A forum member made the following comment in the stickied FAQ thread:
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">theres a lot of useless crap, broken links in this thread.
its almost pointless until someone cleans it up and consolidates the information.

otherwise, just search.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Tyson brings up a good point. This made me think that maybe we should change the way the FAQ thread is used. I have made some poll options that I would like <u>all members</u> vote on.

Here is more info regarding the poll choices.
1. Keep FAQ thread as it is. It works fine.
This choice is pretty self explanatory. The FAQ thread would not be modified and would continue to be used as is. There is no reason to change the way the FAQ thread "works."


2. Modify FAQ thread as mentioned.
My idea is to have a thread with 1 post that would have all FAQ thread links and FAQ wesbsite links. A good example is crxforum's post (link here: https://honda-tech.com/zerothre...47241). He has a brief description of the FAQ and then a link to the thread/website. This makes the FAQ "thread" searchable since all the information is in 1 post. Also, since 1 person is maintaining the post, people could IM that person whenever a link is found to be broken.

My idea is to still have member's contribute FAQ thread/website links to the thread. The thread creator would just add the new FAQ info into their thread and give credit to the member who provided the FAQ info. A mod could go in later and delete the member's thread once the FAQ info was added into the main FAQ post.


3. The FAQ thread isn't useful and should be deleted.
The FAQ thread as it is now isn't useful and even if poll choice 2 is followed, the FAQ thread still wouldn't be useful. The search is better for finding information.


Again, I would like <u>all members</u> vote on. After voting in the poll, please reply as to what choice you picked and why. This forum is <u>for the members</u>, so your opinion counts!

 

Members aren't reading the entire post. If you vote, post the reasoning of your vote!

I can view who votes, so I'll know who didn't reply...

 

Current setup is too disorganized and needs modification... The more people have to work for an answer, the more likely they are to just make a post requesting it.

Just my opinion.

-Tim

 

well, i voted to scrap the whole faq thread because it detracts from the benefit of searching. 99% of my searches are by topic, and having a bunch of different information in a single thread will effectively hide that information from my search. and since faqs alone are not nearly as useful as the results of a given search, i see no reason to keep both methods for finding information.

the only benefit to a faq thread is for super-newbies who don't even know what to call what they want... they might want more power, but not know the definition of the word "turbo." that's the only case where i can see them stumbling into the faq section and finding out about something new that they had never heard/though of. if they know they want a turbo but don't know **** about it, they can just search. i think helping the semi-knowledgeable people is more important than making it simple for the newbs, who will invariably ask the same questions in the forum anyway, and will invariably get told to search or read the faq thread.

 

The current setup works fine for me. I think you get a wider range of topics if people can just post a link up rather than having them filter through whoever is maintaing the FAQ.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by keithv &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My idea is to have a thread with 1 post that would have all FAQ thread links and FAQ wesbsite links.</TD></TR></TABLE>

this was pretty much what i had in mind. except crxforums post has most of the broken links....

anyway, i think one more thing to consider, as a FORUM, before you tell some newbie to "SEARCH!!!!", tell them WHAT to search, or WHERE to search.

for example, if they have a question on rear disc conversion, copy and paste 1 or 2 of the MANY thread links about how to do it. or if they have a question of "non vtec sohc ZC", thell them to search under "SOHC" instead of trying to search under all those keywords (because they arent accustomed to our marvelous search engine).

lets be helpful. if you can type "SEARCH NEWB!", then you could easier taken the same amount of time and effort to help him search. and having a GOOD, and USABLE FAQ thread will make it easier for us to give help to newbies, as it makes our search easier.


btw, i should add, that anything that goes into a FAQ thread, should be a FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION. a lot of the current info in there ive never even heard asked before.... theres a difference between FAQ and DIY also. anyway... just another thought.

 

searchable in one post sounds easier. and IMing the person sounds like it would help for if sites do go down and out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by keithv &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">2. Modify FAQ thread as mentioned.
My idea is to have a thread with 1 post that would have all FAQ thread links and FAQ wesbsite links. A good example is crxforum's post (link here: https://honda-tech.com/zerothre...47241). He has a brief description of the FAQ and then a link to the thread/website. This makes the FAQ "thread" searchable since all the information is in 1 post. Also, since 1 person is maintaining the post, people could IM that person whenever a link is found to be broken.

My idea is to still have member's contribute FAQ thread/website links to the thread. The thread creator would just add the new FAQ info into their thread and give credit to the member who provided the FAQ info. A mod could go in later and delete the member's thread once the FAQ info was added into the main FAQ post.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree, it needs to be modified in some way. I also agree with the link you posted. One post, short description of what this link does. Also, since we are going to revamp the FAQ thread, I would go through every link and make sure they work. If the links work, great, keep them and we will continue to use the FAQ link. If they do not work, there is no point in having them and should be deleted. I know this would bring down FAQ confusion considerably.

I also think that before anyone creates a thread, they should read the FAQ first. And get familiar with it first. If the FAQ does not answer their tech question, they should continue to the search, maybe their question has been covered before. If they still need to ask their tech related thread, then post the thread and we will be happy to answer it for them.

I wish this was the way it worked, otherwise we wouldn't have ignorant idiots posting threads like, "yo vtech is the shiznit, look at my type R stickers".

 

I voted to reorganize the current FAQ. I like to use it, because there are very good links in there, but it can be hard to find which post it was, and hard to remember which page, if it's even in the FAQ, etc.

As screwed up as the rest of their forum is, the Type R FAQ is quite useful as well, with links not just in one post, but categorized by what type of info they have, ie: all threads dealing with cold air intakes, shock dynos, wheels, etc. It would be a bit of work, but it would make the info a lot easier to find, and encourage people to add things more often, as each type of discussion would have a place.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
btw, i should add, that anything that goes into a FAQ thread, should be a FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION. a lot of the current info in there ive never even heard asked before.... theres a difference between FAQ and DIY also. anyway... just another thought.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly! I actually never use the FAQ. I actually forgot that we had one. haha I looked at it a few times when it first got started, and it seemed to less of a Frequently Asked Question post, and more of a Do It Yourself post like Tyson mentions. It's like having ALL the posts on HT wrapped into one huge, awkward post. Please keep it to ONLY FAQ's and I think it will work much better. CAI's, headers, exhausts, CRX model specs, EX brake upgrade. . .etc.

And I would have to agree with whoever mentioned that the FAQ is really for noobs. Experienced HT'ers can use the search function with good results.