Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

suzukidave · May 30, 2002

Dear Admin5 As a regular grazer for a while now and occasional contributor to this Board, I am worried that it is becoming a victim of its own success. The number of posts has gone sky high. I can't begin to review them all and I'm sure I'm not alone. I've reacted by retreating to the boating section where I know a little more anyway, but now people are starting to post engine questions in the boating section, probably because they worry no one will read them here. So, I'm wondering if we shouldn't all consider breaking "engines and motors" down into several categories in the hopes of giving people who review and try to help manageable boards to work with. I also wonder if some of the more regular people on the Board might be willing to volunteer to "patrol" a sub-board or two that's up their alley. I hope, by the way, no one takes this suggestion as presumptious since I'm not one of those who provides the serious elbow grease to keep this board humming. I'm just thinking that many of us who are either pressed for time or only know a little (or both

) might be able to help the regulars more if we didn't have to open so many cryptic posts to find out if it's on a subject we can help. I also think that if we get sub-boards we will have less people asking the same questions all the time because they'll find old posts more easily. Anyway, for what it's worth here are my new category suggestions for new subboards under the engine and motors heading(and I welcome other suggestions as to how to do it): 1. Rebuilding motors 2. Motor breakdowns 3. motor servicing issues 4. Lower unit/cooling issues 5. Propellor issues 6. Electrical and instrument issues 7. Dating motors and pre-1970 outboards 8. 4 stroke issues 9. Inboard/outboard issues 10. Finding parts 11. steering and trim issues 12. comparisons, recommendations,testimonials and complaints 13. Fuel system including carbs 14. Force outboards

15. Other engine or motor topics Okay so maybe item 14 is a cheap shot, but at least I didn't suggest "Bayliners" as a category, or maybe I should add 15. "how great are whalers or what?" for JB to patrol?

Anyway, pleas let me know what you think.

smalloutboardsarecool · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

hey I love the bosten whalers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to bad th only one in the lak here flipped and the driver drowned. maybe he should of thought befor flying into ice!! **** head th boat is for sail sadly!!

rickdb1boat · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

Suzukidave, Great idea! I would also include VRO systems, as it seems there are many, many questions about those. Just my thoughts! Rick

12Footer · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

I like putting things where they belong too. Yes, the board is the buisiest I've ever seen. Peoiple have been posting engine problems in the boating area, and even in the "nothing to do with boating section" since the board was new. Admin5 Is the only one who can answer whether or not the equipment can take the load. It never fails to amaze me how many pages of info this site has in "engines and Motors"!!! The server intriques me, as I never saw anything able to handle and retain that much data! 160pages and growing, in "egines and motors" allone..Awesome! My personal opinion on the subject is, if it aint broke, don't fix it. You can narrow-down a helpful tip on a particular problem or engine simply by using the search feature. Sure, it would be better "pigeon-holed", but I'm not suire if the server can handle it, without losing capacity.. The same capacity which makes this site so special.

DJ · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

admin5, There is another board out there, not as succesful as this one, that breaks down "engines" into brands. As an example, I would probably not look at the Mercury section much because I've only owned a couple, for a breif period, and do not know enough about them to be of any help except with a very general question. Another possibility would be to seperate I/O's from outboards. Some other boards list: Outboards (by brand) Propellers Rigging Maintenance Hull Trailers (which you have) Tow Vehicle(s) General Fishing Just my thoughts!

suzukidave · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

I personally don't favour questions by brand. Many problems transcend brands and obscure brands (like Suzuki!) might get neglected. I think we have to look at topics of questions. I also strongly agree with 12 footer that this should not be attempted if it will cause a reduction in responsiveness on the server. This is a good server and, frankly, if it were like most other ones it would be completely impossible to use because of the volume and time needed to open messages.

Admin5 · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

Hi guys! I sure appreciate your thinking about ways to make this place better. I am glad that we impress you 12Footer!

My wife has told me that I haven't impressed anyone in years.

Breaking the engines section down would have no negative affect on our servers. We are now serving around 15 million pages a month from all of the iboats.com's pages, so even though these boards are doing great, they are not a huge drain on the servers. Our servers can handle you guys many times over so don't worry about us. Now for the big question everyone, do we want to break apart the engines area (in one form or another) like our friend suzukidave is suggesting?!?! We have talked about this before but at that time we did not have close to as much traffic and posts. We are here for you and we are happy to do what you all want as long as it does not hurt all of us in the long run. A couple of things to think about: 1. Do we want to break it up at all? 2. If we do break engines up, do we want it by topic or by manufacturer or something else? One positive about per manufacturer is that those of you who are not experts on a certain engine won't have to even look in that area, hence less time and work. However, the negative side of that is that some of the more common brands will still be getting tons of posts that are all over the place. In addition, it would be likely that people with less common brands would get slower replies and less eyeballs helping them. I am leaning towards per engine topic/area than by per brand myself. 3. Yes the areas of engines will now be separated but will that really help reduce your loads? Is going to 15 different areas easier than just going to one with everything there? JB, 12footer, schematic, djohns19, clanton, Dhadley, Odd1, corm, and the rest of you who help out around here - what do you think about this???

striper · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

I find the "search" very helpfull and use it first to find an answer.I'm not sure most people out there know it is available cause it's way up top and small, but it is fun to search.

12Footer · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

You're right,Striper. I think that if most of the people saw it (SEARCH) and used it, it would greatly narrow-down thier answers to particular questions. I don't like the idea of breaking things down by manufacturer. My reasoning is, "A stator is a stator, coil a coil, or carb is a carb, regardless whether it is Merc,Zuki,Force. Sure, there are oddball designs amoungst all of those, but to move the Merc carb away from the Yamaha carb is (IMHO), greatly diluting the source of info to the guy who has probs with his Honda Stator *(for example). On the other hand, I sure like the SuzukiDave's idea of having a rebuild, props, inboard and I/O and such sections makes a lot of scense. It may even open the door for some advertisement potential for engine rebuilders,prop makers and reconditioners, ect.. Just like what iboats has now (banners and links to megamall and such at the top), but part-specific, Like a banner or link to Michagan Wheel on top of "PROPS" page and so-on. Could be win/win

revertmastec · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

I'm for leaving the site as it is. I enjoy reading about different engines and problems. Even if I dont have that particular motor or that problem I will always learn something from these great guys on this site. I know I would miss listening to J.B., 12footer, Schematic, Clayton and the rest of these guys who give their time to help the rest of us newbies. Hats off to all you guys.

Clay · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

I would'nt break it up into to many sections, Things would get overlooked. For engines maybe outboards 30 hp and up, outboards 25 and under, Inboards & sterndrives, For boats how about, fishing boats, runabouts, sportboats, cruisers, and I suppose you have to have sailbotes, I would like to see a section on where people boat. and what they do for fun. Or just a section where you can let loose and talk about anything. Some people may not like it but it's just my opinion

suzukidave · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

Good to hear it's possible at least. Cootie, I wouldn't break up boating at all. It's still pretty small compared to this board. Putting in VRO is a good idea too. Maybe some of the 15 categories could be doubled up until we know how it works. They don't have to be logically related. I'll try a shorter list of only 11: 1. Rebuilding motors 2. motor breakdowns 3. tune ups and maintenance issues 4. lower unit and water cooling issues 5. Fuel systems, oil injection, carbs and EFI 6. props, steering and trim issues 7. electronics, batteries and instruments 8. finding parts and dating motors 9. 4 strokes, inboard/outboards and stern drives 10. comparisons, recommendations,testimonials, complaints and just plain talking 11. Other engine topics There. Now what have I forgotten?

frroog · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

I pretty new to the board,computers, and outboard motors but is is possible to do this. Leave the board the way it is but set up a way to let the user break it down into sub sections. With a simple search engine, something like (and that dreaded word) ebay has, instead of words. On the side that would help break it down into smaller sections using presets. I think that is my problem, try even with the search to find some things it overloads the mind with the number of hits you can get. One other idea make a page fir first time posters with "rules" on how to post (alot of this from JB's post) 1) put questions in the subject line 2) provide as much info as possibe 3) try the search engine first but keep it simple so people won't just skip by it and not read it

smalloutboardsarecool · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

He guys the youth of the listhas something to say! I say we break it up into two sections New (1990 and up) clasic (1960-1990) and antiqe (1900-1950) then each of these can be broken up into groups such as Lower unit and upper unit, there should also be a way that we ca look at it the normal way too! like it is now!!!!

JB · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

Hmmm. Wow! I just found this thread. As SuziDave predicted, I have been reviewing and answering posts in E&M for about 2 hours. A lot of redundancy, too. This requires some thought, but here are my first reactions: I really like SuziDave's idea, tempered by 12Footer's restraint. We must accept the fact that most of our posters are not computer geeks. Many of them are at the limit of their computer skills just to get a post entered. . . forget getting it in the right forum, doing a search beforehand, or even keyboarding beyond grade 5 level. That is not intended as a putdown, computer skills have zero correlation to human quality. Now, if we combine a SuziDave idea with a 12Footer idea we might come up with a few fora, named: My outboard engine has a problem. My I/O or inboard engine has a problem. I need advice on what to do about repair. What do I do about fuel and oil? What do you guys think about this engine? What engine do I have? I have a question not covered above. I need opinions about this boat. I need advice on boat maintenance. ...and so forth. I need to study this more and get more ideas from you guys.

MGuckin · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

I think Engine & Motors should be broken down into different sections. Alot of the posts are concerning identification, starting,charging and overheating and, or, oil problems. When entry link is clicked, display a search screen before access to threads or posts. If results are insufficient, display a link to continue to the topic listings but make them do a search first. How about: eg: 1) Troubleshooting A: Starting B: Alarms C: Cooling and lubrication (VRO or Premix) D: Electrical E: Mechanical F: Fuel 2) Identification 3) Props Other sections don't really get as much traffic.

oldboat1 · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

would hate to see this board over-managed. I know there are sometimes folks who don't get answers the first time, but I'm guessing they get what they need if they persist. I don't mind pressing a little if I have a question -- and will do so as well when I'm trying to answer one. I'm in and out of here, with no particular schedule -- like to run through posts at any given time and respond to what I can or what hits me. I wouldn't be very good at going between specific categories. I know that means that most discussions are quick hitters, and will be hard to find the next day -- but that's OK. I guess I'm saying a little serendipity here ain't a bad thing. Regards, Curt (oldboat1)

ODDD1 · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

IF IT AINT BROKE....dont screw with it!! Goes for outboards or puters...the springtime 'flush' can be overwhelming...doesnt matter how many posts are on the board, I look at it the same way...the stuff I know about, I look at. the stuff I dont, I ignore...the people who cant put 2 coherent sentences together [much less work through a multistep troubleshoot] I ignore. The guys who did the homework and are lookin to bounce ideas off somebody else, I spew everything that might help...heck anybody will help somebody tryin' hard......the "helpers" on this board get scarce this time of the year, too...its a busy time...

evin300 · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

Got to go with ODDD1

Terry H · May 30, 2002

Re: Question for Admin5 and others about this Board

This is a successful place the way it is and I wouldn't want to see it broken up like some gov't agencies I can think of. I don't need to repeat what ODD1, oldboat1 and others have said but I share the feeling. This is a good place that doesn't need fixing...thanks all

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