i'd just like to voice my happiness with the changes in the way the forums are now set up. it got kind of difficult looking for information on a specific year when years/models were all grouped together.


-Mike

 

 

i like it alot more like this! good job guys

 

I didn't notice any changes (I just use the "new posts" button when I log on to see EVERYTHING new) so I just went to look.

Personally, I think it's gonna be nothing but a nightmare for the mods. A LOT of threads get started with "I have a problem with my..." and there's no mention of what truck/engine they're talking about until the 3rd/4th post when someone thinks to ask. So, once the vehicle in question is ID'd, someone's gonna have to come through, check the thread and potentially move it.

It also doesn't help searching... even though you can use Advanced Search and search within a specific forum, you're back to having to have the thread correctly categorized in the first place, _OR_ your answer may be in another forum (tranny problems, 3rd members, brakes, etc), _OR_ your answer may be in the catch-all forum.

I dunno... I think a LOT of folks are gonna be missing out on great info by thinking that an answer they're looking for to fix a brake problem would only be sitting in the 2nd gen forum, and they'll only browse.


The "New Posts" button is still your best bet. I see people all the time saying "well, I only look in the ____ forum" and they miss a TON of stuff.

 

I concur w/ midiwall but my real question is how do you get only new posts? Other forums I belong to have this function but I don't see it when I start directly into yotatech. This is very useful for those that read religiously.

 

Very top of the forum to the left of the Search link.
If you stay logged in all the time as in "parked" on the forum, the New Posts feature will not work.

It times out after a while.
When you first come to the forum, hit the NP link and all the post that occurred while you were away will be there.

After looking through the list and reading them, park your browser somewhere else until you are ready to visit here again, then hit the NP link.

This way you will never miss a post or thread.
The important thing to remember is to not park here all day, or that feature will not work.
I think it is set to 15 minutes or so, I am not sure.
But that is the only way I surf here.
I never click into a certain forum unless I am making a new thread :xmas7:

 

The rest of my technique is...

I come into the forum, hit the NP button, and (like Corey said) that will create a list of the posts that happened while you were away. What I do next is Firefox specific, but for each post I want to read I open it in a new tab (IE will have tabbed browsing in the next version).

Once I'm done browsing the "new posts" list, then I go to "Quick Links" and hit "Mark all read". That leaves me in a tab that is back at the "main" YT page, which gives me quick access to SEARCH and other tools to help answer questions.

I then flip to the first tab I opened with a thread and read. When I'm done, I close the tab, which automatically puts me at the next tab, which will be the next thread I was interested in.

As an example, when I came into the forum this afternoon, there were 115 new posts, I browsed the NP list, create about 15 tabs, and am working through them now.

Using keyboard shortcuts, I can do a lot of this really quick.

 

I'm still getting used to it, but have to say I learned a lot reading about stuff that wouldn't be in my forum.

I liked it better the other way. Seems to cut out more than it adds IMHO..Still will be searching the whole darn site anyways...

 

Hi guys -- as a moderator and admin on other boards, I can appreciate how much time and effort has gone in to planning for and executing the recent changes. I also know that you're probably looking for genuine feedback -- good and bad (or at least I hope so). Please don't take my comments as those of an ungrateful member, and I'm not looking to diminish the efforts that have gone into the process. I'm not interested in tearing anyone down; rather, just trying to offer some honest constructive feedback. That said...

I'm not diggin' the additional forums. IMO, it's too specialized which actually makes it harder for most users to navigate. On another website, I get requests all the time to add aforum for "this" or create a new section for "that." It is with great deliberation that we consider adding any band new section, and of those we have added over the past two years, two of the three have been a flop -- not nearly as utilized as we thought they might be, and it turns out that a small, vocal minority we the ones who were driving the creation of the forums in question.

In my experience, most of the time it is better for a site like this one to have fewer categories and to have the forums limited to only those which are absolutely necessary to differentiate between topics. One good clue as to how the membership perceives the clarity between forums is how often subjects need to get moved from one section to another. Most members don't post to the wrong forum out of spite, but rather, are only willing to invest a finite amount of time in trying to decide where their topic should go. If I can't figure it out with a quick click back to the topic descriptions, I say screw it and post to the category I think is best.

As always, it takes time to get used to change. I'll give you guys every benefit of the doubt that you're not finished making improvements and changes, so I won't be too harsh of a critic at this point. In general, I prefer simplicity and less categories. Regardless, I thank you folks for the time and effort you put into the website to make it an enjoyable place to visit.

Ed

 

noob here - however I'm w/ Ed.
More generalization was good. While I've only posted a few times, the search utility- say for "4Runners & SUVs" (or whatever the 4Runners forum was before) really worked well for my purposes. I also concur w/ Midiwall re: the search utility will have lost some of its value as the great majority of problems people encounter have already been addressed (somewhere.) The general forum search was a great tool for finding these answers.
Just my 2 centavos (great site no matter how ya slice it though!)
-s

 

I like it a lot! I think that it will make finding generation specific info and ideas much easier, the new posts button will still work the same, and the search function works the same, I don't think you can lose! Very pleased!

 

Whats next? firestone forum, goodyear forum, cooper forum, amsoil, penzoil.......... I get bored in about .2 seconds searching forum topics. It is possible to make things too open/simple. thats why we have search features. almost seems like someone is trying to clone t4r which is a dead forum... bring back old YT!

I'm not liking it at all.

 

1) T4R sucks
2) Its much more complicated
3) Its dead for two reasons
a) Its based for 4th Gen Runners (look at the 4th gen secion on this)
b) Its for Ricer 4th Gens (mostly)- so it sucks
4)

 

I say give it some time and see if it sinks in. A lot of members didn't like it when we went through the VBulletin upgrade, but now everyone's happy. Change takes time to adjust to, so try not to be so quick to pass judgement without giving it a chance.

 

good grief fellas, i thought this is what you guys wanted! of all the requests, this has been consistenly mentioned and turned down (until now)

yes, there are definitely some pros and cons to doing it this way. give it some time and hopefully the pros will outweigh the cons.

bob

 

And if you use the "new posts" feature like most of us, it really doesn't matter how the threads are stored.

Before we did this, I didn't care one way or the other. Now that its done, I really do prefer it the new way. When I hit new posts, I now find myself looking at which categorey the post originated from. Even though I read a ton of the posts, it enables me to skip some topics that I don't care to dig into based on generation...

 

I ditto this.
I was pretty ambivalent about the change but now if I can't figure out what the title of the thread is trying to say I can make a quick glance at the section it originates from to see whether or not it applies to me.

I also agree with Churnd - give it time and people will adjust.

 

my one complaint that i really hate is how the 1st gens are seperated with 84-85 and 86-wahtever it is. i think this is a real drawback and annoying. i think the 1st gens should all be under one section. this way if i want to ask a question about something that applies to both 86 and 85 vehicles i will get more help from more people. how it is set up now i feel i have to post the question in both forums. please change it by putting all the 1st gens in one section.

 

There has been changes?
All I use is User CP, Search, and New Posts