How do you like the re-designed forum?

[Churnd]

The staff is curious how you guys like Yotatech since we've reorganized things by creating more categories to help sort the threads out a bit. Feel free to post your comments but please vote in the poll also. Thanks.

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[Epic Ed]

I have gotten more accustomed to it, but the comments I made in the "feedback" thread still stand for the most part. I find myself using the "new post" feature more than I used to. One other item that would be helpful that I have on other forums would be a way to quickly jump a list of all the threads you have participated in recently. For example rockclimbing.com calls this feature "my topics".

Regardless of whether I like it or not, I appreciate your efforts. Thanks for your time and contributions.

Ed

[MudMonkey]

You should add "indifferent" to the poll.

[Cebby]

Originally Posted by Epic Ed

For example rockclimbing.com calls this feature "my topics".

That's a forum hack (modifying code) that we can take a look at. In the mean time, the forum already handles this through subscriptions. Under User CP, select you subscription option (every thread you post in will be subscribed - you can do this with or without notification). Then, just go under User CP and list your Subscriptions for direct links to your threads.

[BT17R]

Clarification of my comment a few days ago that the new style seems overly fragmented.

My motivation is the ongoing growth and success of YT. On other boards that segmented like has happened here, a lot of information that's actually generic becomes embedded and lost to others who would find it interesting and applicable to their rigs no matter the year or model.

Then people start thinking the entire forum is becoming less popular and content is declining then leave. Unintended consequence, but I've seen it happen.

Don't get me wrong, I admire the thought, planning and effort, but think it could backfire long-term.

I think the old style was fine, encouraged more participation and made posts (like this one, ironically) easier to find.

Maybe if the default login page were changed to New Posts, it would help expose everyone to not only Subscribed threads, but all new threads and posts. Some people either don't see the options below the header or aren't sure what they do, like Epic Ed above (not picking on you bud, just a convenient example).

I'd be interested in the change, if any, of average daily posts since the new forum debuted.

[cootees]

At first it was difficult to get through but it's grown on me. It might be a little hard for the brand new members though.

[4x4Fink]

At first it was a shock...but it's definitely growing on me.

Whatever would keep YotaTech alive longer, by all means go for it!



Fink

[marko3xl3]

In a way, I find this whole move contraversial. We always suggested that people search for their answers, yet we are giving them a reason not to. This is kind of hard to explain...but when you think about it, having a more organized forum is not a bad thing at all, especially because I like that you guys (mods) didn't fragment it too much (trust me, I have seen worse conversions and hated them), so that's fine. But now, you have people come in, check one section for a fuel problem (not knowing it doesn't only apply to a '85 4Runner, but also to a '97 Tacoma - which previously was grouped into one section) and never check that other section, which they can't be to blame for. So, in a way, they searched, but in another they didn't. I guess the only way to solve that problem is to emphasize the search feature more.

Personally I use the 'New Posts' feature a lot. Since i am on here often, I find that I don't miss a lot of stuff that way. Whenever I need an answer, I search and find, and barely start new threads which is evident by my record. So as for me, the forum can stay this way, because it does indeed make it easier to find some info.

I guess what I am trying to say is that this is one of many good moves you can make to improve the content handling of the forum, we shouldn't just stop here. I am not exactly sure how to do it without increasing moderation time (which is already high) or 'hiring' more mods. I am sorry if I am kind of shooting in the dark here, I just wanted to voice my opinion, and I'd be glad to partake in a discussion about it.

Sparks Notes:
This is a very good move for the forum, but it's not the-one-and-all solution. Also, no matter what you do you'll never be able to balance the scale, it'll always tip one way or another.

[msw0085]

I dont understand the arguement that a more specifically divided forum hides information that is applicable to mutiple years and models. The search feature does not discriminate by sub forum unless you tell it to.. if you have a fuel problem with your 86 or 97 or whatever and you type in 'fuel problem' it will find all the results from ANY sub forum..

[Corey]

Originally Posted by msw0085

I dont understand the arguement that a more specifically divided forum hides information that is applicable to mutiple years and models. The search feature does not discriminate by sub forum unless you tell it to.. if you have a fuel problem with your 86 or 97 or whatever and you type in 'fuel problem' it will find all the results from ANY sub forum..

Exactly!

[BT17R]

Originally Posted by msw0085

I dont understand the arguement that a more specifically divided forum hides information that is applicable to mutiple years and models. The search feature does not discriminate by sub forum unless you tell it to.. if you have a fuel problem with your 86 or 97 or whatever and you type in 'fuel problem' it will find all the results from ANY sub forum..

Nothing to do with Search, the question was about the new forum layout.

Take a look at automotive boards, commercial or private, with large memberships and you'll see they all look similar to Guests. They feature fresh content like teaser copy for news articles (and I'd vote for a separate News forum), first lines of the 10 or so latest posts in one margin, and often all available forums listed in another margin. They also attract lots of unique visitors with above average page views and time spent per visit, in part through search engine optimization.

What are the results? One example is PriusChat that's been in existence a little over two years. It's focused on only one car that's been around a fraction of the time of 4Runners and only sold a handful by comparison, yet has attracted about the same number of members as YT in half the time.

What do Guests see when they land here? A nice, new colorful banner that looks great, a rotating warning beacon and only a suggestion of the actual content within. The Toyota SUV & Truck Tech forum has a dozen sub-forums now that could contain generic, interesting, entertaining posts hidden from Guests who might be casually browsing, not necessarily searching, and miss a reason to stay around.

I know this is a labor of love for Chris, Corey and Staff, more of a hobby than other Google Adsense and sponsor supported sites. They just completed a big revamp with the best of intentions. I guess we'll see how it plays out. I was voicing my opinion based on what little I've seen on other boards that have shown consistent growth and seem to share common layouts that we could learn from.

[marko3xl3]

Originally Posted by msw0085

I dont understand the arguement that a more specifically divided forum hides information that is applicable to mutiple years and models. The search feature does not discriminate by sub forum unless you tell it to.. if you have a fuel problem with your 86 or 97 or whatever and you type in 'fuel problem' it will find all the results from ANY sub forum..

Don't take me wrong, I am not complaning at all, I am just throwing things out there.

You are assuming that the member will search, where did that come from? We are talking about the sub-division of forums (which is very nice as of now, from my POV) and that doesn't have anything to do with search.

No part of the forum re-vamp included improving search or advertising it more, so I don't see the point in this post at all, sorry.

[msw0085]

Originally Posted by marko3xl3

Don't take me wrong, I am not complaning at all, I am just throwing things out there.

You are assuming that the member will search, where did that come from? We are talking about the sub-division of forums (which is very nice as of now, from my POV) and that doesn't have anything to do with search.

No part of the forum re-vamp included improving search or advertising it more, so I don't see the point in this post at all, sorry.

The point of my post was purely an invitation to rebutt mine and defend your statement that a more organized, coherent, and defined forum invited and furthered an atmosphere which encouraged less frequent searching. I dont see that to be the case- per the defined parameters of the search feature. Searching is the rule, whether you're a tenured member or not, and to create a forum stuctured around an alternate perspective is to garner to a deviant approach to the atmosphere at Yotatech and to accept something un-natural to the rules set forth in the user agreement- clearly not something the administration at Yotatech would attempt to do.

[rwmorrisonjr]

I haven't noticed too much of a difference since I use the New Posts feature almost exclusively. I know there has been a mention of RSS feeds with the reorg but have yet to see or hear about it working correctly.

[Corey]

#4 down from the top.
http://www.yotatech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=121

As far as I know, RSS is working like it should.

[rwmorrisonjr]

Originally Posted by Corey

#4 down from the top.
http://www.yotatech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=121

As far as I know, RSS is working like it should.

I saw the thread, and I'm running Firefox, so it should work with the RSS feed, but it doesn't. Other sites with RSS have the little icon in the address bar that you can click on and add it to the feed menu, but YT doesn't have this.

Downloaded FeedReader, and it works great.

[midiwall]

Originally Posted by rwmorrisonjr

I saw the thread, and I'm running Firefox, so it should work with the RSS feed, but it doesn't. Other sites with RSS have the little icon in the address bar that you can click on and add it to the feed menu, but YT doesn't have this.

YT isn't advertising the service on it's straight feed... hence you don't see the icon in the address list.

To add it in FF, do this:

• Go to Bookmarks | Manage bookmarks
• In the left pane, single click on the folder you want the bookmark to show up in
• In the Right pane, single click on the bookmark you want the live feed to be ABOVE
• From the top menu, click "File | New Live Bookmark"
• Fill in the Name, then for feed, enter "http://www.yotatech.com/external.php?type=rss2"
• Click OK
• Close the bookmark manager

You should now see the bookmark as an "RSS" symbol (the orange box) where you placed it. Click on it, and you'll get a drop list of the latest threads.

[rwmorrisonjr]

Ahhh, thanks for the instructions, now it works perfectly!

[garrett1478]

Originally Posted by msw0085

The point of my post was purely an invitation to rebutt mine and defend your statement that a more organized, coherent, and defined forum invited and furthered an atmosphere which encouraged less frequent searching. I dont see that to be the case- per the defined parameters of the search feature. Searching is the rule, whether you're a tenured member or not, and to create a forum stuctured around an alternate perspective is to garner to a deviant approach to the atmosphere at Yotatech and to accept something un-natural to the rules set forth in the user agreement- clearly not something the administration at Yotatech would attempt to do.

stop posting when your drunk late at night!

[msw0085]

hey you have to admit..that was pretty damn good.. you cant talk like that when youre SOBER! haha

marko where you at?

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