Searching

sevendj

Original poster
Member
Dec 9, 2011
52
I was going to ask a question on this site...

Then I searched more...

I found my answer via google.

I recommend!


I swear, searching and finding out your own answers keeps your post count down!
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
sevendj said:
I swear, searching and finding out your own answers keeps your post count down!
Congratulations! Good Googling is a skill to practice. Sadly, too many noobs and post whores only strive for increasing counts as if that gets them more "status" in some odd sense.
 

sevendj

Original poster
Member
Dec 9, 2011
52
the roadie said:
Congratulations! Good Googling is a skill to practice. Sadly, too many noobs and post whores only strive for increasing counts as if that gets them more "status" in some odd sense.

Well, I propose we add our OS post count to this one as our baseline. Yours would be absolutely insane.
 

xtitan1

Member
Jun 5, 2013
467
I know what it's like to be knowledgeable about something (although not when it comes to cars in my case) on a forum and have new people constantly ask the same questions and how frustrating that can be, but if you don't have the information easily available to them, that's going to happen a lot more often. I see this problem on a lot of the good forums.

When it comes to cars, I'm a noob and have about 350 questions I want to ask but I know it will piss people off if I did that. Some of these things I can search for, but searching through thousands of threads with the search feature requires using a search term, and if I don't know something, how am I supposed to know what to search? How do I even know that after looking and trying a whole bunch of different keywords, a thread addressing the question I'm looking for even exists and I'm not just going on a wild goose chase?

I think it would be really helpful if we made some sort of sticky in each section (wheels, brakes, appearance etc.) that was a guide to the important stuff to know. The FAQ is great, but there are still a million other things that aren't gone over.

For example, with wheels.

We could have a sticky that says "wheel guide" that lists what some of the best tires are for each diameter for daily driving and maybe also offroading or winter as well. We could add something about the different lug nut pattern, a link to changing brake pads, how to know when to change brake pads, why you'd want to lift, why you'd want to drop, who offers the best lifts and best drop kits (well, I guess that would go in the suspension one but you get my point) etc.

I think that probably would be a lot of work, so I understand if no one wants to take that on. However, I think it would be really, really cool to at least do some sort of GMTNation community approved preventative maintenance schedule. The one in the manual seems to not be the whole story. For example, it seems that everyone knows to go with AC Delco Iridium plugs, but obviously it doesn't say that anywhere in the manual. Another one would be like, grease your spare tire thingy, which definitely is not in the manual and seems to be a biggy. Also, the manual lists things by time or miles, but some preventative maintenance items are based on when you see early warning signs. For example, reading the manual, you wouldn't know that it's time to clean the throttle body if you're idling rough with the AC on. Stuff like that.


The pros: lot of unnecessary posts would be avoided because people might just find the info they wanted in the stickies/guides, those that still post can simply be replied to with a link to the guide, and it would serve as a great way to get everyone's consensus on various issues.

The cons: it would be a lot of work!, it would be hard to get a consensus on some issues that are controversial (probably could just list multiple answers), it might be difficult to know when to stop (how niche of a question is too niche for the guide?).

What do you guys think?
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
xtitan1 said:
What do you guys think?
The volunteer staff had that idea as a pre-launch goal. Only some of it got done. We have a huge list of Articles and FAQs we intended to get done. But alas..... :frown:

There would be no better way to get on the radar screen of the current staff than to find an unfilled need, and administer such a project, even if it requires help by others. Propose one, edit an FAQ up where you see one's needed (the one you suggested would be great), and post it. When mods move on or sell their trucks and adopt other forums, we would look first to folks that volunteer to improve the site and its usefulness. It's how I got to be a mod at Trailvoy - my incessant harping that offroaders needed their own forum away from the majority (at the time) of folks obsessed with lowering kits and shine-it-up products. :confused: They gave me a sandbox to play in, and there ya go. :cool:
 

xtitan1

Member
Jun 5, 2013
467
the roadie said:
The volunteer staff had that idea as a pre-launch goal. Only some of it got done. We have a huge list of Articles and FAQs we intended to get done. But alas..... :frown:

There would be no better way to get on the radar screen of the current staff than to find an unfilled need, and administer such a project, even if it requires help by others. Propose one, edit an FAQ up where you see one's needed (the one you suggested would be great), and post it. When mods move on or sell their trucks and adopt other forums, we would look first to folks that volunteer to improve the site and its usefulness. It's how I got to be a mod at Trailvoy - my incessant harping that offroaders needed their own forum away from the majority (at the time) of folks obsessed with lowering kits and shine-it-up products. :confused: They gave me a sandbox to play in, and there ya go. :cool:

Okay, maybe I will start with the maintenance thing since that ought to be somewhat straightforward. I assume we can only edit our posts a certain number of times so I will have to keep the rough draft in a Word document or something while somehow getting community input?
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
The editing permission has a time limit. You could always post modifications as new posts in the thread, and then the mods can clean it all up when consensus is reached.

Another trick I use all the time is a site specific Google search. "search phrase site:gmtnation.com" or "search phrase site:trailvoy.com"
 

Robbabob

Member
Dec 10, 2012
1,096
the roadie said:
Another trick I use all the time is a site specific Google search. "search phrase site:gmtnation.com"

Knew you'd get that in before I could. As I read the first post, this was going to be my input. Of course, I learned it from you anyhow; just as well.

For the OP, that search string is PERFECT for using Google to scan all the threads for you. I used to spend HOURS upon HOURS reading through hundreds, only to be left more confused than when I started. I now find my phrases and get the job completed without "too much asking" on the forum. I still do when I think the ultimate answer will help many. I just don't do it being lazy.

Good luck!
 

DDonnie

Member
Mar 26, 2012
2,631
the roadie said:
and post whores only strive for increasing counts as if that gets them more "status" in some odd sense.

Hey now, I resemble that remark...
 

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