Topic: specific model threads?

[robdrobd]

Does anyone else think some specific models could be sub topics in the forum. Most people are looking for their model. Maybe take all of the bikes listed on the SOHC website and put them into subtopics on the forum? Just a thought. Bored.

[Laminar]

Sounds like a fantastic idea - a place to put information specific to that year's carbs, engine, quirks, model changes from year to year, etc.

A lot of that can be found on the main sohc4.net page by navigating through the model-specific links at the top, but a place to discuss and add information and tips for each model would be great.

[robdrobd]

Wow, I didn't expect such a great first response! Its just that I am always looking for 1975 cb550f stuff because its the only bike I own.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

I PM'd Glenn yesterday and suggested breakouts by stock, cafe, chops. Your suggestion would go under stock bikes. My belief is it is time with 6500 members that have signed up in the past. Glenn does a fantastic job and just trying to keep up has to be a real PITA for him. By breaking it down as we have suggested will allow us to see just what we are interested in. One of my concerns is we'll overlook something or just not look because there is so much to skim over.

Jerry

[Laminar]

I PM'd Glenn yesterday and suggested breakouts by stock, cafe, chops. Your suggestion would go under stock bikes.

It sounds to me like you're suggesting subforums for different bike types. Just like we currently have sections for SOHC/4 Bikes, Project Shop, Other Bikes, etc., you're suggesting sections for stock, cafe, and chops. Correct?

If so, I don't think that's the best option - issues faced by someone with a Cafe trying to get his bike to run correctly with the pods and 4-1 are going to be exactly the same as someone trying to get the chopper/bobber/slightly modified bike with the same mods. If anything, perhaps subforums for different areas would keep it a bit more organized - a section for engine mechanicals, one for electrical issues, one for tires/wheels, etc. This type of organization method is used on the Nighthawk forums I go to. The downside is that it's possible for a thread to go unnoticed if people spend all of their time in one subsection, and it's also a pain if an issue starts out in one category but turns out to belong in another. With everything getting dumped directly into the SOHC/4 subforum, stuff gets kicked off the first page pretty quickly, but everything typically gets seen.

I see the merit in doing something like the OP suggested - perhaps create a thread in the FAQ subforum for each model/year, then that thread can be used to post info and tips specific to that model year.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Essentially, yes. No good best options, huh?! Growing pains.

[Gordon]

It was tried before and didn't work out very well.  Most members own 750's, and so most of the posts in the other sub-forums were being ignored.  I know I wouldn't like to have to look through six different sub-forums to see what new topics were there. 

[robdrobd]

I was suggesting separate pages for bike models. I was thinking at least four different ones, 500/550, 550f, 750, and 750f....or something. It was mostly just a brain fart that derived from boredom last night.

[RM81]

I was suggesting separate pages for bike models. I was thinking at least four different ones, 500/550, 550f, 750, and 750f....or something. It was mostly just a brain fart that derived from boredom last night.

Guess I'll take my 650 and go home then.  


JK.  Don't forget about the 350 and the 400 either.

[robdrobd]

I was suggesting separate pages for bike models. I was thinking at least four different ones, 500/550, 550f, 750, and 750f....or something. It was mostly just a brain fart that derived from boredom last night.

Guess I'll take my 650 and go home then.  


JK.  Don't forget about the 350 and the 400 either.

Ha, sorry to leave you out! I was just being selfish!! I guess your 650 can come too!

[vames]

Threads are sometimes a simple Q&A about a specific quirk about a specific displacement bike, but more often they morph and/or talk about other models or issues that are relevant to all models. I think the forum is too free-form (as it should be) to try and make a dewie decimal system of catagorization for threads by displacement. Not to mention that probably 95% of what I've learned about my 400F from the forum was from people talking about 750s and 550s.

We have an excellent search tool that allows you to categorize things however you want them in seconds -- you can simply type "cb400f valve clearance" or "550 o-ring chain" and get the answers you want about the bikes you want. But if someone is putting a headlight relay on a 750, people with all models are going to want to read about it because it applies to their bike too.

[Laminar]

We have an excellent search tool that allows you to categorize things however you want them in seconds -- you can simply type "cb400f valve clearance" or "550 o-ring chain" and get the answers you want about the bikes you want. But if someone is putting a headlight relay on a 750, people with all models are going to want to read about it because it applies to their bike too.

Which would work better if people were good at naming their threads. I agree with the advantages to a single SOHC/4 forum, but single threads for, say "1976 CB550K/F," "1977 CB750K/F," etc. would be great for storing tips and general information specific to that year and model.

[Alan F.]

Does anyone else think some specific models could be sub topics in the forum. Most people are looking for their model. Maybe take all of the bikes listed on the SOHC website and put them into subtopics on the forum? Just a thought. Bored.

That's the way things were organized on the old Greenspun forums.
-Alan