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Useful reference threads and FAQ answers

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 12:19 pm
by db
Partly as a result of some duplicate messages, which I've now tidied up, there was some suggestion that it might be useful to collect topics which are a useful reference and/or answer an FAQ.

Rather than sticky them, and clutter up the top of the topic list of existing active forums, I think it would be better to create a new 'Reference / FAQ Answers' forum and move such topics into it.

So, assuming that there is general agreement, I'd like to ask for your help in suggesting relevant topics.

Please post comments and suggestions in this topic. Unlike other areas, where there is a minimum level of moderation, posts in here will be deleted once they have served their purpose.

Regards,

David

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 8:07 pm
by disco2hse
Good idea.

You can delete this one now :P

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:40 am
by redtailhawk
Hi David
Power steering thread
Wheels/offset thread
Are two thread i can think of right now
Rgards Darren

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 10:11 am
by harry potter
l may be wrong but l think l read a rolling thread on gear boxes? using auto boxes and what type of box/kit to use for conversions :roll:
my suggestions:
diff lock - (my own thread)
carb tune/balance
how to start a engine that has sat for years?

thanks :D

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:55 pm
by map1275
For a start; FAQs or a similar fixed title should be another title added to the main menu board.

Once you have clicked on this you can choose from however many repairs we end up with.

-PAS
-Gearing changes
-Five speed....
-All clear concise, dumb ass titles


Reality from this and other sights and in dealing with real time public inquiries is that many owners are too cheap to own a workshop manual for a 30 year old vehicle, let alone too lazy to read it.

Like it or not that is reality, so any special menu and contents need to be plain and simple and jump out and bite you.

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 10:00 pm
by disco2hse
I kind of thought that myself. We do have links to the manuals for download, for the cheap.

There are some issues that are not covered in there. Like how to do conversions, rewiring lights, converting from 24 -> 12V, etc.

Not sure of the best way to create an FAQ since in most cases it requires someone to actually take the thread, condense it, and make it readable. That needs volunteers.

Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 10:03 pm
by map1275
Secondly, the content of these new streams in their special sub-menu box.

These need to be (or at least start with) fixed articles. Otherwise they will endlessly detract into the same pointless opinion and waffle instead of upfront fact. Once you have read the fixed article, you may want to leave thanks, or possibly some small detailed addition that was missed from the main text.

As Safety and Legality are prime liability issues which could find there way back to this site, I will use a recent example for PAS. PAS being one of those streams which is constantly reflogged.




The opening article should be;

Simple question; Do you want to be LEGAL and SAFE?

Yes.
then your only alternative is the traditional clamp-on design. Lots of space taken up but does not affect the existing design and is legal just about anywhere in the world.

No.
Just about any of the 'chop the chassis' designs that use a non series III steering box and column.






The next article could be on one of the clamp-on designs and the third on one of the chassis chop designs. Or simply links to suppliers and that really Opens and Closes this entire stream.

Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:30 pm
by db
Thanks for the suggestions so far.
disco2hse wrote: Not sure of the best way to create an FAQ since in most cases it requires someone to actually take the thread, condense it, and make it readable. That needs volunteers.
Too true. I'm afraid I don't have enough spare time to edit threads into articles. Keeping things within the discussion board pretty much limits the scope to moving some of the existing threads to a more prominent area.

Having written that, it made me think that a wiki might be a more appropriate tool. That would allow anyone to contribute and even if it started out as copy/paste from the forums might enable threads to evolve into articles.

Any thoughts on that approach?

David

Posted: Wed May 09, 2012 12:12 am
by disco2hse
That seems to be the current thinking, but personally I have found few wiki's I actually like reading. There needs to be a strong moderating influence otherwise they just become a hodge-podge of opinions.

If a wiki can be linked into this forum, that would be preferable. The forum is a useful place for knowledge, the only issue at the moment is how to aggregate that knowledge. I suspect that adding new and different technologies may make it more difficult to use.

On the other hand, if the threads in the forum were able to be linked to stubs in a wiki, then that could serve as a search tool. That is, linking through keywords and maybe, frequency of posts on a topic. Representation can be as a keyword cloud.

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 6:36 am
by map1275
So are we any further ahead?

Most members have avoided this topic, other old topics continue to be reinvented and we end up going over the same vague questions with the same answers such as air cleaners.

If you want two articles to get going I have one on Land-Rover 3.5 and another on 3.9 but neither are short.

Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 8:31 am
by Mrs Bingham
All owners should have a good understanding of the Stage1 in standard spec and everyone should have copies of the manuals but I would like to see something geared around subtle and desirable upgrades that the manual cannot help with e.g.

Power Steering – this seems to be to Holy Grail
Transfer Gear Upgrade
Disc Brake Conversion
Parabolic Springs – do’s and don’ts
Overdrive – perhaps drawings to assist in fabricating the correct linkage
Electrical Upgrades
Contacts of Useful Suppliers and Manufactures – particularly ones that can reproduce quality NLA items
Anything else that may prove useful…

Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 4:12 am
by map1275
As can be seen from recent posts; owners still can't be bothered having manuals or parts lists let alone reading them and the same old questions are still being flogged.

You would probably find that the downloads section would be a good practise point.
Make it clearer and more obvious to find. Clear out some of the clutter of old messages.

Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 7:41 pm
by disco2hse
That is too harsh.

If it was the same person asking the same question all the time, then you can say that. But when you have new owners who don't where to start looking for answers in the first instance, then they are going to ask the same questions.

On the receiving end, you see the same questions coming up time and again and I understand the annoyance, but from the perspective of the poster, that is not the case. They have not asked that question before and to them, it is the first time it has been asked. So when you come back with an annoyed answer, they can only go "Oh, I must be a noob and I will not ask anymore stoopid questions". That is bad for the forum.

Is there a way to have the FAQ and manuals links on the login/forums directory page and a link at the header on every page?

Then when repeated questions come in, we can say, with civility, look at the top of your screen for the place where answers to that question may be found.

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 8:16 pm
by db
It's not really practical to integrate wiki style features directly into the forum, but there's no reason why there shouldn't be links in both directions between the forum and a companion wiki and of course to other relevant resources.

I can't think of a better alternative at the moment, so will look at setting up a wiki, initially with links back to the forum topics already identified, and we can see how it goes.

David

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 8:29 pm
by disco2hse
I don't know the forum software you are using, but is there an RSS feed too then? That would be a nice addition if you are going to link to a wiki.