Break the forum up into sections?

No I like it like it is.

All the best
Eric

I prefer it the way it is. In this format - you get to see everything in one place. On other forums I belong to which are broken into sections - I rarely bother to cross into some of those other than general 4WD chat anyway.

Leave it alone please!!! :)

Nope , leave it as it is ,, site menu does the breaking up , forum search options does the rest !!
How easy do you need it !!

Neil ..

This has been put forward before Tom...result......it stays as it it

yes I too prefer it as it is, no confusion about which section to post in and no fiddling around to read all the posts either.

You should have searched this topic before you posted as its been done before (heheheh oops thats being rude), only kidding

Its worth asking this from time to time as the feeling of the membership may change, mine hasnt

If it ain't broke then don't fix it :))

Cheers
Phil

Yep, I don't have a problem with the current format. IMHO it's better than having to check in mutiple sections.

I agree its good like it is but It would be sorta nice to use the layout of another forum ie 4wdmonthly but only have the one general 4wddiscusion area to post everything I have a little trouble finding previous post it would be a bit clearer like that cheers my 2 cents worth.

I been to the others and find the subject sections a pain - David's "all-in-one forum" suits me just fine - he's such a whizz with web databases that we can find anything ever posted on any subject anyway..........

This forum works very well for me.

And it is different to other forums. It is easy to read and now even easier to research.

I would vote NO to your suggestion....:o)

Leave it the way it is .....EXCELLENT........

Please leave it the way it is - think that's what's nice - you get to read everything (if you want). Search is great if you really want to be specific.

Tom, I suggested to David earlier in the day, before I saw this post that if there was a sort of "Sticky" section we could pull up that had the links to past advice sections not unlike Outer Limits Sticky Sticky. It may have some maintenance overheads but David would have a far better knowledge of drafting the information and setting it up for logical retrieval.

By using that sort of arrangement we could have the best of both worlds. This chatty forum but the easy access to the grouped links - like performance under each ofToyota/Nissan/Jackaroo/Maserati whatever, economy, modifications, camper trailers or tray toppers, where there had been an indepth discussion.

Hi there,

What about if when you made a post you selected the category it most suited, so this way you could either choose to view posts under one of these categories or click the "All" category and have all posts come up?

Cheers, ToNy!

I agree with Tom..

Makes it easier for people to search the hourly Tire/fridge/dieselVpetrol/patrolVpatrol etc etc question if there are sections.
1 for tires
1 for fridges
1 for cruiser
1 for patrol etc SOoooooooooooooooooo much easier to filter out the crap too..

It is SO GOOD AS IT IS. I hate other forums where you have to jump here and there to find things. This forum is the best set up of any. All you do is scroll down the forum and pick on anything that catches your eye. If you need... do a search. It's all good!~

I agree with Tom. I think the forum is being crushed under the weight of all the new posts (30/day, 900/month). It is falling victim to its own success. The vast number of posts means that only a small proportion even of regulars (people who look at least every 7 or 14 days) see any given post. The number of new posts means that if you haven't got a satisfactory answer within a few days you are unlikely to get one; that tempts many people to re-post much the same question, and so the spiral goes on.

That also means that when you come to research a topic, you have to wade through lots and lots of posts that repeat the same thing. That also discourages people from searching: they find it easier just to ask "what fridge should I buy?" for the 500th time. Again, the spiral continues.

If the forum were split into useful categories (see e.g. Truckster's list above) it would work much better. People would be more likely to get a specific answer to a specific question. Posts would stay alive for longer, and there would be fewer threads and less repetition. The reason the split forums don't work so well on other 4WD sites (Austn 4WD Monthly, Overlander, etc) is that the chosen categories are too broad (e.g. "technical") or too narrow. That means too many people just post under "general" ("campfire"!). "Travel" works pretty well as a category (could be split by State or region if too unwieldy), but you need a reasonable split for questions re vehicles, mods, trailers, fridges, power sources (dual batteries, gennies, solar, batttery packs, etc), tents/camping gear, etc.

Okay... so maybe present as is, but have a side bar you can hit to get just a catogory area?

Another suggestion, if not presented by category by default, then checkboxes for when you create a thread that allow you to tick for the categories it falls into. Then the option for the people who want to, to view all new threads from a particular category, or even when searching...

I'll keep chucking the idea's at ya :-)

Got another one for ya,

How about a "Search within results" option...
eg. You perform a search, it comes up with 1000 responses, you can choose a new search, or to search within those results (and therefore narrow down the number of responses).

Is there already a forum suggestions thread? I didn't find one...

The great thing about this forum is that it does not have all the chatter that clutters up other forums. The information that is stored here is fantastic.

The difficult thing about this form is finding the information you require. The search function is good but it takes time to wake through all the threads - especially for popular topics such as fridges.

Another frustrating thing is keeping up with the new posts. I dont got past the threads on the first page. This means that I'm likely to miss interesting threads. It would be good have the ability to "view all posts since last visit".

Categorising the topics would be great and make this forum more usable - especially for those looking for information. One thing I would NOT like to see is a chat area. As I said above, what sets this forum apart from others is the way that most of the posts are on topic and not just general chatting. There are plenty of other forums where people can chat.

Kym

Another thought;

there are two questions here

1) do people want to see the CONTENT of the forum changed
NO. The general concensus is that people dont want chat in this forum and like the technical nature of this forum

2) should the FORMAT of this forum change to make finding and posting information simpler

Kym