” in a generic ‘nitro forum?’
Now that poor person would have to wade through a sea of post to get to the end of the ‘rc10gt forum’ and essentially ask the four people that frequent the forum the question. If it were posted in the ‘nitro forum’, with a title like “I need help with my rc10gt linkage” that person would get so many answers they would not know what to do with them all. People who don’t even own that truck, for example they owned a stampede, could respond. Instead all of the followers of certain cars are divided and segregated. Some people just like to connect to the internet, see if they can answer anyone’s question and leave. Because of that, they would find the newer system disturbing( I’m thankful that we don’t have the ‘engines forum,’ ‘the Panasonic batteries forum’, ‘the Sanyo batteries forum’, etc). I have no reason to swim through the 12 pages on the XXXNT forum— because I don’t own one. However, half the enjoyment of this bulletin board before the change was that everyone was able to help and chat with everyone, no matter what they wanted to talk about. Now it feels somehow restricted. If an owner of an xxxnt wants advice about road tires how is a GT owner supposed to give it to him. After all, GT’s uses the same tires. Sure, someone will help him because the board is full of knowledgeable people, but what about that person who would have the perfect answer but didn’t bother checking out that particular forum because he wasn’t interested in the xxxnt? He be left out without even knowing it.
Another problem with the segregated system is that it means a lot of extra words are exchanged. If one is brave enough to actually go in one of the car forums, he has to cut past the extra, non-(insert forum name here) garbage. That person went in that car forum for one reason. . . because it had a title that he related to and he wanted information about a certain car or wanted to ask a question about a certain car. He certainly did not click on the forum with the expectation to read about some bums marital problems or their ‘66 chevy. This simply did not happen on the smaller, more controllable, more personal, individual, better posts of yesteryear. One can only guess as to why? One guess is that when people who have real questions stop asking them the four people that frequent the forum have some primal need to “keep it alive” like its some kind of race to see who can rack up the most posts. That is something for Instant messenger or a chat room. It really doesn’t matter why it happens. The fact is that it seems to happen more in the gargantuan forums than in Billy Sue’s post in the electric forum about why he broke a tie rod on his T3( this post would no doubt be moved promptly to its “appropriate” place in the RC10T3 forum where it would overshadowed and lost by posts about how many cylinders a Yugo has. Extra words also cause what can be called “long distance telephone syndrome.” If someone asks a real question about a certain vehicle, and then someone else asks another and another and finally one person gets an answer and so on, the question and answer are separated by sometimes pages by other questions and answers or Yugo’s. It makes it kind of tough to get information. Anyone who can read can figure which answer goes with which question but posting a question in the general forum and then scrolling down to find ONLY the answer to your question is tons better.

It is understandable that the vehicles forum is supposed to organize the board and make it so that if someone was interested in the Sonic they could have all they wanted with one click. But is it really better? Not if you want a straight forward answer.
I’m not suggesting that the vehicle forums be removed, I’m suggesting that people who have something to say, put it somewhere where it likely to be looked at—optimize your return.

Does anyone feel this way? Tell me what you think. Opposition welcome!

*Please don’t move this post to the complaints section of the trash forum!*

grandmasterofpool
08-18-2001, 02:31 AM
I think they're necessary because this BB has about 6,000 members :eek: If we still had only 4 categories it'd take forever and a year to sort through all of the threads.

StephenB
08-18-2001, 02:54 AM
GTMan, it depends on what you're trying to accomplish...get the MOST answers to a question, or the accurate answers.

Using your example of the RC-10GT throttle linkage, those "4 guys" that frequent the GT thread will most likely offer exactly what the person in need of help is looking for: the correct directions. Why would you want someone with a Traxxas Stampede helping you with a GT's linkage? They're not the same. What you'll end up with, as we found out, is more clutter than you're saying already exists.

The only problem that has occured recently is that some people still insist on posting questions in the wrong forum. When used properly, the forums in their existing formats do make for an easier time.

As for your XXXNT/GT example, no one is telling you that you must post a "road tires question" for your XXXNT in a "XXXNT" thread. Why not title the post Stadium Truck road tires? in the Nitro Forum and then simply state in your post that you own an XXXNT & would like advice concerning road-tires? It's not that difficult when people take the time & think before posting! :D

Big Wig
08-18-2001, 07:07 AM
I post a lot of my "GT related" questions in the general nitro forum and I haven't seen one get moved yet. Notice I said "GT related" not "GT specific".

[ 08-18-2001: Message edited by: Big Wig ]