Simplify simplify simplify...

[pandamonium24]

Although i enjoy this site and don't struggle to find my way around it i can't help to think that theres alot of stuff that isn't needed, some of which i feel affects the volume of discussion which is surely what a forum is about.

To explain what i mean here are a few examples, the amount of areas there are for each individual model is crazy, are seperate sections for old/new panda's, old/new/USA and Abarth 500's really needed? in my opinion no, if you look at how infrequently the Abarth section is used i think this proves the point. My feeling is that if there was just one panda section and one 500 section there would be more threads and more people reading them. I imagine the majority of members here like their cars which is why they are here, so i can't see that an original 500 owner wouldnt be interested to read about the new Abarth or the other way round, or a new panda owner wouldnt be intrigued by the old model.

The above is only a small example, but would have a knock on affect for each section, this also applies to the for sale section, why so many areas! all thats needed is one section for vehicles and one for parts, no individual sections for tuning, ICE etc etc.

I also don't see the point in thread prefixes, again i think this reduces discussion if anything.

Here's a link to a forum i think does it pretty well, granted there isn't the same number of models in the marques ranges, but its clean and effective.

www.teamspeed.com

I'd be interested to see what peoples views are on the above!

Cheers!

 

[dronenrs]

comparing the old 500 and the new 500 is like comparing two people both called lets say tim. they may share the same name but they are completely different. so i say keep it how it is. and dont forget the abarth sections are still quite new.. give it time

 

[dombooth]

When I first found this forum (last year) I found my way around everything perfectly, it hasn't changed much really. Really easy, one of the best forums I've found.

Dom

 

[Venters]

Old and new Pandas in the same section!!! Might aswell just put a cars section and put all cars in it. Since the they have nothing in common. Then the wealth of new threads will will make threads drop of the first page by the time you've clicked refresh once or twice.

 

[dombooth]

Old and new Pandas in the same section!!! Might aswell just put a cars section and put all cars in it. Since the they have nothing in common. Then the wealth of new threads will will make threads drop of the first page by the time you've clicked refresh once or twice.

:yeahthat: Exactly!

Dom

 

[custard]

if i drive a Punto,why would i want to trawl through all the parts available to find stuff for my model?

 

[dave]

there is a bravo/a forum with everything in one place, it done my nut in trying to find stuff so i never use it no more.

most of the sections are on ff because lots of people asked for them

 

[dombooth]

It's just easier and more organised to have everything seperated out into groups so things are easier to find.

Dom

 

[smokeyjoe03]

The areas aren't exclusive to certain model owners, if a 500 owner wants to read about Abarth 500s its not hard to just click back and then click the relevant section :/

 

[ben]

Whist I agree with some points - the main reason we have a lot of splits is because people kept asking.

The Abarth section is new - everything just used to be in the relevant "normal" model - but people kept pointing out they were very different.

Now classifieds I agree with you in a sense - unfortunately there is no way to easily split out models if they were all in one section - which means searching would be very difficult. The main reason though was to allow the sidebar to work (each forum is tagged to a classifieds category).

Thread Prefixes come from the time when actually each car had 3 forums (One general, one tech and one styling) - this was even more of a nightmare (you had to browse 3 per forum) BUT - at the time, I started to merge them all into one, and people weren't happy with that!

They basically said they wanted to be able to scroll through all the "styling" posts for example and ignore the rest.

To this end, the prefixes were perfect - everything in one forum, but you can also filter. It makes it nice for example if you decide "I wonder how I could tune my X" - just turn on the "Tuning" filter and see what people say.

Admittedly I would like to try and cut down on the amount of sections in "Misc" - which we did to some extreme (I personally think Sat Nav could go into ICE) - but again, whenever it's been tried, users have said they didn't like it.

 

[sludgeguts]

I agree with the majority of what has been said and have nothing to add - but I understand that I need to post here in order to 'vote' for or against the OP.
In this case, it's a (sorry OP)

 

[dombooth]

My vote is the same as sludgeguts.

Dom

 

[dronenrs]

here too

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Ditto. Mk2 and mk3 Pandas are nothing alike except for the Selecta and active sharing the same engine, bit even then the fuel injection system is different. Lol.

 

[blu73]

bit late to this but agree with the above, what the OP is saying is a bit like how the forum was when i joined and it feels like its moved on alot and easier to navigate. Although i understand what your getting at. I rarely go outside the cinq/sei section and so i don't really know anyone bar people frequenting that section - however it is one of the busiest sections as far as i can tell. I just have a look through the members motors section every once in a while to get an idea of what people are doing to whatever cars they have.