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Your views

I'll move my views here from the other thread.

I see what you're saying and i agree, i do think though, that info that needs to be refered to often could be stickied too. Threads like the allgrain mashing we had, maybe the VM thread going on at the moment and such. If there was a way to identify them as seperate from the super important ones that'd be fine.

There definately is way to many stickies of less than impressive threads, if you are gunna start unsticking em, can i ssuggest you start with my contribution to the stickies, the Triticale thread in mashing or development or somewhere.

To extend the opinion, i'll say i believe taters point of valuable info being easily found (and i do believe this first post in the thread we're talking about is valuable info) and i also agree with The Macs view that there can be too many stickies clogging up the boards.

I think though that posts or links can be added to existing stickies rather than stickying everything as a new thread. Kinda like the rule of continuing old threads rather than start new ones. So a stickie on handy equipment could contain the posted photo (uploaded to here) and a link underneath to the thread. Could for example be posted to this thread http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2168
Which is titled ; Tools of the Trade. And is, by the way, in the correct forum for this post, namely Related hardware and appertunanances, rather than the resources and reviews.

Same goes with a lot of the other stickied threads, the novice stickies are all over the place and could be organised into a more comprehensive series of references with a bit of judicuos editing. ( i know someone has to find time, but if it's done as it arises it's quicker and easier)

Even just one at the top of each section with a forum title and the words 'links to reference threads' kinda a public bookmark? You could replace that damn offtopic rule post with something useful




Lastly apoligies to THM, for upsetting him, and apologies to tater by doing the same to him and seeming ungrateful for my 15 seconds of fame

HI

I sort of regret posting the keg info when so much fuss starts over an effort to help contribute..

my view on sticky's is that if its somthing that helps somone better understand or carry out the hobby it will stays at the top of the list in the appropriate area so it dont get lost.

i didnt realy think were i posted the topic was correct but it was the best area i could associate it with, i think somthing like a glosery would have been more suitable.

once a item is viewd or posted in X ammount of times it should be filterd, condensed or graphicly ilustrated and then made a sticky or added to the main www site in the appropriate area..

if people find the information usefull then perhaps the condition of the item to be made a sticky should be the person who originaly posted might expand or detail the information based on the questions asked or sugestions made in the posts related to the subject.

the wiki at first i thought was a good idea but the only downfall is you have to go to main site to look for info then the forum and then the wiki thats 3 locations to source info, and nither have a reliable way of searching for what you are looking for.

cheers..

Please don't regret it mate, it's not fuss, it's usefull discussion.



I rarely use the wiki, i like the personal touch here...i wouldn't of even seen the info if it was in there unless someone posted a link.

After reading both threads, I can't really work out who's side I'm on....I think you are saying the same thing in a roundabout fashion. However, I personally feel that there are far too many stickies.

CoopsOz wrote:After reading both threads, I can't really work out who's side I'm on....

Glad I'm not the only one, Coops.

if i was to take some of the stickys and retype and ilustrate them in HTML, are you guys able to add them to the main site or maybee tony can..?

Tony is the intellectual property owner of the information on the parent site. UJ is the owner of the server, and pays all of the bills (server hosting, bandwidth, ISP, etc). However, Tony has kind of dropped from the scene (at least as far as editing the site), and UJ has chosen not to change the content of Tony's work, other than making some small corrections for things such as dead links, and pages showing DANGEROUS equipment.

Thus, I am not sure that major changes to the parent site will be made, UNLESS Tony would sign off on having them done, or for him to do them himself.

However, on a side note, it might not be bad to add a menu of "best of the forums", which links to the best of the posts here on the forum. Something like that could be added to the parent site, without modifying any existing content, but again, it boils down to that super precious commodity of time.

Just my $0.02 worth. And yes, I too feel that the stickies have gotten out of hand. The worst offender is the new distiller section. Several stickies all have pretty much the same topic, and are almost redundant. It certainly could use some workup. However, right now, I am in the middle of about a 2-6 month major software rollout, so my time is shot.

H.

I've moderated and/or owned a few other boards...

I think I'm just going to repeat what others have said. More than just a few stickies in each topic tends to bother users. I like the idea of "archiving" them into another topic - one called "Archive" works just fine. No one will start new topics in that section, so the number of topics there will always be relatively small and be easy to search through.

Common responses to newbies can be "check the archives" instead of "perform a search." After all - we've all seen how useless the search function is when we have to search for things like "yeast."

good idea

Regardless the offer is on the table..

if a moderator sugests to me to look at a group of stikies to refine and illustrate them and convert to HTML, i would make them fit into the theam of the parent site.
i can zip this up and pass it on to UJ etc to publis into a best of area or somthing..

eaven if the original sticky is removed and replaced with the modified post then locked.

mini's thread is one that could be refined, http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =17&t=8376
basicly the importan information can be condensed down to the first page and the remainder left if someon wants to read thru the origianl posts.

just an idea..

The main site should contain complete, accurate, safe, up-to-date information.

The Wiki is the easiest way for the user community to organize and update information.

The forums are, of course, the most personable and a necessary element as well.

Perhaps the main site should be converted to a Wiki format at some point. I tend to wait to find out the user community preference for such decisions. I want the users to be the ones who determine what is best and most useful.

tater wrote:good idea

Sure it's a good idea.

So why chuck all the following conversation in the Kahlua thread about a similar recipe for Baileys into some thread about Top Shelf cream liquer essences????
It's not an essence, it's a recipe.

If someone was interested in those type drinks (kahlua/baileys, one coffee/one chocolate) there was two recipes easy to find in one thread....

This sure is a bloody confusing thread. It begins with tater asking "your views" but views on what???? Have things been moved around so much that it's impossible to follow or what??

I realize that I'm a dumb aussie with criminal ancestors (of which I'm extremely proud) but am I the only confused bugger???

blanik

it appears there a 2 or 3 paralle views going on and they are all related altho somewhat difrent in view..

sofar it is agreed that in order for a thread to be promoted to sticky status...
- It should be inline with the subject of distilling and acurate.
- the information should be of helpfull nature, to ither novice or the experianced distiller.
- the information should be posted in the correct area.
- unless a moderator recognizes that a post fits into the sticky criteria, a request could be made by memebrs.
- moderators could ithere discuss the the thread being turned into a sticky publicly or in the moderator area, there call.

things that could see a post turned into a sticky:
if a thread reaches say 3 pages in size or 30+ posts.
if the post is related to the same question being asked over and over again.

before the post is turned into a sticky it needs to be cleaned up or condensed:
its a waste of time turning a 3+ page thread into a sticky if it contains, off topic discussion or deviation from original content.

eg. if the thread subject starts with how to solder a fitting to a keg and it grows to some 60+ posts consisting of:
thats a nice job.
can you explain what you are trying to do.
you can buy elements at...
you should pack it with scourers
repeted instruction with slight variances.
hey do you like fishing.

when a new member goes to the the sticky he will just browse thru and not read the entire thread, making it usless and another post will be started with the same questions.

cheers..

I think some of the stickies are getting to be a mess as well. It's not that they are useless, it's all the useless information some of them contain that has to be waded through to get to the good stuff.

I think we need to look into the potential of the wiki. That's an excellent place to post important info and get it organized. I also do agree it's somewhat of a pain in the ass to get to from the forums at the moment. As a an example of a possibility. Take how to solder from the novices section. Make a new sticky for it on the forum. In that sticky is a link to a wiki section on soldering that has taken all of the good info from the current soldering thread and organized it. As a matter of fact any ambitous forum member could do this.

Maybe we need a new uber sticky in the announcements section with a link to the wiki. This might solve some of the nagivation problems.

As long as I'm on a bit of a rant, the parent site is a bit of a mess to wade through as well. Once again the good info contained there could be taken and better organized by any ambitious forum member (although it would probably take several of us) and placed on the wiki.

Decoy, you can do what you are talking about on the wiki.

decoy wrote:it appears there a 2 or 3 paralle views going on and they are all related altho somewhat difrent in view..

sofar it is agreed that in order for a thread to be promoted to sticky status...
- It should be inline with the subject of distilling and acurate.
- the information should be of helpfull nature, to ither novice or the experianced distiller.
- the information should be posted in the correct area.
- unless a moderator recognizes that a post fits into the sticky criteria, a request could be made by memebrs.
- moderators could ithere discuss the the thread being turned into a sticky publicly or in the moderator area, there call.

things that could see a post turned into a sticky:
if a thread reaches say 3 pages in size or 30+ posts.
if the post is related to the same question being asked over and over again.

before the post is turned into a sticky it needs to be cleaned up or condensed:
its a waste of time turning a 3+ page thread into a sticky if it contains, off topic discussion or deviation from original content.

eg. if the thread subject starts with how to solder a fitting to a keg and it grows to some 60+ posts consisting of:
thats a nice job.
can you explain what you are trying to do.
you can buy elements at...
you should pack it with scourers
repeted instruction with slight variances.
hey do you like fishing.

when a new member goes to the the sticky he will just browse thru and not read the entire thread, making it usless and another post will be started with the same questions.

cheers..

That's why i suggested a post should be added to a stickie, with a link to the thread.
A series of useful posts with links to the resulting threads all in one stickie.
If the post is the one you are looking for, you click on the link and are taken to the relevant thread, all the other comments and further info don't have to be waded through and tidied up, and you only have one or two stickies that are just ful of useful posts and links to threads.
The original post is copied and pasted into the stickie by the mod, the link added and that's it. Mods don't have to split threads or chase through off topic stuff and everyones happy.
No-ones got a stack of work to do and noones got their nose outa joint cause their contribution has been pruned.

punkin wrote:

tater wrote:good idea

Sure it's a good idea.

So why chuck all the following conversation in the Kahlua thread about a similar recipe for Baileys into some thread about Top Shelf cream liquer essences????
It's not an essence, it's a recipe.

If someone was interested in those type drinks (kahlua/baileys, one coffee/one chocolate) there was two recipes easy to find in one thread....

I moved it because it was off topic for tried and true recipes and because it wasn't a recipe put up by a member to be added.If its well received and put up for tried and true it should have its own title where it can be seen.Basically punkin if you would try to stay on topic or at least start new topics when you want to change a subject like your doing with this topic this wouldn't be necessary .However this being in off topics Its ok here

tater wrote:

punkin wrote:

tater wrote:good idea

Sure it's a good idea.

So why chuck all the following conversation in the Kahlua thread about a similar recipe for Baileys into some thread about Top Shelf cream liquer essences????
It's not an essence, it's a recipe.

If someone was interested in those type drinks (kahlua/baileys, one coffee/one chocolate) there was two recipes easy to find in one thread....

I moved it because it was off topic for tried and true recipes and because it wasn't a recipe put up by a member to be added.If its well received and put up for tried and true it should have its own title where it can be seen.Basically punkin if you would try to stay on topic or at least start new topics when you want to change a subject like your doing with this topic this wouldn't be necessary .However this being in off topics Its ok here

For someone who is so bent outa shape about having things off topic in a thread, why would you put the stuff about my recipe in a thread about bought essences in a forum dedicated to Flavouring and Ageing??

You've put it in an off topic thread (and trashed the poor bastards thread) in the wrong bloody forum!


And you may notice if you follow the history of the original conversation in your thread before you juggled it, that my 'straying off topic' was just answering questions, and that indeed, the recipe was posted up from another member after being requested and endorsed. It ain't off topic, it's a complimentry recipe for a very similar drink.










AnywayGiveY'selfAMedalPunkin

What I did was split off topic from where I took it to go off topic.But you are right I missed your first post there or I would of gotten it as well. I will move post to recipe development.Now lets let this topic get back on track any further thoughts on this from you please start a new topic or im me .Tks tater

I have no idea what how this thread began - obviously it didn't begin with tater's post - but what decoy says does sound like a sound suggestion.

blanik

without geting my head poped with a champange cork by tater and punkin

the comment punkin made sounds like a good organisational idea sort of like a table of contents in one post for the topic..

That's why i suggested a post should be added to a stickie, with a link to the thread.
A series of useful posts with links to the resulting threads all in one stickie.
If the post is the one you are looking for, you click on the link and are taken to the relevant thread, all the other comments and further info don't have to be waded through and tidied up, and you only have one or two stickies that are just ful of useful posts and links to threads.

would it be ok to try some of the ideas sugested on the newbie area or another area is o..
It wont happen over night but Im happy to do the typing and illustration all i need is the support from a moderator to check what i do and apply it.

cheers.