A pitch for more effective THREAD "Titles:" and POST "Titles:" too !

[Eskimo]

Hear, hear!

Excellent suggestions, Sam. I feel exactly the same way about titles for technical threads, but have never gotten up the gumption to start a thread about it. Thanks for doing so.

I think some folks get so far into the "conversational" groove that they forget that their "conversation" will become part of the body of information (and sometimes misinformation!) that is the Diesel Discussion.

[Rashakor]

Amen! That is precisely why you spend almost more time to write the title of a science paper than the paper itself. Tracebility.
BTW can administrators and moderators modify titles? that would really be the ultimate in moderation!

[PatricdeBoer]

I second the motion!

[Johnhef]

great idea, searches are always fun when it looks like nothing corresponds to what you're looking for.

[Samuel M. Ross]

Clearly this subject applies to THREADs/POSTs in FORUMs other than our beloved "Diesel Discussion"... so how can do this notion be brought to the appropriate "Powers-2-B". I'd like to see Brian Carlton chime in on this THREAD too... soon... I know you are out there Brian !

Q1 - How can we get a more broad spectrum display of this THREAD or do we need ONLY to let it take on its own momentum as others POST their support and/or comments ?

For the record, I'd be happy to help write up a THREAD that's intended to be given special archival status... one that is "BUMPed" or whatever the appropriate colloquial FORUM jargon is for giving THREADs some special visibility!

Q2 - What about having a special group of THREADs that "newbie(s)" are referred to when they first sign on before they are given POSTing powers!?
Sam

[Kynetx]

A lot of other forums use a "thread tag". I'm not sure if these support it. It's a tiny little graphical banner that indicates a subcategory, e.i:

Body
Interior
Engine
Oil
Fuel
Cooling
Electric
Vacuum
Suspension
Brakes

And so on...

[captainmonk]

much ado about nothing

[Brian Carlton]

Originally Posted by Samuel M. Ross

Clearly this subject applies to THREADs/POSTs in FORUMs other than our beloved "Diesel Discussion"... so how can do this notion be brought to the appropriate "Powers-2-B". I'd like to see Brian Carlton chime in on this THREAD too... soon... I know you are out there Brian !

Q1 - How can we get a more broad spectrum display of this THREAD or do we need ONLY to let it take on its own momentum as others POST their support and/or comments ?

For the record, I'd be happy to help write up a THREAD that's intended to be given special archival status... one that is "BUMPed" or whatever the appropriate colloquial FORUM jargon is for giving THREADs some special visibility!

Q2 - What about having a special group of THREADs that "newbie(s)" are referred to when they first sign on before they are given POSTing powers!?
Sam

If you will kindly check out the sticky entitled "Troubleshooting.....get the most from your post", written by Larry Bible, you'll find that it contains every point that would be of interest to a new member, including when to post a new thread and how to title it.

The fact that it exists and is not read by most members, including yourself, tends to discount the benefit of a second thread that basically says the same thing.

The moderator can, and usually will, edit the title of a thread if it's unsuitable.

[Hatterasguy]

Whats the problem now?

Just an fyi for the new members, most of the best stuff is in the archives from the old timers. The guys who have been around the block a few times with these cars are not that active anymore, and don't respond to posts that they have responed to many times in the past.

[Samuel M. Ross]

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

If you will kindly check out the sticky entitled "Troubleshooting.....get the most from your post", written by Larry Bible, you'll find that it contains every point that would be of interest to a new member, including when to post a new thread and how to title it.
... ...
The moderator can, and usually will, edit the title of a thread if it's unsuitable.

... for the fact that Larry's THREAD escaped my multiple daily perusals of the E-mail "UPDATE" / summary of New/Revised THREADs/POSTs... this tends to prove my point which is that many of us DO NOT READ EVERY THREAD beyond the title that is initially used. You are 100% correct, Larry Bible's POST/THREAD at: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=127342 but for the same reasons I gave in my POST/THREAD, I had never read his POST until you told me about it. I guess his THREAD title: "TROUBLESHOOTING, Get the Most from your Post! ", just did not grab my attention enough to entice me into reading it beyond the title itself.

Much, if not most, of what Larry wrote is absolutely great advice and many of his points are so logical that many of us have adopted them without ever reading his THREAD. But there are others [ especially “newbies” as well as the rest of us ] who could benefit greatly if they were led early on to read a THREAD that would encompass the essential elements of Larry's THREAD and maybe even some of my original ideas that are valid. I concentrated on the initial THREAD "Title:" and I think the magic in such composition might come from keeping it short and "ILLUSTRATEing" the points. Larry largely did just this as I did in my slant on these closely related subjects... but if such ideas are relegated to the dust heap of the archives, we [the FORUM] will continue to operate but in a manner short of what we have potential for if we could figure out how to encompass such ideas so that our “newbies” are all-but-required to read such a THREAD before they are allowed to start POSTing... an instructional THREAD that is short and to the point as practicable and illustrates the points of both Larry's and my THREAD ideas.

I was hoping you might know how this might be accomplished "within the system" … at least for all of MercedesShop.Com’s more popular THREADS… and yes maybe even bring this idea of “required reading” to the producers of the software that for the most part automatically drives this FORUM each day !??

In the interest of IMPROVEment,
Sam