comment about the auto-cross rule sticky thread

[TheWRX]

It looks like everything auto-cross related has been merged into the sticky thread at the top. This makes it almost useless. A few of the threads that were merged weren't about rules at all. The sticky was great when the first few posts contained links to sites with rules, and answers to common questions. Now all this information is buried somewhere in the middle of the thread, mixed up with a lot of other stuff.

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[Subie Gal]

the problem is this -
we have the motorsports forum overrun with autocross
- how to do i???? - questions.....

questions which are redundant, repetitive and could easily be found by using the search button.

so what do you propose?

i'm listenin

really, do you have an idea or suggestion?

Jamie
www.subiegalracing.com

[ChrisW]

How about a section on the main forum page,

We have I-club General, Technical, reviews, chapters, etc...

What about adding an I-Club Motorsports section to the main forum page with 3 forums.

Motorsports - general -> for general rants & raves, good place for the general motorsports news. (the "classic view" of the motorpsorts forum)

Then we add a forums for
AutoX,
Drag racing
Rally,
road racing/open track.

I like to autox, but it's kind of frustrating when you tell me that it's not quite apropriate to ask a question in what is essentially a motorsports question. I see similar problems in the Forced Factory induction forum. It's constantly taken over by the drag racing crowd.

Teh current problem we have with the sticky threads is that we are attempting to use the forum software for something that it was not designed for. That is, as a static source for information for freqently asked questions. We almost need an easily FAQ site that has a compiled list of the most commonly asked questions, for all the forums. Another suggestion would be to have the ability to search on a question, and if no info is found, a post is made.

[lark6]

Jamie,

Maybe a separate sticky for auto-x questions that don't necessarily have to do with rules? Ditto for rally-x? Club rally? Pro rally? WRC (not that anyone here is competing in it...yet)?

Just a thought.

Ed

[KC]

Maybe a separate sticky for auto-x questions that don't necessarily have to do with rules?

What in auto-x doesn't have to do with rules? Anything you add ESPECAILLY when one item in your car prep could throw you in another class, should conform to the rulebook. Safety is also well covered (based in) the rules. So is classing (more rules).

If you have particular questions from one scooby enthusiast to another regarding auto-x, then by all means do post here.

If you're looking for a specific auto-x forum, please visit http://www.sccaforums.org

[briank]

I'm not a big poster here, but I will say that I'm not a fan of lumping many different Auto-X topics in one huge unreadable mess of posts.

I don't think this forum is being overrun with Auto-X posts, it rarely overflows into more than one page of topics. Its just that time of year where the Auto-X season is about to begin and people are getting excited.

So my opinion would be to let the Auto-X posts run wild. Sure there will be more of them each spring, but its only for a month and this forum doesn't have to traffic that some of the other ones do so I think we can handle it.

What I DO think is a good idea is the sticky FAQ. Something well organized with a friendly reminder to use the search engine.

You do a good job of moderating this forum Subie Gal so do as you see fit. I'll be happy either way.

-BrianK

[Patrick Olsen]

As the one who suggested the sticky thread to Subie Gal, I must say I'm a bit disappointed by what has happened to it. I went to post a question in the thread last week and discovered that my "starting" post was now halfway down the second page of the thread. I'm not sure how that happened, but it does kind of defeat the purpose of having an "Auto-cross Rules Questions" thread when the first page and a half isn't about rules at all.

Perhaps (if it's possible), we could remove the threads relating to the five general questions originally started by Skold, and put those into a new "sticky" thread titled "What is auto-x and should I do it?" or something like that.

Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan

[TheWRX]

Originally posted by Subie Gal
really, do you have an idea or suggestion?

You mean that just complaining isn't good enough?

I think the original idea of having a sticky thread for simple rule questions was fine. I agree that we saw "can I run 17" rims in stock class?" a few too many times. The posts that were initially at the beginning of the thread, containing links to resources, were great. It got out of hand once threads that were not dealing with rules were merged into the sticky. And unfortunately one of them was large, and older than the first posts in the original sticky thread, so that all the good stuff is now on page 2 of the thread, mixed up with unrelated postings.

So I suggest the following: Clean out the sticky thread so that the important stuff is first, or start it from scratch. Encourage people to post simple rule questions there. Merge them in there if they are posted separately.

Apart from that: Let auto-x questions be discussed just like anything else. As far as I know, Solo II is the most popular form of motorsport from a participant point of view. In our region, easily over 10% of the participants drive Subies, so I don't see anything wrong with a good number of auto-x questions being discussed on a Subaru motorsport forum. I'm sure that some people aren't interested in them. I am interested, and there are topics discussed here that I don't care about. That's just the nature of a general forum, you pick what you want to read, and ignore the rest. The only solution would be to split up this forum, and I don't think that's necessary, the volume isn't that high.

Also, you will always have questions that don't belong here, or could easily be answered by searching, that's not specific to this forum. What to do about that is a general question that has been discussed elsewhere.

[Subie Gal]

thanks for the input guys!
i'll try to clean up that thread a bit
and maybe talk to nick about formatting some addtl forums in here?

i have been thinking about it for a while, as the Iclub has sooo many forums... but it wouldnt hurt to have something like:

Rally/WRC/Pro or otherwise

Autox/Solo 1/Solo 2

F1/Indy/Nascar etc

Technical Questions

something like that?
keep it clean and simplified so that you dont have to dig for your particular interests?

what do you guys think?

Jamie

[Orion]

Originally posted by Subie Gal
thanks for the input guys!
i'll try to clean up that thread a bit
and maybe talk to nick about formatting some addtl forums in here?

i have been thinking about it for a while, as the Iclub has sooo many forums... but it wouldnt hurt to have something like:

Rally/WRC/Pro or otherwise

Autox/Solo 1/Solo 2

F1/Indy/Nascar etc

Technical Questions

something like that?
keep it clean and simplified so that you dont have to dig for your particular interests?

what do you guys think?

Jamie

I think branching the Motorsports would be great. 99.99% of us will never participate in F1/Indy/Nascar so it's not a technical forum, whereas the Rally & AutoX are usually fairly technical (outside of results and pics, etc.) as many of us drive/race in both areas on a consistent basis.

My $.02

Orion

[Subie Gal]

see the new "choose the forums" sticky thread

hopefully this will sort these types of issues out...



Jamie
www.subiegalracing.com