New Posts?

[wingman]

Regal raises a very valid point with the search thing. I've sorted most of my little niggles with the good ol' search button. which makes me think (I know I shouldn't), How many technical issues have NOT been discussed? You could just about rebuild an E34 from a bucket of nuts and bolts and some sheet metal from what is in the search section. I love to read about mods and the like and anything new happening on the scene but the "I'm having trouble with this..." post is virtually redundant due to the immense collaborative effort of all the members of this site. Or is it? The can of worms is open, please indulge. ;)

[motorman]

I'm new to the forum Regal and I see your point, I'm not known as the sharpest tool in the shed, my youngest boy leaves me for dead in the computer skills area, I have enough trouble working out where the search key is? (By the way, I've just recently found it), so this has opened a whole new door for me. But in view of all that, I could possibly feel like a real dill by posting a new thread which has already been covered in the forum, but I can't get my head around the answer to the problem in the old thread. Maybe by reraising the issue again, I get the help I need and maybe someone else too, who might be like me (hope not though) a bit afraid to ask due to feeling like a total dill.
Cheer Mick

[wingman]

Hi Mick, Regal didn't start this thread so take it easy on him!!! As the starter of the thread I am only to ready to admit that I asked some q's that were already in the search section when I first joined. I have learn't the error of my ways. What I am trying to stop is newbies being slammed for asking questions that have been covered a million times. When you get to know the site it will annoy you too. All the best!

[Gayle]

Wingman--I had similar thoughts not long ago. There is an old joke about guys in prision who no longer told the full joke. They just shouted out the joke number cause they had all heard the jokes so many times. (The punchline had something do do with no one laughing after a guy shouted out some number cause he just couldn't tell a joke). After reading here for 9 months, I don't find that many new issues so it feels like we are dealing with issues that we could assign numbers to. (And a lot of the new issues are so advanced I am lost reading them anyway).

It gets a little boring seeing newbies ask the same questions over and over, but it also gets boring when they don't. I find myself getting restless with the board when it is not technical enough.

In defense of newbies, one problem they have using the search function is that there is a certain amount of lingo involved. We have our pet names for things and if you don't know the word, your search results are not very helpful. For example, you get really different results if you search for "shimmy" as opposed to "vibration". That is where the value of lurking comes in. You build the vocabulary to find the answers using search.

I have seen posts where someone tells a newbie do a search on "blah blah" and I will do the search to see what it pulls up. A lot of times, it doesn't get the answer cause it is not quite the right word. There are times when I can remember really good threads and am able to find them again only because I can remember a particular person who posted in the thread and I do an advanced search. While I think we don't want to have to write the same crap over and over I don't think it hurts us to help connect newbies with links to helpful threads. I usually find myself enriched by doing this cause I find stuff that is useful to me in the process.

Sometimes I find that new threads on old topics can be much better than ones you find through search. Sometimes it because the new person asking has a humility and sincerity that makes people want to answer. Some times it is better because different and more informed people respond. Sometimes the people people who respond are better at explaining and the answer is much more detailed and helpful. Sometimes there are great new pictures. Revisits to old topics can be a really good thing.

I am always amazed at how self managing and self correcting this board is. There seems to be a good balance between telling newbies to "go search" on one hand and on the other getting enthusiatically involved in rediscussing an old topic and having it come out new and fresh.

[mbogosia]

I have caught myself posting a question and then finding the answer by searching. I always search first now, and if I can't find it I don't feel bad about posting the question. Even if someone directs me to a past thread that I missed, I at least tried to find it to the best of my abilities.

[Bill R.]

have no trouble finding things on search engines but this one i must not be doing things right... I rarely ever use search here but recently i have tried to look up a couple of things, and i haven't been very successful at it. Roadfly's seach i have no trouble with nor any others , i just wondered if the parameters of the search used by this board program are different?
You get restless when there's not enough technical stuff? It makes me start searching out political pages on the net and that always causes problems;)




Wingman--I had similar thoughts not long ago. There is an old joke about guys in prision who no longer told the full joke. They just shouted out the joke number cause they had all heard the jokes so many times. (The punchline had something do do with no one laughing after a guy shouted out some number cause he just couldn't tell a joke). After reading here for 9 months, I don't find that many new issues so it feels like we are dealing with issues that we could assign numbers to. (And a lot of the new issues are so advanced I am lost reading them anyway).

It gets a little boring seeing newbies ask the same questions over and over, but it also gets boring when they don't. I find myself getting restless with the board when it is not technical enough.

In defense of newbies, one problem they have using the search function is that there is a certain amount of lingo involved. We have our pet names for things and if you don't know the word, your search results are not very helpful. For example, you get really different results if you search for "shimmy" as opposed to "vibration". That is where the value of lurking comes in. You build the vocabulary to find the answers using search.

I have seen posts where someone tells a newbie do a search on "blah blah" and I will do the search to see what it pulls up. A lot of times, it doesn't get the answer cause it is not quite the right word. There are times when I can remember really good threads and am able to find them again only because I can remember a particular person who posted in the thread and I do an advanced search. While I think we don't want to have to write the same crap over and over I don't think it hurts us to help connect newbies with links to helpful threads. I usually find myself enriched by doing this cause I find stuff that is useful to me in the process.

Sometimes I find that new threads on old topics can be much better than ones you find through search. Sometimes it because the new person asking has a humility and sincerity that makes people want to answer. Some times it is better because different and more informed people respond. Sometimes the people people who respond are better at explaining and the answer is much more detailed and helpful. Sometimes there are great new pictures. Revisits to old topics can be a really good thing.

I am always amazed at how self managing and self correcting this board is. There seems to be a good balance between telling newbies to "go search" on one hand and on the other getting enthusiatically involved in rediscussing an old topic and having it come out new and fresh.

[mbogosia]

I have also been just bugging the hell out of everyone by PM'ing them.:D That way I go through to avenues before posting my question.

[Gayle]

have no trouble finding things on search engines but this one i must not be doing things right... I rarely ever use search here but recently i have tried to look up a couple of things, and i haven't been very successful at it. Roadfly's seach i have no trouble with nor any others , i just wondered if the parameters of the search used by this board program are different?

This search engine regularly comes up empty for me especially on one word searches. This happens most often when I am searching for a specific comment someone made that I want to quote in one of the running banter bs threads. I know the person used a specific word and the search engine just won't get it. So then I go to the person's post history and scroll back until find it, and yes they used the word I was looking for and the search engine should have found it and didn't. This is a cantankerous search engine, so it is not you Bill. We are all spoiled by the power of google and this search engine just isn't google.

This also happens when I search on technical topics. I usually just start reading the threads in the search results that have the most posts. In reading those, I come across a different word for what I am looking for and do a new search using that word and eventually get it. But it is just in my nature to research and read--a result of too much schooling. :(

[Gayle]

I have also been just bugging the hell out of everyone by PM'ing them.:D That way I go through to avenues before posting my question.


Your intent is obviously to be considerate, but you deprive other people of shared knowledge. It is no less work for the people you are private messaging to type a private message than to type a post.

I think people can tell whether someone has put out any effort at all to solve their problem and if they have, people are happy to have them post.

[632 Regal]

the only reason I am pushing the search button (which is very unaccurate) is for the people asking "why does my car shimmy between 50-60mph?" and the famous "why dont my car start" with absolutely no idea even what car.

Yes there will be questions asked over and over but with a different twist, thats completely fine.

The point is we changed forums so that stuff dont get popped off the front page for a day...its worse than it ever was now and people reply to stupid posts over and over and if you blink an eye we cant help the people really asking legitimate questions.

Can we add a google search to this type of forum? That might help a lot, we had that on the old forum.

Idonno, am I way off the consensus?

What do you guys think?

[grave77]

I simply use google .. it gets answers better than our search engine. setting the TDC on my M30 was the last new issue ... I searched in google to get a precious thread in bimmer.info ... while I searched in our search to get stuff that needs reading for half a day without getting to something.

[Zeuk in Oz]

As someone who, like wingman, has found the search function extremely useful on this forum I would however like to add my twopennyworth. Using both this forum and Bruno's site I have done so much to my car without needing to ask a question. Some things I have had to ask questions about.

However, I feel we require tolerance of those new to BMW or E34s and also those new to the forum.

I agree that it is very important to know the correct slang or terminology to use the search function and I find I have to search 4-5 times using different words or phrases to get to where I want to go. My other frustration is that I remember having read threads that are now missing from the great crash of 05.

However, I feel that often a particular aspect of a problem might not have been dealt with before and so a new thread will be created.

Often the thread originator will preface the question by saying that he or she has searched but cannot find the specific answer required. This is only good manners and should be encouraged.

Jeff's concern regarding new threads disappearing from the first page is ironic. If no-one posted, nothing would disappear. The constant turn-over of threads indicates a healthy forum plus a post-whore or 3. :D

If a thread is posted and slips to subsequent pages without response then it is really the obligation of the poster to bump the post up again (and again if required) until the right people see it.

I do not feel it is sensible to restrict posting by novices or anyone else for that matter, just to make the forum a "less than a page a day" entity.

My opinion then, for what it's worth, is that no new restrictions are required and that the current balance of novices (sorry, just cannot bring myself to say newbies), old hands, OT and useless posts like this one that has nothing to do with E34s, is just right.

We are a victim of our success in that what makes this forum so attractive to us also makes us want to post - be it questions about cars, holiday snaps, a funny thing happened on the way to the office, or whatever.

Surely OT and other non E34 posts are just as valid from novices as old hands.

Apologies for the ranting, my warm milk is calling me ! :p

[632 Regal]

Milk is good for you if your a 250lb calf...not a human ;)


My post whoredness doesnt bump anything down farther, its the thread starters that without simply searching for "shimmy" or "not start" with no other info is whats makind posts dissapear.

C'mon Zeuk, you have posted your share and they were as I can remember legitimate questions... how are you guys constrewing this as a place where you cant start a new thread?

I should abandon this quest and let it all just blow away. I'll remain a post whore though, just wont check the bad answers from other non knowing people for other new people that dont know better and let it drift off onto other places.

Thanks for the reality check guys.

Back to dumbass answers, you all hold it together. :D


Jeff's concern regarding new threads disappearing from the first page is ironic. If no-one posted, nothing would disappear. The constant turn-over of threads indicates a healthy forum plus a post-whore or 3. :D

[dacoyote]

....
I should abandon this quest and let it all just blow away. I'll remain a post whore though, just wont check the bad answers from other non knowing people for other new people that dont know better and let it drift off onto other places.

Thanks for the reality check guys.

Back to dumbass answers, you all hold it together. :D

Don't do that.... worthless defeatest attitude will not get you anywere.

[Gayle]

I should abandon this quest and let it all just blow away. I'll remain a post whore though, just wont check the bad answers from other non knowing people for other new people that dont know better and let it drift off onto other places.

Thanks for the reality check guys.

Back to dumbass answers, you all hold it together. :D


Sounding a little sensitive there Jeff. I still hold on to the body snatcher theory. Where is the real Jeff being held?

Jeff, it is your job here, IMHO, to say when someone has posted a bad answer. We count on you for it. And your post whoring is part of the culture here. We count on you for that too.

Bo, when you mentioned a post whore or 3, did you have anyone else in mind?
I agree with everything you said about the perfect balance here. To keep that perfect balance, Jeff has to champion those whose threads fall off the page too quick and the rest of have to continue to do our thing, whatever that may be.

[632 Regal]

what does this all mean?

All I know is I didnt get and Christmas cards or presents this year :(

What sould i do besides post whoring?

How will this help legitimate questions from being bumped before someone knowledgeable gets the chance to see it?

How bout we get a holding section for new repeat questions and we bump them there? that might save at least a page a day...

new section "repeat customers go here" or something

any ID?


Sounding a little sensitive there Jeff. I still hold on to the body snatcher theory. Where is the real Jeff being held?

Jeff, it is your job here, IMHO, to say when someone has posted a bad answer. We count on you for it. And your post whoring is part of the culture here. We count on you for that too.

Bo, when you mentioned a post whore or 3, did you have anyone else in mind?
I agree with everything you said about the perfect balance here. To keep that perfect balance, Jeff has to champion those whose threads fall off the page too quick and the rest of have to continue to do our thing, whatever that may be.

[motorman]

My appologies to Regal, thanks for pointing that out Wingman, I can see your point, I haven't been here long enough or read enough to get to a point where I might get impatient with threads covered time and time again , not saying you are too either, but some might. I hope I never do, we are all at different stagges of knowledge and understanding with our BMW's and I think we will never stop learning, we just become more refined. I wont mind either if some one says to me "hey mick have you checked search on ?????" then I'll go and check, hopefully I'll be a little wiser for the experience. This is the best forum I've been too and the only one I've joined, reason being, people make the forum what it is, the people on this forum are kind, thoughtfull, patient with all (including newbies), and most of all, helpfull, so thanks to all and you to Wingman.
Cheers Mick:)

[Zeuk in Oz]

Jeff, it is your job here, IMHO, to say when someone has posted a bad answer. We count on you for it. And your post whoring is part of the culture here. We count on you for that too.

Bo, when you mentioned a post whore or 3, did you have anyone else in mind?
I agree with everything you said about the perfect balance here. To keep that perfect balance, Jeff has to champion those whose threads fall off the page too quick and the rest of have to continue to do our thing, whatever that may be.

Thanks Gayle - my point exactly.

Jeff, I was not criticising you, merely pointing out what Gayle has clarified, that your complaining about novice posters gives us a nice balance compared to others such as Gayle and Ralph who welcome everyone and are nice to everyone.

Jeff this forum would be dull without you and everyone else who has ever posted. If no one posted, we would all get on with our lives without this forum and the world would be a much more productive, but possibly more boring, place ! :p

Gayle, Jeff's apparent sensitivity must be contagious ! :D

When discussing post whores or 3 I did not have anyone in mind but myself. I feel that my posts almost never answer technical matters and are usually just regarding matters of opinion or OT topics. This is because I cannot claim any great technical knowledge on this forum compared to the great masters, Bill R, Shogun, Winfred, Whit.......et al. (I would even go as far as to add your knowledge to this list Jeff.)

That, unfortunately for all of you, doesn't stop me posting. I will rationalise it however, by saying that even my useless posts are part of the variety seen on this forum and so can be disregarded by most, as they should be ! :p

A little literary spice makes for greater interest say I. ;)