This may not be a popular point of view but it is MY view.

[Bob Warner]

I have something that is eating away at me on the forums and I would like others opinions about it. I know that at least one other person disagrees with me on this and I don't have any hard feelings about it but it just does not make sense to me in the overall scheme of things.

BILLBOARDING

To me billboarding is posting the same question in multiple forums to try to get maximum exposure to a question. Kinda like posting a question in three forums asking what epoxy to use. The person asking the question gets his replies but there are three threads out there answering the question. If a new person comes along and see ONE of the threads, he will misss out on the answers given in the other two. Lately this seems to be happening a lot and it bothers me personally.

I was under the impression that we named the forums and gave them topic headers so that the questions would be posted in the forum that seems to be closest to the topic at hand. If that is the case, a question should go into only one forum. If the person acc##ently posts to the incorrect forum or there is a better forum for the question, the moderators could suggest a move and relocate the post, as has been done many times.

The argument that I got earlier (offline) was that not everyone reads all of the forums so a question may not get all of the possible answers from everyone because they don't go to the forums where the questions should probably be posted if there would only be one forum allowed per question.

Enough of my rambling. The question I would like feedback on is this; Is it in the best interest of the forum to allow billboarding?

Please respond with some justification of your position so I can understand why you feel the way you do.

Personally, I don't like it. I would like ALL of the answers to a question to be together and not scattered over several forums.

So, how do you guys feel about it? How would we control it if we dec##e it is not a positive thing for the forums?

[Terry Primos]

I agree Bob. Thinking that you wouldn't get enough answers because not everyone visits every forum is not val##.

For example, Terrill Hoffman probably doesn't visit the Newbies forum or Ed Caffrey's forum. Are folks expecting to get info on TTT diagrams for hypo/hyper-eutecto## steels from Terrill? Of course not.

People with the answers will naturally be visiting forums that deal with their area of expertise -- if they want to be answering questions to begin with. If they aren't feeling well and don't feel like answering a question, it doesn't matter how many forums the question is posted in.

Posting the same question in multiple forums is a wasted entry in the database and wasted space on the server.

The vBulletin software is setup to handle this sort of thing (they knew this would happen). Threads can be merged. I don't know if moderators can merge threads across forums or not. If not, I can. We can merge all the replies into a single thread in a single forum.

I don't have much time these days (and I know you can relate you old full-timer you). But I d## just go in and move a few basic level heat-treating questions from the General forum to the Newbies forum.

[ EDIT]
He comes back and say's ...

Regarding the moving of threads to a more appropriate forum, there is an option in vBulletin which we d##n't have on the old ezBoard forums. Moderators and Administrators can move a thread and leave a redirect in the original forum.

That will prevent any complaining about "Where's my post?"

It leaves the topic header behind, and redirects the viewer to the new location when the topic is clicked on.
[/EDIT]

[Don Cowles]

Just to weigh in- I'm in full agreement with both of you, and have occasionally looked like a grouch by saying something about it to the offenders.

[Jamey Saunders]

I'm not a moderator, but I do agree that "billboarding" is distracting, to say the least. I read the forums by clicking on the link that gives me all the posts since my last log-in. So if someone posts the same thing in three forums, I get to see it three times.

In this case, I try to answer in the appropriate forum. But if it can be curbed, that would be great.

At least from this participant's point of view.

[SharpByCoop]

Of course, I'm with you guys, too. Just last week, I sent a personal email to a new fellow who posted three HT questions everywhere. I was polite but offered the same input. (Just so you know you're not alone!)

I see posts made that appear so basic and open-ended in scope that it's obvious the person d##n't even attempt to use the search feature. Pics can also be offenders.

As it is, it would almost always be a newbie that does this. How do we communicate without accusation? That's the CKD challenge. It's a tough one.

Sounds like we need a Forum gu##eline sticky post!

Reminds me of the For Sale topic...

Coop

[J.Arthur Loose]

...just to make sure, and I don't think so, but I'll ask anyway...

...do you feel the same way when someone posts the same piece in the display case and in the maker's sale forum? I often post one piece in both of them at the same time because I feel like the display case is not the place to make a sales pitch and the maker's sales isn't the place for comments.

Thoughts?

I agree with the point on questions very much, btw.

[Don Cowles]

Apples and oranges from my perspective, Jon- I see no problem with dual posts in that case.

[Chuck Burrows]

Just to clarify and in the same vane as Jon's question what about posting say in the Sheathmaking Gallery and the Display case? Or the Historical Inspiration and the Display case? Different venues with different purposes.

I also agree that the multiple question posting is annoying and mostly unneccessary but do the moderators have enough time to collate all multiples? And what if the question gets put in a forum and then receives no answers, but might have if put in more than one place. For instance some of the newbies may post only in the newbies forum thinking that is the correct and proper place and yet not receive the quantity of answers because many of the "older" members just don't go there.
Like Jamey I use a link - http://www.ckdforums.com/search.php?s=&action=getdaily - that Martyn posted a while back that allows me to see all of the new daily posts in one spot without surfing all forums. I frequently see some posts get left by the ways##e due to lack of response. As a though this link might be of use to the moderators as you get an instant overview of the newest posting across the board.

My pet peeve - folks not utilizing the search engine more.

[Terry Primos]

Same here Jon. I don't see any problem with that. You post one for the masses to admire and comment on in the Display Case, and one in the For Sale area for the buyers to see that it is available and what the price is.

I can think of some other special situations. For example, we have the Outpost. This is actually a separate group who was looking for a place to hang their hat, and Alex set them up here.

In this case, many of the active Outpost members don't venture outs##e that forum. It wouldn't bother me much if someone asked about draw filing in one the regular forums, and asked for opinions from the guys in the Outpost as well.

There's going to be some gray areas in my opinion, and we don't have to worry about micro-managing this thing down to the n'th degree. The ones that really need to be addressed will be obvious. If some of those in a gray area get skipped over, no big deal.

[Terry Primos]

Chuck, I was posting about the same time you were. The situation you mentioned doesn't bother me either personally.

The one thing that we need to keep in mind is that we don't have to have everything 100% right all the time. We'll just do the best that we can to keep things smooth for the members.

Any moving and/or merging is just a courtesy and not a police action.

[Chuck Burrows]

Thanks Terry-

That's what I figured but it's nice to know that others feel the same way.

Still I really think that Bob's got it right about the questions as it is sure nice to have all the answers in one place whenever possible. Of course using the internal search engine is a BIG a## to that.

[SharpByCoop]

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Good responses.

It's not a perfect world, is it??!

Coop

[whv]

some time ago, we suggested a forum be placed up top to post welcome messages & introductions. i still think this would be a good ##ea. seems to me that a LOCKED sticky message or two there outlining suggested forum conduct and answers to faq that are specific to ckdf would be appropriate.
.
as to the the current subject - what coop sa##.

[Omega]

but i disagree. i think that multiple questions are ok to an extent
i know ive posted a question in one forum and got some views but no replies and then posted it somewhere else and gotten plenty of replies. so if i really need an answer soon ill post in 2 or 3 forums. i do agree that the search button should be used, but one think i HATE about the search is that 2 letter words cant be used, well i use o1 steel so you can see my problem unless someone has a way around this. JMO thx

Bill



Sweeet:evil

[Terry Primos]

Bill,
While it's true that the search engine requires three characters for a search sequence, you can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard. If you go into search and key in *01, you'll get 296 matches on it. Well, now that I've put it in this post, you'll get more than that.

The moderators try to help move threads to an area where you'll get better responses, but if they miss one you can always get one of us to help you find the best forum for the question.

Sometimes not getting a quick reply is because everyone is busy. We all have real jobs. We just donate spare time (whatever that is) to the forums. You can't always get instant real time answers.