I would like to have this part broken down, if possible, into sub units of 2.8, 3.4, 3.8, V8 questions so that it is easier to find info. I dont know if its availble to do or cost worthy but it was just an idea that i know would really help me. Thanks
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10:34 PM
PFF
System Bot
Fierobruiser Member
Posts: 1951 From: Gilbertsville,PA USA Registered: Aug 2001
Im sure i have asked this one a few times also. Its an excellent idea for a set up like www.nastyz28.com has. A section for interior / motor / suspension / drivetrain....it makes sense! not neccesarily seperate sections for each motor but a swap section and a stock motor section....cmon! its a good idea!
------------------ Calgary - August 1, 2004 Fiero Fiesta
[This message has been edited by donk316 (edited 05-10-2004).]
I think that is his point.......he wants to go straight to the type engine he is working on so he can save time, and be able to work on his engine instead of searching thru alot of stuff he does not need.....even if it is fun to read all the other things........
------------------ 1988 Gary Tucker (GT)
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11:01 PM
buddycraigg Member
Posts: 13606 From: kansas city, mo Registered: Jul 2002
people wanting to help may not go to those sections. i can probably answer most questions except for 88 suspention or any year of duke engines. and i wouldn't want to check any more sections
it would probably make things easier to find but it would also take one of the key things this forum has goin for it, TONS of people respond
if you separate it into engines then its pretty much different cars cause no one would go to the ones they don't have or are interested in and we would lose fiero group, it would turn into 3.4, 3.8 V8 groups
the engine, drive train, suspension, interior one i like, it keeps us all as one big happy family, lol, but still makes things easier to find
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11:53 PM
May 11th, 2004
GARY TUCKER Member
Posts: 694 From: OOLTEWAH, TENNESSEE Registered: Oct 2003
Plus the other problem is how many different engines there are. For example,
2.5 Iron Duke 3.0 Super Duty 2.8 3.1 3100 3.4 pushrod 3400 3.4 TDC 3.8 3800 NA 3800 SC 4.9 N* SBC
That's an awful lot of forums. Some of them can be lumped together (like the 3.8/3800) but how do you lump the 60 deg engines? The 3.4 TDC is very different from the 3400, which is quite different from the 3.4.
I vote for keeping it the as-is, many other forums break it down more specifically, and when I want that, I go there. I like PFF as-is for what it is, don't change it! "Wouldn't it be a real drag, if we were all the same" Savoy Brown
Norm
[This message has been edited by gt88norm (edited 05-11-2004).]
I've wished for that before, too. But on the other hand, I learn a lot from some of the other engine swaps out there that I wouldn't see if it was broken up by engine sizes. There are things that apply across all engine swaps. And even though I might not be working on suspension at the time, I'll come across a little tidbit almost by accident.
Seperating into groups like interior, body, engine, ect, ect, ect, I like. But I think for the most part the people who have been on this forum for a while start thier topic on a engine by specifying the engine type, we just have to encurage those who do not, and the newbies to do this. Other than that I like the current format and colors of the forum, Cliff does an outstanding job at his updates to keep this place looking new and fresh.
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02:17 AM
GTDude Member
Posts: 9056 From: Keysville, Virginia, USA Registered: Nov 2001
Since this forum is not about engines only, I don't think we need separate sections for all the engines, but it would be a good idea to divide it into body, interior, engine, drivetrain, etc.
Phil
------------------ 86 GT TTops, 3.4 Auto.....bought from Doug of Fiero Warehouse
GM auto tech for 27 years. Specializing in electrical and computer problems. I will never be able to return as an auto tech again. I get EXTREME satisfaction helping others and will go to Extreme levels to help you if you need help. I have LOTS of free time on my hands. This forum and the help I give, allow me to have a purposeful life. Bring on the problems......LOL.
For me the biggest problem is thread titles. Help I messed up again. Help me please. Yall look at this. While I do look in most of them it is hard to search for them to check for an answer. Now if it was titled after the problem then it would be easier to find. My steering column just fell into my lap Part of my exhaust is broken You get the idea, I think the forum is fine the way it is we just need to change the way we use it. I post answers to threads and then cant find them again because the title doesn’t describe the problem. This is not a flame on anyone just my point of view.
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06:16 AM
AndyLPhoto Member
Posts: 2418 From: Skandia, MI, USA Registered: Nov 2001
Personally, I like things just the way they are. I often stumble upon things I can answer that would end up in sections that I just wouldn't surf unless I was looking for an answer. I think that would happen a lot more often if things were divided up. I'm not a mechanical genius by any means, but I can answer an occasional question. I browse through Tech every day, but I would be much less likely to browse through a "Body" forum, or a "Drivetrain" forum, or an "Interior" forum unless I was looking for something specific. That's three times as many places to visit to try to help.
I'll agree that when looking for answers it would make things easier to find...but when you got there, would you have as many answers to look at? I know the one other forum I visit online is set up with sub forums, and I find it much less enjoyable to browse. Here there's basically 3 places to visit...Tech, General, & OT. Over there, there's 20. That's a big reason why I surf here daily, and there only when I need an answer.
Additionally, I learn a lot here by clicking on a random thread that I come across in tech. This is stuff I stumble across because it's there. I never would have gone looking for it though.
Here's a thought. I don't know if this would be something that would even be possible, but it could be the best of both worlds. Maybe Cliff could add a sub-category for posts in the Tech section, and let people browse everything (all of tech) or just one sub-category if they so chose.
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06:48 AM
Deabionni Member
Posts: 4087 From: Kalkaska, MI Registered: Mar 2004
Or the search function could use the google engine and seperating the forums wouldn't even be needed!
I agree. I don't think the problem is in the layout of the forums, but how difficult it is to search for the information you're looking for. I second what a lot of you are saying. I visted other forums that had more categories, but there were less answers to be found there. I think that if PFF were to do the same thing, then we would lose helpful information that we might have had otherwise.
Instead of changing the forums, my vote is to change the search function.
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08:04 AM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
I like it as is because it gives me a chance to see what potential problems I may have when I do get a different motor jammed in my Fiero, and sometimes I come across something I've wondered about, but had no reason to really ask about.
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08:15 AM
donk316 Member
Posts: 1952 From: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada Registered: Mar 2003
I too have learned more from this forum by "accident". I understand sometimes a thread isn't named appropriately but it usually makes me look. More times than not I've either been able to help, or learned something.
If any change at all, I would have to agree on the "Google" search.
Wait just a minute. consider this : imagine having to manage/organize this forum in its current layout (work!) now add a niche forum for every possible topic that we could/would concieve .
would you realy want the head ache of managing a couple of hundred forums . it would be a job for a team of people and a bit of money to pay the host with all the traffic and disk space it would comsume. not only would fiero owners be coming here but also anyone who fallows a link to information (which happens already i'd bet)
i like the idea but i just dont see many people who would be willing and deticated enough to do the work
what i do see here is both new and old names , new faces most of which either are new fiero owners or just now heard about the site , and is see that most of them keep coming back to get answers from the members that have been around here and have already done all the trial and error (some of you seem to have been here longer than the site itself) but honestly ive learned more here with the hand full of forums we currently hand than i have learned from the 2 whole seconds i spent looking through a chiltons manual (just feels better asking a human than trusting a book) and usually the human is right and the book didnt cover it.
so thank you cliff for the forum and thanks to you guys who always have an answer but just consider the amount of effort that cliff and the senior members put into this site and ask if you realy think the integrity of this whole process could survive the escallation of the chaos that already exists..
[This message has been edited by JRM-2M6 (edited 05-12-2004).]
It used to be more efficient to have things the way they are, but we have too many members now. I usually only come here a couple times a week. With the amount of members we have a topic can appear, get 100 posts, become the best thread since the air-freshener group buy, and then disappear to page 5 and I never even saw it. Especially in the warm months when posts seem to double. I have already had this happen to me twice where I posted a question and it had been answered just a couple of days ago but was 5 or 6 pages down into history.
This forum is like a grown man stuffed into a diaper. It's time to get a bigger diaper. I suggest dividing the technical section into engine/drivetrain, suspension/wheels, electrical, body, general technical.
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10:55 AM
Kleenexpaper Junior Member
Posts: 8 From: Mukwonago, WI, USA Registered: May 2004
I love things the way they are now. Like some people have said, I stumble across lots of interesting things here that I normally never would have if it was broken up into sections.Just my 2 cents though. -Will
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11:14 AM
FastIndyFiero Member
Posts: 2546 From: Wichita, KS Registered: Aug 2002
Seems to me like the anti divided forum camps arguments seem to be we don't want it because that means we would have to browse more to find information that we were not looking for in the first place to get to what we want? WTF that makes no sence. You know what pisses me off the most? When some tells you to use the search engine that almost never turns up the results that you are looking for. I love cliff for what he has done for us and this is no way a shot to him but I would LOVE to see more sections for the tech section because when my fiero is broke down I could care less if so and so got a new set of rims.
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12:20 PM
GT86 Member
Posts: 5203 From: Glendale, AZ Registered: Mar 2003
For me the biggest problem is thread titles. Help I messed up again. Help me please. Yall look at this. While I do look in most of them it is hard to search for them to check for an answer. Now if it was titled after the problem then it would be easier to find. My steering column just fell into my lap Part of my exhaust is broken You get the idea, I think the forum is fine the way it is we just need to change the way we use it. I post answers to threads and then cant find them again because the title doesn’t describe the problem. This is not a flame on anyone just my point of view.
What he said. I don't mind vague titles as much in GFC or TO/T, but in Tech, titles should be specific and straight to the point. That would probably also help search results.
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05:26 PM
ryan.hess Member
Posts: 20784 From: Orlando, FL Registered: Dec 2002
Originally posted by Liquid-Reality: the search engine that almost never turns up the results that you are looking for.
I concur. The search feature needs an overhaul. I want "*" to be treated as a character, not as a search modifier! How am I supposed to find the threads where there isn't "northstar" at all in the post, but only "N*"?
quote
when my fiero is broke down I could care less if so and so got a new set of rims.
Also true.
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05:34 PM
PFF
System Bot
topcat Member
Posts: 5486 From: Charleston SC Registered: Dec 2001
I like it the way it is, I read topics that I may not see if it was subdivided even more, and learn as a result. Besides, people seem to not know how to post in the right sections now anyway... How often do we see something for sale in the General Forum, or something not Fiero related in O/T. I think it would be worse if there were more to chose from.
[This message has been edited by topcat (edited 05-12-2004).]
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06:31 PM
Firefox Member
Posts: 4307 From: New Berlin, Wisconsin Registered: Feb 2003
For whatever my opinion os worth, I'd recommend leaving the sections as they are. The only addition I wouldn't mind seeing is a section for particularly helpful technical threads, like Buddycraiggs's EGR system post. To get posts moved to that section should require a significant number of votes from the Pennocks community, like 100 votes, or some other system. The section should be read only, that way it stays undiluted. It should not be archived ( I don't anticipate more than one or two posts being entered every month, if that many) so that it will be easier to reference, especially for those new to the world of Fieros.
The only other thing I'd like to see is a much improved search function, at least maybe add a date range to the search options. Nothing like doing a search for a post you remember reading in the last month, only to have to wade through several years of hits to find (maybe) the one you are looking for.
JazzMan
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12:17 AM
jlhuber Member
Posts: 881 From: Hope, MI, USA Registered: Oct 1999
1- Make separate: drivetrain (engine/trans), suspension, electrical, body, interior, and *maybe* a general "Emergency- help me get my car back on the road ASAP so I can go to work" sections.
Pros- could be useful in that you wouldn't have to surf five or more pages to find your post that was answered by one or a couple people. Cons- like stated, is that you don't stumble across something that you were not looking for at that time.
2- Keep it the same as now, but change the search function. I would like to see the ability to search by user name (user who posted to/started thread. Maybe search by date posted too.
Pros- still get to stumble on things, more replies, less work for Cliff Cons- still have to surf five pages to find my topic that was replied to by two people.
------------------ --Jess '86SE '85SE "If you expect the unexpected, was it really even UNexpected in the first place?"
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12:53 AM
musicman_L7 Member
Posts: 1149 From: Defiance, Iowa 51527 Registered: Nov 2002
Creating more forum sections will make it harder to help people. There is already more volume in the system than many people can keep up with. Spreading it out will just make it take even longer to get to you.
Also most engine problems are generic. If people would learn to use search they can likely find the info they need already posted. Even specific problems with most conversions are already covered here more than a few times.
------------------ The only thing George Orwell got wrong was the year.
I personally like the forum the way it is. Other forums with all the divisions are just a pain to me. I like looking at alot more than one engine type or just interior and what not.
I think the best point I read was getting less responces on a topic when people split into the different groups. People like theOgre would have to go through alot more trouble to help everyone. And it should be easier for the people giving advice than those asking for it.
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08:20 PM
Fierobruiser Member
Posts: 1951 From: Gilbertsville,PA USA Registered: Aug 2001
I like the forum I've found it difficult to figure out where I last left off though. Some of the newer softwares are easier to modify but if this forum were to convert to it it would LOSE everything. Being a forum owner as well I know what coding it takes to make changes and how easy it is to kill everything if a mod isn't done correctly. I under stand how you'd like to see the sections added but in doing so it would really mess the flow up for a while. One option I would love to see here is Modified Threads Since Last Visit. Also I would like to know how to get the cookie to STAY PUT! I have to log in every visit.
