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Cleaning up the Forums


Ripper_L

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Hello Troopers - We need your help!

We are trying to get the forums nice, tidy and less confusing again.

As some of you may know, we have lots of useful informations in here, but sometimes you're flooded by the huge amount of threads in one section.

Example: Getting Started - Read this First! has 18 pinned topics. And you should read them first. All of them.  :blink:

 

That's a bit too much for a new member, so we'll have to do an analysis on the different forum sections to sort out what has to be changed.
Please help us making the FISD forums better!  :jc_doublethumbup:

 

What can you do? Tell us your experiences! How was your first day on the FISD? What was most confusing? If anything - what was easy to find? What or who helped a lot? Is there something in the forums that is just totally useless?  :56pullhair:

 

Let us know, so we can make skimming the forums easier!

cleaning_xs.jpg

 

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If it wasn't for fisd my build would have been a nightmare. So many on here answer when you ask a specific question I'll never stray

 

 

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Hello Troopers - We need your help!

We are trying to get the forums nice, tidy and less confusing again.

As some of you may know, we have lots of useful informations in here, but sometimes you're flooded by the huge amount of threads in one section.

Example: Getting Started - Read this First! has 18 pinned topics. And you should read them first. All of them. :blink:

 

That's a bit too much for a new member, so we'll have to do an analysis on the different forum sections to sort out what has to be changed.

Please help us making the FISD forums better! :jc_doublethumbup:

 

What can you do? Tell us your experiences! How was your first day on the FISD? What was most confusing? If anything - what was easy to find? What or who helped a lot? Is there something in the forums that is just totally useless? :56pullhair:

 

Let us know, so we can make skimming the forums easier!cleaning_xs.jpg

 

Every time I see your cleaning picture it makes me chuckle! There certainly are some things that I could probably come up with. I'll post them when I have a good list.
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The only thing I wish was different was a more accurate search feature. If not for Google search tip I got I may have never found the gold mines of specific info that saved my life (and build)

 

 

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The only thing I wish was different was a more accurate search feature. If not for Google search tip I got I may have never found the gold mines of specific info that saved my life (and build)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You could have picked up a phone, or sent a FB message.  I just live down the road.  ;)  

 

Yes..  the search feature is quite simply, a poor excuse for a search feature, because it is highly counter-intuitive.

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When I signed up I found the whole thing massivly overwhelming. The search thing was a pain but by no means the worst.

I started digging through the Getting started posts and the tutorials sections and 2 things stuck out: missing images and conflicting information.  This seems to basically be down to age, old photos have gone away and as we've learnt new thing the older posts and info hangs around.  Just look at the billgrams for example, I can't be the only one who built a collection of these and found there was 2 different colour guides, both now out of date!  I actually made a new one of these to save me explaining it! (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/39650-anh-paint-colour-guide/).

 

For what it's worth a single archive of "billgrams" (not just the one by billhag) would be a great resourse, there's a few versions of a few of them now so having 1 post with the updated ones would be great (I think I have all of them).

 

Theres also WAY too much for a new person, I was used to forums but I'd hate to be someone who's new to the idea.  As you say 18 pins just doesn't work, and it's not just the getting started like this but also many of the build sub forums.

 

We're going through a similar process in our garrison and I was part of the advisory team so I have a few opinions I could offer on what to do but I don't think that's quite what you're asking for here.

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I think I was like a lot of new guys here, I enter the forums and looked around, found the intro forums and went around looking at stuff. There is a lot of info!! I will be honest and never read all the pins. I looked at what I thought was important to me or read those threads when directed by a fellow member. But then the other think i have as well is being a member of 7000 threads for Star Wars it also gets confusing (Garrison, FISD, 501st, other detachments, etc) So I think some of my confusion was knowing what forum to ask my questions then where I want to post it. Now I know better after 6 months what we got going on here and it is easy, but at first it is a hell of a lot of information to digest. I know I looked at 25,000 build threads built 22,000 different ways. That was confusing. Then I get my Anovos armor I found issues with fitting (thus why i am AM2 now with EIB status (Thank you guys!!!).

 

At the end of the day, I'm afraid that the biggest issue I had was the massive build threads. But I'm not as handy at building that I want to be. Having something I can get hands on helped me more than any threads, but with that said, these threads are invaluable as it helped me understand why it is done the way it is. Well I'm babbling now. Off to work. I hope this helps what I was feeling.  

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I completely agree with what was said above about how someone new here would be lost and overwhelmed with the amount of info, and with trying to find what they need. I'm that guy!! Using the search function as carefully as I can, I often end up with either nothing or a thousand results... neither of which is useful. When I do find info I need it's wonderful stuff, but finding it is an ordeal.

 

The only thing I wish was different was a more accurate search feature. If not for Google search tip I got I may have never found the gold mines of specific info that saved my life (and build)

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Steve -- What was that Google search tip? Tell! Tell!

 

A.J.

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I think it is important to keep all the build threads as each person posting one has different issues which can be helpful to someone.  Also, each armor maker has their own little nuances.  I did find it confusing looking for the ones that were specific to my particular kit at first, so perhaps we can put them in different categories, i.e. AM 2.0, Anovos, TM, etc.

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I think it is important to keep all the build threads as each person posting one has different issues which can be helpful to someone.  Also, each armor maker has their own little nuances.  I did find it confusing looking for the ones that were specific to my particular kit at first, so perhaps we can put them in different categories, i.e. AM 2.0, Anovos, TM, etc.

 

I totally agree with Joseph on this one.  It would make it very easy for new people to go into the correct build thread and find a sub folder on their armor.  There are many Anovos builds right now along with some others but there might not be many T/MC or MTK or RT-MOD and they ultimately get pushed many pages back.  It would certainly make it easier.

 

I also mentioned a few times within the last couple of years that maybe in the getting started threads also start sub-folders for armors there as well.  So that way when someone wants to get info on RS or TKUK or AP or RWA then they can click on that sub folder where there are discussions on these.  It would be a good way to keep armor specific info into one manageable folder instead of 20 different posts about each armor in the Hard Armor section.

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I think it is important to keep all the build threads as each person posting one has different issues which can be helpful to someone.  Also, each armor maker has their own little nuances.  I did find it confusing looking for the ones that were specific to my particular kit at first, so perhaps we can put them in different categories, i.e. AM 2.0, Anovos, TM, etc.

I'd prefer it was more like the AT with a tag in the title [AM] [Anovos] [CFO] etc.  Yet more subforums adds clutter.  Though the build areas is in need of a bit of a tidy anyway, lots of builds in the wrong forum.

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I'd prefer it was more like the AT with a tag in the title [AM] [Anovos] [CFO] etc.  Yet more subforums adds clutter.  Though the build areas is in need of a bit of a tidy anyway, lots of builds in the wrong forum.

 

I understand what you are saying about the build threads.  The only thing about this is in the Advanced Tactics section it is a requirement to post threads that way.  If you want the award then you have to follow the guidelines. 

 

It would be very hard to require people to post build threads a certain way.  That would take away from the individuality of that persons build.  People like to name their build threads in their own unique way.  While many people put the type of armor they are building in their title anyway I just think it would be difficult to require people put their armor type in the brackets.  Just my 2 cents.

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It's not that different to requiring they post in the correct sub-forum.  When they get it wrong the mods have a job to do either way.  All that said I do see the advantage of being able to go "lets see what an RS build is like" or any of the dozen or so makers there are.

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Creating subforums as noted creates a lot of clutter.  I love the idea of tagging, as you can then search by tags. If you think about it, this is what you do in Gmail - you label things.  Then you can look at build threads and filter by make.  We can also archive off any build thread that hasn't been commented on in say 3 years to an archive folder (so you can go back), and use either pins, or a label to highlight more current ones.  This way you can:

 

* Find the most relevant, recent threads for the armor you are looking to build

* Do a deeper search in the archives for any problem not covered

 

You can even create labels/tags for perhaps build issues as well.

 

FYI my concept isn't 100% baked, but I do think using labels & uncluttering them is a good idea.

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I think tagging is not the worst idea. This would help if someone is looking for a specific armor type. On the other hand you find all build Threads in one single folder. That was good for me when I made my research. I read a lot of build threads of all armor types to pick the parts that fit best for me. I like the mixed build threads. :) Making an archive to keep the main folder overseeable sounds reasonable though.

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Whilst I love the build threads and acknowledge how much they have helped me and continue to help me, I sometimes think it might be nice if they were tagged by the armour maker, I realise that a lot of armour builds are of a generic type, but sometimes somebody figuring out your own armours particular quirk might be handy.

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Oh criticisms? More Tapatalk support and better search engine! More pinned posts on sub-subforums (ESB E11 for example) would be a huge help. Additionally, on the website the having the recent posts on the homepage would be handy! Thanks, stay awesome!

 

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Edited by The Anonymous Egyptian
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@A.J. and others interested in the Google search trick.<br><br>

I assume what others were talking about is this:<br>

Go to Google and do your search like you'd usually do, but add: <br>

site:whitearmor.net<br><br>

This will limit search results to matches from, well, here. But using Google's index rather than this site search function.<br><br>

Example, if I'm looking for cover strip width..<br>

Google:<br>

site:whitearmor.net cover strip width<br>

The follow links back here.<br><br>

PS: This works for every site that's indexed by Google

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@A.J. and others interested in the Google search trick.<br><br>

I assume what others were talking about is this:<br>

Go to Google and do your search like you'd usually do, but add: <br>

site:whitearmor.net

This will limit search results to matches from, well, here. But using Google's index rather than this site search function.

Example, if I'm looking for cover strip width.

Google:

site:whitearmor.net cover strip width

The follow links back here.

PS: This works for every site that's indexed by Google

I've learned something new today!  Cool. Thanks!

 

 

Whilst I love the build threads and acknowledge how much they have helped me and continue to help me, I sometimes think it might be nice if they were tagged by the armour maker, I realise that a lot of armour builds are of a generic type, but sometimes somebody figuring out your own armours particular quirk might be handy.

Good idea.  Possibly if the thread name would include the kit manufacturer.  Something like the EIB/Centurion threads.  Many build threads do, but there are quite a few that don't.

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I think it is important to keep all the build threads as each person posting one has different issues which can be helpful to someone. Also, each armor maker has their own little nuances. I did find it confusing looking for the ones that were specific to my particular kit at first, so perhaps we can put them in different categories, i.e. AM 2.0, Anovos, TM, etc.

I will say everyone here has posted exactly what we all went through or are still going through and it's all spot-on. But Joe just as well put int in a great perspective. Maybe grouping the threads under each armor maker will help trying to find those pesky issues we all want to solve.

I think that would be a great place to start? It won't happen overnight, but just like building the Armor. Slow, steady and ask lots of questions. (Anyone heard that before?? Naaaah. Not here!!!!)

 

Happy to chip in if I can even if just giving feedback.

 

 

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I know as a newbie here (just getting my armor) I can tell this helped alot. One thing this form needs is its own mobile app all honestly were there can be or just add a section to new members able to add things and some forms only certain members can access and modify. This would include tutorials information about accessing armor and stuff like that I hope i could help with any ideas!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some good suggestions came up in here, thanks for all the help guys. We will have lots of improvements thanks to your feedback.
If there's anything more to say, feel free to do so.

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