[Mark Hosaflook]

Hank has a great idea and I posted my opinion on a new review forum. Maybe some will be surprised but I'm against it. I fear some boards get so many forums that they become too watered down. At first I was for a slots only forum and a special retro/Toppers section too but now I rarely post on these topics now that they have moved to their own forum. I love both those topics and opinions but I get lazy and in time don't lurk.

I wish the slots and retro stuff were back over here with the JL so I could get involved again. I sure don't want to remove reviews and opinions too. I'm afraid that would leave just gripes and WL finds. I'm more in favor of consolidating forums rather than spreading out even more. I miss the slot stuff....I miss the Topper stuff.......and I admit in time I get lazy and don't lurk to see whats going on. If it was still here and in front of my face, I'd gladly give input.

One site I can think of has so many forums that half the stuff on the top seems to be stickys just to get general info out and then the topics have 5 replies. Guys, I'm not into that nor am I into checking out five forums to get info I once got on one site.

Just my opinion and I hope others voice themselves too.

Mark

 

[hankster]

I enjoy the feedback from all since the only way I know if something will be useful and/or helpful is from feedback.

While the line you have to walk when creating new forums is just how much is too much in any one forum and how many are too many? Normally I look at it in a couple of ways. One is if there is a natural division that can be made and second is the amount of traffic. What happens if there is too much traffic within a forum is that a single days postings do not fit on the first page. If that happens, the number of people that visit the 2nd (or 3rd) page drops about 90% from the first page and you end up getting into a "bumping" contest to see who can keep their favorite topic on the first page.

I am very against using "stickies" unless it is for very important information, such as the fest info here. I try to make sitewide announcements if there is info that should be of interest to most of HobbyTalk's members, but as we see very few people read them. This is disappointing as this info may be of vital importance to members and not reading them may leave you in the dark one day...

Anyways, back to the subject. I feel reviews located in one place is a very good resource, not only for members, but for geneal visitors. Only about 25% of our visitors are actually members and only about 10% are active. The review area wouldn't be another forum, but custom designed software just for the posting of reviews.

Below is a link to one such example. While not very active it will give you an idea of how it could work. Look at a few of the items that have a number of reviews in them to give you a feel of how it could work.
http://www.viperalley.com/viperrev/index.php

Keep the feedback coming at http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=87916 so you can see what others are saying and put in your 2 cents worth. We can't make a half-way intellegent decision without your input.

 

[Mark Hosaflook]

Hank


I'm honored with the personal reply. I respect the concept and like the idea and I'll check out the example. I just have fears that I stated above. I know some may prefer to stay seperate under any and all circumstances so they don't have to go through, for the lack of a better term, "fluff", but when I see one or two new topics a day and one is a "gee this place is a graveyard" then maybe we can consolidate some forums back into the fold? A comprehensive and detailed review is a great idea but would you consider some consolidation of other forums. Perhaps bring vintage and slots back to the JL pages?

How do others feel?

Mark

 

[hankster]

I just happened to see this thread as I was passing through

If a forum does not have enough traffic then it tends to become even less active. You always have to have a "critial mass" for a forum to work. Too few posts are not good just as too many are not good, it's finding that balance that is the secret. There is not set formula, you just have to feel it out. My problem is here in the Diecast and Modeling areas is that I don't visit enough to get a good feel of what is and isn't working. This is where our members come in to let me know how they feel.

The Vintage forum was opened by request of Bobby because it is a special interest of his. If he feels it is not working then he can always request we fold it into another area. While that forum is not very busy I'll defer that option to him.

Just like the Small Engine repair area is not busy, it is a special interest of mine. I am willing to let it go for awhile just because I enjoy helping people in the topic when I can. I would suspect that once the weather cools down I may drop that area as the traffic there will drop to about nothing and it will have outlived it's purpose... we'll just have to wait and see.

The slots area was split off because it seemed the quite a few JL forum visitors felt their forum was becoming too focused on slots instead of diecast (the JL forum is in the Diecast topic area). Looking over the Slots forums, while not super busy, it does have a couple dozen subjects posted to per day. If the slot area would be folded back into the JL topic, then we are back to the problem of just too many posts within the JL forum.

If we look right now there are already 18 subjects that have been posted to in the JL forum. In a normal day over 30 subjects are posted to. Add in a dozen or more Slots subjects and you now have 3 pages with active discussions going on. My feeling is that is too much much for all but the hard core member to go through.

People tend to want instant gratification on the Internet. I get a number of emails each day on "how do I register" to "how do I post a new message" and "how do I reply". If a couple of seconds were taken to look at what is on the screen, the answer is in front of them. We won't even go into the duplicate posts were a simple search would give the answer. BTW, I do answer each and every email explaining how to register/post/reply.

So anyways, it may be that the vintage area could be combined with another forum, but which one? or none? I think the Slots area is doing well enough that it is not in danger of going stale. of course either/both could change at any time.

Of course we like to hear what our members think... none of this is set in stone.

 

[rwwcarguy]

As Hank stated, the vintage board was my idea. I started it because my first passion is vintage diecast and I didn't feel welcomed at other vintage diecast boards because of my interest in Contemporaty Diecast too. These sentiments seemed to be shared by others here so I thought it could be a fun place for us outcast to talk about the old stuff. Also, as Hank stated, the Johnny Lightning board has so much traffic, a Topper post disappears soon. Plus I wanted to see discussions about Redlines and other vintage stuff. Unfortunatly, the traffic has been less than expected and maybe it is time to kill it off. I hoped in time it would develop a following but I've not had much time to promote it. Any thoughts or ideas about it are welcomed.

Regarding the Slot Car boards, it seemed the slot car guys really wanted them.

 

[robmcin]

bobby,

I think the vintage board my take off in fall/winter/ If you notice, even the JL board is not as busy right now.

I go there every day, just not too much to say, I'm sure nobody wants to see another Topper Ferrari I bought again, and again, and agai and againnnnnnnnnn

 

[Captain Fred]

The technical information and performance tips on the slotcar pages would probably bore the average diecast collector. Either that or most of the good tips and information would get bumped too quickly from the diecast page. I have no problem skipping back and fourth between the appropriate subjects.

The good old JL diecast page is still my home. :thumbsup:

 

[CTWLSMIKE]

Hey Rob, can I see another of your Ferraris?

I've been around nearly a year now, spending my time solely in the diecast forums. From my perspective, it appears only necessary really to have four forums:

1. Johnny Lightning
2. All other Diecast
3. Off Topic
4. Swap & Sell

Whether this would work or not is obviously unpredictable. And, I'm sure it's easy to run statistics, but just my observation, the non JL boards seem to be infrequently posted on. There is a clamoring for less O/T sometimes although I think everyone enjoys it, it might be better situated in it's own forum for times when you want to take a diecast break.