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reorganizing the forums

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doug

Administrator / Head Moderator
Administrator
Hi All,

The other moderators and I have been discussing reorganizing the TMC forums and we'd like your input. The goal is to have them make more sense from an organizational standpoint and to eliminate some ambiguity as to where certain threads should be located.

Easily identified and fixable problems:

  • "Environment" should be expanded to include "Energy and Environment."
  • "Electric Cars" should probably be renamed "Electric Vehicles" in order to be more inclusive.

Less clear cut:

  • Primarily we've been discussing the elimination the the Media section of the forum. There are reasonable arguments both for and against keeping it. The main argument against keeping that section is that it creates ambiguity as to where a thread should be posted. Should a thread with an article link be in the "articles" section or should it be in the section for what the article is about...
  • Overall organization. Are certain sub-forums useful or not. Many of the sub-forums in Off Topic, probably shouldn't be off topic, etc.

Anyhow, we'd like your input and ideas. Thanks!


(See also: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/site-feedback/1385-lets-talk-about-future-tesla-motors-club.html)
 
Here's a quick and dirty trial layout... what can you come up with?



Tesla Motors Forum -- Discussion about Tesla Motors
Tesla Roadster -- Discussion about the Tesla Roadster
Sub-Forums: Performance Discussion, Technical Discussion
Tesla Model S (WhiteStar) -- Discussion about the Tesla Model S (WhiteStar)
Sub-Forums: Performance Discussion, Technical Discussion
Future Cars -- Discussion about Future Cars from Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors -- Discussion about Tesla Motors the company.

Events -- Events related to Tesla Motors

Electric Performance Forum -- Discussion about EVs and EV related issues
Electric Vehicles -- Discussion about Electric Vehicles other than those from Tesla Motors
Sub-Forums: Electric Conversions, Bikes and Motorcycles, Planes, Trains, but not Automobiles
Technical -- Discussion about the Technical Side of Electric Vehicles
Sub-Forums: Battery Discussion, Charging Discussion
Energy and Environment

Car Talk -- Including those that might run on liquid fuel

Events -- General events related to EVs

Site Feedback

Off Topic
 
Oh god, not again please? There is no need. Forum's heart is at its content and not structure. Nobody and absolutely nobody anymore navigates it via its structure. He uses google or forum search to find what's he interested in. Less is more.

If anything I am for removal of subforums. They are only wasting my time and energy when trying to see what is new.
 
Whatever the structure, I vow to keep drifting off topic :biggrin:

I believe the Media section arose because the Gallery never quite worked properly - which I had found irritating to use anyway since it placed images out of context with relevant discussions.

Following that line of argument, it seems sensible that all media should really go into appropriate threads.

Yet should there be a "sticky" or two for important/historical pics and videos? I'm thinking of things like the original Roadster launch event in July 2006.

What skews it somewhat is the presence of comments from some of the key players in the new generation of EV manufacturers. (It would be great if that can be encouraged and broadened in some way - probably if idiots like me stop making them feel unwelcome :frown:.)

In essence, it's a question of balance between structured historical EV archive and a merry EV enthusiasts sandpit.
 
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Doug,

I liked your suggestion but as I see it the last 5 things on the lists should be their own Forum - perhaps off topic or something like General information. They seem to not necessarily be related to Electric Performance.

Perhaps there should be a New Articles and Events subcategory for each category. So for example news about the Roadster would go in the Tesla Motors Category and then under the Roadster and then under News. That way we can read the news we want to and skip the rest. So say I am only interested in all things Model S I do not have to really read the rest until later if I want .... make any sense ? News about the Models S would go under Tesla Motors, Model S and then News. etc.....

Maybe off topic could have some categories as well that seem to be well used like Solar, Wind, Geothermal etc....

Also, perhaps adding a category under Tesla Motors for the Roadster Sport edition. I think that is a seperate model isn't it ? :confused:
 
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Here are my thougths consolidated to make it easier....

Telsa Motors Forum


Roadster Forum


Performance

Technical

News , Articles and Events


Roadster Sport Forum


Performance

Technical

News, Articles and Events


Model S Forum


Performance

Technical

News, Articles and Events


BlueStar Model Forum


Performance

Technical

News, Articles and Events


Tesla Motors Corporation


Electric Vehicle Forum


Electric Cars


Conversions

Other Manufacturers


Electric Motorcycles

Performance

Technical

News, Articles and Events


Planes, Trains and NO Automobiles


Electric Trucks and Vans


Technical


Battery

Charging

News, Articles and Events


General Forum


Energy and Environment


Solar


Wind


Government Policy


Car Talk


Website Feedback


Off Topic
 
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Thanks for the input so far. Basically, we're trying to make things better. With the Model S unveiling coming up, there are likely to be some new members. It would be nice if our layout could reduce ambiguity and make it easy for people to know where they should post. Would also make it easier for moderators, so there's less clean up.

We also need to be better about communicating features of the forum.
New Posts (which is in a drop down menu when you click the "SEARCH" button at the top of the page) and Today's Posts (which can be found both under "SEARCH" and "QUICKLINKS") are shortcuts I'd expect most regular readers to use.
 
DARN IT all of the spacing I did for outline sake is gone !!!!! DRAT that makes it hard to read perhaps if I try with line breaks. Or I will try inserting some tabs or something ....
Go ahead and edit your 7:47am post. Press the "Go Advanced" button and use the "Increase Indent" button to get the effect you want. Also use bold and underline, like I did, to make it clear. Use "Post Preview" to make sure you have what you want. The forum automatically removes extra spaces. Something I find annoying, but probably has it's reasons. Thanks for your input.
 
I liked your suggestion but as I see it the last 5 things on the lists should be their own Forum - perhaps off topic or something like General information. They seem to not necessarily be related to Electric Performance.
I agree... I just couldn't think of a name.
"General information" ... "Issues" ... "All the Rest"
I got nuthin'

Maybe off topic could have some categories as well that seem to be well used like Solar, Wind, Geothermal etc....
It's clear that members want to talk about alternative energy. I'm not sure however there is enough content to merit a section for each type. Often, several different types will be discussed in the same thread, and in which case, where do you put it? My thinking is a single "Energy and Environment" forum is enough for that purposes of an EV site.

Also, perhaps adding a category under Tesla Motors for the Roadster Sport edition. I think that is a seperate model isn't it ? :confused:
I'm not sure that it's a separate model per se. Right now there is only one thread specifically devoted to it. If we get more content about the Sport, it may eventually merit it's own forum. We started a specific Model S (Whitestar) forum once there was a critical mass of content about it.

Thanks for your suggestions. :smile:
 
OK i tried to edit my list. I could not make the indent work so I changed the font size to match where the indents were. Hopefully that idea is not too complicated but I think the more refined the categories are the less clean up the moderators will have to do .... :smile:
 
I think the more refined the categories are the less clean up the moderators will have to do .... :smile:

My guess is that, in fact, the opposite is true. The more specific categories and sub categories you have, the harder it is to figure out where a thread should go, since the subject of a thread might seem appropriate for more than one category. I suppose we also need to be better about describing the purpose of each forum.
 
My guess is that, in fact, the opposite is true. The more specific categories and sub categories you have, the harder it is to figure out where a thread should go, since the subject of a thread might seem appropriate for more than one category. I suppose we also need to be better about describing the purpose of each forum.

That may be why you are a moderator and I am not :biggrin: but I think some of that problem will be fixed by duplicating some categories in many places rather than just one like News, Articles and Events. That way it can go in just Roadster News instead of General News. All Praises to the moderators that do so much work behind the scenes :smile:
 
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I personally think we should keep this forum as simple as possible.
We should anticipate any changes that will need to be made in the future however. For example, when and if the model S comes out, that is gonna change things a little.

I think we should try to avoid subforums all together. I rarely see them used well and I want to make this place very friendly to any user, especially people who are new to forum software.

For the moment, it is probably unnecessary to have a technical, a performance a etc. version for each model and all. There is way to much general discussion and overlapping and everything. However, the issue comes with when there may be in the future lots of discussion like this. Do we just keep it general? Or do we seperate it again?

Maybe in the end, there will be a software by which we can use a tag system. Doug was talking about this, I wonder how that would work for a forum.
 
If you are doing that way I suggest you go all the way....

Make a Tesla Forum and a General one. Maybe a sub category for each tesla car.

KISS. But I think that more is better in this case. If you don't do more you will just have to have this discussion over and over and over as it continues to grow. I have only been here for this discussion twice .....perhaps others recall more times....
 
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