Article Submission Section

[mikekey]

I was just thinking about how GMTNation has the Article Submissions forum, and I know we currently have a few How-To-Guides that James has put up on the main site: http://www.offroadtb.com/articles/how-to-guides/

But while looking around here members have been contributing some other good how-to's:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=145
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3637
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4622
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=4559
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2115

.... etc

I'm planning on writing up a few more things myself and was just thinking it might be a plus for new members and even us old ones if we had one section of the forum for How-To's as some things get lost in some of the more specific forums. Might also encourage others to share the steps they've taken to do a XYZ modification.

Just a thought.

[TBYODA]

Great idea Mike. Maybe those can go under the SME area and locked so they can't posted to.

[mikekey]

Well I would personally prefer that the original thread be editable like our build threads, so we can maintain them. If you post a thread, you volunteer to maintain it with new info if it becomes available. It's really disappointing when I find good info on Trailvoy and all the pictures are gone.

[TBYODA]

Ok let me rephrase that. What mean is you can edit and the mod can but others can't so it does not get all messy.

[mikekey]

Yeah, man that's such a double edged sword.

In some cases, the discussion on how to's has helped me when reading things on the old site, where another member had a suggestion, especially with getting these ball joints out and Roadie chimed in with great advice on removing the front diff seal on another thread about removing it, that I was able to use.

But at the same time, we can all admit to thread jacking sometimes, and right now I can see two where people are arguing semantics with me on GMT, one guy insisting we're all going to blow up over here on ORTB for having air compressors and another guy who won't quit quoting GM marketing pamphlets about iron brakes in my SS/EXT brake upgrade how to.

Something that could work, that I've seen a few times is where you post and lock and article and at the bottom there is a discussion thread link, and discussion is allowed elsewhere.

[Trail X]

Hmm... we do need to get better at stickying good threads like that. That's really the way it should be done, not necessarily having one place for all how tos... maybe that's a better idea, having a thread where people can submit threads that they think should become stickied. We can also turn some into articles on the www side of the site.

[TBYODA]

I have a question lets say for example I take thread to do xyz mod and while doing xyz mod I find and or want to improve the post add detail, more pictures or whatever and of course give credit to OP. Is there a way for one to say copy that entire tread so it can be cleaned up or given full editing rights to just that thread and when all said and done maybe be submitted for sticken? I am just thinking here I don't have any I want to mod yet but others might.

[mikekey]

Maybe if we sticky the threads instead of a new area, we give some guide lines, basic clean up of the first thread and the thread title so it helps with both searches and so a newbie knows exactly what it is, and then maybe limit comments to only things that add to the original, like Roberts suggestion. If he came up with different part numbers or something?? I dunno..

Maybe someone else will chime in with some ideas.

[Trail X]

Yeah, we can be better about policing tangents in the stickies. I agree that the first post needs to remain updated with the latest info, and that the titles need to be very clear and accurate.

[mikekey]

Maybe we should vote up or suggest some stickies, I was just thinking Mike's post on bumper tips would be useful as a sticky: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4026

Also, sliders have their own sub forum, yet there seems to be more discussion posts that are more recent on bumpers builds.

[mikekey]

Alright, I am working my way thru each section of the forum and have some recommendations for articles to sticky around here, although their individual worthiness might need to be debated.

I chose articles that are detailed enough that others could duplicate the work themselves, or provided very specific details on how to accomplish XYZ, or provided general guidance to performing a task.

James you set the bar pretty high looking thru dozens of threads. In the Fab section for example, there are plenty of look what I built threads, but not to many that explain how in detail it was done with each step.

So for starters:

FAB

*Bumper/Skid/Whatever Fabrication Tips Thread: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4026
*Homemade Roof Top Tent: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2008
*Home-Made Secondary Battery Setup: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=602
*Rock Sliders - Freaky Tree Fab: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15

COMPLETED MODS

*2500HD TRE RC Sleeve: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4872
*Shift kit install: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4507
*Removable rear seats: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2116
*On Board Air: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1904
*B&M Cooler Install: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1008
*Baja Rack Install: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=16
*Cooling System Upgrades Part I: Fans: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3955
*Cooling System Upgrades Part II: Radiator: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4007
*How to upgrade to EXT/SS Brake Upgrade: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4622

[Trail X]

Thanks for going through this Mike! I'm slowly going through them and stickying and moving stuff.

[v7guy]

I like a lot of the suggestions here, but too many stickies at the top of a sections forum creates a fairly maddening block of stickies that end up only allowing a dozen active threads below it before it goes to page 2. Maybe it's just personal preference, but I always found it irksome at best.


I think of chief importance is making sure the thread can be updated and making sure it doesn't get to terribly derailed. I'd agree with Mike that the conversation is sometimes incredibly helpful in the evolution of a mod but we get a lil crazy sometimes (myself included).


That's a pretty good starter list that Mike put together. It might be nice to take some of those threads that are a little lacking, but almost complete as an instructional thread and flesh them out a bit more. I really like where this is going!

[mikekey]

I like a lot of the suggestions here, but too many stickies at the top of a sections forum creates a fairly maddening block of stickies that end up only allowing a dozen active threads below it before it goes to page 2. Maybe it's just personal preference, but I always found it irksome at best.

I think of chief importance is making sure the thread can be updated and making sure it doesn't get to terribly derailed. I'd agree with Mike that the conversation is sometimes incredibly helpful in the evolution of a mod but we get a lil crazy sometimes (myself included).

That's a pretty good starter list that Mike put together. It might be nice to take some of those threads that are a little lacking, but almost complete as an instructional thread and flesh them out a bit more. I really like where this is going!

Great point Jason! This forum itself has 6 announcement threads and 5 stickies above this; the most recent thread. It does lead to a disorganized jumble. And do we want a disorganized jumble in each forum?



My only other idea is maybe a global announcement to the effect of "BEST HOW-TO/TIPS/ADVICE BLAH BLAH"

Then that could be updated regularly and the post itself could be an organized categorized post listing that links to the various threads all over the site?

My only thought is, some of the good articles like Barton's fabrication tips aren't necessarily an article, but a valuable thread none the less for those of us looking to build bumpers or learn welding.

[RyansTBLS]

Or maybe the sticky thread is setup more like the build threads. But is a subforum off of the new to ORTB thread, so that if a topic makes it to the list, then it can be moved to a subforum there. Have yet another comment section, but keep the original threads clean.

-New to ORTB
--How to Forums
---comments
---#1
---#2

etc. kind of format

[Trail X]

I appreciate where your heads at ryan, but even though I pushed through the no comments on build threads idea - it isn't really very conducive to information flow. I never post a comment because I then have to run through and find the comment thread and its really a hassle.

The other issue I feel strongly about is keeping the stickies sorted into their proper subforums. If I am looking for a suspension related topic, I shouldn't have to look here and there and the 'new to ortb' forum - I should just have to look in the suspension section.

Mike, I don't really feel like that's disorganized, do you? Anyways, the easy fix is that I can just make the number of threads visible greater. But really, how long does it need to be?

So the global announcement idea is somewhat like the welcome to ortb thread. But maybe with more links?

I still really like the idea of turning any fully developed sticky-level thread into an official ortb article. The links in the appropriate forums (like the troubleshooting forum) are pretty decent I think. Maybe the thing to improve there is adding a link to a thread in the forum for discussion on each topic. I really wish there was a good way to add phpbb discussion to the wordpress pages. Maybe I just need to look more into that.

[mikekey]

I appreciate where your heads at ryan, but even though I pushed through the no comments on build threads idea - it isn't really very conducive to information flow. I never post a comment because I then have to run through and find the comment thread and its really a hassle.

It's also hard to ever know if someone has asked or posted about your build. But I have always like the hands off in the build threads. GMT lets folks comment in the builds, and it does clutter it up, Kyle literally has the same info in his build over there, but it's twice as long from folks going "I love your rig"

The other issue I feel strongly about is keeping the stickies sorted into their proper subforums. If I am looking for a suspension related topic, I shouldn't have to look here and there and the 'new to ortb' forum - I should just have to look in the suspension section.

Mike, I don't really feel like that's disorganized, do you?

Makes sense to me, I think Jason's comment and my observation is that we could end up with dozens of sticky posts if not moderated heavily, which could be more work. I don't think we're there yet however.

So the global announcement idea is somewhat like the welcome to ortb thread. But maybe with more links?

Yeah it would be kind of like that, or you could do one for each section, maybe a best of in the same way we have the suspension thread that lists all the different lifts. But would people know to look in it for their subject?

I still really like the idea of turning any fully developed sticky-level thread into an official ortb article. The links in the appropriate forums (like the troubleshooting forum) are pretty decent I think. Maybe the thing to improve there is adding a link to a thread in the forum for discussion on each topic. I really wish there was a good way to add phpbb discussion to the wordpress pages. Maybe I just need to look more into that.

I've seen this nicely done: http://www.macrumors.com/ but it's WP to vBulletin. But with more work on your end (sux) you could just link discussion manually to a thread back in the forums.

I'm out of ideas.

[DirtyBacon04]

How about the very detailed How-To threats get consolidated and moved to the www side as an article. Any updates/convo can stay in the original thread, just give the OP authority to edit the www article as needed?

[Trail X]

Michael, that's what I've done in the past, but we haven't added anything in a while.

Mike, so the discussion on the macrumors article pages is powered by vbulletin? Interesting.

I'd like it if I could just have a "hidden" section on the forum that houses discussion threads for articles... and then somehow embed these threads into the article pages.

I do like the individual-section announcement idea. Not a bad way to really lay out the information concisely, and a good way to consolidate all of the stickies.

[Regulator1175]

retracted. statement was alcohol fueled and not needed.