Gmc's Forums Are Messy Options

[Bluesberry]

Hi GMC,

I've been thinking about this for a while. The facts are: GMC is an awesome community and the forums are of very much help to everyone here. And the forums are very messy. And by this I don't mean the layout or the skins - I mean the people using these forums. I think that people have very good ideas and very much things to say, but they often forget to check if somebody's asked the same thing before. And even if they do, they still post a new topic on the subject - and as a result, we have, for example, probably some 30 topics for sweeping basics (I just pulled this out of my head).

You all probably agree that this eventually leads to a situation where people get tired trying to search older topics on the subject they are asking about, since the information they are looking for is scattered all over the place - leading into even more scattering.

So how about this: we start some MAJOR topics like: 3-string sweeping shapes, Jazz phrasing, Economy picking etc. If somebody's got the guts, we could try and gather together all (or most) of the previous discussions on the subject in the opening post. Also a link to a GMC Wiki handling the subject would be great. That way it would be much easier for people to find the information they're looking for, without having to ask the same question a dozen of people have asked already.

These kinds of big topics would of course become massive eventually, so when a topic grows very big (say, more than 10 pages or so) we'll start another one: Economy picking 2 etc.

Of course that could have its problems, too, and it's kind of troublesome to get started, BUT! I think it would be the right thing to do. I believe these forums are messy, and following that kind of a method we could organize the information this place contains much more effectively. I also believe that we should encourage new forum users to read these "main" topics first, since the answer might very well be there.

So my main points: The forums are messy now, so I claim that by gathering the information needed on the many subjects we have here under some bigger major topics, we could make this place a much better place to read and write.

What do you think?

-Kristian

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[Marek Rojewski]

From my experience on different forums, it doesn't work good. There are few effect of such organizing:
1. tons of pinned topics, that forces You to scroll and scroll and scroll down to find any new topic
2. there are similar amount of new threads with the most basic questions, but they get closed, and the poster is just informed "this question is already answered "there""
3. the whole activity on the forum decrease over time, as older members already got their answers, and newer ones instead of posting things, just look up for the answers, and leave after.

Of course GMC have many traits, that are beyond any other regular forum, but still some of those unwanted effects could take place.

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[zen]

I totally agree with this ... It boils down to forum etiquette that a lot of people are not used to ....

In my opinion it's just plain disrespectful to fireaway a question that is already PINNED in another forum.
It's a demand for answers without making the prior effort to search for it.. Everyone likes quick answers
If it's a genuine request, the poster would post what he/she has searched or admit that he/she is confused .. rather than create posts in the form of questions like "What are modes" and expecting everyone to jump in and address it.

In most forums on the net, it's a RULE to search the entire database properly on the queries before creating new threads..
But then again GMC is fairly small community, especially if you consider the number of members to the number of people who actually post !!!! What is it ? Not even 0.1 % of the total members post here ... But it should improve with time..

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[Fran]

I believe the answer could be in the knowledge base (wiki), I've been trying to organize the inmense amount of knowledge scattered in our forums there, and you will find lots of information from our forums there.

What we could do to avoid having lots of pined topics and threads is just create an entry in the wiki, for instance "Sweeping FAQ" and add there all the info we find in the forums, either copying there the most important and useful answers from our members and also providing links to the original threads.

I will gladly help with this project, and will probably make a good continuation of the WCP (Wiki Centralization Project) which I started a long ago and served to gather all gear/album reviews from our boards into our wiki. (Take a walk in the wiki board and read the pinned threads!)

Everyone can edit and create new entries in the wiki, the wiki belongs to GMC members and is the place where everyone is invited and encouraged to build new stuff and ideas, such as this one. So go ahead! I will start working on this, and all help is appreciated: either start doing it yourselves or maybe send me the topics & links to useful threads regarding the matter.

The knowledge base is the answer!

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[Bluesberry]

Marek, I agree with some of your points. But I'd like to point out that in the current situation you have to scroll even more - perhaps through a hundred pages of topics to find the answer you're looking for. Also I don't believe that GMC:s activity would drop, since all questions can never be answered with just one point, I believe strongly that these "major" topics would be very active. I prefer having a big topic filled with different questions on the same subject rather than a dozen topics on the same question. (yes, I'm exaggerating it a bit ) The idea isn't to be disrespectful towards newbies, but rather to guide them towards the right direction.

When people see what questions are answered, the discussion isn't only focused around the same subjects but it could maybe take whole new developments. I don't believe this would stop the discussion - more like expand it!

Fran, I really believe that would be a good start! But I also believe we should give a try to this idea of mine, since the Wikis will never be able to answer all the small questions; so they are asked in the forums. Which leads, as I pointed out, to some problems.

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[ZakkWylde]

From my experience on different forums, it doesn't work good. There are few effect of such organizing:
1. tons of pinned topics, that forces You to scroll and scroll and scroll down to find any new topic
2. there are similar amount of new threads with the most basic questions, but they get closed, and the poster is just informed "this question is already answered "there""
3. the whole activity on the forum decrease over time, as older members already got their answers, and newer ones instead of posting things, just look up for the answers, and leave after.

Of course GMC have many traits, that are beyond any other regular forum, but still some of those unwanted effects could take place.

I agree 100%!!!
In fact I would stop browsing the GMC forum if it would become like those other forums...

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[Fran]

Fran, I really believe that would be a good start! But I also believe we should give a try to this idea of mine, since the Wikis will never be able to answer all the small questions; so they are asked in the forums. Which leads, as I pointed out, to some problems.

Oh, of course!, all I wish is to take all the important info from the boards into our wiki, so that we have a good, solid knowledge base that is helpful and fast when browsing for info. And the source of all info is the boards!, I like to think that the boards are the heart of the site while the knowledge base is its memory


I like the boards, and I don't really feel there's anything wrong when people ask the same thing over and over, because even though the questions might be the same the stories are always different, new opinions appear, and it makes the forums feel so "alive", I check these boards a hundred times a day and love how there are alway new topics & answers here every time I look

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[Bluesberry]

I like the boards, and I don't really feel there's anything wrong when people ask the same thing over and over, because even though the questions might be the same the stories are always different, new opinions appear, and it makes the forums feel so "alive", I check these boards a hundred times a day and love how there are alway new topics & answers here every time I look

I disagree. I find it difficult to find the correct topics because of the amount the topics started every day. In bigger "main" topics people could still ask the same questions - and even though their question might have been answered already, someone might have something new to say. These good qualities of GMC:ers wouldn't disappear anywhere. I believe that this would be more helpful to people with questions and to people (like me) who get easily confused.

-Kristian

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[ZakkWylde]

I disagree. I find it difficult to find the correct topics because of the amount the topics started every day. In bigger "main" topics people could still ask the same questions - and even though their question might have been answered already, someone might have something new to say. These good qualities of GMC:ers wouldn't disappear anywhere. I believe that this would be more helpful to people with questions and to people (like me) who get easily confused.

-Kristian

Nobody reads those gigantic topics regularly so it might take days for a question to get an answer while with the way it is now, the new topics are read by a lot of users and a lot of quick answers are certain!

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[Bluesberry]

Nobody reads those gigantic topics regularly so it might take days for a question to get an answer while with the way it is now, the new topics are read by a lot of users and a lot of quick answers are certain!

I disagree with you - I haven't been to a good forum (like GMC) where big topics aren't being read. But I, for example, definitely do not read all the new topics because their amount and diversity are just too great. I see we have two different camps here - let's hear what the admins think.

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[Fran]

I always use the "View new topics" button up there, that way I check all the new stuff, and I couldn't live without it. I click on it like a million times every day

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[Marek Rojewski]

Fran it works same way with me:D I do my stuff, and click that damn button every few minutes:D

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[kaznie_NL]

I really don't mind answering the same question ten times!

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[JamesT]

I really don't mind reading a new post that's similar to one I've seen before. There are usually some new perspectives that come about when a question is asked in a slightly different way even if it's basically a repeat of what was said before.

And IMHO, I prefer less formality in discussion forums with fewer "rules" and less "structure". To me, it just provides a more relaxing atmosphere knowing that if you post something that's kind of cliche or frequently talked about, it's ok, and nobody is going to come after you for it.

Just my 2c.

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[Crazy_Diamond]

I really don't mind reading a new post that's similar to one I've seen before. There are usually some new perspectives that come about when a question is asked in a slightly different way even if it's basically a repeat of what was said before.

And IMHO, I prefer less formality in discussion forums with fewer "rules" and less "structure". To me, it just provides a more relaxing atmosphere knowing that if you post something that's kind of cliche or frequently talked about, it's ok, and nobody is going to come after you for it.

Just my 2c.

I totally agree with you James ...

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[Rik Veldhuizen]

agree as well will the last posts. Almost exclusively checking just the new posts/topics...

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[jafomatic]

ctrl+t, type 'get', down arrow, enter

Opens this URL in a new tab: https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_fo...amp;CODE=getnew which is that "View New Posts" item

Read what looks good. Then click "mark all forums read" when there's nothing left that's interesting to me.

The other thing you can do is subscribe to specific subforums so that you receive an email alert when there's a new thread. I do this for collaborations right now but I also did this for the MTP as well.

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[Fusar]

I use this "New Topic"-Button a lot as well I see what you wanna say Kristian, but I think I like this forum so much, because you don't have to have fears to ask a question!
However, I'll find it a great idea, to use forum topics to form posts in the Wiki, Fran! So we would have a FAQ for forum-newbies, which would be worth reading, but they could ask their questions, no problem

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[zen]

This is becoming a catch 22 .. I use the 'view new topic' button too..

I reckon let things be as they are coz we DO want more people posting (the stats are just sad) than anything else.. be it repeated queries ... and on the side work on Wiki as much as possible so it can be linked to the topics appropriately.

The majority of the users who don't post probably find what they're looking for ..which directly affects the activity of the forum ..... hence leading to a no-win situation.

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[Storm Linnebjerg]

I'm yet another view-new-posts-aholic. It's all I do all day on GMC.

I don't think what you're referring to is such a big deal though. I know from other forums that what you suggest can work quite well, but as others have said, I think as it is now here works just fine.

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