Sticky Situation

Solitaire

^ See what I did there?! Eh? Eh? ... pfft. You're no fun.

Anyway, t'was just thinking that the stickies up there could really do with a reshuffle - we do have ten of them up there right now! - but I want to get everyone's opinions on ideas before I break out the chainsaw, especially stuff like:

- We have two seperate Build Galleries up there right now, and I finally got to thinking: why? Given the No Chat rules were relaxed a long while back should we actually go the whole hog and merge the two stickies together?

- We also have two Retailer Discussion stickies, one of which is purely hostile and the other one mostly hostile Should we merge these too, or take different action? I've never been a huge fan of Retailers To Avoid, partly as even the title is borderline libellous, and partly because I'm pretty sure that between us we've all blacklisted every single retailer out there several times over by now! Should one or both threads be de-stickied and sent off into the annals of history, and should a new thread be started or is giving everyone a clean slate pointless anyway? I do know that over the past few years many retailers have improved, many others have turned into twats and yet others have vanished entirely, so the relevance of many older posts on the threads aren't so relevant. I'd love a new thread with a poll, but a poll isn't really up to the job, we'd need some kind of ever-changing ratings form or something else clever in its place...

- I'm pretty sure the FAQ needs a right royal revamp at this point. Opinions? More importantly, ideas? Plus should Cherry's wintastic cheat-sheet up there be left as-is, or de-stickied and referenced heavily in the new FAQ, or directly integrated into it?

- Any other ideas/pressing needs for stickies? Bear in mind that when the clean-up is done I don't want to start off with the current ten, merge or remove a few, and somehow end up with four more than when I started!

phlegms

The retailer thread suggestion definitely makes sense.

AlmightyCushion

The way I plan on getting the stickies on some of my forums working is as follows. Two stickies. The first one is the charter. The second one is a post with links to all the other threads which are left to float around the forum as normal. Cleans things up a lot.

I'd merge the two gallery thread like you say.
I'd probably ditch the retailer discussion threads.
I'd ditch the hardware discussion thread (isn't this whole forum for hardware discussion). I'd probably ditch bargain alerts thread as well. More people would see a thread titled "[BARGAIN] 5870 only €10!!!!!" than they would if a post about a €10 5870 was posted in the ba thread.
The FAQ could probably do with a bit of updating as well.

leninbenjamin

Cull the stickies to a grand total of 3!

Have one thread for the charter, create a new FAQ, and create a container thread with a single post that has links to all the other popular threads, like what I suggested for soccer.

no forum should ever have more than 3 threads imo!

PogMoThoin

Yeah, and move the Tweaking and Modding, overclocking kinda posts that crop up here to the T & W forum where they belong

Leman_Russ

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Cull the stickies to a grand total of 3!

Have one thread for the charter, create a new FAQ, and create a container thread with a single post that has links to all the other popular threads, like what I suggested for soccer.

no forum should ever have more than 3 threads imo!

This suggestion is win and cake.

Solitaire wrote: »

- We have two seperate Build Galleries up there right now, and I finally got to thinking: why? Given the No Chat rules were relaxed a long while back should we actually go the whole hog and merge the two stickies together?

I have found in a situation like this, we should lock both and start fresh, but leave the old ones there for people to look through if they want.

- We also have two Retailer Discussion stickies, one of which is purely hostile and the other one mostly hostile Should we merge these too, or take different action?

Again, lock both, start from scratch, name it "Retailer Feedback". Sorted.

- I'm pretty sure the FAQ needs a right royal revamp at this point. Opinions? More importantly, ideas? Plus should Cherry's wintastic cheat-sheet up there be left as-is, or de-stickied and referenced heavily in the new FAQ, or directly integrated into it?

Desticky and lock, Link it in a new FAQ.

- Any other ideas/pressing needs for stickies? Bear in mind that when the clean-up is done I don't want to start off with the current ten, merge or remove a few, and somehow end up with four more than when I started!

+1 for leninbenjamin's idea

cherryghost

- guide to a budget pc needs to be seriously updated/removed. its all a bit messy at this point! at this point i'd like the idea of a sticky that not only contains budget, but mid end and high end builds, and possibly updated every 6-12 months

- i agree about the 2 merge ideas, its rather pointless having two seperate stickies for 2 identical threads with just a slight alteration on what/what not to post in it.

- keep the retailer thread. its good information for new and regular boardsies alike.

swirlser

Well straight up, its pointless having multiple threads for the same topic - so merge as appropriate is a given imo.

Ive only been around for 5 minutes so my own opinions on the rest arent as well informed. What I would say is that the sticky about the retailers is a handy one, but its how it ends up being used is the issue. People are much more vocal when something goes wrong rather than giving credit when you have a great experience with a retailer and so the overall snap shot looks skewed, as you said - every retailer has eventually ended up "blacklisted". Unfortunately there isnt a great deal of control over this, other than to post guidelines of use and people to be encouraged to give honest feedback, good and bad.

Effluo

cherryghost wrote: »

guide to a budget pc needs to be seriously updated/removed. its all a bit messy at this point!

I kinda think there should be a sticky which explains to people all about the different parts of a pc...
We all know that there are some things which will be outdated every couple of weeks but there are some things which don't change so often!
For example, How these components effect performance
* case, psu's, cooling, Screens... and so forth

Maybe also a "Benefits to Building" sticky. Which could include a section on when maybe a dell might be the better option.

I don't think this could be incorporated into an FAQ section as there is no short answer to it(not a good one anyway)


We could start a thread specificly for the discussion on what the content of each sticky should be. Also i think both of the stickies should then be locked and updated as anyone sees fit.

I say that they should be locked cause if it's not, then it'll be bound to just end up like the current Guide to the Budget Gaming pc. Which in fairness is not a guide at all, only a mess of lots of sub threads

How about an example of someone's first build experience.
What they ordered?, Who From?, Cost, Delivery Times, Retailer experience. The Build, Any problems, Photos of the finished rig, any possible future upgrades.
Would be good help to a lot of novices, help decide whether to buy or build.

kaimera

A "how-to-build" thread - the basics, whats needed etc. I know google is there but gets asked. I know i did

and +1 to merging T/M. I tend to keep replying to my own thread here if I need advice on parts/tweaking.

Slutmonkey57b

Stickies:
Charter
Useful Threads
Build Advice (or a How-to)

Useful thread:
Retailer feedback: new thread, lock the old ones - a POLL. + and - bars for each retailer, or "positive only". Cuts out the borderline libel aspect?

Cheat sheet is a nice picture but pointless for the old hands and confusing for a newbie. They don't need to know what sockets and notebook ram from 20+ years ago looks like.

I don't think an FAQ is quite so useful. A "Builders guide" that gives proper walk-through is more useful. Useful threads can cover the rest of what an FAQ sticky is all about.

Effluo

I don't quite get the "guide to building" sticky idea.
Every build is different due to the layout of cases, motherboards etc.

If someone had a problem and wanted some advice, surely it would be too specific to be solved from a generic answer. Maybe ye could post an example of what you thought might be of use?

Slutmonkey57b

From a newbie point of view, a guide to building is as simple as what goes where and what bits of jargon give you a hint as to what's compatible with what.

leninbenjamin

I don't think a guide to building is needed either. Simply put a section in the FAQ entitled "Where to Begin" giving a general overview of the process and some links.

Effluo

Well if your not certain about which processor goes in which socket then you should be asking for advice straight up!

You could easily make a mistake(like many others) with getting a ide hd or a ide dvd-rw or just a cd-rom.


IMO the hardest part of building a pc is actually deciding what to put in it! The motherboard's manual will tell you where everything goes

madclaff

@Solitaire
hi Solitare am new to Boards, what are stickies? Confused! New !?

Leman_Russ

madclaff wrote: »

@Solitaire
hi Solitare am new to Boards, what are stickies? Confused! New !?

Stickies are the posts at the top of the forum that are "Sticky", in that they do not fall if not posted in like other threads. They are set by Moderators for important threads that are considered essential that people can see and find easily.

On an unrelated note, searching for "stickies" in Google Images has a rather nice picture of a buxom fair haired maiden wearing nothing but Post-it Notes. :pac: