**** Should DF & WF Be COMBINED or SEPARATE? ****

[User1]

Please vote your choice of whether Xweb 2.0's Discussion Forum (DF) and Workshop Forum (WF) should be COMBINED (contents of WF put back into the DF as on 1.0 and eliminate WF) or SEPARATE (contents divided between DF & WF as is currently the case). You must be logged in to vote, but logged/displayed results are anonymous (logging in only tracks whether you voted, not how)...

The arguments for either approach:

The argument for having everything in the DF (eg: no WF) is that, for one, that's how we've always done it. Also a lot of people have commented that they enjoy all the threads (general and tech together) in one section so you do not have to click around the site to visit some separate 'redundant' section, or have to wonder which one is appropriate for 'grey area' topics etc, and because you also sometimes stumble upon great interesting stuff mixed in together and this can be beneficial in that you might not otherwise have thought to go looking for...

The argument for having everything separate (eg: general only DF & tech specific WF) is that, for as long as Xweb has existed, the 1.0 archives have been very difficult to search and use when attempting to find some piece of tech info you need while actually working on your car, if no one put it in 'Best of' links or you can't find it in a search you're SOL, or, it can be a PITA to wade through general discussion to seek a piece of tech info. To have WF separate tech archive over time would develop into a 'friendlier' shop resource or a 'living best of'...

Thanks for weighing in I appreciate your inputs. Please also feel free to leave comments

 

[JimD]

I have no strong preference

I am willing to go along with the crowd on this issue.

I will just point out that I always start at "New Posts" and go from there, so I am not looking in any forum in particular anyway. I simply look at any new post or response that I think looks interesting. Once I have done that, I click on "Quick Links" and select "Mark Forums Read" which immediately clears the rest of the new threads which I didn't want to see. Now when I come back and go to "New Posts" I only see what's changed since my last visit.

I find I waste a lot less time on the site these days.

 

[m4ff3w]

I always hit Today's Posts, so from an every day standpoint, it doesn't really matter.

However, I think from a searching standpoint, having WF separate will be better in the long run.

 

[AngeloX19]

I prefer seperate

But only because I'm used to this type of forum format from a few of the bike boards I visit. Once poeple get used to it, I think they will prefer it as well.

 

[APSilva-87X-TampaFL]

Separate is best w/o doubt. Way less thread hijacking

 

[budgetzagato]

Seperation is preferable...

For all the reasons given.

I do think the seperate b/s topics are redundant. And taking too much of your attention.

Thank you for all your work getting Xweb2.0 off the ground. Are you going to adopt the Mac OSX nomenclature? This would be Xweb panther I think.

 

[User1]

Not BS & BS

I'll agree with you that Not BS and BS look somewhat redundant on the surface, but, in fact they are each serving a specific real purpose arising from my observations reflecting on ten years of practical experience with Xweb. Not BS will keep all the off-topic random stuff, humor emails, archive-clogging youtube music threads etc out of the DF... and BS will keep all the wild-eyed rants/arguments out of Not BS!

That way we have a place to "please"(?) our more rowdy/opinionated users where they can speak (at least somewhat) more freely (and I don't have to constantly play cop), as well as finally perhaps "the rest of us" can once more enjoy using Not BS as it was originally intended without concern someone might randomly flip out on us in there

So far so good anyway, it all seems to be working at the moment, it makes me only wish I had thought of running them both side by side a LONG time ago... but yes it has taken too much of my attention recently while setting BS up. Now that we have those sections pretty much sorted, I will be renewing my focus on the site as a whole - tweaks, hacks, bug fixes, needed improvements as we go etc.