Thread for Ideas for New Topics/Categories

[highway]

Hey! Only those of us from Chicago can vote more than once...

Yeah, but sometimes here in WV 1+1=3!!

[Alyn]

Needlessly complex

This layout and the previous one seem to be driven by a need to separate the trucks for no apparent gain

[Harry P.]

Needlessly complex

This layout and the previous one seem to be driven by a need to separate the trucks for no apparent gain

We already have a separate Trucks area now, so no new Truck category is being added, and no new complexity is being added. In fact this reduces the total number of categories while more clearly defining each section. I'm just trying to make the breakdowns a little bit more logical by adding discrete categories for street trucks/pickups and commercial/big rig models... as up until now the street truck/pickup guys had been lumped in with the big rigs...or they were posting their trucks in the car section.

[Kaleb]

I wont qoute but I seen where one said a place for modified diecast. I think this would be great everything else is seperated except diecast we have to add that in workbench or under glass and it gets bumped quickly by others.

[AzTom]

You could reduce a category by combining the 1:1 reference photos. Maybe in the Hobby Room. I posted in the Cars over a month ago and it's still less than half way down the page.

Many of the posts as mine does, have both trucks and cars.

Tom

Edited May 3, 2010 by AzTom

[Alyn]

We already have a separate Trucks area now, so no new Truck category is being added, and no new complexity is being added. In fact this reduces the total number of categories while more clearly defining each section. I'm just trying to make the breakdowns a little bit more logical by adding discrete categories for street trucks/pickups and commercial/big rig models... as up until now the street truck/pickup guys had been lumped in with the big rigs...or they were posting their trucks in the car section.

I realize that there is already a separate trunk category, and also am aware that your new design is less complex.

My thought is that it could be even less complex.

I was wondering what the goal is. Re-reading the title of this thread, I see that it is for ideas to add new Topics/Categories. So much for less complexity.

Your design offers at least four separate forums for someone interested in competition models to keep up with. And that doesn't even include the Model Car Racing section. One would do the job.

At least the pickup trucks are separate from the cars. (heavy sigh)

Why a 29 Ford roadster pickup is along side a Kenworth wrecker is beyond me. Most of the ones I've seen are hot rods.

[highway]

You could reduce a category by combining the 1:1 reference photos. Maybe in the Hobby Room. I posted in the Cars over a month ago and it's still less than half way down the page.

Many of the posts as mine does, have both trucks and cars.

Tom

Tom, I don't feel that is a good idea. I build mostly trucks, even though I have more than my fair share of car kits, too. It is, in my opinion, more user friendly to have the trucks 1:1 in their own spot. You would not want to look through 20 posts on big rigs before you found a 49 Merc, would you? I also recently posted pics of my 1:1 scale 1990 Ford F350, and posted it in the "Trucks 1:1 Reference", but also put a post in the car section for the primarily car and light truck builders with a link to the "Trucks" posting.

[Blake Rogers]

what about motorcycles??? i know dave beat me to it but something i would love to see.

[LVZ2881]

I like Harry's idea...its a good compromoise

[RodBurNeR]

I don't care what ya do personally. However, since you asked.

I like what Harry has going for his list,but if it was my forum and it's not....rants n' raves would be gone. If people really have to say something, they could say it in General....not to mention, not having a place specifically for these subjects..would make the drama levels go down a bit I think.

Also, it should go unsaid that certain threads don't need to be pinned for the rest of our lives on this forum do they? Several of the pinned threads are all towards the same purpose....such as "forum control". I suggest making ONE thread for enforcing the rules, and just add to it when ya need to say more.

Another thing that bugs me is having categories with boards named the same thing? Why not just make a category for Miscellaneous and put all of these boards under it?

Examples....

Those categories and the pinned threads really bug me. I know this isn't supposed to be a rant...but this is what I see that needs attention. Oh and "Where's Waldo?"....again, my personal feelings... I could care less who is looking for who. If someone wants to find someone, they could easily post under "General".

These are my thoughts....kill me if you will.

[Billy Kingsley]

Here's my take: Don't fix what ain't broke.

The forum has worked perfectly fine the way it has been now since 2006, why change a winning forumula because some people complained.

Here's my take on the pickup debacle: Automobiles, either cars or pickups/SUVs that are not buisness related, SHOULD be togther. Commercial vehicles, like 18 wheelers, seem to like to be by themselves. Why mess with it? They are happy, we are happy, what's the problem? How many non-big rig commercial vehicles get posted here? Maybe one a month? If that much. It should be pretty easy to figure out where one would find a more receptive audience. A Sedan Delivery with a buisness name on the side would probably be more well recieved in the car section. A pickup that has been converted to be a rescue truck (fire truck) would probably be more well recieved in the truck section. It's not the end of the world if it's posted in the wrong section.

NASCAR and drag racing models should stay as they are. The two are not interchangeable, and I find very few people are avidly into both. I don't think there are enough other kinds of race cars being built to have their own section, but I could be wrong. Perhaps if they did have their own section more would get posted? I know I don't post everything I build on here, I am sure I am not the only one. I do think it would probably make sence to expand the NASCAR class to cover all forms of racing that make turns. People have been posting non-NASCAR builds in there since day 1 anyway so why not make it official?

It has been perfect for so long, a change is unneeded and the ONLY possible outcome will be to make the board a worse place...because, as I said above...you can't fix perfection, the only way to go is down.

I remember when I joined this board not long after it's creation. There was no section for drag cars, no section for NASCAR, there wasn't even a section for finished models. But they came in short order and the formula was perfected early on. Don't mess with success!

I should note that I only really check the General, New Kit Reviews, NASCAR, Rants and Raves, and Resin sections on a regular basis. Under Glass I check often, usually every visit but not always, depending on how much time I have.

Edited May 3, 2010 by Billy Kingsley

[randx0]

if the pick ups are gonna be in the model truck forum then the model truck forum should be moved up the ladder so it is right beneath the model car forum. I don't really care where everything is I usually find what i am looking for with the view new content button or todays active topics. as far as a catagory that could be added maybe a junior or beginner/returning modeler section could be helpful for answering those questions that get asked frequently like what kind of paint,glue,bodyfiller,tools should I use ,what is a good kit to start with , where can I find ...........,I know there are already areas that cover these questions but apparently they aren't as easy to find the answers as they could be .

[PatRedmond]

THIS

Ok, after all the back and forth... how about it:

General (includes questions, comments, "What did you get today" type posts and any other topics that don't fit anywhere else)

Model Cars

Showcase

Stock/Street/Show/Custom

Competition: Straight Line (meaning drag)

Competition: NASCAR/Circle Track/Road Course, etc. (basically ANY competition car other than drag)

1:1 Reference Photos

Model Trucks

Showcase

Pickups/Street Trucks

Competition: Drag/Track/Monster Truck, etc.

Commercial/Fire/Emergency

1:1 Reference Photos

Other Models (no category breakdown, just one catch-all for everything else)

The Hobby Room

Tips, Tricks and Tutorials

News and Reviews

Real or Model/Auto ID Quiz

Resin

Swap/Trade/Free/Wanted

Auto Art

Rants 'n' Raves

Large Scale

Dioramas

Community

Clubs

Contests/Shows/Events

Links/Advertisers/Web sites

Community Builds

Model Car Racing

A place for everything... and everything in its place, without going crazy and breaking down into too many categories. I think this breakdown is logical and workable.

[Terror]

Whatever works best for the rest.I did notice that most of y'all can't follow one rule,Gregg put in this thread,no quotes????So how we gonna follow the rest of the rules????

[Guest]

Harry's idea works for me, as the only thing I really wanted to see diffrent was a section for other types ofmodels besides wheeled.

[Harry P.]

what about motorcycles??? i know dave beat me to it but something i would love to see.

Notice the "Other Models" category?

[Harry P.]

Another thing that bugs me is having categories with boards named the same thing?

The new setup gets rid of that problem.

[GrandpaMcGurk]

The new setup gets rid of that problem.

SUGGESTION:

Do a little admin. head scratching. Pick & choose the stuff that feels good & will benefit the site the most......Pop the clutch and let's take the tuned up ol' gal for a test drive?

[Harry P.]

SUGGESTION:

Do a little admin. head scratching. Pick & choose the stuff that feels good & will benefit the site the most......Pop the clutch and let's take the tuned up ol' gal for a test drive?

Fearless Leader is working "behind the curtain" as we speak...

[Aaronw]

I'll just poke my nose in with two more comments

1 Randx0 has a good point, the model categories should be grouped together. I don't care what order but it is kind of weird the way we currently have model cars than a bunch of other stuff, model trucks, then a bunch of other stuff.

Harry where you have categories listed xyz / pdq / lmnop is that showing what would grouped together or are you suggesting each / designated a seperate forum under a common heading? I'm hoping the first because the second means a lot of new forums.

and since I'm feeling generous this morning I'll throw in a 3rd comment for free . For any should we / shouldn't we categories I'd prefer to see it left out, if on a second look it later appears to be worth adding a seperate category add it. It seems to me it is less disruptive to add (cool we got something new), then take away due to low volume (boo, you guys don't like xyz models).

Competition seems a good candidate for this, I'd suggest starting small then revisit it in 3 months and see if any categories actually have enough volume to justify their own forum. Looking at the current drag and NASCAR forums I see the first page in drag racing still includes posts 2 weeks old and NASCAR includes posts 6 weeks old.

To find posts 2 weeks old in Model trucks you have to go to page 2 (almost to page 3), On the workbench you have to go to page 5 and in General page 6.

I just don't see the reason for a very narrow forum unless the posting volume will knock week old posts off the front page.

[James Flowers]

What is the definition of a truck? I myself think people are being snobs about trucks. My truck is bigger than yours so you can not play in my sandbox. This is just pure silliness. A truck is not a car no way.

[Harry P.]

1 Randx0 has a good point, the model categories should be grouped together. I don't care what order but it is kind of weird the way we currently have model cars than a bunch of other stuff, model trucks, then a bunch of other stuff.

Harry where you have categories listed xyz / pdq / lmnop is that showing what would grouped together or are you suggesting each / designated a seperate forum under a common heading? I'm hoping the first because the second means a lot of new forums.

The way I broke it down is General at the top of the page...

Then Model Cars (with the model car-specific sub-categories)...

Then Model Trucks (with the model truck-specific sub-categories)...

Then all the rest.

This way Model Cars and Model Trucks are at the top, where they should be... and all the rest is below. If you look at my outline I think you'll see that it makes sense logically to arrange things that way. Basically what I did is to arrange what we currently have into a more logical order, putting the model cars and trucks sections together at the top, and eliminating/combining currently separate categories where it makes sense to do so. (For example, all the "community" type stuff like Club News, Shows, Events, community builds, etc. would all be together under the "Community" header and not placed here and there like they are now.

[crazyjim]

When will this new format happen? Did anyone think about setting it up and then have beta testers check it out before going to everyone? I used to be pretty good with computers (when DOS was king) but I've lost expertise over the years. I think it would be good to get some computer challenged people to check it out first.

And dummy (talking to myself) those werten't recipes yesterday, they were the menu. I changed tonight's menu - we're having pizza casserole, salad (with tomatoes), and french bread. Dinner will be about 6:45pm in case anyone wants to stop by.

[Harry P.]

I just don't see the reason for a very narrow forum unless the posting volume will knock week old posts off the front page.

Knocking old posts off the front page isn't the point. The point is to arrange the various posting areas in a logical way. Whether a post gets knocked to page 2 sooner vs. later is completely irrelevant to how the forum should be laid out. New posts will always knock old posts back, regardless of how the site is arranged.

And the reason for what you call a "very narrow" forum is simple: Logical categories make it easier to find what you're interested in and easier to skip over what you're not interested in.

For example... It makes much more sense to me to break down cars and trucks into their own separate categories rather than one big "Models" category, because some guys are more interested in cars, some more in trucks. And separating the cars from the trucks makes it so much easier to find either without slogging through a bunch of posts you might not be interested in.

And of course if you want to see the latest posts since your last visit all you have to do is click on "View New Content" at the upper right.

When will this new format happen? Did anyone think about setting it up and then have beta testers check it out before going to everyone? I used to be pretty good with computers (when DOS was king) but I've lost expertise over the years. I think it would be good to get some computer challenged people to check it out first.

And dummy (talking to myself) those werten't recipes yesterday, they were the menu. I changed tonight's menu - we're having pizza casserole, salad (with tomatoes), and french bread. Dinner will be about 6:45pm in case anyone wants to stop by.

Geez... kind of a long way for me to go just for a free meal...

[crazyjim]

Who said anything about free? If you leave now, you could be here for dinner tomorrow, but I haven't decided what to make yet.

From West Chicago, IL to Citrus Springs, FL is a 17 hour drive straight through. (Feel free to bring 5 or 10 pounds of Portillo's Italian beef and several loaves of their bread).