New Forum For Tech References ?

[30psi 4agte]

Should there be a whole forum devoted just to tech specs of things? and keep this one for tech questions , help , ideas and prob solving.etc etc etc

IE.
Camshafts and their duration/ lift on different versions of the same motor
Bolt torques
ETC ETC ETC

I think this could be warrented.I say this cause i have noticed some really useful info being posted and over time this info can get lost or hard to track down. If it was to have its own dedicated forum users would have a better chance of tracking the info down that they are after???????

I know its easy enough to do a search to track info down but then again sometimes its not that easy!

I may get shot down in a ball of fire for suggesting this but thought i would see what other users think?

[The Witzl]

this is something im looking at building into the the "Tech Library", which is what the FAQ section is soon to become.

THere's just a lot of work deciding how to structure it!!

[gearb0x]

I vote wiki tied into rep system of sorts

[oldcorollas]

i vote wiki down, there is already so much wiki information that is just so wrong..
the idea is great, but the information is not always correct, and open to tampering..
plus wiki pages are possibly the slowest loading pages on the internet

i think untamperable tech library should be the way to go.

[gearb0x]

Hence i said tied into the rep system, if you tied it into a rep system you could raise the bar of editing. Say only people on the forums who are 100+ rep can edit, or more.

They are self moderating (ie: anything said can be reviewed/fixed by peers (with enough rep)), and as said tieing it into the reputation system would make it hard for would-be tamperers, and hey if someone who shouldnt have can get 100+ rep, theres something fundamentally wrong with the reputation system

I belive writng up a complex article system, with strict requirements to post will only end up not being used, where as the wiki system that is based on forum reputation will get much more use and updated more frequently

There is nothing more anoying than searching for topics and only finding a long chain of topics where the only answer is "SEARCH". And a complex/strict article system will not solve that problem

[ace]

Its definitely a good idea, I dunno how well it'd work though....
The tech library sounds awesome....

[takai]

I dont think the wiki would necessarily work overly well in this circumstance. Although it would be a good way to collate a lot of information out of forum threads.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

A moderated wiki, with some sort of change management, so if someone changes stuff to be incorrect, it can be reverted. Wiki's are designed for storing information like this, and when used well, work a treat. There is also nothing else that will handle the weird sorts of interrelationships between the information that we would have. They also mean anyone of us with the information can contribute. As for misinformation, we have that now on the forum, and what happens? Someone picks up on it and the correct information comes out, this is no different, and ultimately, if there is a problem with the tech library, how much tedious work is required to change a static page if you don't have access to? It's mean a lot more work for admin staff who have to upload new stuff and/or make corrections.

This is without even getting into the fact they generally are nice an easy to search.

Stu, you have no right complaining about page times, I know for a fact you have the fastest connection out of all of us, I don't care if it's in another country

Perhaps it should be restricted to Toymods members? Ultimately, this place was for the club, and is opened up to everyone for the good of the community.

Sorry for the rant, this is something i've been wanting to see happen for ages, so i'm a bit excited about it

[The Witzl]

just politely, Wiki can eat my balls.

I dont like Wiki's, they annoy me and shit me simultaneously.

P.S. The Tech Library will be built in the forums. There will be moderated posting privledges.... meaning that you can post a reply, but it then goes to a queue to be moderator approved or denied.

I rekon that's all thats needed

[JustCallMeOrlando]

How do wikis shit you or annoy you? I'm hearing you on some regards, there are a SHITLOAD of wiki's that are setup wrong. There are a shitload that work very well, take Wikipedia for example. We use them at work to great effect also.

Building into the forums is fine, the only thing I dislike about that is you end up with dribs and drabs of information as you read down the posts in the thread, rather than one concise page.

[30psi 4agte]

Call me lame, slow , dumb or behind the eight ball but what the hell is a wiki?

P.s sorry about putin this thread in the tech section. I wasnt sure where to start it!

[gearb0x]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

[The Witzl]

yeah ok metroman... i know the power of the wiki is great..... but its just not for me, and not for this website.

it's a whole new system to install, implement, learn, and then set up correctly. .

Why bother when these forums are already here, and they can do the job well enough
The upside of this is, just about anyone can walk in and do the same job i'm doing without requiring a level of PC expertise above your average soccermum.


Anyway, no use going on and on about it

[Talasas]

Without wanting to bring up more argument I too have been visiting here lately wishing that we had a place for a quick summed up reference place. Seraching through the database is a painful as coding in oracle with only one finger.

I also disagree that wikis are poor, as an exmaple the Datsun1200.com forums have their own tech wiki and it works very well. It has a lot of great information and has been useful to me. Toymods has one of the best group of minds on cars just about anywhere, I think that a rep-based wiki would be more than effective at keeping accuracy as high as possible.

[willwal98]

I too dislike wiki's intensly. I vote a nice database with a dynamic php interface. You can have car / engine models in there with all the info required including tech articles and photos. It would be a large task and really centered on submissions rather than user editions which keeps it clean anyhow. Just think, looking for 1ggte info, all in one place. Looking for engines with a certain specification / part number = easy. The hardest part is getting it designed and built and the first round of info added.

Another option is to tag threads for important info and keep that in a db instead. So if a thread has good info on a topic that relates to certain cars only, tag the thread with the models of the cars and some set descriptive words. Then you can go into a search page, select the tag words you are interested in and it will show all threads tagged with those words. I know this may seem pointless but how many times have you search for something and found threads that have nothing to do with what you want but have the words you have searched for.

Hopefully that's not too confusing, i'm tired and explaining is such hard work. Hopefully someone else will get it and explain for me