We should do it like GB does, a thread index. Someone would need to be in charge and maybe delegate sections, ie airhead wrangler could document all HPN threads, and I nominate Beater to grab all the oil threads. I'm happy to help "grabbing" threads.
There is plenty to talk about, but the subjects mentioned in the beginning of the thread tend to have the same questions asked over and over again and yes all of my airheads run wonderfully.
Search sucks because it never finds what you want it to find, mostly this is due to searching for words when you want the info that uses the words. So searching for "carb synch" finds exactly what you do not want. You ain't gonna fix it, nor will some mondo large sticky. It might help but you still need someone to build, organize and update a sticky. I'll bet that search words found in a thread/topic title have priority over the same words found in subsequent posts, but we all make up thread titles that don't really describe the conversations that follow. Well what I'm hinting at is this, if we know now (as in today) where the three best threads are discussing widget torque, then start a thread and make sure the title was ESSAY ON widget torque, insert your comments and links to other threads. If we all did that one little thing then within a month a google search of: ESSAY site:advrider.com would be easy and have power.
Agreed. When I post stuff only specific to a system, not bike specific, I exclude R80G/S in the title. If it's bike specific I include R80G/S. Also, google chrome used to be able to search only the page you were on. For instance "airheads". So it searched only the airhead forum. Much like this site did at one time. However, I haven't been able to do that with the latest download of chrome. Maybe include ESSY Airheads or ESSY R80 or R80G/S to help narrow it?
You're getting the idea, 'Spokes just wanted some sort of "card catalogue" which would allow folks to drill down on a particular topic. Which we can do without any admin assistance if we were to pre-organize our catalogue entries/threads with a keyword. We could use 'essAy on' or any other word that everyone agreed to use. Add words after the first word, the keyword, to make the title as specific as you would want.
Beater stole my thunder. Fine, how 'bout which tires? P.S. still lovin' my butter smooth Wirespokes fix on my instruments.
I'm trying to get the idea. This, an index, does sound better than my impressions earlier. One thing that has always bothered me is the telling Noobs to not ask about certain subjects. If a Noob needs the info about oil because he has just bought an Airhead then this info should be available. It should work if somebody links to all, several or many, threads about the subject needed. Now if the rare extra question comes up? Will we still have oil threads? New info? Oil formulas change every few years. I hope we guard against thinking the World is a static environment. The search function sucks which is why we should do something, I guess. Why do search functions always suck? Adv is not the only site I'm aware of with poor search functions.
I've searched for stuff I remember reading in the past using Google and had to wade through pages and pages to find it. I can certainly understand why guys would rather ask than search. But I've gotten tired of answering the same old questions over and over and would rather have it all saved somewhere and direct them to it. See what I mean? I wouldn't worry about oil threads, unless you're talking about the bazillion dollar O-Ring. But since there's so much interest in oil threads, why not link them? I think the way it would have to work is the first post in the thread gets amended over and over to add topics or links. It needs to be organized so it's easily searched through. That way when someone asks about adjusting valves, or why isn't my bike charging - we can direct him to the FAQ index and tell him to come back when he's educated in the area if he still has questions. That should leave a ton of bandwidth for hop up threads, HPN conversions, RS wind noise solutions, you know ... the less discussed topics. I don't think we'd need to link to every thread about balancing carbs, for instance - just a few that make it really clear - pix, well written, etc. How many times over does it take to get the point across?? So I don't think it's a thing of the original poster (me?) searching high and low for the best threads to link to, but kind of a group effort; as possible threads are found the links are sent to a central place or person and the lucky ones get picked. Instead of a month-long effort to create something like this, instead have it grow and fill out on its own. It actually should take less time creating this than answering the same questions over and over again. Agreed?
As a newb myself asking really basic (read: dumbass) questions all the time, I would really love to see this happen. I hate asking the forum when the search function doesn't pan out, but sometimes there aren't a lot of options. There are a number of great examples on this site of indices/FAQs to go on, although many I've seen tend to be model specific. Revised Newb Filter Step 1 -- Read new FAQ Step 2 -- Search site:advrider.com Step 3 -- Ruminate a few more days Step 4 -- Phone a friend Step 5 -- Post the question Btw to those of you willing to field the newb questions, many thanks for all the help so far Everything I know about airheads I've learned in this forum or through painful experience.
Something that I've started doing is going back through my old posts and where better-than-average advice is given I'm noting the URL of that message and doing a cut&paste of the info. And it wouldn't be bad idea if other contributors did the same with their posts. This should help if and when the Sticky is, errrr, stuck. --Bill
Here is an example of index that Wildman maintains for f8gs Has worked well, may need a few morphs to cover airhead spectrum.
