Forum Improvement

final5-0

Mustang Master
Apr 6, 2003
6,817
13
79
DFW Texas
This specific forum could be better ... much better :D

I got no gripe with the Owner or Mods :nono:

They gave us a place to talk and learn about Tuning 94-95 Stangs :nice:

How we use it determines if it is good or ... not so good ;)

We got peeps who can help
and
We got peeps who wanna learn

Most importantly ... We got quality peeps who hang here :nice:

I say that because I've seen quality behavior such as ........
Those who have the knowledge .......

as they say ... do not lord it over those who don't :nono:
or
don't flame those who want to learn :nono:

We all know how special this place is :Word:

Sure ... there are other forums that focus on tuning Stangs but we got a
perfect opportunity to further define that focus to ... Our Stangs :banana:

I get so tired of answering the same Q's over and over :bang:

I've come to believe it is because previous info covering the same
subjects can at times ... be difficult to find.

I got some ideas ...
I'm sure you got some too ... Most likely better than mine ;)

:shrug: Anybody want to talk about this some more :shrug:

My first idea would be :D

Start a thread about a SPECIFIC concern like ... Shift Retard

Title that thread with SPECIFIC words like ... Shift Retard

Discuss that subject and that subject ONLY in that thread. That would
allow the subject to be more easily found in a search. As time passes,
other info could be added of course.

As that thread develops ........
If a question or thought of related but different info comes to mind ........
State the question or thought
and
Start a different thread with appropriate specific thread title

The whole intent here is to make the info more easily found :banana:
thus the research for those who wanna learn becomes less of a
hassle :bang: and those who put forth an effort to share don't
have to keep doing it over and over :crazy:

Seems like one of those Win- Win kinda deals to me ;)

Again ... If you got a way to refine my idea or an idea that
accomplishes the same objective with totally different methods

Lets hear them :nice:

Maybe I'm the only one who thinks there is a need here :shrug:

Grady
 
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i agree, Grady. this place is great--my first choice when it comes to getting *quality info.

i hate being the guy that starts a new thread because i can't find the info already. i've noticed the issue w/ searching for the titles--they're usually not accurate, as you point out. (it's funny you mentioned the Shift Retard one cause i'm looking for that info--wanna get rid of that and wnated to know which scalar to adjust)

anyhow, great ideas!
 
hmm... how about, maybe, a sticky w/ twEECer tuning FAQ's, ie: how/what to modify to achieve a goal.

i understand that lots of the things aren't as simple as changing fan speed or idle, but there are plenty of things that can be listed.
 
I've thought about this a good bit - having a bunch of stickies is a good option to keep the information in StangNet. The downside to this is that it quickly gets out of hand to find things, is very hard to use offline and also very hard to backup in the event of dataloss.

What I decided to do to organize my own personal store of Mustang information was to create a wiki.

For those not familiar with what a wiki is, it is a web-accessible database suitable for storing information - Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/) is a great example. In a wiki's purest form, the public at large is able to edit information and add pages to it. These changes are archived in the event of a malicious user so things can be rolled back. You can also require a signup in order to edit etc. The point is that you can open up the information so that anyone can edit and add to it making the amount of updates much more frequent and as a result, more useful.

It would be an awesome resource to have not only for tuning information, but also for having hard, factual information on other often asked questions like 4.10s vs 3.73s; how to change an intake, will MAC longtubes fit my AODE, what sparkplugs/gaps to run etc.

Food for thought.

Wes
 
I see you HAVE been thinking about the issue as well Wes :D

One more than one occasion, I've suggested to other self tuners
to save info they run across on the net in a structured fashion on
their hard drive.

I have almost 100% narrowed my efforts down to 94-95 SN but
some of my past efforts are in Tech, Talk, and Tuning. In a way,
that kinda makes my past efforts to be not all that much help to
the new folks that come along.

I feel I gotta say this ... It just ain't me :nono:

Many times I remember Great Stuff shared by some of you guys in
the past but ... I have to make a pretty good effort to find it and
I don't always find the info :bang:

Hey ... Lets be real here :D
Nobody has the time to spoon feed noobs :nono:
They have to teach themselves as the rest of us have done ;)
but
It just seems that for this site .............
We ought to be able to make past info somewhat easier to find :shrug:

Other sites and mine also ... Where I've shared info ......
Well ...
Its there and available for anybody that has gumption to go get it :)

It is just that ... this site and these people .......
I wish to share openly and freely :D
but
Just looking for a way to be more effective I guess you could say :shrug:

No matter if the info was being given or sought :)

Again Wes ... Good Stuff :nice:

I'm sure others have good ideas as well :banana:

Grady
 
I agree, stuff is at times hard to find, I have An Idea, Start a sticky with links to threads with good Info, Inside the sticky have it layed out nice with specific topics in bold and links to threads with good information about those topics under the right title.

Imo, this would be the best way to do it, If we could just get a volunteer to go thru all the old threads and pick out the good ones and sort everything out. Alot of good information is in old threads just needs to be found. Granted this will be a painfully long process and take up alot of time but it would really make this tuning forum one of the best places to find information period.

I would, but being I am still kinda noobish at this tuning stuff and dont have alot of extra time at all, wouldnt be very practicle for me to attempt it.
 
I think a closed faq for just a few things (and faqs that are kept from being 400+ pages by a mod trimming it) would be good.

In specific like a Faq for N/A, Boost, and N2O specifics...94-95 specifics of course. IF all three faqs also have the info about mafs and inj. that get asked and asked again...we will know 100% it is searchable for quick ref.

Also a sticky on the known Tweeker bugs for each release, if the searches I ran would have come up with the "update only" issue it would have saved me about 1 1/2 to 2yrs of headache.

I think the biggest task for us as helpers and learners is frankly drilling the SEARCH issue home. I am also a member on a 4x4 forum that is fair but harsh about the matter and it REALLY helps with the same questions over and over thing...you just have to keep it a civil "search first" rule. I think its a great rule to have for a forum such as ours.
 
Also a sticky on the known Tweeker bugs for each release, if the searches I ran would have come up with the "update only" issue it would have saved me about 1 1/2 to 2yrs of headache.

This goes to show perfectly what I feel is so ... such a shame :(

I remember when you stated you didn't know about the update only issue
I was like :eek:
I know Greg keeps up pretty good with this tuning stuff
and
He has even defended that version of software when I bashed it
Soooo
How in the world could he have not known about this issue

However ... Like all those other topics ........
I remember peeps saying things about it ... many times ... no doubt about it
but
When I searched ... I found way less info than I would have thought :shrug:

I don't totally understand it but have found this to be true :D

Some of the time ... when I search out old posts I've done .......

I find my search word or phrase is not specific enough :shrug:
or
I find the post buried way down in a thread where the subject has
changed entirely and the thread title has nothing to do with the info
I seek :shrug:

I'm so glad we are having this issue discussed :banana:
and
I'll be happy to do my part in making things better for all :D

Good Stuff by all so far :nice:

Keep the good ideas flowing :nice:

Grady
 
If you guys need my help in getting a sticky started or organizing things, be sure to let me know. My door's always open. PM me if you need anything.

Thank You Tim :D

I wanna help :)
but
I just ain't sure how to go about doing it :(

Thats the benefit of hanging out with peeps who got way more
smarts about this stuff than me ... I can ask for their help ;)

Is there a simple answer :D
or
Is it not appropriate for me to ask you because of your position here :shrug:

Grady
 
We should start a simple thread about.....Common Simple Tuning question. Were you state something like- Shift Retard_ Then give a simple explanation of what it does and how and why to move it to a certain setting. Any other info thats not related or even question asked but that have been answered already be deleted so people that look true the thread dont have to look tru so many Pages and just straight answer. And maybe a pm sent to that person just telling them not to be butt hurt cuz their reply got erased. Oh yeah and make that a sticky Thread
 
My problem isn't really finding the info....
It's more of trying to think which words to put in the search box to find what I'm looking for.

Most of my problem is when I'm searching for something that has 3 letters in it....it omits those words.

Also, if you search for 2 words....it will look at those 2 words and search individually instead of searching for them as a group.

say I type in oil leak.

It will only search "leak"....which will bring up threads about coolant leaks, transmission leaks, etc....

or I type in radiator leak

It will bring up threads about which radiator is the best...or that someone is getting a new radiator....because it doesn't search as a group.

then I have to sift through more threads before I find anything regarding what I'm looking for.


of course.....maybe I just don't know how to use the search box :D Very possible there's some trick.
 
I have spent many hours :crazy: using search engines to dig out info
on various forums :D

Some se's seem to be more user friendly or efficient than others :scratch:

Here is a tip on those three letter words Clay :)

Say you wanna do a bit of research on the Fox pcm retrofit

You plug in PIH but it won't fly

Try *PIH or PIH* ... * is basically a wild card kinda thing as I understand it

On some se's you can place " in front and behind a group of words which
forces the se to return hits on the contents within the " marks

Like your oil leak example ... You get hits on oil and leak

"oil leak" will not return hits on oil or leak ... only ... oil leak :nice:

Having said all that ... I've tried that little trick here :D

It don't work :bang: :rlaugh:

Now that I think about it :scratch:

Not too long ago ... JT and I were talking about using the * and we both
said it worked.
Someone else said they could use three letter words.
I was sure I had never been able to use only three letter words
but at that time, they were correct and I could use three letter words.

Maybe there is some leeway in the se :D

Maybe Tim could see if the Quote Marks are an option that could be
evoked in the se :shrug:

Grady
 
i just bought a book about mustang tuning and all that jazz. been contemplating a tweecer now for a while. downloaded the software and played around with it a bit and realized there was a TON of options in there that can be changed, but not knowing a whole lot about tuning most changes will most likely be useless.


screenshots in a FAQ/basics thread would be most beneficial IMO