Seperate section for "dedicated" threads?

[GriZZly]

oh yeh thanks just saw theres a button down the bottom that says find "posts or threads"

awesome thanks

[-=DV=-]

weighing in at a mighty 167 posts..this is starting to look like the "whinging about dedicated threads dedicated thread"...seriously people

[puzzle man]

13 on the 1st page time to piss off the Dedicated threads
and yes i have have not got round to paying my membership
so I'm just being a troll witch is something that used to really piss me off

[JBs]

13 on the 1st page time to move the Dedicated threads
and yes i have have not got round to paying my membership
so I'm just being a troll witch is something that used to really piss me off

Fixed.

Honestly it would keep everyone happy.

[river]

Hi,

The reason the dedicated threads are in the first page is because they're obviously popular and are well patronised by some members.

If you look to the bottom right of your screen you will see the page numbers. If you click on them they will get you to the 2nd page and so on. So, you can move past the dedicated threads on the 1st page and see other threads. I don't think that's too taxing or difficult to do.

I think that more people use the dedicated threads than those that complain about them.

seeyuzz
river

[Andrew162]

good point you have there river, so much as to say that it stops a whole lot of problems with posting up niggly 'been-there-and-done-that' n00b questions which people just cbf'd searching for, regardless of how easy searching might be. each has it's own little sub-community, which I believe Stew alluded to earlier as being a bit anti-social to other members of the greater Toymods community... but I think if you can solve a whole heap of problems with dedicated threads, the problems they create are pretty much negated by their ease of access and avoidance of repetition and eventual frustration at new menbers and questions.

the Toymods forums are free for every member to browse ie. the tech sections in particular, where your little tid-bit of info (from resolving a certain problem from an experience you might have had before) might be the answer to someone's biggest car woes... it's happened on here many times before. so really there's no reason for anyone to be stuck in dedicated threads, and conversely, it's the best place for people to go whom are new to a particular model of Toyota.

if we can get past the fact that these dedicated threads are a necessary evil to some, and work out some kind of placement for them (if any at all), then Toymods will hopefully be that little bit better.

[EldarO]

Personally I don't like the "dedicated" threads at all.

One of the big things we want to achieve with the forum is to encourage a Community of Toyota Enthusaist's, while the dedicated threads create smal community's for each model they are also segregating themselves from the greater user base.

Ideally I'd much rather see people starting new threads for new topics, especially since there is a hell of a lot of content in those dedicated threads that is in no way specific to a single model of car. Classic example of this is the speedo drive in the MR2, someone asked about this in the AW11 thread and I answerred with a post on how to rebuild an E series gearbox speedo sender. Now while this was spoecifically what was needed, it is also completely relevant to any other car with that gearbox, ie GT4 Levin's etc.

The problem is that when we have these dedicated threads there people are going to continue flooding them. If you're a newby and you have a question about an AW11 are you likely to start a well structured new thread asking for assistance or just dump it into a thread that has 3000+ posts from people interested in that model?

I guess what I'm saying is that I think having the threads at all is the problem, not where they are being kept.

i know i dont just stick to the A70 thread, you'll find my posts in the aristo thread, soarer thread, MR2 thread etc.

if your a "newby" and you just bought, say, a Z20 soarer.

i think a dedicated thread is a good idea, the information is all there, available at all times,so, at your leisure, you can go through and read it all, gain as much knowledge as is in the thread, then, if you have a specific question that hasnt been covered, ask.

its the same principal behind searching before you post a new thread. it just takes longer.

it might look like those dedicated threads are just rambling, but they really arent. they're a good resource for research into pricing, experiences with different products, fixes for common problems etc. anything at all model-specific.

i dont know of a single person that just sticks to a dedicated thread and nothing else "separating" them from the rest of the users.

dedicated threads also provide a truckload of info if your looking at buying a car.

Elmo.

[hamgatan]

i know i dont just stick to the A70 thread, you'll find my posts in the aristo thread, soarer thread, MR2 thread etc.

yeah but you're a post whore so your input doesnt count.

i dont know of a single person that just sticks to a dedicated thread and nothing else "separating" them from the rest of the users.

ermm i dont go into model specific threads when i dont own/drive the cars. i stick to the dedicated threads for the cars i own. i dont even go post-whoring in threads for cars i have owned (i.e. A70 owners thread / A61 owners thread), even though i might take an occasional look every now and then. everyone here has different tastes and even though the model specific threads segregate slightly, it also gives good discussion points for people of similar tastes. Like i might find the AW11 thread vaguely interesting because its a first gen MR2, but i wont go in there and post-whore. Similarly I wouldnt post a single thing in the ST162 thread because im not a chocolate cowboy (Even though ST162 owners love their rides to death, but thats their disability i guess ).

putting everything in one place is asking a large and diverse community to conform and fit in, wheras giving areas for creative expression from peoples different tastes is far more productive to a total community vision, than forcing everyone to be the same. collaboration rather than conformity.

noone in their right mind has enough time to trawl every dedicated thread post-whoring unless they have absolutely no life and seriously need to get laid.

[EldarO]

wow, thanks for that insight in to you life Chris, i have been "enlightened"

moving on.

the point i was making was that dedicated threads dont segregate people from the wider toymods community.

they're a good idea because they promote a single place to put model specific information, whether it be measurements/factory specs/whatever, or, fixes for a problem common to the model.

what springs to mind to me is Todds write up on how to fix the dry solder joints on the A70 heater controls, restoring the heater to full working order, or the write up to fix the fuel sender in the A70/Z20.

common problems, that i otherwise wouldnt have found without the dedicated threads, and wouldve made another thread in tech asking more info from.

the point of my above post wasnt to show Josh that simply because i go from post to post, looking for info when im bored (what was i doing in the SW20 thread? looking for pics of SW20's cause i like the look of them. Z20 thread, same chassis as A70 etc. etc.) that everyone does, but to show him that having a thread dedicated to the model of car that i drive, doesnt mean i stop viewing toymods as a whole.

this isnt an E-Dick battle Chris.

Elmo.

[hamgatan]

congratulations eldar. you just rephrased everything i just said whilst finding time to give yourself a plug. you may now turkey slap yourself with your e-Dick and realise that we're reading from the same page you mong.

[gearb0x]

This thread is becoming dedicated thread all on its own

Maybe we should rename it

"Dedicated threads Dedicated thread"

[RobST162]

^^^ rofl too true, sure is going that way

this thread is going to self implode

btw top avatar

[oldcorollas]

This thread is becoming dedicated thread all on its own

Maybe we should rename it

"Dedicated threads Dedicated thread"

you mean, the dedicated threads people are starting up with the 2 line replies and random chat?

second line added to maintain the chatty feel

edit:
Elmo, the main problem with the dedicated threads and newbies is... that they are very likely NOT going to search... heck, quite a lot of longer time members can't search either
this may be a function of the search engine itself (if they don't know how to use google etc)
or just the fact that there are 10,000-15,000 replies!!!!

the other thing is noobs often may not be familiar with the terms that are likely to yield results from a search...

lastly, that fix you mention by Todds.. that seems to be a common problem with many toyotas.. well, at least A70 and AE82 etc... and it would have been worthwhile to make a tech thread of it

no-one is saying that having a dedicated thread prevents people from posting in the rest of the forum (although for some, that may not be a bad idea ), but it is a concern if people are deterred from sharing techy things with everyone else who would not bother to go and search in a dedicated thread, for some piece of tech that is not dedicated

that said, there is a place for the dedicated threads, although they seem to cop quite a lot of traffic that could be prevented if people used MSN or IRC or. *gasp* email or PM...

i still think it would be a good thing for the people who traffic the dedicated threads, to make up a summary of all the tech points for quick reference... then you can say to newbie "have you checked the AW11 dedicated FAQ?" and they don;t have the painful filtering of thousands of messages....

[MR22ZZ]

I found this amusing...

[whatthe?]

I found this amusing...

It'd be a much smaller thread than the 'Rona dedicated thread'