VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Forum Questions Flaw

This was posted by me in responce to a post made to me in 46-48 "Almost there" I hope this is not overboard, but I felt the need to respond!

As some of you may know, I post mainly in the '46-'48 since I have a '48. I have been working fairly steady on the old girl the last 18 months and finely beginning to see some progress. Just as a courtesy I post a few pictures as I make headway.

Around two years ago a fellow member, Dale was trying to get his '48 finished for the 50th anniversary meet. I eagerly awaited his post showing his progress as it helped me figure what I needed to do.

Now when Dale made a post it was in the '46-'48. When he made a post, with a picture, of himself and cousin Dave adjusting the hood, am I to under stand that he should have made the post under “Body- Sheet Metal” instead?

Steve in '37-'42 said,
“but generally most guys think the 1937-42 part is for anything that relates to 1937-42 chevrolets. You can post that eveyone should read the topic discription before posting and swap/delete posts until the cows come home, but it won't stop guys from doing what appears to be the obvious.”




I fall into the above category. When I had a problem with my horn, I made a post in '46-'48 AND the same post in “Electrical 6 volt” and received useful info in both. Was that wrong?

Now, this brings me to why I am making a post here. I received a “PM” from a fellow member who informed me that I am upsetting the order of things with the way I “title” my post.
“
Russell, Please rethink the headings of your posts. While "FYI" or "A True Challenge" seem like a good way for you to get others to look at your posts they do little to maintain the quality of our chat site. What is so unique about our forums are the fact that they are indexed and can be shared by future generations of Chevy enthusiasts. It you have not used a heading that clearly states the nature of your post you cause indexing problems and confuse what future users think your topic is about. In a scenario where you provide a heading with the year car you are posting about, and the topic of your post you are doing all of us a favor.

The value of your previous posts is obvious. Please maximize its effectiveness for future users. Good luck,

“
I had no idea of the “indexing problems” this is creating!! I am going to think about this.

Part two! I wrote the above response over a month ago, but, never posted it. I figured , let it slide.
Well now that this has been made public in “Almost there” 46-48 I feel a rebuttal is required.

“I am using the word "could" because a lot of the headings for your posts left little or no information of what the topic of your posts where about.”




Now, if you look at those post, you will see that most were just to bring those that have been following along, up to date. No question involved or answer required, Simply FYI (for your information). Pictures!!!

“
. Please put the year of the car your question is about and the specific problem you want feedback on in your headings!! Are we building the best repair manual we can for the next generation of Chevy guys?
“



NOW, The “FLAW” in you whole premise of “building a repair manual”.

IF YOU LOOK AT THOSE POST (the ones in question), take note, they are picture based information, questions, and or answers. RIGHT? SO, since the pictures are NOT on this forum, BUT are at some other hosting site, WHAT happens if the “LINK” is broken. Lets say I remove the pictures that the link is to. NO MORE PICTURE. Now the post with NO picture is USELESS. No idea what it is about. Right, or is their something I am missing?

I know this is right as I have used the “search” feature and when I got there, the information was useless since the picture was no longer there. Lets run a test. Back up a few pages to my post, (46-48) “2 down”by ruscar. No matter what or how the title of the post would have been worded and archived, would this make any sense to you now?? Don't think so.

As long as a picture is used to make a point, provide a question, answer, or other point and is not available any longer, how could this be useful in “build a repair manual”????

One last point. This is from “The terms of use. “
“If you strongly disagree with another person's action
or intended course of action, "Don't Post". Go read a different
thread or visit a different Forum.
It's that simple. “

You have certainly pointed out some areas that could create confusion. In particular I think it is difficult if not impossible to have a format that is both technical and personal from a cataloging view. Perhaps furthur discussion should occur in the members only section.

Hi Ruscar,

You have touched on a hobby horse, or more particular a sore point. You can post subjects such as chopping up an old Chev to create a Hot or Rat Rod, and other items relating to destroying an original Chev, apparently with the blessing of the powers to be, but post in the incorrect area, look out?

Cheers

Ray

Hi Russell,

Your observations are of course correct. This forum has no control if the host images in a thread are removed or otherwise unavailable and this may well render the reply useless whether or not it had a very descriptive heading.

But the idea of ensuring you use a good descriptive heading and the fact that the answer is contained in an image that may go missing are not mutually exclusive.

As a user of many forums and a moderator on several I would have to say that agree with the idea that all posts should have a well considered heading. As I use this forum mostly for the technical information it provides (getting together with you is not really an option) it is critical to me that the information is readily able to be found and this is best done through the forum search.

It is a continual source of frustration to me that the search functionality of this forum is terrible. I know just how immensely knowledgeable the participants of this forum are and I'm sure that every question I could ever want to ask has already been asked and answered but yet I cannot find that information by searching. Imagine how frustrating it is for those who have been here for a long time to have to answer the same question over and over again about how to adjust the horn ring on a 1929 Chevy, when everyone should be able to find it just through a quick search.

In the world of online forums. it is generally considered that the best way to find a relevant "topic" is to search in the thread heading area and restrict your search results to threads only (rather than posts). This should return a list of relevant threads rather than threads where individual reply posts have used the key word you are looking for.

As a personal example, I find it frustrating when I try and search for paint colours on a 1929 and get no joy searching thread headings so I have to search post bodies and then have to wade through all the irrelevant posts trying to find what I'm looking for. Can you guess what I'm more likely to do instead? Yep, I'll simply ask the question again and this just builds another level of frustration for the helpful members that have answered the same question 6 times in the last 12 months.

Using a correct and considered heading increases the usability of the forum for everybody, both current members and future. It obviously means that I will be more likely to be able to find a relevant post (answer) without asking the same age old questions again. Now when I get to my search results if the images are missing I may have to try another search result or ask the original poster to make them available again (if they are still active).

So whilst I agree with the sentiments that our fellow member has sent you in a PM, I myself would not have bothered to send you such a message. I'm too new here and wouldn't have presumed to suggest to anyone else about how they should use the forum.

Of course forum etiquette will vary from region to region and age group to age group. So what I think is the most 'polite' thing to do you may not agree with, and that's fine by me. This is just my view on this particular subject.

Cheers, Andrew