Discussion: CEG Forums - CEG Archives

(A few pennies of my own from a forum I currently moderate)

A strictly "OTHER CARS" forum. 70% of CI is composed of pics and vids or articles of other cars. Most other forums have this. Face it.. a car forum has interests in other things other than the Contour.

A forum dedicated to strictly PART NUMBERS. Example, what we do is post the part, what it's for, what it works for, and the part number. Makes for a very quick refrence to buying parts off line and elimates the posts of "I broke this. what is it", etc.

A strictly HOW TO section. Zetec, duratec, whatever. Combine em all.

And ofcoarse, a For Sale/Wanted forum.

Originally posted by GTO Pete:
I'll start.

- Transaction Feedback forum
They have them on almost all of the forums I belong to and I think would be very beneficial to CEG.

- Break up Aesthetics forum
There are so many how-tos, FAQs, and covers such a broad spectrum. Look at the number of posts and threads in Aesthetics.

Detailing forum
It would be nice to have a section dedicated to the care of the interior, exterior, engine bay, wheels, etc.

Electronics forum
Bulbs, foglights, HIDs, LEDs, sidemarkers, neon kits, alarms, remote starts, gauge pod installation, indiglow gauges, etc.

Aesthetics forum
Everything else related to aesthetics.

- More moderators
Self explanatory.

I highly agree with the detailing forum. Also agree with more mods. The feedback forum is a good idea although maybe if you added a feedback feature that was part of your profile, that might work too.

As discussed in the other post, I think a classifieds forum would be a good idea.

Umm... maybe user pictures? or Picture signatures (limited in size of course to maybe... 100x600 or 100x500). I'd rather see picture signatures. It would be no bandwidth to the site because people would have to host them on their own anyways. If someone abuses them, too big or inappropriate, their privlage to a picture sig could be removed.

I'm just waiting for the software upgrade to see if these issues are already planned on being dealt with during that transition.

I like CEG the way it is! Everything is easy to operate and navigate through. The only thing I'd like to see is a classifieds/ feedback forum.

Other then that, leave it alone!

Originally posted by CoopOfG6:
(A few pennies of my own from a forum I currently moderate)

A strictly "OTHER CARS" forum. 70% of CI is composed of pics and vids or articles of other cars. Most other forums have this. Face it.. a car forum has interests in other things other than the Contour.

I agree with an "other car forums" and maybe allowing pic signatures. But the CEG is cool how it is now. Oh and maybe hiding the post count under our names.

Personnaly, I think the who site should be 'revamped.' As I have said in another thread, the site's looks are as I recall when I registered back in Oct '00. They were boring then, and are still boring today. I know CEG is going for the 'simplistic' look, but I think that even simplistic could use a revamping every now and then. I wish that we could get FCO's webdesign and combine that with CEGs information, then I think the site would benefit greatly. With that re-vamping, add a trader feedback option to one's profile (ala SVT Performance). I also think the number of moderators should be increased, just to help police the sections of the site more effectively.

I have always thought the CONTENT to the site has excelled, but that the FORMAT and LOOKS of the site have always lacked.

my last would be the search feature. Make it able to search more than one forum at a time. We harp on search, yet it is indeed a huge PITA on this site.

If we could update our own profiles and add pics. I have a few pics that I host for the benefit of others. Would be nice to not pay for hosting my stuff off site when we are paying to keep the CEG running. The site is most definately dated. I agree with everything that has been said. Don't need fancy avatars but it would be cool. Just some expressins of our personality. Can still load fast. Just keep the pics out of sigs.

yes:
revamped search, x100000
buy/sell feedback forum
small avatar
1 combined duratec forum (traffic in performance and maintenace doesn't warrant two forums)
1 combined zetec forum

no:
sig pics
hiding post count (WTF?)
single "how-to" forum
"other car" forum; hello-- common interests!

In general I'm skeptical of creating yet more forums. This is an aging car and we need to be less specific in structure or some forums will look like a ghost town.

Nothing like FCOs layout. The guy that made the banner is alright

jp but the layout of the site I think s anti-simple.

Why not have an introductory page with a 56k/broadband option?

I know avatars are annoying, they aren't necessary imo. The broadband version in my eyes would be a 56k version on Steroids; same layout just built in Flash for a "smooth" graphical look.

If the idea kicks around, I volunteer.

I mentioned a few of my desires in the CEG Finances topic stickied above.

Some more:

As it stands we have some FAQs in the forums, some FAQs in the main site, and some in both the forums and the main site (example: hazing headlights). All FAQs should be moved to the forums IMHO so we don't have to deal with duplicate organization like this. I like the idea of keeping the FAQs themselves in the boards, but keeping an index of the FAQs on the main site where they are easily accessible rather than indexed in various stickies in different forums. I like having a main site still; there are many enthusiast websites that don't and it becomes a pain to find commonly-known information. All said and done it's a whole lot more organized than it's ever been before (thanks GTO Pete for the hard work!) but the main site FAQs are still hanging out in left field.
Main site looks, feels and is dated. Old profiles are gone, and I'd like to see the Registry better integrated with the forums (for example: click a person's user name and you can view their car profile). SZ02 is referred to as a "coming meet" and you can still pay $45 to register for it. The neceg.org site of 2003 isn't even mentioned (even though it's gone now) -- rather, a dead link to a really old NECEG Geocities site exists. Most links are dead or outdated like this. The entire main site needs an overhaul.
search, search, search! Current faults: the defaults are set to "search by phrase" and "within the last week." Far too many newbies (and some veterans) say they've searched but didn't find anything -- and I'll be willing to bet it's because they didn't change these settings. It's not something an average person looks at when searching. Secondly, I'd like to see search all forums back online (it's been what, three years now and no visible efforts made to fix this?), or at the very least, search by forum region (General, Modifications, Branches).
Classifieds forum. Something easily managed, particularly if the "report to moderator" button could be used on them when posts go awry.
More site admins. People who maintain the main site, approve profiles, oversee / able to moderate all forums, things like that. I've no doubt that several of the moderators deserve to be admins.

I'll likely think of more later.

Everyone has had pretty good suggestions.

Im down for avatars, I would limit them to 100x100 though, or maybe 150x150. I HATE sig. pics though, they make forums so cluttered and annoying. Some forums are so bad you can tell where the posts start and the sigs. end.

Originally posted by KingpinSVT:
Everyone has had pretty good suggestions.

Im down for avatars, I would limit them to 100x100 though, or maybe 150x150. I HATE sig. pics though, they make forums so cluttered and annoying. Some forums are so bad you can tell where the posts start and the sigs. end.

Yeah, no animated crap either.

Originally posted by 98 SE:
As it stands we have some FAQs in the forums, some FAQs in the main site, and some in both the forums and the main site (example: hazing headlights). All FAQs should be moved to the forums IMHO so we don't have to deal with duplicate organization like this.

I argue for the opposite. Move the clutter of threads to the main site. Lance has said in the past that the website was supposed to be a repository for useful information, and the forums were just a replacement for the mailing list (which I was never a part of). He has put a lot of time and energy into coding the other sections of the website, and moving everything into the forums will just make contour.org a forum and nothing more, which is exactly the opposite of why it was supposed to exist.

be more relaxed on the forum rules. Its gotten to the piont where we cant even post pics of girls on this site regardless of whether shes fully clothed or not.

Originally posted by hetfield:

Originally posted by 98 SE:
As it stands we have some FAQs in the forums, some FAQs in the main site, and some in both the forums and the main site (example: hazing headlights). All FAQs should be moved to the forums IMHO so we don't have to deal with duplicate organization like this.

I argue for the opposite. Move the clutter of threads to the main site. Lance has said in the past that the website was supposed to be a repository for useful information, and the forums were just a replacement for the mailing list (which I was never a part of). He has put a lot of time and energy into coding the other sections of the website, and moving everything into the forums will just make contour.org a forum and nothing more, which is exactly the opposite of why it was supposed to exist.

In theory, yes, that would work, but based on the way things have been done it wont work.

AFAIK, the main site can be modified by Lance only. This creates problems.
1. When a new FAQ is created, who is going to put it on the main site? Lance? Not likely.
2. When FAQs / How-tos need to be updated, who is going to put it on the main site? Lance? Not likely.
3. Who actually goes to the main site? Very few.
4. Look at the "Read before posting" stickies I have created. Yet people still ask the same questions. Having them on the main site only increases those kinds of posts. Then the Nazis come out and the flaming begins. We already have enough of that.
5. Without the Stickies / FAQs in the modification forums, how much discussion will there be? It's already very low. The "forums" would be nothing more than Common Interests and Pics & Videos.
6. It doesn't make sense to have CEG split into 2 areas - main site and forums when everything on the main site could easily be on the forums.
7. What was intended 4-5 years ago doesn't mean it's the best method or in the best interest of CEG.
8. Lance has said himself that he doesn't have a lot of time. It's obvious he doesn't. Unless he provides moderators the ability to change and add to the main site, it's senseless to move everything over there as you have suggested.
9. Yes, he has put a lot of time into the main site and it is appreciated. But that's no reason to keep it. He doesn't have time, so let those who do have the time manage it.

Originally posted by 98 SE:
All said and done it's a whole lot more organized than it's ever been before (thanks GTO Pete for the hard work!)

Originally posted by beyondloadedSE:
be more relaxed on the forum rules. Its gotten to the piont where we cant even post pics of girls on this site regardless of whether shes fully clothed or not.

Seeing as how Lance: 1) had the "anything not work-safe" Rule as #1 for years (Now #1 behind copyright infringement) and 2) Has stated many times that he wants CEG to be "family-friendly/oriented", I don't see that changing.

1. A quick reply feature, as seen on SVTperformance, it makes posting that much quicker.

2. More admin/mods, Bump some deserving people up to where they should be.

3. Take away the regional forums (why is there a west and an east canada forum??) People dont use them often enough anyways.

4. Mix all the Duratech forums into 1 duratech forum (same with Zetec), most of the time people dont know where to post things anyways.

5. Update main site and the forums with the new information, i know some people would love to do this (i know id love to help)

6. Keep a feedback system for the classifieds.

7. Update the crappy search

Those are my ideas, id be happy to helpout with anything i can.

Originally posted by Tourige:
4. Mix all the Duratech forums into 1 duratech forum (same with Zetec), most of the time people dont know where to post things anyways.

Zetec Performance + Maintenance = ~3,200 threads and ~38,000 posts

Duratec Performance + Maintenance = ~5,400 threads and ~55,000 posts

IMHO, that's just too much for one forum. Take a look at Aesthetics with ~4,400 posts & ~49,000 posts. WAY too much information for one forum.

We need a forum pertaining to just detailing, good idea huh Pete

Product reviews, how-to's, tests, etc.

Originally posted by GTO Pete:
(Now #1 behind copyright infringement)

Is that why contour2.org is gone? It would be the coolest thing evar if that forum is gone because Lance acted on the blatant copyright infringement that site exhibited.

I think the idea of being able to find specific parts numbers would be a great addition. It would cut down on waiting for the the ones "in the know" to answer the question.

Originally posted by beyondloadedSE:
be more relaxed on the forum rules. Its gotten to the piont where we cant even post pics of girls on this site regardless of whether shes fully clothed or not.

Amen, everyone (including the mods & admins) need to lighten up a bit.

Originally posted by RawBurt:
I like CEG the way it is! Everything is easy to operate and navigate through. The only thing I'd like to see is a classifieds/ feedback forum.

Other then that, leave it alone!

I agree completely.

How about a street racing kill stories forum?

One way to enhance the search function would be to add a "search by thread title" choice. It would probably speed up the searches, as well as make them a little more focused.

Also, even though I personally don't care one way or another, a lot of people would probably appreciate a separate "Politics and Religion" forum in Common Interests.

Good ideas. I'd volenteer to moderate, since I'm online every single day.

Originally posted by Viss1:

Also, even though I personally don't care one way or another, a lot of people would probably appreciate a separate "Politics and Religion" forum in Common Interests.

agreed, i used to belong to a forum that had this and everyone knew already before even posting that they might get offended or pissed off. could be a sub section of common interst.

the number of "i hate your thread because..." posts (ie anything nascar related) is just plain sad. a fix for this would be great. sorry but i haven't a solution to offer.

no sig pics

no avatars, fwiw i am on a broadband connection

i like the way gto pete cleaned up a few of the forums lately. let him loose on the rest.

I agree with the no avatar/signature pics ( I'm on a broadband connection too ). It just gets out of hand on most other forums.

The biggest improvement to the forums that I could think of would be a "Search all Forums" feature to the search function. A lot of times I have to run the search multiple times using the different forum topics in order to find something that could be posted on a number of different topics. It would speed things up and be easier for people to search before posting a question.

- Chris

My opinions on a few things

Search! - I assume the update will take care of this problem.

Nested forums - Again I hope the new version of whatever software will take care of this. Then you could have one forum called "engines" with duratec and zetec related forums under those. Could also nest a few of the branches to keep the top level of forums a little cleaner.

Classifieds Forum - You need a few people to stay on top of this one and make sure you setup rules in advance. One forum I am on had so many problem with people selling things they did not have and scamming members that the rules for the classified section include that you must put up a picture of the parts you are selling with a sign with the date and your forum name written on it (no photshopping it in)

A different type of archive - Currently the "archive" has random conversations from 3.5 years ago and hidden in there you will find a few good threads. Make the archive all the good threads and split it out something like this.

General
Modifications
AutoX/Track
Mechanical
Detailing
Electronics/Stereo

Just get rid of the old stuff all the useful information has been moved into the new forum move threads here if they need to be kept around for later people to read.

Avatars - Don't care much for them. It might be nice to be able to give them to moderators if the software supports them but if you give everybody access to them you get people pushing the envelope of SFW in any way they can and going way over it many times.

Signatures - Continue blocking pictures from sigs they are annoying.

Attachments - Let people do small attachments limit size of attachment and how much one user can store.

HOW TO - Get a how to forum and put them all in there if the main site is not going to be updated maybe Lance could start pointing links from the main site into the forums so the information could be kept up to date without his need to give up control of the main site.

"Politics and Religion" - If you do this warn that you could be offended if you go here (yada yada yada) and to keep everything to that forum. Anything remotely dealing with Politics and Religion goes into there and anything said outside of that forum about it will be dealt with harshly.

Moderators - Yes it looks like a few more could be used in various places. Somebody named GTO Pete seems to be spreading himself a little thin and could use some help. I think most forums could use more than one moderator and I am not sure how many supermoderators/admins we have that can deal with all forums.

Remove some moderators ? - I saw that horseydug is still a moderator of Troubleshooting his last post was on 09/17/04 I don't know if he is still around or if his name is just sitting there.

SCCA/NASA Events - Rename this forum to something that is better understood as what it is for something like "Racing/ Motorsports" or "AutoX/Track" I would suggest moving drag racing into that forum and giving dyno their own seperate forum.

Main site - Either let somebody else update it or just point the link to the correct places in the forum so the information can be kept up to date. (or dare I suggest a Wiki for the FAQ and other things that should be updated)

I like the nested forum idea (see SVTperformance Terminator section)

and im sure if we got rid of almost all the old archives that would free up a lot of space for the community to put towards other things.

I also love the rule on more leniency about some things.

Originally posted by GTO Pete:
Zetec Performance + Maintenance = ~3,200 threads and ~38,000 posts

Duratec Performance + Maintenance = ~5,400 threads and ~55,000 posts

YAY for meaningless longitudinal data!

Whats the point? GM builds the most cars but they sure as heck aren't going to be number 1 much longer. Interests change, priorities change, users change. In comparison with other forums, there has been a noticeable lack of new information posted in the four forums above for quite some time. Combining into a forum for Duratec's and for Zetec's would keep traffic high and contect fresh--unlike the current situation. I mean come on, the only thing keeping D-tec maintenance going is Goonz's UIM cleaning! And as happy as I'm sure we all are for him, that isn't exactly worthy of it's own forum.

Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:
YAY for meaningless longitudinal data! :rolleyes

My first post asked for serious discussion. Please take your wisecracks/sarcasm elsewhere.

The rest of your post was informative and has been added to the Sticky pinned at the top of this forum.

From Pete's other thread:

Additional forums
Transaction Feedback forum
Almost all forums have them. Very easy to moderate with some simple, basic rules.
Obviously I like this. - http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=general&Number=1062135

Auto discussion forum - non-Contour/Mystique related
Would be a great addition for thsoe that want to discuss automobiles without having to weed through Common Interests.

For Sale / WTB forum
Again, something most other sites have. Some basic rules stickied on top would make things very easy.

I like those.

Combine forums
- SCCA / NASA Events w/ Dyno and Drag - rename to Track / Dyno (?)
Both forums are used little, combining them would make sense.

Agree

- Combine Duratec Performance & Duratec Maintenance

- Combine Zetec Performance & Zetec Maintenance

Agree

Avatars
- Limited in size. No animation. Must follow forum rules. (work safe, no nudity, etc.)
Yep

- Avatars for moderators only?
Is bandwidth really that tight?

Main Site
- Update. Its is terribly outdated.
- Grant a few moderators the ability to make changes / add some site admins.

Search
Very weak. Everyone knows this.

Yep. VBulletin coming?

Rule Clarification
Some guidance / clarification as to how "strict" moderators and admins should be enforcing the rules.

Yes, we need more. Let Rara loose sometimes to clean house.

Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:
[ I mean come on, the only thing keeping D-tec maintenance going is Goonz's UIM cleaning! And as happy as I'm sure we all are for him, that isn't exactly worthy of it's own forum.

Originally posted by Goonz SVT:

Originally posted by bigMoneyRacing:
[ I mean come on, the only thing keeping D-tec maintenance going is Goonz's UIM cleaning! And as happy as I'm sure we all are for him, that isn't exactly worthy of it's own forum.

its sad but its true.

Also, i think there should be allowed more posts on a page, currently there is like 5 posts a page (and like 3-5 sticky posts)

Maybe bump it up to 10 and keep it constant (merging the forums will make this better)

^^^ Good one!

Nice write up on teh sticky Pete, clear, informative, and all sound like great steps.

What about a forum for trolls? Example.. on Neco, they used to have a focus forum for all things focus. On some G6 forums.. we have one dedicated to Malibus and all things malibu related. Although.. the contour doesn't have any living relatives cept the Fusion.. but there aren't many around. A GTO specific forum??

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
From Pete's other thread:

Combine forums
- SCCA / NASA Events w/ Dyno and Drag - rename to Track / Dyno (?)
Both forums are used little, combining them would make sense.

Agree

Avatars

- Avatars for moderators only?
Is bandwidth really that tight?

I would prefer to call it motorsports rather than track I personally thing dyno should be a different forum since it seems to me to be a lot different to me than the actual motorsports/track stuff but I could be wrong.

Since I was the one that suggested avatars for moderators only I was not thinking bandwidth but more control of avatar content. Moderators should be more careful about what they would put there than overall users and it just gives another visual ID for who is a moderator.

Originally posted by Tourige:

Also, i think there should be allowed more posts on a page, currently there is like 5 posts a page (and like 3-5 sticky posts)

Maybe bump it up to 10 and keep it constant (merging the forums will make this better)

click "My Home"
click "Display preferences: Edit"
set default parent posts and posts per page (mine are at 20 and 30 respectively)

So many people gripe about this, it's hilarious

I like the forum being clean with no avatars, limited space in sigs, and no pics in sigs. This site has a lot of useful information, and this attributes to making that info easier to find.

Originally posted by Tourige:

Also, i think there should be allowed more posts on a page, currently there is like 5 posts a page (and like 3-5 sticky posts)

Maybe bump it up to 10 and keep it constant (merging the forums will make this better)

1. Click "My Home" at the top of your screen

2. Click "Display preferences, number of shown threads, languages, colors..."

3. Scroll down and increase the numbers to the below areas:

Find the setup that suits you.

HTH

Have been cleaning up the forums I moderate in an effort to reduce the # of stickies.

exhaust forum for all the NOOBS

Originally posted by GTO Pete:
Have been cleaning up the forums I moderate in an effort to reduce the # of stickies.

For real? I see 5 stickies at the top of this forum, 3 of which have appeared in the last 24 hours. Are you looking at something different than me?

...and no, I'm not 'antagonizing' you.

Originally posted by elraido:
exhaust forum for all the NOOBS

Didnt you just ask about Supercharges in the GENERAL forum instead of the FI forum...

I agree with much of GTo petes new ideas.

1.Feedback forum!!!

2.Street racing stories would be good!!! Something that is on almost every forum i visit.

3. Lighten up on the pics geez. its not like its porn. And if u are at work shame on u for wasting company time looking at pics of cars with girls lol. And if i get caught looking its my fault not CEG's fault. I just must know not to check pics sction while at work.

4.Better way to load in pics. isntead of hosting other places and then typing the url in. waste of time and money for some people!!

5.detailing forum

6.WTB/WTS forum!!! MUST NEED

Id Like More Options For Skins On This Forum.
Some Nice Bright Colors To Choose From So I Don't Feel Like
Im Sitting On My Toilet The Whole Time Im On This Site!
LOL!

New Gremlins Could Be Fun Also. I've Seen A Few Posted On Here That Make Me Laugh Out Loud. Its The Small Things That Make This Site Fun To Read And Post In.

Id Like To See An "Insiders Glimpse" Forum, Which Could Include News From Members Who Work Closely With Ford Or Other Ford Brands To Keep Us Posted On Upcoming Events Or New Engines And Products From Ford. Think Terry Haines And Bill Jenkins As Well As Any Ford Techs Or Engineers Or Even Service Writers That May Have Access To New TSB's.
Especially Keeping Up With News On The SVT Division.

There Have Been Quite A Few Good Ideas Such As:
1: Improved Search Function.
2: Avatars (Rule Abiding)
3: More Admins To Keep The Main Site Updated
4: Forum FeedBack
5: Combining Duratec Forums
6: Combining Zetec Forums
***More Ideas***
7: Dedicated How-To Forum With Only Admin/Mod Approved How- To's (Did Some One Mention This?)
8: Create An Electronics Section
9: Keep Audio By Itself But Have Items Like Ohm's Law And
Specific Terms In Glossary Form So Noobs Can Learn For
Them Selves. We Could Appoint A Moderator To Help With
The Development Of This Forum. (A Knowledgeable One)
Im Sure I Will Think Of More...

I think the sites perfect the way it is. As far as the pics of the pretty ladies are concerned....lighten up, but don't throw the rule out the window.

A detailing forum wouldnt be super duper popular for at least 65% of the people here and would probably have just as many debates as the Audio forum here. Come on now...Rog says Pinnacle and I say P21S, what the heck. I think between Aesthetics and pics and vids we can spread out those posts.
Rog will win...He always does

I will assure you guys you will never see a street racing forum here on CEG, Lance is 100% against it. I agree to a point, an after all its his site.

Maybe set up somethink like an opinion poll in the classifieds, where the buyer can leave feedback for the seller, and people can search through that. I think a whole big forum dedicated to that would take up too much spce here on the forums, but would be a great idea linked into the classifieds.

There arent many forums that actually host pics for you, and that seems like too much of a hassle, plus bandwith issues for people hot linking them to other sites.

Updating the main site is a NEED IT YESTERDAY deal. I have no problems offering my services to help out with updating it. I do run one web forum of my own http://www.chicagoceg.com as the Chicago guys know, Sorry Pete for the shameless plug

and a Windows Share Point site for work, which is password protected so theres no sense in giving out the address.

Stickies need to be looked at, and condensed or put in some sort of order. Some of them unstickied even.

Mods...No more, no less. I don't agree with some of the mods on this site and think they take things way too seriously, but the others make up for it. I think we need someone like an Admin that can put time into the site and be non-biased and make some of the final decisions. No offense to Lance or Brian, but I don't think they have enough time with thier personnal life to be here often enough to make those final decisions.

Last but not least....Shoot people in the head when they yell search......Theres nothing new for the car, and we need something to talk about. I've been starting everydays CEG experience in Common Interests, just because it's more Up-To-Date!!!!

All in all, I think you guys have some great ideas, but clutter, and reputition is whats gonna come out of some of these changes that you guys are talking about...

Sorry guys, i a nutshell, I like how the site is now....

Steve

i think we should hold weekly "tribal meetings" where we all get to vote and someone gets banned

~Andrew

P.S. i nominate myself for host of the weekly meetings

First off, Pete, you'r edonig a great job with the stickies and organizing information around here. Your hard work is appreciated.

User theme selection. Any forum software after like, 1992 has user-selectable "themes". There could be one theme for 56k people sitting in front of their tandy's with a packet of pop-rocks from 1987, and there could be a modern theme that loads the avatars and graphics pizzaz that any broadband user could use. Since the softwares being updated, that probably wont be a problem at all.

Integrated classifieds rating system. This one might require a little custom work, but maybe a plugin could be found depending on what forum software we upgrade to. Basicly, tie a ratings system in with the forum user accounts. Click on a dude's profile in the forums, see his classified's rating. Require use of a forum user name/profile to create and maintain classified ads.

Ability to search ALL forums at once. Self explanatory, no?

No girls rule. I can appreciate a work-safe environment, but we're all at least 16 yrs old here right? Dont get me wrong, I view this site a lot at work and I dont need naked chicks dancing across my screen (....not saying I haven't thought it might be pretty dang awesome), but a "modestly" dressed girl shouldn't be a problem should it?

sub-forum changes. Please, lets not do like FCO and burry subforums inside of forums inside of websites blah blah blah. I recommend we consolidate forums based on usage. Lets face it, the SCCA and national events forums get hardly any traffic. Merge them somewhere. I dont think the other forums really get enough traffic to warrant dividing them up (like aesthetics), I mean is there really that many new posts all the time to warrant dividing it up? Common Interests is another story. That sucker gets some traffic. Maybe an "offtopic" section, with a few different forums in it depending on content of the existing CI forum.

Now if we're talking the main site, jeesh, that sucker needs an OVERHAUL. Call chip foose, sucker needs to be stripped, torn down, and sent to media blasting stat. The whole how-to section is burried somewhere in mods, or FAQ, or something that totally barely makes sense. The registry/profiles thing is hopeless because it takes 4 months to get a profile update added. and the list goes on. Truthfully, most stuff that the CEG is good for is in the forums anyway. The site doesnt have to have much, maybe a classifieds section, a car profile section (that is user updatable), and an introduction of some kind. The how-to is great and all, but it needs to be updated regularly to keep it somewhat current (oh say like, within a year or 4) in relation to all the how-to's in the forums.

Thats my $1.50, fwiw.

Originally posted by Davo:

Originally posted by GTO Pete:
Have been cleaning up the forums I moderate in an effort to reduce the # of stickies.

For real? I see 5 stickies at the top of this forum, 3 of which have appeared in the last 24 hours. Are you looking at something different than me?

...and no, I'm not 'antagonizing' you.

That's just this forum Davo. I didn't say I was done - I said I "have been".

Take a look at:
Aesthetics: was 5 stickies, now 3
Duratec Performance: was 5 stickies, now 2
Duratec Maintenance: was 4 stickies, now 2
General Mods: was 5 stickies, now 2

Instead of being critical of someone who wants to improve CEG, why don't you criticize those that do nothing for the site?

I guess what I have done and what I do isn't as valuable as someone who does nothing but post in CI.

Nor do I see you criticizing any of the other moderators or forums that have always had more stickies, outdated info, and far less organized than any of the forums I moderate. I'm by no means knocking the other mods - Unlike some people, I actually appreciate what they do for CEG on their own time.

how about a section on the left side, under our sigs where we can post info like mods, times, etc... kinda like on cardomain. i also like the avatars. and allow gifs, those are cool. but not in the sig(?) where people post their info now. that looks too cluttered and on some sites its difficult to distinguish between info from the thread and someones filler crap.

some good suggestions here. ill help out if needed. i wouldnt mind helping in the classifies section.

oh! one more suggestion... no username changes! its too confusing! i'd say gove everyone a month to change it to what they want it to be permanantly, then lock it.

Originally posted by Guitarman19853:
oh! one more suggestion... no username changes! its too confusing! i'd say gove everyone a month to change it to what they want it to be permanantly, then lock it.

That's a good idea. I had been considering a username change for a while now (particularly since I no longer drive a 98 SE, perhaps I should change to 00 SE?

). Probably something boring like my initials, but something that would remain permanent.

Perhaps not necessarily "no" username changes, but changes that must be approved by an admin? Or maybe just limit like one a year or something.

One more thing, I dont know if it has been mentioned yet or not... But, I dont think we should have the ability to change our forum names. Some people take it too far!

I like the all forums search idea, instead of putting that option in the search part, a search bar could be placed at the bottom of each forum's main page, I see that on lots of other forums.
Also since there is a list of all the members there could be a separate list of all the mods and admins too so we know who all the mods/admins are.
So far good ideas here, and yes I think we do need a few more mods on this site, not enough of them since most of them have busy lives outside of CEG and at least 2 mods per forum.
I can't wait to see the new layout.

As I said before:
FORCE NEW MEMEMBERS TO READ THE STICKIES WHEN THEY SIGN UP BY CREATING A "HOLD" PERIOD BEFORE THEY CAN POST.

Originally posted by Stazi:
As I said before:
FORCE NEW MEMEMBERS TO READ THE STICKIES WHEN THEY SIGN UP BY CREATING A "HOLD" PERIOD BEFORE THEY CAN POST.

I agree on that Stazi, I actually waited a while before I signed up, I just browsed then I created my profile and I waited another month or two before I made my first post.

Originally posted by Stazi:
As I said before:
FORCE NEW MEMEMBERS TO READ THE STICKIES WHEN THEY SIGN UP BY CREATING A "HOLD" PERIOD BEFORE THEY CAN POST.

You can be the enforcer.

I really don't see any way of MAKING them read the stickies. You know how you get asked to read an entire page, and then click "I agree to these terms" before you log into that p0rn? I mean.....

But yeah, I just scroll down, then click on the "I agree" button, and I'm good to go. Same will apply here.

Mark

Originally posted by Y2KSVT:

Originally posted by Stazi:
As I said before:
FORCE NEW MEMEMBERS TO READ THE STICKIES WHEN THEY SIGN UP BY CREATING A "HOLD" PERIOD BEFORE THEY CAN POST.

You can be the enforcer. I really don't see any way of MAKING them read the stickies. You know how you get asked to read an entire page, and then click "I agree to these terms" before you log into that p0rn? I mean.....

But yeah, I just scroll down, then click on the "I agree" button, and I'm good to go. Same will apply here.

Mark

corner carvers

~Andrew

Originally posted by Stazi:
As I said before:
FORCE NEW MEMEMBERS TO READ THE STICKIES WHEN THEY SIGN UP BY CREATING A "HOLD" PERIOD BEFORE THEY CAN POST.

that doesnt guarantee theyll read anything, they just wont be able to post stupid shizzle. make them take an online test or something you know, read the stickied info, then answer some easy questions. thereby forcing them to have read the info

Originally posted by Stazi:
As I said before:
FORCE NEW MEMEMBERS TO READ THE STICKIES WHEN THEY SIGN UP BY CREATING A "HOLD" PERIOD BEFORE THEY CAN POST.

Brilliant, Simply Brilliant.