Best of Forum

[kelly]

I was just in the Best Of forum to see what was there. There's only two posts. Where are we going with this forum?

Asking because we've had some excellent posts here. I've put ones that I thought were pretty good in my subscribed folder. Today I noticed the Best Of forum which I really haven't explored to see what was in there. It's pretty empty.

Then I wondered who makes the decision as to what gets put in there. We all have some common and some varied interests.

- Tony

[Guest110]

I should think it takes some time to weed through all the topics and posts very time consuming

[dbarrow]

There is still active discussion on exactly how to do all this.

The objective is to capture content of some of the many threads where good information has been posted.
These posts often get lost in the pile ... one grain of sand on the beach.
The next objective would be editing out the posts for relevant content relating to the subject.
Many of the threads tend to wander off course with a long trail of replies. Some are relevant to the topic and others are not.
Best Of needs to be a distilled version of the thread where only that material relevant to the subject is left as a final product.
The next problem is who will do the editing.
This can be a very big job indeed that will require a lot of time and effort as we have a lot of posts to sort out.
Even if each person sticks to doing their own posts where they started the thread, it still adds up to considerable work.
Ideas?

[Guest110]

Lol i tried deleting posts from threads and ended up in all sorts of trouble....

i tend to stay well away from the techie threads as i presume thats where most of the info will come from.. Good luck

[kern]

Lol i tried deleting posts from threads and ended up in all sorts of trouble....

i tend to stay well away from the techie threads as i presume thats where most of the info will come from.. Good luck


The "Best Of" sub-forum is intended as a repository of "samplers" and links to notable and/or informtive KH posts/threads. Some of the "sampler" posts may be edited (by mods) for content relevant to the original thread topic, but the original posts/threads will not be edited, nor are we asking members to edit and/or delete their posts.

[Guest110]

The "Best Of" sub-forum is intended as a repository of "samplers" and links to notable and/or informtive KH posts/threads. Some of the "sampler" posts may be edited (by mods) for content relevant to the original thread topic, but the original posts/threads will not be edited, nor are we asking members to edit and/or delete their posts.

thank goodness for that.. i am as bad at post pruning as i am at cooking:D

[PeteF]

I was just in the Best Of forum to see what was there. There's only two posts. Where are we going with this forum?


See if this makes sense...

Instead of concentrating on a "Best of Forum", start creating more
STICKY messages on the individual forums. STICKY messages are easy
to determine because they are the most frequently discussed topics
in each Forum.

Ok, once multiple STICKYs have been created in the various forums,
over time, some STICKYs will become of less importance and you will
need to make room for some new, more current STICKYs. At that time,
you move the lower priority STICKYs to the Best of Forum.

Bottom line, KH needs more STICKYs

---pete---

[kern]

See if this makes sense...

Instead of concentrating on a "Best of Forum", start creating more
STICKY messages on the individual forums. STICKY messages are easy
to determine because they are the most frequently discussed topics
in each Forum.

Ok, once multiple STICKYs have been created in the various forums,
over time, some STICKYs will become of less importance and you will
need to make room for some new, more current STICKYs. At that time,
you move the lower priority STICKYs to the Best of Forum.

Bottom line, KH needs more STICKYs

---pete---

Pete,
"Best Of" sub-forum is intended to be a cross between a "showcase" and "reference list" of notable and important posts/threads found in KH.
Posts in "Best Of" will be closed, and will consist of highlights and relevant info contained in the original posts/threads, and include links to the original posts/threads.
The original posts/threads remain as is.

[Guest110]

No one reads stickys...anyway. well i dont

[kern]

No one reads stickys...anyway. well i dont

sticky approach was discussed, but did not fit the "best of" concept.

[Terry Hanushek]

Pete

Instead of concentrating on a "Best of Forum", start creating more STICKY messages on the individual forums. STICKY messages are easy to determine because they are the most frequently discussed topics in each Forum.
In vBulletin, the active (most frequently discussed) topics rise to the top without Stickys as opposed to some groupware or older bbs software which assign static positions. Its not perfect but this technique does keep active topics at 'eye level'.

Ok, once multiple STICKYs have been created in the various forums, over time, some STICKYs will become of less importance and you will need to make room for some new, more current STICKYs. At that time, you move the lower priority STICKYs to the Best of Forum.

Bottom line, KH needs more STICKYs
There are two points of view on Stickys. If you normally use the New Post tab to access new messages, you go directly to the updated threads. Stickys can be used to highlight important or interesting threads. If you do not use the New Post tab and select active forums from the Forum Index, you must scroll past the Stickys to get to updated threads. Users of this second technique find it very annoying to have to scroll past multiple, static Stickys to access active threads. A balance must be maintained between these two access methods.

The vBulletin software is very flexible. We are trying to adopt policies which accommodate different access methods.

Terry

[PeteF]

There are two points of view on Stickys. If you normally use the New Post tab to access new messages, you go directly to the updated threads. Stickys can be used to highlight important or interesting threads. If you do not use the New Post tab and select active forums from the Forum Index, you must scroll past the Stickys to get to updated threads. Users of this second technique find it very annoying to have to scroll past multiple, static Stickys to access active threads. A balance must be maintained between these two access methods.


Terry, understand what you are saying. I've recently seen some vbulletin
systems utilize the STICKYs very effectively in multiple forums. They serve
best as posts that answer those questions that newcomers to a particular
forum need to read most often. I would say that 4 to 6 STICKYs would be
the max for any given forum. After that, it seems more appropriate to
start moving STICKY topics to the Best of Forum. Use the Best of Forum
as an overflow for Stickys that are not in the highest demand.

One really good thing about STICKYs as opposed to popular topics that
tend to float to the top, is that the STICKYs stand out and it sends
a subtle message to the newbie to read these very informative posts
first before asking questions.

Another thing to consider is moving all the Best Of Forum topics to
a separate webpage that is nicely organized or indexed to make
those popular topics easy to find.

---pete---

[Terry Hanushek]

Pete

Another thing to consider is moving all the Best Of Forum topics to a separate webpage that is nicely organized or indexed to make those popular topics easy to find.
That is a good point. Our long range plans for KH include separate web pages for often referenced How-to and Where-to-Find topics. The BBS format that vBulletin offers is great for threaded conversations but falters a bit when it is used as a reference source. The Search capability bridges the gap a bit but is dependent on the skill and patience of the user.

As Rob mentioned, our 'Best of' forum is intended to be a cross between a showcase and a reference list. One of our other objectives with this forum is to entice new / casual users to explore technical help forums.

As you can see, KH remains a work in progress and we really appreciate suggestions on how we can improve our site.

Terry

[Guest110]

On looking at the home page its a bit empty and not very welcoming
maybe a big flashing " welcome" or something similar...