SCOA-Evolving? Stagnant? Regressing?

[Suze]

Any forum is only as interesting as its participating members.

It's natural that it evolve as new people join and others move on to other interests.

As for reposting threads on topics already discussed - I've said this before - People want to participate in the discussion, not just read what others talked about months ago. The worst thing we can do that will discourage participation is to chastise new members for not using the search function.

A year ago this forum's members were new owners and reservation waiters.

Today we have people who've driven their smarts for over a year and 10s of thousands of miles.
We have new owners who just picked up an orphan without really knowing anything about smarts.
We have people finally getting their smarts after months or more of waiting.
And we have "old" owners and people still waiting.

I think we're more diverse than ever and that's a good thing!


Reserved 9/7/07
Bought orphan 2/4/08
Joined SCOA 2/4/08

[Celt88]

Originally Posted by SmartDigger

I just picked up my car last week. been here for over a year. From what I see

1) Most good info is already posted lessing the post rate.

2) Someone always yells, "SEARCH IS YOUR BEST FRIEND" or something like that if you ask a question covered in a previous post. Cuts down on posting.

3) Finally, I look more than I post, which many others also do I would think.

I agree with everything you have posted here. Most questions can be be answered by searching so there is less of a need to post new replies.

And I also read more then I post.

I got my smart in Feb 09

[BigWarpGuy]

I think the slow down is due to Winter. In some places it is too cold to do much. IMO; once it warms up, so will the activity here.

[TKADY]

Originally Posted by Suze

Any forum is only as interesting as its participating members.

As for reposting threads on topics already discussed - I've said this before - People want to participate in the discussion, not just read what others talked about months ago. The worst thing we can do that will discourage participation is to chastise new members for not using the search function.

A year ago this forum's members were new owners and reservation waiters.

Today we have people who've driven their smarts for over a year and 10s of thousands of miles.
We have new owners who just picked up an orphan without really knowing anything about smarts.
We have people finally getting their smarts after months or more of waiting.
And we have "old" owners and people still waiting.

I think we're more diverse than ever and that's a good thing!


Reserved 9/7/07
Bought orphan 2/4/08
Joined SCOA 2/4/08

I found this site several months ago, but only joined recently. I am still a "waiter" (reservation number 6560211500). Too hardheaded to take an orphan unless it has exactly what was ordered.

I find this site to be the best, but do agree that some are too hard on those that seem to ask questions that may have been already discussed months ago. I thinks some of the old topics deserve to be stirred up if for no other reason than to get additional feedback from newer members. Keep the discussions going to keep the site alive.

[Kermit]

Haven't been here as much - though I still am here daily whether I like it or not. Spring is hitting here and the weather is great which means I am doing stuff outside and not hanging around inside the house on the internet.

The SEARCH function. Quick a while back there was a discussion about it and many posted about how it keeps newbees from asking questions because the moment they do they get screamed at in the same amount of words it would of taken to just give them an answer.

The Good: It has already been proven that one POS individual can literally bring down a website - the moderators do a great job of keeping those in check but what's even better is there don't really seem to be any of those type of people here.

Compared to other sites - this is pretty much the only one I go to even though I am a member of the others, one thing is my Firefox likes this site much much better than the others.

THIS SITE IS THE BEST SMART SITE OUT THERE!!!! period!

Reserved: September 6, 2007
Joined SCOA: April 3, 2008
Became a parent of an orphan: April 25, 2008
Picked up ordered smart: September 5, 2008

[kwagar]

Thanks to everyone so far for your responses and votes. The good news is that SCOA is clearly the most valuable smart car owners site in the eyes of the responders.

This was not a shock to me as it is a great site.

While I agree that every new owner has a right to ask questions and seek advise and should not be slammed just because an issue has been discussed previously it also seems that a better search function or an expanded FAQs section could be helpful to all.

Everyone please keep up the good work and thanks again to the Moderators who work hard to keep the site #1.

[JPaul]

Re: search
The best way to by-pass the sometime frustrating "Search" function is to make a bogus one (i.e. three letters or less word) and "go". You will be then offered the possibility to do a "Google" search of the site:
" Web - www.smartcarofamerica.com"
Don't forget to click the second option (the default is the "Web") and you'll have definitely more refined results...
Hope it helps.

[jetfuel]

...for me is search "post", not threads, that gets me what I need..

jetfuel

[unicycle]

Originally Posted by Old smart

The search function is admittedly not too robust. But original thread posters (OPs) have added to the problem by including nebulous, comedic and catchy titles instead of plainly indicating what the post is all about.

Well, here's an idea:
What if posters and moderators could add some keyword indicators? Let's say I was writing about my friggin' door latch that doesn't. I could add the keyword 'latch' and 'door' (since there have also been hatch latch problems). Then a moderator might see that some responders had mentioned WD-40 and oil and lubricant -- ok, add those as keywords, too.

Later, searching by keywords, someone might type in 'door latch oil.' They'd likely be taken to the most appropriate thread.

I hope that makes sense and that it can help.

[Old smart]

Originally Posted by unicycle

Well, here's an idea:
What if posters and moderators could add some keyword indicators? Let's say I was writing about my friggin' door latch that doesn't. I could add the keyword 'latch' and 'door' (since there have also been hatch latch problems). Then a moderator might see that some responders had mentioned WD-40 and oil and lubricant -- ok, add those as keywords, too.

Later, searching by keywords, someone might type in 'door latch oil.' They'd likely be taken to the most appropriate thread.

I hope that makes sense and that it can help.

Moderators do that from time-to-time (by additions to thread titles enclosed by parentheses). I recently added "(window)" to "Rear Washer" as there has been much said about the oil drain plug washer in the rear of the car. A search for problems with the rear window might lead one into the oil maze without more specificity.

If I had all the time and patience in the world I could go back through all the technical threads and re-name them, but.... Another problem with thread searches, vs. post searches, is threads often split in subject matter under the original thread title. Threads can be split and re-named, but that takes a lot of reading some fiddling with the moderator controls. LIkewise, threads can be merged, or posts moved into a different thread. Many threads are posted into "General Discussion" that should go elsewhere. GD is by far the biggest sub-forum in the site.

N.B. Posters can edit their own text, but not thread titles once posted, and moderators are sometimes asked to fix-up the titles. Which we do.