The Chat is O.K., although it can get a little banal and redudant.
But what I really, really, really, really wish is that people would learn to use the search button.
If for no other reason than to save themselves from appearing like a moron.
That said, this is the only place I go to anymore for 80s tech. I got really tired of the format of the 80s cool list and have not frequented there since I started posting here last spring.
[glow=black,2,2] I'm only here to harass Junk's Momma
Ok .. I have what might be deemed a solution of sorts . Could we , as posters , flag our post as :
Tech only
Tech and chat
Junkian
The software would have to recognize this differentiation . Each user that logged onto a forum and subsequent post could simply click on one of three icons for that post and would receive only that 'flavour' which they so desired ! So the low bandwidth guys might opt for 'tech only' and the casual reader might go for the 'full version' .
This would be , as stated , a software driven item , implemented by individual users as they see fit , so it would depend on someones php abilities etc . on the server end of things to make such a mod happen .
What do you folks think ? Good , bad , indifferent .. even possible .. Woody , et al ? [/glow]
[quote author=cruiserdan link=board=2;threadid=10564;start=msg94967#msg94967 date=1074974624]
car business in 1979.
It is an art to train a thoroughbred horse or a champion bird Dog without breaking it's spirit. I have seen some great bird Dogs ruined by having their spirits broken. We should approach this with caution.
D-
[/quote]
1979, dude you are getting old.
Hyjacking or cc in a thread makes searching hard but you can learn a lot from it.
LIke this
"Dan, what kind of birds do you have in NM that you hunt?"
Its off topic but I not going to start a post in CC to ask.
Not at all, Instead - the concern should be, "DO YOU THINK THE SEARCH FEATURE SUCKS?"
(Sorry, the Saphire & Tonics were 2-for-1 tonight)
It's impossible to put a value on this site - It's been incredibly helpfull. Any non-tech chat is appreciated and provides the humor necessary to get you through the rigors of repair and maintenance. The search feature needs improvement. Perhaps an improved search feature would keep some the of the veterans from getting frustrated with rookie questions (the type of questions I ask).
Search always works fine for me. Not really sure what people's problems are with it. ???
One thing that bothered me at first was if you left-click on a thread you found in your search results, figure out it's not what you wanted, then use your browser's "back" button to go back to your search results, it gives you the 'ol "Warning, page expired."
Solution? Instead of left clicking on a search result, right click and select "Open in new window". If it's not what you want, close the window and move on.
Otherwise, I've always found anything I've looked for by searching. :-\
I like the forum the way it is. It keeps it lighthearted and I like the newbies not searching as it keeps the new answers rolling in, as this is a quickly evolving industry and new products and fixes arise all the time
I like the idea of a "80s chat" in the sub-subject line. I think the software sorting thing might be a little much. i'd rather the site just worked well for a while.
Don't forget PMs when you feel the need to ask what kinds of birds C-dan hunts when he's in NM.
I think the search feature has problems as well. (see search function sucks ass thread) I also like the idea of a FAQ sticky with links to previous subjects. Other forums have done this rather successfully, i think. Newbs still ask questions, 'cause that's what newbs do, but then you can direct them to the link gently or expound on the subject if there is new info. I don't know how to do such a thing, and there are a lot of other things I need to learn how to do better. manipulating chat forums is WAY down on my list. I would welcome input.
I think the 80's chat idea is a pretty good one. That is the one thing I like about this place is being able to read a thread, learn a little bit about something and laugh at a picture or comment that someone added. Its cool to keep it light hearted and
interesting, if it went totally tech and absolutly no bs, then it may lose a bit of appeal. But I do beleve there is too much chat stuff going on. Some of the topics that are posted dont really have much to do with 80 or 100 tech. I also think the search feature should be revised a bit. I dont know how to make it better, but i've tried to use it and
few times, and its been sucessful, but it took alot to find what i was looking for, but searching for stuff would cut down on topics being gone over and over again.
I agree with C-Dan, be careful how you try to fix this or you may throw out the baby with the bathwater. Anytime a board gets successful the problem becomes weeding through all the messages. I have seen other boards go bad by overdoing the corrections meant to address this.
Anyway, I agree with trying the "80s chat" idea. If using this as a subheading inside the forum doesn't work, then let's just start a separate 80's chat forum for "80's related non technical issues".
Well I'm of the opinion that something needs to be changed but not for some of the reasons previously stated. I'm not sure of all the behind the scene conditions and I know Woody has given a lot of time and effort to keep this thing alive. That said there are some serious problems that we the members may be able to help with.
The response time from the server is getting slower and slower. I can easily click on a topic, go to the fridge for another cool one, and be back seated before the new page pops up and I’m running a high speed connection. It takes a lot of processing power to render each page that gets displayed to you. As you click on a topic that new page needs to get rendered which means retrieving from a database the replies, all the avatars, statistics, images etc. stuffing all of the smiley faces, retrieving all the external links for images and lastly determining which spot in the thread you last read. You then hit the back button to get the next topic but requires the page to be re-rendered. Chat items combined with slow response time takes the fun out of the humor. If we can improve the response time then there is more time for the non-tech items.
What I have done with other sites and I’m starting to do here is to keep two windows open. On the top have all the topics where you click and drag it down into the second window and release to display the details of the topic. I don’t use the back button so the topic page doesn’t need to be re-rendered. If you loose track of what you read after twenty threads, occasionally refresh the topic page.
When you want someone to look at some pictures that are located on another site, give a good enough description of what it is and include a link. I hate it and I’m sure others do as well especially those on dialup connections where someone posts “Check this out, I thought it was really cool” and it turns out to be the same video that’s been posted every two months for the past five years.
If someone posts a link and then next person decides that’s two much trouble and includes the pictures with the (img)http://..(/img). Just think how much overhead that is causing. Even though you click on the “New” the entire page gets rendered and sent down the wire. Just look at the topic page and see how many times a thread is viewed. The “Can't Service Birfields ?????” at this time has 885 views with 60 replies. It can cascade quickly!
I don’t appreciate waiting for half a minute to find out the only post made was “I agree” or some other worthless statement just to pad your post count. Humor is good and a necessary part of a good forum to keep it lively but you don’t need to respond to every post in this manner. Gumby, I think this might be the intent of your post. We need some more of that mean Wolverine attitude and a big stick!
There are some things that Woody is trying to do to improve things from his end but he is at the mercy of the software and the folks that run the server. I realize that what others and myself are requesting is merely are wishes and know that the bulletin board software can’t be changed by one hard working guy in a years time. The search engine works but is only as smart as its user. It would be nice to have something where you can search and keep narrowing the search results without having to search the entire database each time. The advanced search would be a little more friendly if the defaults were more context sensitive. i.e. If I hit the search button while in the 80’s tech section default that in the selections and lengthen the default time period. The number of hits should be higher as well because of the amount of chatter. It sure would be nice to be able to exclude words or phrases from a search.
<The response time from the server is getting slower and slower. I can easily click on a topic, go to the fridge for another cool one, and be back seated before the new page pops up and I’m running a high speed connection.>
Phil.I have a dial-up and have no problems, most of the time, with boot times. Does your computer need roto rooting?
Kurt,
It might just be that with dial-up your expectations are lower. By the time the page loads on your end, it's done it's business on the other end as well. I have a cable modem and this site gets comparatively very slow. It also depends on the time of day. I got kicked off once last night for "too many users".
ppd,
good advice about the "back" button. I didn't realize the page has to reload. i guess it makes sense, it's just not something I thought about.
I'm a fairly new to this forum, I got my FJ80 this past August, I have had other Toyota Vehicles for over Twenty Years Including Landcruisers, so I have a pretty good understanding of how they work, but I also need more FJ80 specific information, With all that said. I LIKE IT JUST THE WAY IT IS
can't we all just get along , ? get our information and still shoot the sh@t with a little thought to the next guy. WERE JUST ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY
No go out and have a great day
I have had the MUD thak over my internet two or three times.
I couldn't go anywhere but on IH8MUD.com. I opened new browser and still only could go to the MUD. I would have to close the internet to clear it up.
Maybe its something with the server???
The only time it is slow is when someone inserts a big pic into there post.
As someone who recently joined the landcruiser community as well as the forum community, I really appreciate almost all of the posts as long as they are somewhat cruiser related. There are some posts that are super similar to others, probably similar enough to not require another topic. And, there are some posts that are answerable with the search feature. But, at a point, if we strictly adhere to tech only, non searchable only topics, soon this will be an unchanging archive and not a continually changing community of knowledge, opinions, emotions, experiences, etc. I love it the way it is and I appreciate all the work that goes into it. I am also having no hard times with the download speeds. Thanks to all and For All!
Maybe something that needs to be said is that the effectiveness of the search function is almost a self fulfilling prophecy. The more it's utilized, the better it becomes.
Example: Someone wants to know about an engine coolant flush.
Scenario A: Rather than searching, a user starts a new topic. Some people tell the poster to search, where as others add new, possibly helpfull information.
Scenario B: User searches for old posts regarding engine flushing, then adds a new post to the old topic asking a question that may not have been addressed. Someone who knows the answer posts it to the same topic.
Result? In Scenario A, relevant information to an engine coolant flush is spread throughout several topics, making searching for all the necessary information far more difficult than Scenario B, where all the info is in one topic.
May be an oversimplification of the idea, but I think it holds water. I still believe the search function, while not perfect, works fine. I've used it many times and have always found what I'm looking for.
