Here's my take on this idea so far folks....
As you are aware, we only JUST created the Big Block Fox forums. We need to allow time to judge it's usefulness before we move on to other things.
Pretty much everything on this site is broken down by car model. Putting Big Block Fox under 5oh is the logical extension that follows that model.
I cannot see ever having just an "Engine Swap" forum. That is what the Technical sections for each model year are for! They are there as a gathering place for technical information relating specifically to the model year that they are named for. Creating an engine swap forum for all model years will only dilute the information contained in it so that folks have to weed though a lot of threads in order to find one that is applicable to them. That sort of thing has been tried and failed. The forum ends up becoming a ghost town with little traffic or participation. Look at the traffic for the Power Adder Forum as an example. Compare participation in that forum to that of forums that are model specific. There is no comparison.
As with most things though, there are some good points in what you are saying. This is what I see as a possibility coming from your suggestion:
If the Big Block Fox forum takes off and gets the use that we think that it should, then I could see there (at some point) being an Engine Swap top forum with sub-forums broken down by model beneath it. Kinda of like Mustang 5.0. It, in itself is not a forum. Tech and Talk etc. are contained within it.
As for the Big Block Talk forum... That will not happen. We are still talking about the Fox Mustang here and there is a link provided that takes you directly to 5oh Talk. The Talk forum exists for the soul purpose of keeping non-technical thread OUT of the tech forums. With that in mind, the 5oh Talk forum is more than sufficient. There's not reason to create another off-topic forum for this purpose.
You guys know that I'm a stickler for keeping tech topics in tech, and Talk topics in Talk. I imagine that this is why there is a request for a Big Block discussion forum. I do realize that Big Blocks for these cars is pretty unique (compared to other topics that go along with 5ohs and the small block) so I'm willing to make you this deal if you guys agree and think that it's a good (even if temporary) solution:
For the immediate future (while we gauge the usefulness of the new forum)... I will agree to NOT move threads to the Talk section (technical or not) so long as they remain ON TOPIC. That is... so long as they are conversation about the Big Block Fox, they can stay in that forum. This includes, shopping threads, what if threads, and/or theory threads or picture threads..... So long as they are about Big Block Foxes.
Would that be acceptable until we have time to see how things go?
The new forum was created as a collection point for information specific to putting these Big Blocks in our cars. I do however, see your point and would like to accommodate our user base. At the same time though, I don't wish to upset the organization of Stangnet because I believe that the way that things are organized now are pretty damned good!
I'll move this thread back to the new forum so those involved can post their comments. Let me know what you think about my suggestion for an interim fix.
~Daggs
