I've been reading ALOT of post lately and there are alot of people who are bring up the point that people need to use the search function. this is a great function, but when I'm researching ideas it can take hours to find the post im looking for, and its very tempting to just make a new post to ask a question thats been answered 3000 times before.

My Idea:

We should organize the posts that "expire" or are archived into there respective catagories, threads about dashes should have there own folder, threads about suspention, should be in their own folder and maybe seperated further out, (i.e., installation threads, removal threads, customization threads, types of system, particular brands)

Gasp I KNOW this is a pain in the arse, and I apologise for bringing it up, but I would be more than willing to spend my time helping sort them out for others users.

the reason I propose this idea is to make it a LITTLE faster to get the the threads that you KNOW are talking exactly about what you want. (within a few clicks) and keep the search function of course. and because when I was searching for information of "series 1" or "series I" when i was trying to learn more about the particular design and chages from that to series 2, I got about 100 pages of posts...woah, that took a long time to fine a thread that was even close to what I wanted, i was getting every thread where someone said "I" or "1" granted i know i shouldn't try to search for something with so commen of parts. :stupid:

IM NOT TRASHING THE SEARCH

just posing an idea, and I mean no offense to the ones who designed the site, trust me, I love this place!

sorry to be so long winded.

:bandit: :rambo: :eek: :ninja: :lick: :hurt: :paranoid:

haha, just found these, funny stuff..

I n

i agree, the archives are not easy to navigate. More reformed selection options may help.

The only trouble with your suggestion is that the threads can drift a little off topic containing some really great information that is not readily apparent from the thread title. For instance, we could start out talking about owner's manuals and drift into a short discussion about early emblems or different speedometers. I recall a thread "kats" started about carpet insulation that drifted into a discussion of the metal tabs for the tool lids because the photographs inspired someone to ask the question.

I particularly like the way this site's search function works even though I agree it can take some time every now and then. There really is a great deal of info in the archives, isn't there!

Like Chris stated, it's a good idea, but nearly impossible as so many threads have swayed off the original topic.

And I for one wouldn't want to go through almost 12K threads and decide which topic it should be under....:cross-eye

The best thing we can do is to make sure the threads are in the proper forums, which I have been doing since I became a moderator. You'd be surprised at how many threads I have moved into their proper forum.

I too have a bit of trouble with the Search function at times for certain topics, but usually by changing the keywords slightly, it does work pretty well considering how large our archives are now.

Yea, since we have such a long history of posts the searches can bring up many different results. I agree with Keith in his suggestion to change your keywords in order to minimize the results. This will help weed out many of the things you aren't looking for. Just imagine something similar to Google...

I can also set the system to show you less posts on a page. Right now I think most forums display 30-60 days. Search might do the same (I'm not exactly sure). I'll take a look.

You do bring up a good point. We could probably create a new forum (or use the technical articles forum) and move many of our most popular and informative threads into a single location. This would take a lot of time, but, might be worth it in the end.

As a matter of fact, instead of moving threads around we could simply create a new LINK AREA and create links to these informative parts of the site. I like this idea because it doesn't require moderator privileges to create new links.

I'll do that now... I'm creating a LINK AREA called "Links to OUR Site" or something like that.... You guys will have to help with the rest. You can do this by searching the forums and creating links to the most informative parts of the site.... To do this, jump to the links area, and select "create new link"....

-- Mike

Ok, I just created the new link "category" for this feature. It isn't automatic, so we'll need some help from all of you. Simply put, if you find a particular thread helpful, sumit a link!! This will help others find it faster in the future.....

-- Mike

Click HERE to open the new link area...