Category structure

[Ryan]

Hey fellas, one of things that I have gotten the most feedback about is category structure. I don't have the time emmediately available right now to work on this, but thought I would get you fellas thinking about it. Attached to this is my initial run with two things in mind:

1. Less is more. I like to fold as much as I can into single forums because it is easier to see what is going on site wide that way... Empty forums (like our regional forums are presently) don't help us much. I know alot of you have contacted me about this and I 100% agree, but I don't want to do it why we still have people getting used to the other changes.

2. I want to focus more on the tools in our garages. I bet I've gotten 20 pms about this.

Anyway, here is my initial thought:

The Garage
- General Discussion
- Flooring
- Heating & AC
- Garage Gallery (to be replaced by a real gallery in the future)
- Free Parking

The Tools
- Hand Tools
- Power Tools
- Metal Fab Tools (maybe a wood working forum as well?)

Garage Sale
- Classifieds
- Vendor Reviews

To the Editor
- Questions & Suggestions
- Test Section

[Gregdoo]

Ryan,

Looks good. Two other topics that come up frequently that you might want to separate are: garage doors/openers and lifts. These are somewhat specific and like the Flooring section are possibly good topics for their own categories.

Under the tools section you could also consider a "tool storage" sub-category.

I'll personally miss the "Ask the Pros" category - maybe there could be a "Construction Zone" devoted to construction techniques. We have some tradesmen on here who share valuable information for folks actually doing construction, v.s. those more interested in using garages and looking for more generalized info.

I know more can be less, but if too much gets crammed into one section, then readers spend more time trying to filter threads that don't interest them.

I like what I see so far and am sure the recent influx of HAMBers will add to an already great site!

[Ryan]

yeah, my only concern really with the "ask the pros" section is the legality of it... I always worry about someone getting bad advice and then trying to hold me liable... That would be a mess! Plus, I think moving those posts into "general discussion" might liven up that area a little. That said, I'm not sold on any of this at all...

Good one on the garage doors...

[bmwpower]

Not bad. I'm not sure we'll need a separate metal fab tools section (or a woodworking section for that matter) - I don't think the traffic warrants it, plus it could fit under either the hand tool or power tool section.

I never did quite catch on with the How To's section.

I think the Ask the Pros section really isn't necessary either. Pros can answer HVAC questions in the Heating and AC section, electrical and construction questions in the General Garage Discussion section. That being said, there are a number of electrical and construction questions that may warrant their own section....maybe a Construction/Maintenance section to include HVAC, electrical, construction, plumbing etc? Pros can hang out there.

[Ryan]

So, something like this?

The Garage
- General Discussion
- Flooring
- Heating & AC
- Construction/Maintenance
- Garage Gallery (to be replaced by a real gallery in the future)
- Free Parking

The Tools
- Hand Tools
- Power Tools

Garage Sale
- Classifieds
- Vendor Reviews

To the Editor
- Questions & Suggestions
- Test Section

[bmwpower]

Better. I kinda think HVAC should fit into the Construction/Maintenance section, too. Flooring is questionable, but I think there is may be enough activity to keep it separate. Or should all of these be in a separate heading all together, for example:

The Garage: General, Tools, Gallery, Parking (everything IN the garage)
Constructions/Maintenance: HVAC, flooring, electrical, plumbing, etc (everything about the CONSTRUCTION/MAINTENANCE of the garage)
Garage Sale: classifieds, vendor reviews
To the Editor: etc.

We need a place for Off Topic discussion. If it takes place in the General Discussion, that should be fine.

Either way as long as it is clear which area a thread should reside, everyone will be happy.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I think I like where you are headed with that...

[Der Bugmeister]

Why not simplify "Construction/Maintenance" to "Structure"?

Oh yeah...and my vote is to drop the Regional boards...the Introduction board is enough, really.

[OldCarGuy]

I vote for having two more sections to go along with HVAC and Flooring. Garage Doors & Openers, Auto Lifts.

[Ryan]

Great stuff fellas... keep it coming...

One thing to think about, does it really help to have the forum split into a bunch of forums when we could have less? With less forums, there is less clicking... and with the improved search functionality folks have a much easier way of finding exactly what they want. Just a thought.

[bmwpower]

Great stuff fellas... keep it coming...

One thing to think about, does it really help to have the forum split into a bunch of forums when we could have less? With less forums, there is less clicking... and with the improved search functionality folks have a much easier way of finding exactly what they want. Just a thought.

...and less chance of starting the thread in the wrong place.

The only reason I can think of at the moment is that one big forum with all the construction stuff in it might be too much to browse through? I don't know. I usually am interesting in everything, so I just look for all new threads posted.

[logical]

I would second having separate tool storage and lift sections....they easily get as much action as flooring and would likely cut down on a lot of repetative questions about lifts that are asked.

[Gregdoo]

Ryan,

Sorry in advance for the long post.....

I think that breaking out a few of these things makes sense. They tend to be specific topics and they also are possibly "one time" occurances for garage owners. As an example, when someone is interested in flooring, they are probably looking for the experiences of others in choices and installation to help them determine what to buy. Once they have a floor successfully installed, they probably have little future signifigant interest in flooring. Looking at the thread stats, you can see that the flooring section is well-used and has numerous threads. Many folks looking at the general garage section probably don't want to wade through numerous floor threads, once they have a floor in their garage that meets their needs.

You mention using the search function to get this same info. But as an example with floors, if you search on "epoxy" you don't find anything about concrete sealers, paints, mats, tiles, etc. It makes it much harder to locate comprehensive listings of all floor related topics. This is especially true if the writer didn't use the term "epoxy" or spelled it differently, or just used a brand name and not a generic term.

I think of this as being similar to a library. With the computer catalog, the staff could shelve all the car repair books wherever they want; mixed in with fiction, childrens books and magazines, because by searching the catalog a patron would still be able to find the Chilton's manual that covers a 1969 Dodge Dart. In this case let's say it is between Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" and the English-Spanish dictionary. If you wanted only that Chilton's manual, it would be just as easy to locate it there as where it is now, with the rest of the car repair books.

The current library system of all car repair books in one section allows a browsing patron see that in addition to that Chilton's manual he was looking for, he would also find a Haynes manual and a book just on repairing electrical systems in Mopars and a book on alternator testing and rebuilding...possibly better information than the Chilton's manual he thought to look for.

Improved search capabilities are great, but if you don't guess the right term, you might not find what you are looking for.

As BMW mentions, more categories can mean more items posted in the wrong area....but I think that is a minor tradeoff in the scheme of things.

I still think that garage doors/openers, auto lifts and tool storage would be good as separate categories.

Thanks for listening!

Edit: I agree that the regional sections can go away.

[Ryan]

Gregdoo... Makes a lot of sense to me to... and thanks so much for taking the time to type it all out. That rules.

So it sounds like we want just enough categories to keep each forum focused, but not so many that it takes a lot of time to get through them all...

I'll take another crack at it later... you guys feel free to try the same...

[Rickster]

I'd rather you kept it simple and just have a Tools section. When you start catagorizing everything it just takes away from the friendly shooting the bull feeling.