BCUK 'To-do list'?

[philaw]

Here are a few tangled issues that I thought of after reading the 'what's wrong with BCUK' thread. I'm having trouble getting straight in my head, so please bear with me!

1 It might be useful to have a 'to do list' where people can look for an article, FAQ, or other thing that the site needs, that they can contribute instead of complaining about it. The mods could use it to ask for help. The articles section has been slow to grow because we've been slow to fill it, so let's list what's missing.

2 I've not noticed Tony and the other mods ask for help with anything for the site, but if he did things might get done quicker, and more importantly the work would be spread out off their shoulders and where it belongs.

3 I think we all agree that cutting out repeat posts would be aided by having a bigger reference section, and it would also give us all ready access to more information. Forum formats are suited to chatting, not to neatly storing information, so if we can get more things into other formats it'd be helpful. The size of BCUK now means that any search for something routinely bushcrafty like 'best backpack' returns a million results. Read only formats would be great for some things, like the 'to do list', other wise it would quickly become a sprawling mass of unrelated posts.

4 Sorry that I've got problems without offering solutions, but it's only food for thought.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I posted a stickie on the Edged Tool site.

http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8793

I asked people to send links to threads that they had found particularly useful and got a rather pathetic response. That attempt to make information easier to find hasn't had as many people looking at it as some threads. Makes me wonder just a bit whether it was worth the effort.

I know that Ed got a rather better response when he asked for FAQ to help compile something.

Thing is, all this writing takes time. Reviews take many hours, searching the forum for threads takes hours more. It is so much easier to type single short posts, questions, complaints, queries, etc. than it is to sit and search, research, google, then type up answers that will be useful to everyone else. I know, I have done it both ways.

This is a community. If you see something that could be improved, don't just tell the mods and admin, go and see what you can do to improve things. It might not get taken up, but anyone could have done the Edged Tools Stickie...but they didn't. What's with that?

 

[The Joker]

Hi guys, I've thought long and hard about repeat threads, and the biggest prob I can see (correct me if im wrong) is.........if it became easier to read old threads to find the answers your wanting to ask, wouldn't things become very quiet.
At the end of the day with repeat threads we don't have to look at them if we don't want to.

Just a thought

 

[JonnyP]

Hi guys, I've thought long and hard about repeat threads, and the biggest prob I can see (correct me if im wrong) is.........if it became easier to read old threads to find the answers your wanting to ask, wouldn't things become very quiet.
At the end of the day with repeat threads we don't have to look at them if we don't want to.

Just a thought

Fully agree............Once all the topics have been covered, all the newbies will get told "look at this thread for your answer" and no conversation will be started and the site will be a boring place to be, its good to talk even if it is just chit chat. As Joker says you don't have to look at the threads, or even respond..........Jon

 

[C_Claycomb]

Guess I really can't comment on the repeating of thread thing. I always read more than post and generally believe that someone has already answered my questions if only I have the patience to look. I often find more informaiton by rummaging than by just asking straight out.

It would get quiet though.

I see new people enjoying the same discussions and it does keep things going and is good for the site.

There are some however that I would dearly love to see the end of. "What bushcraft knife?" and "My fire steel won't work" just keep repeating

 

[Ed]

Here are a few tangled issues that I thought of after reading the 'what's wrong with BCUK' thread. I'm having trouble getting straight in my head, so please bear with me!

No worries ..... If I may I'd like to answer some of your questions / problems as I see it from an admin point of view.

1 It might be useful to have a 'to do list' where people can look for an article, FAQ, or other thing that the site needs, that they can contribute instead of complaining about it. The mods could use it to ask for help. The articles section has been slow to grow because we've been slow to fill it, so let's list what's missing.

Its a nice idea.... we do have a todo list behind the scenes so to speak and its already a mile long. Alot of it members can't really help with as it has to do with the coding and business end of BCUK. As for the article side of things ....well..... a long time ago when BCUK was young we did ask for article submissions from members. We had a basic policy in place and everything.... unfortunatly about 90% of submissions from members were not their own work. Alot had been taken directly off the net, no credit given to the origional author. Some who wrote articles themselves used pictures from the net that they hadn't asked permission to use. Putting these up on the site would have just landed Tony in court with a massive legal bill and would probably lead to the closure of the site.... it was a nightmare having to sift through them all to get rid of the garbage it took up alot of time..... so much time infact that you may have noticed the old site wasn't updated very much..... so we decided to ask people for articles instead.... which seems to have been working out quite well I think.

2 I've not noticed Tony and the other mods ask for help with anything for the site, but if he did things might get done quicker, and more importantly the work would be spread out off their shoulders and where it belongs.

You wont notice it .... if we need help (which we often do) we tend to pm people, email them, phone them or speak to them at meets. There are probably more members out there that help out BCUK than there are staff .... they are the unsung heros so to speak. We tend to contact people who are friendly and helpful on the forum and that are likely to get the work done. Many out there have good intentions, but when it comes down to it just don't get things done due to time constraints or other factors.

Actually, come to think of it, we do ask all our members for help......

As an example and a case in point: We do ask all our members help in policing the forums. We are only human and not able to read every single post, therefore we ask our members who come accross anything that breaks the rules like flaming, personal attacks, commercial advertising etc to use the report post icon so it is flagged to the mods and they can deal with it....... how many help out in this way??

Take the 'what's wrong with BCUK' thread as an example..... lots of personal attacks, flame war.... yet not one person reported / flagged it.

Many people have gripe about how some companies are allowed to advertise on BCUK and some not..... well report them so we can deal with it!! There are no special favors here, they are all under the same rules, if you think a company is breaking/bending them, let us know your concerns. Sitting there and doing nothing does not help.

There are instances of this all over the forum.

Now from my point of view (sitting here with my cold hearted admin hat on), If someone can't be bothered to click an icon, write a few sentences to help us out and keep the forums running smoothly, what chance have I got to get them to spend 30hours trailing through nearly 3 years worth of posts compiling an FAQ?

I'd rather ask people who have proven themselves helpful on the forum and helpful to the other members out there, the ones willing to put themsleves out for the good of the community... the ones willling to put the time in, rather than just asking anyone with no proven tack record in the hope they'll get whatever it is done.

3 I think we all agree that cutting out repeat posts would be aided by having a bigger reference section, and it would also give us all ready access to more information. Forum formats are suited to chatting, not to neatly storing information, so if we can get more things into other formats it'd be helpful. The size of BCUK now means that any search for something routinely bushcrafty like 'best backpack' returns a million results. Read only formats would be great for some things, like the 'to do list', other wise it would quickly become a sprawling mass of unrelated posts.

I agree, and thats what the article section is for. A static place for info to go where it can be easily found. Its a long slow process I'm afraid.... see the above commetns on articles

4 Sorry that I've got problems without offering solutions, but it's only food for thought.

No worries.... thats what threads like these are for..... to chew the fat so to speak.

I hope this answers some of your questions and you can get your head around it all a little bit better


Ed

 

[philaw]

I actually don't find repeat posting to be a problem, personally, because it really isn't hard to avoid repeat posts. You really don't have to read them. However, I do think that cutting them down would be a useful side effect of increasing the 'read only' content, the main benefit of which would be to make everyone better informed.

It's not a big surprise to hear that there is a core of members helping the mods behind teh scenes, because that's how these things always happen. Any scheme to get everyone involved would have limited success, partly because there are plenty of us that are not really competent to do bushcraft FAQs without plagiarising Mears or Kochanski. Compiling FAQs from forum threads is something I could do, but how would I edit it, not being an expert? Would I cut out the part written by some people, and include those by others.

Most of the reference matieral is out there already. Getting permission to use the articles written and published elsewhere could be easier than rewriting. Generating a comprehensive, neatly compiled links section might be the easiest way to get good information to members. I plan to be unemployed for a couple of months starting february, so maybe I could get on it then?