Two recent questions arose, one on the Main Forum and the other one here that should have been easily accessed and answered if the information regarding the various OEM aspects of our cars wasn't so byzantine in their content.

The nailed threads contain entirely too much non-OEM content, redundent photos and superficial comments/discussion to be user friendly.

In attempting to provide concise replys to the aforementioned inquiries, I had to spend entirely too much time scrolling through too many pages of irrelevant material. Perhaps it's this lack of precise, organized (by year maybe?) information in the nailed threads thar discourages the use of, what should be, a valuable tool in the maintenance and care of our cars.

The concept of the nailed theads is great, the realization.....not so much.

Since this is my 3rd thread on this topic, I'll acknowledge that yes, perhaps I am

Paul

Paul, my preference would be to purge them too. Just the facts sir

My opinion is that forums are the wrong place for non-discussion material. Create a wiki, provide a bit of top-level structure, and have people transfer content from nailed threads.

Skip

Paul, I still support your request. However, who will be judge and jury on what is correct or incorrect? Is there anyone, anywhere who knows all that there is to know on these cars when it comes to the details? There are some things I have yet to see on a 914 such as a factory installed leather interior with a CoA to support any claim.
That's just an example and I have many more issues with some of the material and claims posted here. I know and I agree that the purpose of this forum is to get it right, but I don't know if it is achievable.
Anyway, my .02 cents.
Don

We were toying with a Wiki for a while here, didn't pan out.


HOWEVER, since we will be integrating the old RoadGlue site here shortly, maybe their Wiki would be a good place for this?


Thoughts?

I was admin on the Roadglue wiki, so of course I think its a great idea!

I think there is a bit of "If you build it they will come" with something like this, but it's hard to go from zero content to something that people will think is valuable and actually use. So you need some quality content at first to kickstart the entire thing. I think that once you get a certain amount of critical mass (number of articles) it will really take off. Sadly, we just never quite made it to that point on Roadglue.

I firmly believe that there is a huge wealth of information that is buried in threads here (both normal and those already deemed as being "classic") that would fit much better inside an article than a set of threaded posts. The problems with threaded posts is that you have to dig through a number of posts to get at the golden nuggets. Or the info is spread over a number of different threads and requires a lot of research to pull it all together. And each person who is interested in a given topic has to do this research (to find the right threads) all on their own. Why have people do this over and over again on their own? Pull the good stuff together into a single and easy to find location!

I think the content could work in two different formats. Either using some type of general content management system in which a single author (for a given topic) creates (and maybe updates an article) along with an editor or two who decides what passes muster and what doesn't (is this somewhat like it is today?), or via a Wiki that tries to accomplish the same thing, but is a bit more open and with less oversight.

If you want to revive the Roadglue wiki (or start a new one), I am available to answer any questions you may have, or to help out in any way I can.

Richard

I too have agreed with you every time, Paul. The nailed threads up top should be basically 'discussion' free. They should be treated as reference material.

I see how a comment or question may arise and be added (and subsequently purged once the clarification/photo requests have been given); over the top posts that coast all over the place belong down in the O&H general discussion threads.

This is not an issue that I have dismissed. I like most ideas, but have some issues with wikis, in that anyone can post something & make it gospel.

I had intended to run some ideas up the flagpole this summer, but this summer has been anear tragedy for me. Everything that could go wrong & cost money or stress has happened. Hopefully, that's finished.

I'm taking 2 well deserved weeks of vacation starting this weekend and promise to address this issue. I'll put out my thoughts & ideas and guage interest. We'll make this thing better! Any & all ideas are welcomed also, but I'd prefer to keep the outcome internal to this site.
Pat

A wiki can be set up to only allow certain people to enter information. We could have a group of "Keepers of the Wiki" or "Fellowship of the Wiki Keepers".

Sorry Andy - wikis aren't the answer (IMO). Let's keep it right here, where the knowledge base is.

Making a visual database is easy, once you get past '73. Prior to that there were many ongoing factory changes (especially '70 & '71).

Working on a plan & getting close. Berar with me.
Pat

I really think this needs to be adressed, and thought I could come up with a solution. Maybe could, but have tendonitis issues in both arms & it's really painful to key.
Remember, I'm only the moderator. Someone else needs to take up the mantle on this. Everything was fine until 4 weeks ago. Now, I have 2 painful arms, so it's up to you guys to cleanup my apparent errors.

Will watch & agree to what the masses want.
Pat