Food For thought

[John D.]

You know basically we get the same questions over and over. Wouldn't it be wonderful if somehow we had a format that listed the 100 most popular questions asked on the DB and gave the archive location-date, etc. of that post.
Now this would require someone willing to spend some time documenting this info. If you go on ebay and paypal and you want to ask them a question. Well they have a ton of options for you. You just scroll down the list of questions until you hit one that applies to your question. This could be a team efford and would be too much to ask of one or two NCRS individuals.
Now you may say all this is already done and the answer is in the archives. Well I don't agree. Using the archives is no easy task. Takes a lot of time to sift though to find some good answers. Not knocking the archives or anyone. Just sick of seeing the same questions asked day in and day out. I know you are too.
Your answer to an oil question could be--- "Answer on the question and answer section". Now we just saw it's in the archives. I would do my share when time permits. If you don't like this at all forget it.

[Duke W.]

Re: Food For thought

A lot of blogs have "frequently asked questions", but eventually the list becomes a book, and it's hard to sort through.

I think the NCRS TDB archives are pretty easy to search, but you have to click "archives" not "search". Search only goes back about 30 days.

For those who ask previously answered and thoroughly hashed out questions, perhaps the best response it to "check archives" and maybe suggest a key search word or two. This will usually yield the answers in a few minutes.

I find that in researching other subjects beyond Corvettes I sometimes find what I am looking for by searching the various blogs that pop up in a Google search, and like most auto forums, there are always at least a handful of frequent participants that come across as really knowledgable about the subject.

Duke

[Dave F.]

Re: Food For thought

John,

A pilot group I belong to has done this in two ways. One is to have a FAQ section on the forum (e.g. this website would have the tech discussion board, and also a FAQ board)

But the better thing they did is set up a Wikipedia style site where the answers can be changed or modified. You can take a look at it here.
http://www.copapedia.org/index.php/Main_Page You won't be able to access the pages, but you can see the idea. I believe this took someone a lot of time to set up. I don't know anything about doing it, or I would volunteer some time also.

For those of you unfamiliar with Wikipedia, it's like an informal encyclopedia on the web where you can look up info on just about anything.

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

-Dave

[Chuck S.]

Re: Food For thought

Sorry to be a naysayer, John, but I can't see any FAQ section working. Maybe the "Wikapedia" idea Dave suggests might work...if you can find the volunteers to work it up, and get the "horses to drink the water" once you lead them to it.

This problem is the same on CF, and I know the FAQ doesn't work there...and the questions are even more banal and ignorant. (Today's winner: "Has anyone tried a reuseable oil filter?" ) Basically, it's part of the human condition to be lazy, or underinformed...if they don't know how to research other sources for their answers, they won't know that a FAQ section even exists.

Anyway...If we quit answering the same questions over and over, we won't have anything to talk about here but "Portawalls", El Caminos, C6s, et al. That won't go down well at all. These TBD regulars are something else...if I were forced to quit signing on here, I would have to start renting old Three Stooges movies to get my laughs. (Yuk, yuk, yuk)

[Harmon C.]

Re: Food For thought

If we had no questions this board would get dull. A new Corvette owner who needs some help will not kow how many times a question was ask. Back when their was 20 posts a day we wanted more posts. I say if you don't want to answer don't. I think answers that say check this book or that book are not worth the time spent to post a responce. Answer the question and sugesting they buy a book is fine. Check your copy of the AIM it's only a few hundred pages with no index.
Lyle

[Duke W.]

Re: Food For thought

Hey, if you think it's okay to wash out an air filter in solvent and reuse it, why not do the same with the oil filer - same basic philosophy and process.

Better yet, find one of those toilet paper roll oil filters from the sixties. Didn't the marketer say that it NEVER had to be changed?

Add a set of "fire injector" spark plugs, a "coil booster" on the distributor center terminal, and one of those turbine gadget nuclear atomizers below the carb and your vintage Corvette will get over 30 MPG and make a hundred more horsepower.

Duke

[Norris W.]

Re: Food For thought

I agree with Lyle on this one. It's true that some of the questions get repetitive, but with good titling it's easy for somebody to overlook the ones that don't interest them. It's also easy for somebody that hasn't seen an archived discussion to add some valuable insight into a topic that may have been discussed before.

After all, the board is aboud "discussion". One of the worst things that happens here (in my opinion) is when somebody asks a legitimate question, and somebody answers it with "go look it up in the AIM or judging manual" instead of just giving a simple answer that could probably be done with the same amount of typing, and that other people might find informative. I've seen it far too many times, and not everybody that posts here has all the books handy at their disposal, and of course at present, not everybody is an NCRS member.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Food For thought

It was satisfying to see you recently complete your understanding of how Corvettes were made, Lyle. When John Hinckley put that last piece of information in place, I know you were one happy camper. I'm looking forward to that day for myself.

(Only kidding you, Lyle...I know what you meant. )

Whenever an inexperienced Corvette owner wanders over the line from the "go-fast/bling" club into real pithy questions about Corvettes, it's time they learned there are books that have more information in them than any single individual knows...they are ready to avail themselves of that knowledge, and the only way to let them know the books exist is to tell them.

I agree with you...a good approach is to tell them the answer, AND to preferably use a reference. Like they say...a picture is worth a thousand words. It will show them that the answers are there for the having and you confirm your answer at the same time. If you use a reference, it's nice to tell them the page number if you know it...I don't see looking it up for them as a requirement, but I can never remember not giving the page reference for an AIM sheet. I usually look up the page to confirm my answer for myself...passing it on to them is no extra effort.

[Roy B.]

Re: Food For thought

I have no problem giving the same answer over and over ,that tells me some one new is asking , once in a while I post the same pic and tell the story and each time some one returns saying thanks I learned something new.
Even when people that knew it ask why! Isn't what this forum is all about?

[Gary S.]

Re: Food For thought

Several of the other boards that I visit (not as technically oriented or professional, I might add) have what they call "stickies". These are often repeated questions and answers and DIY kind of stuff. I endorse the idea of a FAQ section since, as has been mentioned, most newcomers post before doing a search.

Gary

[Eric F.]

Re: Food For thought

I agree with you John and also agree with Lyle. Since becoming an NCRS member I have asked many questions on this board. A few times I have been told to check the archives and have even received emails from regular visitors to the board suggesting that I shouldn't have wasted the boards time asking the questions that I have. I always check the archives first but the search system isn't very specific oriented (or maybe it's too specific) and gives too many hits that lead to an abyss.

I never mind answering questions from others; especially since I have learned so much from many of you.

It would be nice if we could organize the archives by category; i.e. engine, wiring, body, chassis, etc. Each category could have a sub category too. It would be difficult and time consuming to organize the existing archives but I don't think it would take much to start a new archive that contains categories. I'd be willing to donate some time to the project. It's the least I could do to show my appreciation to all of you that have assisted me over the years.

[Eric F.]

Re: Food For thought

I agree with you John and also agree with Lyle. Since becoming an NCRS member I have asked many questions on this board. A few times I have been told to check the archives and have even received emails from regular visitors to the board suggesting that I shouldn't have wasted the boards time asking the questions that I have. I always check the archives first but the search system isn't very specific oriented (or maybe it's too specific) and gives too many hits that lead to an abyss.

I never mind answering questions from others; especially since I have learned so much from many of you.

It would be nice if we could organize the archives by category; i.e. engine, wiring, body, chassis, etc. Each category could have a sub category too. It would be difficult and time consuming to organize the existing archives but I don't think it would take much to start a new archive that contains categories. I'd be willing to donate some time to the project. It's the least I could do to show my appreciation to all of you that have assisted me over the years.

[Brett H.]

Re: Food For thought

I'm relatively new to posting to this discussion forum, even though I've been a member since the early 90's. I will say that this forum is much more professional than the Corvette Forum. I tried that forum and was caught off guard by the clique that berated everyone just for posting something. Unbelievable.

This hobby is for everyone to enjoy and promote to others. If they feel berated when they ask a question that is "old hat" to many of us, they may come away from NCRS with a bad taste in their mouth. I'd hate to see that happen to another corvette enthusiast. If I don't want to respond to a question, I simply don't bother. If I "think" I can add something of value, then I post a response.

Afterall, there's a first time corvette buyer every day, I suppose. We can't expect them to know everything about their car immediately. I think the idea of FAQ is a sound one, if done right, and applaud those who would spend their time to achieve it.

This is a good organization and I'm proud to be a part of it.
Brett

[Brett H.]

Re: Food For thought

I'm relatively new to posting to this discussion forum, even though I've been a member since the early 90's. I will say that this forum is much more professional than the Corvette Forum. I tried that forum and was caught off guard by the clique that berated everyone just for posting something. Unbelievable.

This hobby is for everyone to enjoy and promote to others. If they feel berated when they ask a question that is "old hat" to many of us, they may come away from NCRS with a bad taste in their mouth. I'd hate to see that happen to another corvette enthusiast. If I don't want to respond to a question, I simply don't bother. If I "think" I can add something of value, then I post a response.

Afterall, there's a first time corvette buyer every day, I suppose. We can't expect them to know everything about their car immediately. I think the idea of FAQ is a sound one, if done right, and applaud those who would spend their time to achieve it.

This is a good organization and I'm proud to be a part of it.
Brett

[Chuck S.]

Re: Food For thought

Eric, I think I know why you're getting a lot of unrelated hits, and I may be able to help. When I first tried to search the archives, I got the same frustrating results as you.

I discovered that the reason this happens is because the search page defaults to "any terms", for whatever terms you enter for search. For example, if you enter the phrase "caliper bolt", it will search for all entries of "caliper", all entries of "bolt", and all entries of "caliper bolt". Needless to say, all the entries for "bolt" will be an unmanageable number, and most will be unrelated to what your interest.

If you select "all terms" from the drop down menu, it will only search for entries of all the entered terms combined, i.e. "caliper bolt". You will find that the archives will become very useful with this one little change.