We had one for Spike’s and we have at least two current; one for DPMS/Oly and one for “first time buyers”. We even have picture threads which pretty much fall in the same category. and some sort of lesser demons like the load carriage thread, first-line belt thread, etc.
The Gear Heads thread was an epic use of this, but the member that started it and kept feeding it got fed up and left. It served very well to keep all the off-topic discussion of cars in one place.
Should we have more? Would it cut down on repeat threads, and repeat arguments? I’d suggest:
[ol]
[li]Steel-cased ammo[/li][li]Bolt-tail scraping[/li][li]Which rail system is best?[/li][li]Which stock is best?[/li][li]Which pistol-grip is best?[/li][li]Which Aimpoint mount do you use? (with sub-topic of absolute vs. lower 1/3)[/li][li]Which BUIS do you use? (with sub-topic of flip vs. fixed)[/li][li]Which 5.56 suppressor should I buy for my AR?[/li][/ol]
I’m not suggesting that these stay locked, but instead are used to contain the discussions and allow an easy place to go and find the entire history of the topic at hand. Even as an older member here I think it would be awesome to be able to easily find the genesis of things. If we had a thread, for example, on stocks it would be really interesting to have a continuous record of the changes people go through as the market changes and new products become available.
ETA:
I have made the items above hotlinks where I think we already have a good thread going that would be a good “official” thread. If you have specific threads that you think merit “official” status let’s get some links posted so there can be some discussion.
I like the idea of cutting back on repeat threads…
The theory behind your idea is sound and if it works out, finding all threads with a similiar subject in one area is a plus as well.
I see a poll as being helpful in a stickied “official” thread like a stock or buis thread. When reading some of the monster threads here it would be helpful to weed out posts only stating “I only use XXXXXX” and +1’s. It would be appropriate to actually post if you have more information such as I use XXXXX and sometimes YYYYYYY or other actual experience.
I agree 100% … but we need somewhere for some people to talk about how their Great Great PayPaw’s Civil War magic goat urine and lard mixture lubricated the Mercury Space Capsules, prevents rust on submarines and cures most cancers??
I actually like GD now that it’s limited access. I do wish there was a separate room for “political” stuff but that’s another topic entirely. Let’s try to keep this thread on-track with regards to the concept in the OP.
One thing that bears mentioning is that if handled incorrectly this makes a ton of work for mods/staff. If, however, handled correctly we don’t really need them at all. All we have to do is agree together, those of us that are here most frequently, that we will remind new posters of “hey, would you mind re-posting this over in the official thread?” And once they do, we can simply ignore their original post and move on in the official thread.
One thing that may help is some way to make it easy for new posters with questions to find the correct official thread without having to post somewhere else and be referred over.
Perhaps a dedicated “official” thread area and a reference to it in the “welcome to M4C” intro message.
It would be nice if there was a way to make these “required reading” and have all posting locked (as GD is now until criteria is met) until the member has read each of them.
Something like a “REQUIRED READS BEFORE POSTING” at the top of the forum list, inside would be multiple links, one for each topic (If threads are unlocked, they would need only to read the first post. The member clicks on each one and reads to the end and clicks a “read” button at the end. Once all are complete, the posting ability is unlocked. I understand we are still going to have the same threads started but I feel like this would really knock the quantity of them down, and at the same time show who is “that guy” members are.
I feel like that is really far fetched but it’s what popped in the brain.
This is a fine idea Rob. The fact that most of this info is already contained somewhere keeps me from having to ask questions wasting peoples time. Thanks also for every ones advice and knowledge.
If anything, it should be it’s own parent forum with child forums organized by topic or system (everything magazine, everything ammunition, everything optics).
No matter how it’s “organized” or setup, it will be a lot of work to maintain. Nothing about administrating a forum is easy on the mods.
I went back and edited my OP to include some links, but I think it might be best to start the official threads fresh from scratch. I don’t know that each needs it’s own child forum. I think we could have the mods/staff set up a sub-section for “knowledgebase” threads (or whatever we want to call them) and each topic has it’s own thread. Not sure if the forum software supports it or not but if that section could be controlled such that only mod/staff can start a new thread but anyone can reply to a thread once it’s started, it should have exactly the effect that we want in terms of not getting clogged with undesirable threads but allowing anyone with an opinion to weigh in once the topic is agreed upon and started.
I really hope this takes off and can happen. I think it would be really great to be able to see a thread on, for example, stocks evolve over months and even years as the industry changes. I’m not “moderator” material but I’d be happy to help however I can in terms of simply maintaining the sub-section.
I think we could start with:
[ul]
[li]Official M4C AR stock thread[/li][li]Official M4C AR pistol grip thread[/li][li]Official M4C AR forend thread[/li][li]Official M4C AR sling thread[/li][/ul]
Those seem to be the most basic and the most universal. Each thread could start with a simple post encouraging members to weigh in with pictures, opinions, etc. The starting post in each could be:
“Which _________ do you prefer and why? Feel free to post pictures and opinions, but please try to avoid the one-liner posts and instead expound on and explain why you chose and use the gear you have and what you like and dislike about it.”
I don’t know. But I feel we need to do something. The overall quality of information on the board has really decreased lately.
The recent influx of Modern Warfare experts has really made me uneasy. I can tell that established posters are getting frustrated. And many of the new people don’t seem to understand the reason for the board.
