Motorcycle Racing Forum

Ok here goes .. <deep breath>

<rant>

The forum is still too cluttered.  I wanted to look for some general info earlier, but there were like 4 categories that I had to sift through just to find it.  Then I had to spend double that amount of time reading the catchy "Off the Wall" / "Help Me Master!" thread names to figure out where my particular post would fit in.  I as a user want something simple and easy.  I have a life.  I have work to do (sometimes) and I want my forum to make sense!

Keep it simple:

1. Announcements
2. FAQ

3. General Racing (CCS Racing Discussion / Help Me Master / CCS Rules and Regs / Pics and Vids)
4. General Life (or something clever): (Help me Master / Non-Racing Motorcycle Discussion / Pics and Vids)

5. Technical (Help me Master / Wrenching)

6. Cornerworking (keep it separate if you don't want to blend it into one of the General topics, but you could if you wanted to)

7-10. Classifieds - Keep as is


Look, we just cut the number of categories in half and made it much easier to get through.  I'm all for clearly defining categories, but right now this is just too granular and borderline messy.  I don't visit the board much because it takes too much time to sift through the chaos.  If I can hop on, jump through a couple threads and be done with it, I'd come back more often.  You still would have very clearly defined areas of conversation, but I would venture the "flow/vibe/feel" of the forum would improve overall.

Maybe some people are like me, maybe I'm the only one <shrug>.  If you've been to this forum for awhile, you're probably used to it.  I'm just contributing my two-five cents as a student of web usability (also known as a web surfer).

Anyway, that's my rant.  Love it, hate it, delete it, or move it to the appropriate section of the forum here.  Whatever you like.   :blahblah:

</rant>

:cheers:

Well, based on the fact that you put this in the area it was intended to go into, I'd say the layout is pretty good... 

I'm flexible though.  What do people want? 

I'll post a poll here.

Only because I spent too much time writing this and wanted to get it right.   :biggrin:

Just right and a vast improvement as to what it had been...Your 2 suggestions for "General" areas are vast in each of their respective contents; Wouldn't it actually take longer to sift through all those posts of 3-4 filelds combined in one "general"?


What was it you had trouble finding? Maybe that's a better place to start...

Only thing I see is maybe combining Help me master into the Wrenching in the Misc Motorcycle section sicne they pretty much are the same thing. There really isnt alot of sub-boards here compared to other boards I'm on. Its pretty minimalistic here.

What I want to know is what is the difference between "Wrenching" & "Help Me Master?"

Wrenching = mechanical.  I.e., I can't synch these carbs.

Help me master = the old "tips & tricks", or 'how do I handle this decreasing radius turn at Gingerman?'

I understand that the 'help me master' is a cluster, but I didn't know what to do with it.

MAybe changing the name of Help me Master to Tricks and tips? May help with tht confusion.

Help Me Master should be racing general discussion then -  If you're asking about a decreasing radius turn for example. 

Quote from: Woofentino Pugrossi on July 24, 2006, 07:51:33 PM
Only thing I see is maybe combining Help me master into the Wrenching in the Misc Motorcycle section sicne they pretty much are the same thing. There really isnt alot of sub-boards here compared to other boards I'm on. Its pretty minimalistic here.

Yeah, some forums (like say, the R6 forum) have even more categories, but they aren't a niche market as much as this racing community is I'd say.

Again, my opinion.

I know I`ve missed information that would have been nice to know before a race weekend because I didn`t have time to browse through all the different categories....... :wah:

Would merging the "Help me master" and "General CCS Race discussion" sections help?

Quote from: Jeff on July 25, 2006, 08:43:07 AM
Would merging the "Help me master" and "General CCS Race discussion" sections help?

It may not even be considered a merge.  Couldn't "Help Me Master" fall into racing, non-racing, and technical/wrenching categories?  IMO, I think you could just remove it altogether.

CCS Rules and Regs could fall into that category as well.  Any question in that area could fall under Tech, Racing, or even the FAQ section (for frequently asking Rules and Reg questions) makes the rules and regs section kind of unnecessary.

In one regard, you want the General section to be a large, highly posted area of the forum.  As a user, if I want to post something and get a quick answer, I'd post it in General forum (speaking from prior experience on forums).  You overall will get a quicker response I think more users will surf 5-6 categories, than 12-15.  So you get more posts, quicker responses, etc. etc.  You still have enough of a breakdown in the niche of racing with the likes of the Tech and Classifieds area (etc. etc.) where it won't be too much.  And then you have the freedom to throw common stuff in the FAQ section.

[clink, clink]

Quote from: ekraft84 on July 25, 2006, 09:14:37 AM
It may not even be considered a merge.  Couldn't "Help Me Master" fall into racing, non-racing, and technical/wrenching categories?  IMO, I think you could just remove it altogether.

There's a lot of knowledge there.  Removing it (deleting the contents) would not be beneficial.  Merging it with general racing would preserve the data but remove the category.  Does that make more sense?

Quote
CCS Rules and Regs could fall into that category as well.  Any question in that area could fall under Tech, Racing, or even the FAQ section (for frequently asking Rules and Reg questions).

Rules/Regs could similarily be merged in with Info & Announcements.  The only issue with it is that there has to be a place restricted to CCS officials for posting.  That's what the design of info/annc is.  Moving rules/regs there would violate that rule built, which could cause important information from CCS officials to be lost in the shuffle.

The wegman stuff is temporary (I believe).

I was also considering adding a forum for injured rider updates, but don't know that it would be beneficial.  I would like it as it would keep the stickies in the general topic down, but then again it's another category...

This really isn't as cut and dry as it seems...

If there's a lot of stuff in Help Me Master, then I agree, I would move it, as you wouldn't want to lose that (I thought that after I posted my last post).

What are Rules and Regs exactly?  Questions about CCS rules?  That's what I think when I look at the title and I think that would fall into the General Racing category.  If I wanted to know what class my Honda F3 falls into, that's simply a Racing question.  I don't think it needs to be further broken into: General Racing -> Rules and Regs.  Just combine the two.

I agree Announcements should only be for CCS officials/moderators to post to.  I would think the FAQ section would be the same (maybe you move a topic over from another section if it has good/commonly asked info in it).

I personally don't know if Injured Rider Updates would be beneficial.  It's a bit too much (not to mention it's a negative aspect to racing, and I'm not sure it would succeed being it's own category).  I again think that's part of General Racing.  A sticky would be good if the situation calls for it.  I agree you don't want to clog the General Racing section with stickies.  I think anything more than 3-4 stickies is too much, but depending on the situation, they don't stay up there that much.  And again, sometimes the sticky would fall into the Announcements section.

I suppose I just disagree a bit and think it is somewhat cut and dry.  Keeping it simple and centralized is the way to go (again, IMO).  If you find a lot of posts that fit their own niche (like Cornerworking for example), then break out and create one.  I just don't think the need is there with some of the categories.  Heck, you could even pitch an argument that General Racing and General "Non Racing" should just be "General" because a lot of threads start in one and end up in the other.  However with a high amount of posts that you would expect in that category, breaking them up isn't a bad idea.

bump ..

I'll clean it up a bit in the next few weeks.  email me if you have comments.

What I'm not going to do though is cut the damned thing down to 1 category which seems almost where you're going with this. 

Info/Annc will be merged with FAQ.  General public cannot post to this forum

pics/vids can be merged into shooting the bull

Help me master can be merged into general ccs racing discussion

Rules/Regs stay.  It's an area to question rules or comment on new rules you want proposed.  It needs to stay separate so that the rules board can quickly see what people are discussing.

Wrenching stays

Non-CCS Racing motorcycle discussion...  I might merge this into shooting the bull...

Classifieds stay the same.

Would that be reasonable?

Quote from: ekraft84 on August 16, 2006, 12:17:37 PM
bump ..

So, what was it you could not find, in the first place?

Well look at the title of the section. Theres a little white arrow facing down. Click it and that whole section collapses into 1 bar. For example if you dont read classifieds, click it and it becomes one bar instead of 4.

All motorcycle boards are niche markets. Even our LOCAL site here has more subboards. Thats a whole lot more specific than this board.

As Jeff said he may be doing some cleanup on the layout in the next few weeks. Yes theres some things that could be improved upon. Wrenching could be made a child board of Help Me MAster. But then again tips and tricks of tracks could be also posted in CCS racing discussion also since it is racing related and leave help me master for actual mechanical issues. Rules and regs is simple enough. Alot of the questions in there are easily answered by reading the rule book. For example, the question if +1mm overbore is legal for superstock. Answer was in the rule book in black and white (section 5). Some questions are grey areas that could be legal in one region and deemed illegal in others. Those would be legitimate discussions about rules (ie on teh 'shade of yellow' garbage. Even though the book just states yellow and not a particular shade of yellow).

Thing is, you wont please everyone with a layout setup on a message board. Some people will complain that a particular board is too general and not more specific, some will complain that theres too many boards, some will want special sections, etc.... I moderate on a few boards (one has 44,000 members), admin my own local board and help out on others. Just have to make a system up for reading a particular forum.

This probably would be the best layout. Move whrenching into Help me master as a sub-board (aka child board). Move non-motorcycle into CCS racing discussions. Misc motorcycle board would be eliminated then. That would be 5 main boards down from 6 then. IMO this probably would be the best comprimise without going too crazy on reorginizing.

Announcements & Info 
Wegman CCS Forum Auctions
Closed Auction Items
Information & Announcements
FAQ
Calendar Events

Off The Wall 
Shooting the bull
Pics & Videos

CCS Racing Discussion  (Possible rename to General Discussions)
CCS Racing Discussion
Help me Master!
Wrenching
Non-Racing Motorcycle Discussion
CCS Rules and Regs

Cornerworkers & Safety Crew
Cornerworkers and Safety Crew

Classifieds 
Commercial Classifieds
For Sale - Private Party
Wanted

 I don't think there's enough areas in here. Can we expand the Pics and Vids to having a section within it for movie and music reviews; Torque, Faster I & II, Tornado/Kentucky Kid, Velocity, Any Sunday trilogy. I don't mind reading.

  Could we also add another section within help me master that is specifically related to wrenching videos and other wrenching media as well; McAllister's suspension stuff and the tons of other vids and books out there to help the noobs adjust valves and set a TPS.   


   

Quote from: 251am on August 19, 2006, 05:57:29 AM
I don't think there's enough areas in here. Can we expand the Pics and Vids to having a section within it for movie and music reviews; Torque, Faster I & II, Tornado/Kentucky Kid, Velocity, Any Sunday trilogy. I don't mind reading.

  Could we also add another section within help me master that is specifically related to wrenching videos and other wrenching media as well; McAllister's suspension stuff and the tons of other vids and books out there to help the noobs adjust valves and set a TPS.      

Ha.  Are you serious about that?  That's too granular.  Keep it simple.  Clear and easy navigation is what draws more traffic/activity.  That applies to not just forums, but the web as a whole.

I think what you have below is a good idea.

Quote from: Jeff on August 16, 2006, 12:41:25 PM
I'll clean it up a bit in the next few weeks.  email me if you have comments.

What I'm not going to do though is cut the damned thing down to 1 category which seems almost where you're going with this. 

Info/Annc will be merged with FAQ.  General public cannot post to this forum

pics/vids can be merged into shooting the bull

Help me master can be merged into general ccs racing discussion

Rules/Regs stay.  It's an area to question rules or comment on new rules you want proposed.  It needs to stay separate so that the rules board can quickly see what people are discussing.

Wrenching stays

Non-CCS Racing motorcycle discussion...  I might merge this into shooting the bull...

Classifieds stay the same.

Would that be reasonable?

bump.  :)

Eddie,

I need to talk to some of the developers to see how I can do this.  I thought this functionality was available in the package, but it is not.  So for now, we're pretty much stuck as is.

I can move boards around (make them a child of another board, etc) or delete them, but to move the posts and then delete the board is a different story...

Nevermind Eddie.  I found a way to do it and am doing it now.

Better?

Yeah, I like that I can see all of the categories on my screen at one time without havving to scroll down.  :thumb:

I think that's much better.   :thumb:

:cheers:

Quote from: spyderchick on October 05, 2006, 09:52:26 AM
Yeah, I like that I can see all of the categories on my screen at one time without havving to scroll down.  :thumb:

Well buy a second monitor and mount it below the other one and then use a dual screen with the top of the screen on teh top and the bottom on the bottom. :biggrin:

Quote from: Woofentino Pugrossi on October 05, 2006, 01:42:59 PM
Well buy a second monitor and mount it below the other one and then use a dual screen with the top of the screen on teh top and the bottom on the bottom. :biggrin:

Ok, I'm already geeky enough, but I have no use for dual screen, and it would take up valuable desktop space reserved for my paper mess! :biggrin:

Quote from: spyderchick on October 05, 2006, 02:09:54 PM
Ok, I'm already geeky enough, but I have no use for dual screen, and it would take up valuable desktop space reserved for my paper mess! :biggrin:

But I have 5 computers (6 if you count Apples as computers:biggrin). 1 Win98, 1 linux (server), 1 XP Home/linux, 1 XP home (lappy), 1 XP Pro/Vista (test rig). How much more geeky can you get having your own server? :lol:

I do not have my own server, but I built or modified 4 computers last year, 2 for myself, and I do not want to do that again any time soon. (No matter how geeky I claim to be)  :biggrin:

Besides. I only have so much time for nerdy persuits.

I lost count on how many I built or modded. Next project is to get a server rack. Would be cool to set up a rendering farm to play with animation.

In 2007 AMD will have quad core processor chips and they are developing a new motherboard with ASUS that will have dual processor chips on 1 board! They are going to have 2 full banks of RAM and reportedly an entirely new layout for the PCI-Express slots. I already have a PCI-Express Motherboard with a factory overclocked XFX Geforce 7800 GTX graphics card that can be run in SLI mode if I chose to purchase another identical Graphics card, I also have 2 OCZ 1 Gigabyte low latency RAM sticks for a total of 2 Gig's of gaming RAM (can go up to 4 Gig's). This thing will already play anything I throw at it without a hiccup - what the hell would you do with 8 processors, 4 PCI-Express Graphics boards run in tandem SLI mode, and 8 Gig's of RAM on 1 motherboard all run by a 1 Kilowatt Power supply!?  :wtf:

Quote from: GSXR RACER MIKE on October 06, 2006, 10:25:22 PM
- what the hell would you do with 8 processors, 4 PCI-Express Graphics boards run in tandem SLI mode, and 8 Gig's of RAM on 1 motherboard all run by a 1 Kilowatt Power supply!?  :wtf:

One hell of a game of solitaire. :lmao:

 :ahhh: :biggrin:

Unless you're running some mega graphics programs, I don't see how you could use all of that. But, on the other hand, don't the software companies do just a good enough job to keep us having to upgrade to the latest greatest to run their shit at optimum? So yeah, the next gen of Quick Books will probably do 3-D rendering with crazy rotating pie charts and missile launches when you need to go into bankruptcy from purchasing all the newest geekware!  :wah: :biggrin:

Quote from: GSXR RACER MIKE on October 06, 2006, 10:25:22 PM
I already have a PCI-Express Motherboard with a factory overclocked XFX Geforce 7800 GTX graphics card that can be run in SLI mode if I chose to purchase another identical Graphics card, I also have 2 OCZ 1 Gigabyte low latency RAM sticks for a total of 2 Gig's of gaming RAM

:wtf: What kind of lap times can that thing do?

.... mine just says DELL on it

Quote from: JBraun on October 07, 2006, 11:01:18 AM

.... mine just says DELL on it

Hey it could be worse....


...You could own a Mac. :biggrin: :biggrin:

From what I read several years ago the gamers were all screaming for better graphics and more realism in the games to which the game manufacturers responded by saying that they already had the capability to do it, but they wouldn't until the computer manufacturers stepped up to the plate and started offering components capable of playing the stuff like it was made to be played. So gamers started pressuring the computer industry to start building some hot rod components and they would buy them, so somewhat reluctantly they did just that and got a very enthusiastic response by the gamers who started buying up the hot rod components like mad. This led to where we are today where the components can be made even better than before and the game developers are now putting out stuff that is truely awesome, but at the cost of needing a system capable of playing the stuff like it was meant to be played.

An example of further advancement happening right now is a program that was developed called 'Contour' which uses 44 cameras to create an extremely accurate 3D representation of a persons face for example to be used in computer animation. Not only does this work on still images it works on moving ones, they say that this new software (being released to game developers and movie houses in the fourth quarter of 2006) can accurately record all the little things going on with your face as you speak and can then create a completely digital character based on that info and have it say whatever they want and move just like you do - all while looking almost perfectly like actual video footage of you! Man, talk about some scary Big Brother capability with that! They say within the next year you'll start seeing this new technology in new movies and video games. Yet another reason their developing these mind blowing computer systems!  :ahhh:

Then again you have people who care more about the GAMEPLAY than GRAPHICS. Sadly we are outnumbered by the graphics "OHHH AND AHHHH" crowd 100 to 1. Kinda silly to have to buy a new vid card everytime a new game comes out. I hear this everytime a new Star Wars/Doom/BF game comes out from a 'customer'. His 2.8ghz P4 1gb ram 128MB vid card custom built PC wont run the latest and greatest star wars game sicne it needs 3.4ghz dual core, 3gb ram and 512MB vid to run it (being sarcastic, but thats pretty much is the problem nowadays). Not everyone can afford to constantly upgrade computers just because a new game came out.

And they wonder why people are going back to the consoles. I wanna play a video game, Ibring out the PS2, Saturn, NES or Atari. I have very few PC games I'll play (Flight sim is pretty much the only one I regularrly play).