Stop What Have You Done

[jiff]

It remains the most popular thread by a long way, with 73,000 views
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/index.php?showforum=11">http://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/index.php?showforum=11</a>

 

 

I say fix the search system...it is clunky, asthmatic, lacks a bit of smartness.......

 

Search function code in many programming languages is freely downloadable from a lot of sources....access to the whole message base is the only requirement for effective predictive and 'similar hit' type of searches to be successful

.....not wishing to ramp up the volume, .......but I wonder what % of the 73 thou. gave up in despair,

having failed to find the nourishment they sought?


jiff.

[muddy]

It remains the most popular thread by a long way, with 73,000 views
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/index.php?showforum=11">http://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/index.php?showforum=11</a>

 

 

I say fix the search system...it is clunky, asthmatic, lacks a bit of smartness.......

 

Search function code in many programming languages is freely downloadable from a lot of sources....access to the whole message base is the only requirement for effective predictive and 'similar hit' type of searches to be successful

Popularity doesn't equate to it being good for the forum as a whole. Swearing is popular, but on this forum is frowned upon and so people make an effort and the end result is a classier forum in my view. Supermarkets are popular and the result is the death of the family butcher, baker etc. You might not see the equivalence, but people tend towards convenience and short termism. If people don't make an effort here then the forum will fold.

[fixitsan]

Get rid of it and traffic will decline (important if there is any click based charging on the site package)

 

All topics are searchable via Google, one way or another anyhow.

 

 

But, get rid of it and you lose a bit of the 'show and tell' element. Frequently in that thread someone might post a picture of their bike, another person likes the screen and asks where they got it.......Without the thread there wouldn't have been that exchange and I strongly doubt that the original poster would have started a thread called 'Do you like my new screen'

 

You might find it difficult to search.....but I havent seen much evidence to suggest that such  happenstance and coincidentally generated information (a unique data structure which web engineers find difficult to evaluate due to its spontaneous nature) could be better organised, or even brought into existence if you remove the freely interconnected nature of its source.

This post was last modified: 19-12-2016, 02:47 PM by fixitsan.

[fixitsan]

Popularity doesn't equate to it being good for the forum as a whole. Swearing is popular, but on this forum is frowned upon and so people make an effort and the end result is a classier forum in my view. Supermarkets are popular and the result is the death of the family butcher, baker etc. You might not see the equivalence, but people tend towards convenience and short termism. If people don't make an effort here then the forum will fold.

 

 

Loads of strawmen arguments there 

[muddy]

 

All topics are searchable via Google, one way or another anyhow.

 

 

But, get rid of it and you lose a bit of the 'show and tell' element. Frequently in that thread someone might post a picture of their bike, another person likes the screen and asks where they got it.......Without the thread there wouldn't have been that exchange and I strongly doubt that the original poster would have started a thread called 'Do you like my new screen'

 

You might find it difficult to search.....

On the one hand you agree with me that people will use the WHYDone thread out of convenience and a can't be bothered attitude, but then ask the same people to make an effort to do a Google search. Have you seen how many 'what oil should I use' and 'jerky throttle' threads there are? People rarely do a search from what I can gather and so you get replication ad infinitum. And that goes back to my original observation that people are lazy unless they're discouraged or encouraged not to be. Oh, and I didn't mention searching by the way, but it reminded me of how people simply don't do it.

[fixitsan]

I didn't ask anyone to use Google. I was just saying that Google turfs up everything eventually....

 

The thing is,  for specific topics like what oil should be used, the forum creates it's own confusion. 

 

 

What oil *should* you use ?  Well lets do a search....or better yet specifically read previous Carpe messages all about oil.....and what have you learned ? 

 

Use the manual's recommendations ?

Use JBX's fully synth preference ?

Use someone else's idea of a cheapo brand which he's done 100000miles on ?

 

So you see, the forum creates it's own confusion, and so in a last ditched attempt to do their very best the well researched new TDM owner rolls the dice looking for the definitive answer,  because surely someone can help them ?

 

 

What oil *should* I use ?  Bikes been going well for 100000miles on GTX...

This post was last modified: 19-12-2016, 03:20 PM by fixitsan.

[dapleb]

Why not move it to it's own Sub, and call it the Shout Box - then it becomes what it is - a "shout out" therad.

.

I dont think moving it would help dmmm. It is basically repeating what the all about section is for. If it is just about someone washing their bike or something then great but if it is detracting from people starting their own thread or adding to an existing one then not so great.


If you are trying to research a topic, sifting through other irrelevant info, that would also be more useful elsewhere is not helpful.


Thanks all for discussing. Its not exactly the end of the world but good to get as many opinions as possible.

[Studley Ramrod]

We did fix the search system a few years ago, it didn't really work at all back then.   Installing a new search system 'aint gonna happen, mainly because admin can't be arsed don't have the programming knowledge or experience to do this.  Then there's the extra time that would be needed for admin to research all about the various search software available.  Plus, tbh, the search system is already good enough for this site.

[fixitsan]

 Plus, tbh, the search system is already good enough for this site.

 

Therefore, if its that good....it shouldn't matter how topics are indexed or shared. A good search will always come up trumps, right ?

 

 

One thing which helps with searching, just as a general topic, is restricting the use of abreviations....   searching for cam chain tensioner will miss entries with CCT..... similarly using comical names like 'thingamibob' also confuses search engines.

[shaftdrive]

cant see anything

 

ahh, a wee bit thick today , I have read all the replies and have now just worked out the message

[steve27bha]

A suggestion, since I quite like the thread to report minor activity and pick up tips from others.

 

Close the current thread at the end of the year, rename it with a suffix to show summat like "up to end of 2016". Start a new one with a similar name but for submissions in 2017 only (e.g. What have you done to your TDM today, in 2017?). Repeat the close / restart cycle each year.

 

That way the thread doesn't become too big and aids searching.

 

I agree that a subject that attracts more than, say, five posts should have a proper thread to contain the details. Fixitsan / Chris's development of his braking light system is a suitable example, I think.

[fixitsan]

 

 

I agree that a subject that attracts more than, say, five posts should have a proper thread to contain the details. Fixitsan / Chris's development of his braking light system is a suitable example, I think.

 

 

Hell that reminds me...... I must get that finished off !

[muddy]

 

 

Hell that reminds me...... I must get that finished off !

Don't change the subject

[jiff]

OK......in search of clarity

(since the should we / shouldn't we debate re: 'what have you done..... ' seems to have abated -

albeit inconclusively?)..........


SHOULD / DOES the 'search' facility turn-up looked-for info, (providing it's appropriately phrased)

even if that info. is hidden away in the depths of 'what have you done...'. ?


Jiff.

[dapleb]

Try it jiff and see what happens.


Certainly the thread title wont help you find oubt.

[bjorge]

One thing's for suer about carpetdm - it's better social community than it is a knowledge database ! Well - there is  a lot of good information on here - but locating it a nightmare. 

 

What would improve things was possibly something like a system for marking posts as "THE answer", "useful information", etc... I use stackexchange a lot, and this "official" answer-to-question marked with a big, green checkmark makes it really quick and easy.

 

The real problem lies not within searchability but finding hints on "most useful answer" and "is answered", IMHO. Browsing search results takes a lot of time.....

[wicklamulla]

Carpe seems to have become a bit more orderly in the last couple of years from what i can see.  I used to log on daily, but only log on a few times a munt now as i don't wanna be always staring at a puter screen.

 

I have noticed topics getting moved around a bit in a bid to file them in the correct location, ie: 'TDM 900 For sale' posted in 'Hyde park' while it shud be in the 'For sale' section.  This is good and makes searching easier.

 

The site is still very tolerant  of   'off topic chat/banter' within various threads,  this doesn't really bodder me as i tend to either read it or quickly skip thru to find what i'm interested in.

 

The       'What have you done to yer TDM today'   section is fairly untidy, but again i can live with it and it don't seem 'to rile me up' like it does some udders.

 

 

At one pint i was spending so much time on here i thought i'd seen and read it all, but i keep finding more and more useful information from newer members.

 

good site overall in my onion.