yotarob2005

gotcha, I understand where you are coming from. Just want to be clear on when it is OK to ask a question.

btw, the 4runner in your avatar is awesome! I hope mine looks half that good one day.

prorunner

I use the search option all the time, my problem is, is just like on any forums anywhere else, it's good, it's not great. Example, I searched "3rd gen 4runner" and came to this thread near the top.... lol. I'm pretty sure the majority of the people who post questions already tried searching for the answers and failed to find them. So what happens when everything has been asked and answered? Does the form just sit here to be looked at instead of discussed?

92 TOY

OK...worked the last few days so I will chime in now.

when we had a discussion a few months ago about spam and porn being posted as a thread by some whack-job I had suggested a thing about no new person shall be able to CREATE a thread unless they have "X" number of posts and that may keep the spammers out. Honestly have not seen any spam in a while so maybe something is working.

2nd of all, a little over a year ago, I had NO CLUE about my truck. I searched and searched and ended up at YOTATECH. I had never belonged to a forum and honestly am still figuring out the tricks to searching , organizing etc... ...anyway, the search button has definitely improved, but as stated in previous posts, it still may yield results that don't satisfy.

I would rather if someones 1st post said "ok I searched and here's where I looked (post some links) and i still can't find the answer"...I would be very willing to help that member out.....if not on a technical side then on a "ooh, I saw that on another thread" side.

I don't like anyone being sarcastic and just saying "SEARCH"....but that's just me....but I see and understand that the same thing gets posted over and over.

can we do something in a layout like this....
FORUMS
-----86 to 95 trucks and 4runners
---------engine
-------------rebuild / repair
----------------headgasket
-------------------removal and replacement
in kinda like a folders tab configuration......if I could open folders I'm sure others would too

Likewise, I'm VERY guilty....I have My thread https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-start-188472/ dealing with my horse crap and I have not even gotten my pan off. But as a disclaimer I have posted several times that when I am all done I will write a thread that is concise and complete, minus the ball busting and minus the unrelated stuff. I'm pretty sure when you search 22re timing chain/ headgasket....my thread comes up 1st or at least near the top, and although it's a very realistic thread because this is my 1st time doing anything like this, it can wander, terribly, too.

Ok , sorry, very long post.

MODS...you all know how I feel, I've interacted with each of you several times. I will continue to help you guys and the members of the flock as much as I can......but sometimes someone may be posting for the 1st time in a forum like I did and have no clue what to do next and will be totally turned away if someone just says "search". Maybe I'm too nice, but it's because I was just recently in the position where I didn't know jack____ about my truck, it's engine, how to get my crankshaft bolt off, what a leak-down test was or anything or even how to navigate this site.

the end....for now.

YOTATECH is awesome....keep it going! I / we will do what we can to help.

92 TOY

another idea.

can we have a section that simply is titled "How do I?"
and have pigeon holed threads...IE: change a headgasket on a 22re / get a crankshaft bolt off etc...

I would be willing to help with that, from my end.

But I am sure if we had a "How do I....?" section it would be the most read and would also reduce the amount of 1st posts.

just a suggestion.

vital22re

iTrader: (2)

so what i'm seeing is that people who claim to have searched, are either liars or have no idea of how to properly use a search engine to find anything. I don't recall if theres a thread or directions when you first sign up(way to tired from work) But maybe thats what some of these people need, instructions on how to use search. Ha, or maybe when you sign up you'd go through an instructional program.

92 TOY

I don't know if you meant that sincerely or not, but I wish there was like a little virtual Corey avatar to greet you and show you how to search.

But seriously, what do you see on the home page?.....not much to someone who landed here the 1st time. Or make the SEARCH button HUUUUUGE.

vital22re

iTrader: (2)

well.. if there was a little virtual corey to take you on a newbs virtual tour that could help a lot of people.. but to get something like a virtual tour set up might take a bit of work. Maybe make a downloadable yotatech manual? And as many people have already stated.. google works wonders as well and for the most part brings you back here.

Also i'm not trying to kick people in the shin here. So no offense.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

A mini me, I like that

On the sub folder thing, we already have a ton of sections here, that could create even more headaches.

I know a few of the moderators are working on FAQs for sections.
FAQs will be a big help displayed in each section.

92 TOY

if only you could have seen the image in my head when I was writing that.....hahahahaha

I've said it many times when writing to newbs......it's been done....either someone has done what you are asking about or are currently doing it....

I'm no computer guy (ask LUMPY)....but, objectively, maybe the YOTATECH layout could be more conducive to reading and searching.

it would probably take you guys forever and a day to "pigeon hole" all the threads.....hell I just did 416 of them on my CP just to organize them for myself into categories so I did not forget what I subscribed to them for in the 1st place.

but some of my categories are "22re stuff'", "3vze stuff" "silly stuff'',"yotatech (specific..like this thread)stuff", "computer'',"builds to watch"...etc...

I'm ok with the layout, but I've also been here for over a year, but from a point of view of someone who just arrived on the scene, it is a bit confusing.

92 TOY

I disagree. (That's the point of this thread, right, to voice our opinions without being argumentative....so I don't want to create an argument or flaming)

I'm saying that perhaps, if you had a cascading layout of folders and sub-folders it would be see more mileage that way....but judging by the amount of threads and archived stuff, that in itself would be a monumental task

Blue_petersen77

I think it's ok to a certain extent. For instance I have been told a couple time not to repost about some things. They even left me links to some other associated threads... The only problem was that I had a similar problem but not exactly the same and my problem happened to be vehicle specific. So while some might give you noise about reposting some problems you can't find a precise answer to a question no matter how deep you search. On the other hand, it kinda makes searching slowgoing when the posts are vague with little concise detail about the actual question or problem.

Just my 2 rookie cents here.

Yotatech addict

stormin94

I'm kinda scared to post a new thread now. The different sections aren't clear enough with what content belongs, and what doesn't. I have some questions, and other things I need opinions on, and have no idea where to post them. I don't want to waste time typing up a new thread just to have it deleted for posting in the wrong section. That really bugs me. I remember a glorious time on YT..... about 4 months ago, when if you accidentally posted in the wrong section, or thought you posted in the right section but didn't, a friendly and helpful moderator would kindly move it to the correct section.

Now I ask, from a moderator's position: Is it easier to delete a thread, or to move it?

Jacobeo5

I have been lurking in the backround for years and just recently become a member. I don't think you guys are rude about pointing out a simple rquest to a newb to use the search option. Although I do agree with Hab about how the search engine can/was a bit frustrating. I just keep trying diff ways of wording something until i get my results. I actually find it more annoying when I am searching through an post and after reading the first or second page of ten pages worth of responses only to see that it's been hijacked into a totally off topic tangent and I then have to spend the next three or four pages scanning responses until the original thread/subject is brought back up and completed. Maybe someday I will finally finish reading all the responses to "did you hear about my bumper, they warrantied it."

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I have never seen a thread here get deleted if it was posted in the wrong section.
The staff and I move threads on a daily basis here.
I do not know of any threads getting axed because they are in the wrong section.

When I move a thread I do not PM the person, no reason, as I leave a redirect on it which when they go back to where they posted it, it takes them to the new location.

kiyobrown

Jacob, that was the reason the bumper thread got started, to cut down on off topic hijacks in threads.

Not that Logan and I have a tendency of doing that. I'm just saying.

But I do know what you're talking about when you look to see how someone mounted their winch and you end up reading 3 pages of posts about beer.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

Is it easier to learn how to work on your truck? Or have the info spoon fed to you time and time and time and time again.


For us, it makes more sense to delete some of the pointless threads answered over and over and over. We never delete a thread that is in the wrong section. We only delete threads that have been answered 100 times before, or have useless pointless threads like "help" or "93 truck".

aviator

Speaking for myself the only threads I delete are Spam and those that violate the rules here due to NWFS content.
I would agree that the "topic drift" that happens can be irritating when you are just trying to get a ? answered (especially if you are in the middle of a project and fluids are leaking everywhere all of a sudden lol) but that's what happens in a discussion based forum like we have here.
92's mulit tab layout idea is good but just not feasible given the size of the forum and the amt. of information that is here and added to daily, it would take a huge team of mods working 24/7 to organize and would slow down the site since every post would have to be proofread and then pigeonholed.
Keep the comments and ideas coming folks, this is your forum and it is what you make it, the staff just try to "control the chaos" (while sometimes hanging wall paper one-handed simultaneously lol).

stormin94

Well, the I think most all of us can agree on the ultimate goal of this campaign, but some of us disagree on the way we choose to get there.

And, yes sometimes I do need to be spoon fed info, since the info is the primary reason I joined YT. I would rather ask a stupid question than make an even stupider mistake, especially if it involves a vehicle. I don't want to come across as a drama llama, I'm just contributing to the feedback discussion about the search campaign.

STAGE 2

Ok, here goes. As someone who was banned as a result of this campaign I have to say I'm not a fan. My gripe isn't because of the ban, but because my question went unanswered.

The search function on most vboards aren't very good in terms of isolating topics. Therefore its very likely (as it was in my case) that you have someone that did perform a search and didn't find anything. So telling them that they should "do a search" doesn't help because thats already been done. Furthermore the fact that a moderator or a member who has been here a long time and remembers a thread i.e. knows what specifically to search for isn't a valid standard to hold people to either.

Compounding this problem is the "we shouldn't need to spoon feed you" mentality. As is already evidenced by stormin94's comment, one person's spoon feeding is anothers useful information. In otherwords, its totally subjective.

The bottom line is that if you guys are going to have a list of specified rules, and on top of that crack down on searching, then you cannot inject your personal opinions about "spoon feeding" or shut down threads because you personally don't think they are of any further value. Doing that is going to kill this site because it simply won't be worth hanging around when there are other more hospitable places to get your questions answered.

aviator

valid points S2...
the search function has been improved with a recent upgrade but may not meet everyone's needs even so... if it still does not find the information you require or nets you too large a catch try a google search with "yotatech" at the end of the search topic this might help you narrow down the responses... the same holds true for any vboard forum just add the name of the forum at the end of the subject entered in the google search bar and it should find the data you want.