Porsche forum - have your say NOW!!

[sleep envy]

Further to a separate thread Garlick is welcoming comments & thoughts on the recent changes to the forum.

Garlick said:

As I say, and being honest, it was more something I want to see work (to reinforce our dominance of the sports car community) as opposed to reacting to any specific request. I see other forums carrying the more technical and specific content and could see no reason why we couldn't accommodate that too.

We tweaked the supercar section a little to reach a compromise, and I'm happy to tweak here too. I don't want to restrict Porsche to one area, but I am happy to listen to how it might work to achieve a mix of what I'd like and what you guys need.

On the back of that does anyone have sany suggestions as to what they would like to see?

[sleep envy]

stevod said:

but if sub-cats are to stay then does this make more sense?

Comments don't have to be restricted to retention of the sub-cats.

If you think that the forum should revert back to one section feel free to voice your opinion.

[sleep envy]

Jeremy, you can bang that drum all you want but as Daniel pointed out to you yesterday it 'quacks'.

[sleep envy]

Stu R said:

I vote for weekly changing it and re-organising, just to mess with Ric.

>addsnametolist<

[sleep envy]

birdcage said:

I am guessing the forums have been split to get advertisers for each section?

Garlick's reasoning;

Garlick said:

Forum splits were my idea, just me.

The aim (as said when discussing the splits elsewhere) was to provide general and specific areas for more brands after I have enjoyed using that format in the TVR section for a few years.

In TVR we chat about this and that in general, but when I want to get advice on fixes, values or specialists I pop into the Chim section. It was with that in mind that I wanted to see if that works across other areas. Keep the general natter area and (attempt to) increase specific model discussions for those that want it.

I never expected the model-specific areas to set the world alight, General was always going to be more popular, but the new areas would be there for those that want it.

Forums don't make revenue to any great extent, that is the job of the classifieds (and not something I am actively involved with aside from a look and feel POV) so any forum work is made without a cash return in mind.

[sleep envy]

Just for balance, aside from Jeremy C, is there anyone who likes the recent changes?

[sleep envy]

jeremyc said:

nono: I didn't say I either liked or disliked the changes, just that it made no difference to my browsing of the forums.

A question for the detractors/naysayers: given the poor search facility in the forums, is it not a benefit to be able to find advice relating to one model family in one place? For example, if you are looking for advice on changing a Boxster brake light bulb, would it not be easier to only have to look through a Boxster/Cayman subsection rather than the whole Porsche forum?

Well you appear to be the only advocate of it so far.

I thought it would have been seen as a benefit to the entire site to fix the search function rather than carve up this forum to enable people to trawl through pages of model specific posts to find the answer to their query.

[sleep envy]

birdcage said:

I would be interested in stats on number of posts since and page views.

That has been asked and skirted around.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[sleep envy]

Poll has already been held, 75% of posters don't like the new format.

This thread was supposed to be for feedback for further tweaks

[sleep envy]

Zyp said:

To be fair, you're hardly a prolific poster.....

But he is entitled to his opinion, no matter how wide of the mark it may be.

[sleep envy]

No need to apologise for spectacularly missing the point.

Well done, have a donut.

[sleep envy]

It's being monitored as well as the 6 posts in the 911/GT forum

[sleep envy]

Porkupine said:

So what is the outcome from this thread?

The outcome is Garlick asked for feedback.

It'll keep bubbling away until there's a response.

[sleep envy]

Looks like we'll live with it for a while longer and review again next year.

Garlick said:

Thanks to Ric for nudging me on this, I'm very forgetful now I've passed 40.

I do want keep this as it is for now, with the encouragement being to use just the general thread if that is what you prefer. Like a friend of a friend at a party you don't like, just ignore them.

While the sub-sections aren't (and never will be) as popular they are attracting the odd post and prove to be useful to some. I guess I could name a few forums across the site where traffic is low (sat navs, advanced driving, some of the one-make sections) but they continue even with low use.

Yes we started as a TVR (in the main) site so I take the point on board that the TVR section will always work better split out that way, but nowadays Porsche, BMW and Aston are the most popular and in time the news. classified and forums will work together better providing a better platform for fans of those cars.

Is it a case that I don't listen? No not at all, I just want this to be available as an option even if it withers and dies in 2014 through chronic lack of use. As it stands we haven't seen (honestly) a loss of traffic, in terms of page views, to the Porsche area. Comments we'll add as a measure to our analytics. If it does drop and wither, so be it I was wrong. If it manages to survive in a lowly fashion in the shadows of PG then fine.