just a little thought for the admins....

[ApexEater]

Beaumont and Southeast Texas deserve their own sub-forum. Houston and DFW are their own animals altogether.

[leekellerking]

Beaumont and Southeast Texas deserve their own sub-forum. Houston and DFW are their own animals altogether.


Ain't that the truth! :lol2:


Lee
(Beaumont born, Sour Lake reared, Sugar Land.....uh, something)

[Quick-Silver]

Welcome, I see at the time of this writing you only have 6 posts. My thoughts on your suggestion is for you to try to learn how a system works before suggesting any changes, please.

If you were to try and get comfortable with the system the way it is, you may feel the "Family" thing about this forum. To break the forum down into sub-cultures would IMHO take away the very thing that makes this a successful board.;-)

[txbanditrydr]

Sounds like you might favor having a minimum number of posts before making site suggestions..... I suggest you make that suggestion - for the "family". :rolleyes:

[Squeaky]

Hold on folks... number of posts has no bearing on whether someone has a valid suggestion. Whether or not the site runs with the idea is not dependent on how much "pull" someone has in the community - it's based on whether the community will benefit from the idea.

AE - thank you for the suggestion.

The only area of the forum that we currently break down into geographic regions is the "Upcoming Rides Trips & Events" so that people can find stuff that's close to them that actually relies on physical attendance. Is that where you'd like to see it added?

[Cooltouch]

In defense of the "new guy", whether it's ApexEater or anyone else -- heck I'm still new around here -- it should be pointed out that the person new to a system is most often the one who will have "alternative" suggestions because he's not used to it yet. Hasn't lost sight of the forest for the trees yet, as it were.

For example, I joined a forum yesterday, a forum that uses the same forum software as this one. But for some unfathomable reason, the command to view all new posts is not available. Now, if I were to like the forum enough to find that I might be hanging out there on a regular basis, I would make the suggestion to the admins that they activate this command.

Having been a newbie on other boards and having made suggestions that were rejected because "we oldtimers like the way things are," I would fully expect to receive the same response from the admins of this new (to me) board, even though it seems plain to me it would be a valuable improvement. Personally I find this sort of non-receptive attitude frustrating and just a bit pig-headed.

Oh, and by the way, one of those forums I made improvement suggestions to (as a newbie) a couple of years ago, after dragging their feet for that long, they finally came around just recently to seeing things my way and made the changes I'd recommended. I'm sure, however, that after all that time had passed that they'd forgotten about my original suggestions, and decided that they thought about the improvements all by themselves.

[Squeaky]

In defense of the "new guy"...

Yeah, but I type faster. :lol2:

[Gilk51]

Regardless of how new someone is, the more folks that squawk will cause something to happen (the Squeaky wheel gets the oil :lol2: ). That's how the Waco and West Texas sections were added to the Upcoming Events area.

[Quick-Silver]

Hold on now! All I am saying is learn how a system works before you start preaching change. Someone with a newbie post count hasn't been around long enough to know how this system works, IMHO.

Squeaky, I don't know where you came up with "how much "pull" someone has in the community" thought.:trust:

[NUTT]

minimum number of posts before making site suggestions

1,000

[Squeaky]

Hold on now! All I am saying is learn how a system works before you start preaching change. Someone with a newbie post count hasn't been around long enough to know how this system works, IMHO.

Then let's help the new guy and show him how it works... ;-)

The Upcoming section has breakdowns for areas, and anything that doesn't "fit" tends to go into the overall view HERE (http://www.twtex.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13). If you jump down below the listed regions, you can click the NEW THREAD button to get something going in your area.

Squeaky, I don't know where you came up with "how much "pull" someone has in the community" thought.:trust:

I was just trying to say that number of posts doesn't equal more knowledge on the way a forum works or should work. Heck, I'm still learning little tricks and tips and I spend as much time on here as is humanly possible! :giveup:

[leekellerking]

In defense of the "new guy", whether it's ApexEater or anyone else -- heck I'm still new around here -- it should be pointed out that the person new to a system is most often the one who will have "alternative" suggestions because he's not used to it yet. Hasn't lost sight of the forest for the trees yet, as it were.



When I did the Walk to Emmaus retreat, one of the speakers told a story about the last seven words of the Church:


"We never did it that way before!"

Just because we've always done it one way doesn't make it the best way.


Lee
(785 posts and climbing)

[ruger9mm]

I am not sure whether we need another geographical area, but if it is a meet and greet deal or Beaumont area bike night just start a thread and post where. "When you post it they will come"

[ApexEater]

I just find it wierd to leave people from southeast texas crowded with people from houston or DFW. Southeast Texas is its own region, with its own economy, and own cultures. As a native, I think my opinion has some merit.

Will it not generate enough interest??

1,000 post till I can make a suggestion?!!....I've got riding to do:rider:

Hold on folks... number of posts has no bearing on whether someone has a valid suggestion. Whether or not the site runs with the idea is not dependent on how much "pull" someone has in the community - it's based on whether the community will benefit from the idea.

AE - thank you for the suggestion.

The only area of the forum that we currently break down into geographic regions is the "Upcoming Rides Trips & Events" so that people can find stuff that's close to them that actually relies on physical attendance. Is that where you'd like to see it added?

Thats it.....

[ed29]

Welcome to the forum ApexEater. Fresh ideas and perspectives are welcome too. Time will tell if there is interest enough in it. In the mean time... see ya out on the roads! :rider:

[Squeaky]

I just find it wierd to leave people from southeast texas crowded with people from houston or DFW. Southeast Texas is its own region, with its own economy, and own cultures.

Well, yours is certainly not the only area currently without a subforum in the Upcoming Rides section. We didn't have any until last year or so when it became difficult to sort through the multiple bike nights and weekend rides across the whole state just to find something that was withing your own geographic area.

Like I said, all the "other" areas not covered are in the main Upcoming section (before clicking into a sub-section) and they tend to include areas like Huntsville, New Braunfels, etc. that don't fit into one of the listed areas.

Please feel free to post up some rides in there - everyone gets to see them when they click in there, plus a lot of us use the "New Posts" feature to see all the threads regardless of what section they were posted in. Just be sure to include some reference to the area in the title so people will know to look if it's close to them or they'd like to attend. All it takes is a time, place, and desire to see people gather. ;-)

We'll also see that it's considered for it's own section. Heck, the Austinites use theirs so infrequently we might have to take it away!
:duck:

[ApexEater]

I'm seeing a Sub-Forum labeled East/Southeast Texas.....combine the two regions as the people seem to intermingle from these parts.

I see where we are represented anyways so its no biggie....East texas guys are below the sub-forums in the main section

I'm not demanding anything, just making an observation/suggestion, and will not be dissapointed either way. Nice to have a forum to pollute in general.:mrgreen:

[Rainmaker]

Sounds like you might favor having a minimum number of posts before making site suggestions..... I suggest you make that suggestion - for the "family". :rolleyes:

Of course then you would have to consider the contex of each post. Are all post equal? Does :popcorn: counta s a post? What if I use multiple smileys do 10 smileys earn me an extra post? Does a photo count as a post? Well, I guess I've rambled on long enough, added 1 post to my count and increased my "stature" on the board. :-P

[Rainmaker]

364 wasn't sitting well so this makes 365.

[Gilk51]

Of course then you would have to consider the contex of each post. Are all post equal? Does :popcorn: counta s a post? What if I use multiple smileys do 10 smileys earn me an extra post? Does a photo count as a post?

The "Word Affliation" thread doesn't count. :popcorn: gets 1/4 but :coffee: gets 1/2. And :eek2: or :giveup: counts as 1 post... :roll:

You need help, Erik. :nana: (also counts as one!)

:lol2:

[NUTT]

1,000 post till I can make a suggestion?!!....I've got riding to do

That was more a jab at Quick-Silver who was suggesting that you are too much of a n00b to make suggestions. I was hoping to point out his relative n00bism, seeing as how he has less than 1,000 posts and has only been a member of this forum for a year.

Please note: This was not meant as a mean spirited jab, more of a "don't hate on the n00bs" jab.

I was also pointing out my recent attainment of the 1,000 post mark (which came after 2.5 years & 20,000 miles on two wheels).

[wonder91178]

Since ApexEater spoke out of turn (or is that too soon?), can we make him TWT's official redheaded stepchild? :trust:










:lol2:

[ApexEater]

Since ApexEater spoke out of turn (or is that too soon?), can we make him TWT's official redheaded stepchild? :trust:




I can live with that.....:)

[Gilk51]

Since ApexEater spoke out of turn (or is that too soon?), can we make him TWT's official redheaded stepchild?

He could complement Sleepy Weasel's "Resident PITA" :doh:

[Tracker]

http://www.leavelles.net/smilies/knockknock.gif

:welcome:

[Tourmeister]

:tab Squeaky is right. I am more interested in the merit of the comment than the status of the person making the comment. There are a good number of people that have lurked on the site for over a year or more without ever registering. So simply because someone is newly registered or only has a few posts does not mean they are literally new to the site.

:tab As for the original comment, I am still not real happy with the current setup. As Squeaky mentioned, it has only been in the last year or so that we added the subforums. Personally, I prefer it as all one big forum. My goal for this site was to bring people together from all over the place. When events are all posted in one section, you don't have to go hunting for them to see if there is something out of your area that you might be interested in attending. By adding the subforums, people tend to ignore other areas and only focus on their own. This defeats the original intent. Moreover, there is no easy way to define the boundaries of regions. This gets people doing multiple posts in the various sub-forums trying to make sure they hit everyone in their area if they are near one of the boundaries.

:tab What I would really like to do, and may yet do, is have all the events in one forum again. However, whenever someone adds a post about a ride, event, etc,... they'd tack on a prefix like [Hou], [Dal], [FtW], [Aus], [Bmt], etc,... They don't have to be three letter abbreviations, but I would like to have them standardized. I would post a sticky at the top of the forum explaining the abbreviations and listing all of them. The benefit of this is that all the threads would be in one place for someone simply browsing to see what is going on everywhere at a glance. For those interested in a particular region, they could simply do a search in that forum for the prefix of the area in which they are interested. New prefixes could be added as people want without affecting the layout of the forums. I think that would serve both purposes.

:tab Thoughts?

[ApexEater]

I like the region designations better. For example; Houston and it's suburbs could fill up a section in a weekend, which would bully around other regions. Even if they were searchable, I think it would deter members from less populated/spread out areas, as it will make them feel people are indifferent about group rides etc. from their region and it's only "happnin" in places like Dallas so why bother.

But hey, I'm a noob.:mrgreen:

[Quick-Silver]

:tab Squeaky is right. I am more interested in the merit of the comment than the status of the person making the comment. There are a good number of people that have lurked on the site for over a year or more without ever registering. So simply because someone is newly registered or only has a few posts does not mean they are literally new to the site.

:tab As for the original comment, I am still not real happy with the current setup. As Squeaky mentioned, it has only been in the last year or so that we added the subforums. Personally, I prefer it as all one big forum. My goal for this site was to bring people together from all over the place. When events are all posted in one section, you don't have to go hunting for them to see if there is something out of your area that you might be interested in attending. By adding the subforums, people tend to ignore other areas and only focus on their own. This defeats the original intent. Moreover, there is no easy way to define the boundaries of regions. This gets people doing multiple posts in the various sub-forums trying to make sure they hit everyone in their area if they are near one of the boundaries.

:tab What I would really like to do, and may yet do, is have all the events in one forum again. However, whenever someone adds a post about a ride, event, etc,... they'd tack on a prefix like [Hou], [Dal], [FtW], [Aus], [Bmt], etc,... They don't have to be three letter abbreviations, but I would like to have them standardized. I would post a sticky at the top of the forum explaining the abbreviations and listing all of them. The benefit of this is that all the threads would be in one place for someone simply browsing to see what is going on everywhere at a glance. For those interested in a particular region, they could simply do a search in that forum for the prefix of the area in which they are interested. New prefixes could be added as people want without affecting the layout of the forums. I think that would serve both purposes.

:tab Thoughts? Exactly what I meant.:trust: I would like to add however, that until a person interacts with the folks on this board, that person is not in a position to fully understand and feel the Karma, if you will, of the board. To make a change to one part of a system with the idea of improving the total system may or may not yield overall positive results.

From a system dynamics point of view, I have seen all too often where a change was made to a subsystem by a new young manager with the idea of making that piece run better while the outcome created havov to a multitude of other subsystems resulting in a negative impact to the total system.


But hey, I'm a noob.:mrgreen:
Apex, If I hurt your feelings, you have my sincerest apology. I tend to be a bottom line kind of guy and as such I often times omit the necessary wording to fully explain myself.

[Cooltouch]

:tab As for the original comment, I am still not real happy with the current setup. As Squeaky mentioned, it has only been in the last year or so that we added the subforums. Personally, I prefer it as all one big forum. My goal for this site was to bring people together from all over the place. When events are all posted in one section, you don't have to go hunting for them to see if there is something out of your area that you might be interested in attending. By adding the subforums, people tend to ignore other areas and only focus on their own. This defeats the original intent.

Thoughts?

Yes. I'm still new to the boards here. But one of the very first commands I looked for was the "New Posts" command. And I also quickly discovered the User CP setting where any thread that I'd posted in would appear there.

So anyway, as you and others here who use the "New Posts" command know, it doesn't really matter where a post is originally placed, the thread will appear in the New Posts search every time a new post is made to that thread.

Personally, I like the way you have things now. Again, as a newcomer, it has been useful to me to be able to go into these regional subs and read back through earlier threads that may be dormant now, when/if I'm looking for more or specific information. Folks who have been around longer may already know about such things, but when everything is new and you might not even know what terms to search on, the alternative, where everything is grouped together in a single forum, would be having to page through dozens and dozens of threads in search of some that might have some relevancy to what is desired. To me, subcatagorization is a good thing. Besides, I'll wager most regulars here use the "New Posts" command, which has the de facto result of keeping the original intent in place.