SimonH

As we all know the same old questions often get asked over and over again (usually by me ) by folks new to the board, enquiring after mods and upgrades etc. “What’s a PPP?”, “What’s bumpsteer?” and so on (no criticism of those asking the questions by the way - like I said, it's usually me anyway!!).

What I’d like to suggest is a facility to rival/complement the SIDC FAQ pages. Those pages are very thorough in their dealings with the various Subaru models but only touch briefly on the various mods available.

What we “need” is a facility that lists all the various mods available under sub-headings. So for example under “Suspension and handling” you could list the different types of suspension makes that folks use (Ledas, Billsteins, Prodrive etc). Click on Billsteins – takes you to a page with a picture of the kit, a picture of the car with them fitted and then a “micro – forum” where individual experiences could be posted. It wouldn’t be a place for debating the kit, that would still be in the main forums. Comment could be limited to things like “I bought these from X for £y and am pleased with them. I believe they improve a, b and c but not d”. There could also be email links for people to directly contact folks who’ve had the work or whatever done. It might be possible to get the manufacturers or retailers of the kit to produce a quick paragraph on what they believe the kit does too.

From an advertising point of view there is the option for advertisers to buy specific banners on each page; for example for company A only produces tyres then the banner he takes out on the main forums has a slim chance of being seen by someone specifically interested in tyres that day. A banner on the “Tyres” page would always be seen by people looking for tyres. This would allow more direct targeting of the advertising. General advertising for multi-product companies and car sales would still be ideally placed on the main forum pages. With the advent of the Scoobyshop Mk II there would be the opportunity to link out of the info pages to products in the shop. It would have to made clear that a link wasn’t necessarily an endorsement by Scoobynet but if 30 people have posted and said “this is a great bit of kit” and the Scoobynet shop is selling it then surely that’s just a bit focused advertising for the Shop and the retailer?

The “ScoobyNetTech Pages” or whatever it would be called :P might also be able to expand to cover things like warranty issues, for example. Had something and had it repaired under warranty? Post it on “warranty work” pages and it provides an instant picture of how many people have had what done.
Maybe your dealer is refusing to do some work whereas another dealer did do the work for somebody else? If it’s listed on the pages then people can get directly in touch with the relevant individuals rather than hope that they might see your post in the “Drivetrain” (or whatever) forum – assuming they still read SN or even still owned a Subaru.

I believe that such a facility would provide an immediate “searchable” database for folks interested in various items of kit. It would clear the forums of the “what is…” type questions leaving more room for technical discussion and "healthy debate"
It should, theoretically anyway be a fairly low maintenance area of the site. Once setup it would require, I believe, fairly minimal monitoring. A brief set of rules and guidelines could be posted to avoid libellous and slanderous posting and there could also be a “Report post to Moderator” type of facility. There might also be a case for IP logging to prevent the same person registering several usernames and posting lots of negative comments to maybe discredit a rival product? There could be the facility for people to suggest new products, through a moderator. The mod/s could quickly review the product and if s/he agrees then s/he could setup another page for that product.

Like I said, I think this would be a step towards keeping Scoobynet as the primary internet source for Subaru mods and aftermarket work that it always has been but is in danger of losing. The boards rapidly fill up with triv and rubbish as we all know. The regulars complain about the same old questions being asked over and over but those new to the car will always have the same questions we all had when we got our first Subaru. Search is hit and miss and is very limited.

There is enough IT and web design experience within the membership that could help put this together; it needn’t just be a burden on those who run the site and are heavily engrossed in the launch of the Shop.

What do you think??

PS. I know this might be better directed at the Bugs/Features forum but that is a very infrequently visited forum judging by the number of posts in there.

Andy W

I think it would be a great idea, I appreciate it would require a lot of work and Webbie may have a very fine line to walk so as not to offend any advertisers/potential advertisers.

Have a look at the Lancer site
Lancer register FAQ
It looks the business

I am even looking forward to the Archive stuff on the scoobynews CD when it comes out.

Andy

[Edited by Andy W - 10/20/2002 12:17:31 PM]

SimonH

I agree I think there could be a lot of work involved in the initial setup by I would have thought that the collection of the basic info for the pages ccould be done by members of Scoobynet?

SimonH

The MLR page is good - I like that. I think a Scoobynet equivalent could be greatly expanded though, as I outlined above, to accomodate comments by Scoobynet members; it's a "community" after all

oj

Sounds a great idea.. I like the Lancer FAQ setup....

I'm all for it, being new to the scene and often I have come across abbreviations which I am unsure off, and end up trying to workout the meaning, which then side tracks me from the original topic....!!

Best of luck to the future creators of this wonderful idea...

TheScoobyWRX

Good idea!

SimonH

Any more views and opinions?

ripmaze

Sounds like a good idea.

I think a short-term alternative would be to develop threads like the Dawes FAQ thread which provide links to the threads which cover the main technical information about a given subject.

Also, I think if the search had an "AND" facility a lot of the duplicate questions would be reduced.

SimonH

The trouble with the Search (apart fom it's obvious limitations) is that it is difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff. Do a search on, say, PPP, and you will get no returns. Do a search on "scoobysport exhaust" and you will get a list of 50 odd threads, the majority of which are entitled "Scoobysport exhaust". They are, however, drawn from Member's gallery, Drivetrain, For Sale, Wanted etc etc. Where do you start?

It's far easier for someone to just type in their question and post it again, generating a 51st (or whatever) "Scoobysport exhaust" thread.

Surely it would be easier to go to a page on scoobynet that would tell you everything you could want to know about the scoobysport exhaust (or whatever) in one place. Pictures of the part fitted on a car, rough idea of price and a whole list of brief opinions posted by other SN members.

SN would still have all the same forums but instead of the same old same old, there'd be more "room" devoted to genuine, interesting discussion about our cars - Broquet science, anti lift kit theory, DIY FMIC , pictures of STis in frozen lakes, etc etc.

There's a thread going on at the moment about how "we" can change get rid of the "anti community" spirit. How about re-focussing the "community" on what "we" are actually about? Instead of coming up fancy sign up schemes or what-have-you how about we actually channel the vast amount of knowledge and experience of Subarus on this site into creating something that would be a genuine asset to the community?

I don't mean to bang on - I just think this is a good idea that's all

PS. I think if this post was titled "My Rover MGZT burnt up a Scoob today" we'd be running at page 11 already

dnb

It's a very god idea. I had started to look at doing something similar, but other things got in the way (like houses & insurance companies )

The SIDC FAQ is very useful, but I don't think it has been updated recently, and it only really covers standard bits.

I'd help out where I could (eg writing bits & pieces + taking photos of he silly things I've done to my car. (although I don't have a lot of time at the moment)

Hoppy

This is a great idea. Mail Webmaster SDB so he doesn't miss it (although I think it's been mentioned before).

Thing that immediately strikes me is... it's a heck of a lot of work, SDB is up to his ears in 101 projects, and volunteers tend to be, well, either all promises or at best unreliable.

The question is not really is this a good idea, but how is it going to get done and who by?

I'll happily contribute, but a project like this needs a champion.

Cheers,

Richard.

john banks

Every now and then someone suggests a FAQ, everyone says what a good idea, contributions are invited and provided. Clearly there has been insufficient resource so far to get this off the ground. Before spending a lot of time contributing wait for the infrastructure to be there first IMHO.

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

There's something like this already

http://www.subarureview.com/

F

igratton

And of course...

http://www.sidc.co.uk/faq.htm

Maybe it would work best as some sort of wizard. You get asked questions to help direct you to the appropriate information (expert system style). just an idea.

[Edited by igratton - 10/20/2002 10:09:59 PM]

ripmaze

That subarureview.com site is pretty good, but it's a bit too American for most British people - prices in dollars is enough to put you off! Plus, a lot of the products are US-only...

It wouldn't be too difficult to put something like it together in a couple of evenings - could even make it open source so several people can work on it to reduce an individual's workload. As mentioned above though, getting people organised is difficult and usually needs one main person.

The bottom line is it would only be as good as the information in it - would people fill it in? I think it would need the support of some of the big names on here to get off the ground.

Re-Volt

great idea but as you all said needs lots of work.

how about to refine threads for usefull information and clasify the problems ie. ticking from the engine. list possible reasons and possible solutions ?? some thing near to a knowledge base. with more powerfull and smart search engine.

i would like to help in any way if i can.

regards...

SimonH

As I said, the SIDC FAQ covers many things but it is not a catch-all by any stretch of the imagination, especially when it comes to the aftermarket world - usually the source of most questions on here.

This doesn't necessarily need to be driven by those that run Scoobynet. People always refer to this as a "community", a word which suggests something of a two-way street. The idea of a clickable, searchable "database" of modifications and after market parts is, by it's very nature, something that can be put together by the "community" itself without having to sit back and get it spoon fed to us by those that run this place. Sure, if it's got a Scoobynet title to it then the folks that run Scoobynet can set the rules and make it work the way they would like it to work with their name on it. But the actual leg work, info collection and design can come from the people that contribute to this board.

I'd be happy to do work on something like this as I believe it would genuinely benefit us. I couldn't build a website to save my life nor would I have a clue about the actual design of it. I can collect info and put together ideas though