Best Tips Forum

[Tucson Bill]

This occurred to me when I was reading the excellent information in the thread entitled "Caricature Painting - The Way I Do It!" in the Caricature forum.

It came to my mind that I had read a LOT of interesting posts that centered around a particular topic by folks that I consider expert in their field, like Lynn Doughty. The problem is finding a particular post.

Would it be possible to get a seperate thread or forum which brings togeather the 'meat' of each of these threads?

In order for this to work, the thread would have to be such that most everyone could NOT post to it. That way, the moderator of the thread could then place the one or two posts in each of the threads containing basic 'How-to' information and put them into a central thread. Forum members would be free to suggest informational posts to add to the thread.

The goal is to come up with a pure informational thread. To make available the grain without the chaff, so to speak.

[Mitchell]

You make an interesting point...or at least an idea.

We have a "tips" subject that could, should be used for this. However, these threads can be added to. The "problem" is that it would take a lot of work to moderate this type of thread (or forum). By letting all members add to a subject, we encourage participation and by making one or two individuals responsible for deciding what goes in (or stays out), that would put alot of pressure on those folks (or that person).

My recommendation: As members, we should try to make threads with clear titles - as Lynn did with the example that you gave. Also, we should try to limit responses to that subject. Too many times a thread gets thrown off by "chaff" - to use your excellent word. Presently this forum is like a small family - which is a good thing - but that atmosphere makes the site less business-like (professional).

Currently the Author section is the only that requires moderation before a post is made. Bob(D) had to ask for help as this "chore" was becoming too much for him to manage on a daily basis.

Anyway, I've played devil's advocate....but you have made a valid point. Would adding another topic be beneficial or can we make changes that would allow finding specific posts easier? Any more recommendations, ideas, etc?

[Richard_FL]

Maybe a solution would be to make the search option a little more powerful. I've not played with it alot but it doesn't seem like I can search for threads that contain multiple words. If I do a search on duck painting I get every thread that has the word duck or painting in it. It would be nice to be able to get just the forums that contained both the words duck and painting.(hope that makes sense)

This would let us skip to the meat of things when we want to without changing the feel of the site.

[Mitchell]

That's also why I have reminded posters to look at the "Similar threads" feature at the bottom of the page.....it basically searches for you. If someone wants to know more information on a subject, they can look often look there - if they can find one thread with the key word that they are interested in.

It's especially effective if the title of the thread is descriptive. I have actually changed thread titles in the past to allow this tool to be more effective.

Another tip is to not start a thread UNTIL the poster checks these tools (Search and Similar Threads) first. Sometimes the information is there, but forgotten.....and is only one page within a thread.

[Canopener]

Mitchell makes some good points. I think the bottom line for some of the newer folks is that you just have to scroll back and do a bit of research. There is a lot of great stuff back there, you just have to rummage around for that thing you are looking for. Also some topics have been covered many times, and don't get the response they used to. A perfect example of this would be "What is the Best Tool", a question that has no one answer, but if you scroll back to old pages you will get a more complete idea of what people use. It takes more time than a quick search. I am happy to see lately some of the oldy but goodies have popped back up, so people are taking advantage of this.
As far as chaff, I think people should bear in mind that for some this is an info tool and others it is far more social. If you tip the scale too far either way it becomes boring, and so far it is just about right. IMHO
Have fun keep chihippen'
Jim

[admin]

Quick Tip with the search. You can refine the search by using quotation marks. This will produce an exact match...

ie... "Duck Carving" would produce all threads that have duck carving in the thread. exactly as within the quotation marks.

were as searching by duck carving will produce all duck or carving as mentioned above.

[Richard_FL]

Doh did not think to try that. There I go trying to over complicate things as usual. Glad the wife is not around to see thisSmile . Thanks