Looking for some feedback

[Patrick]

Hey all,

Just thinking a bit here. I love the content of the Topton/ CWWK threads.

Does anyone have ideas for the best way to organize them? It seems like right now we have one person with a heroic post and then we rely on search. There is only so much we can cover in reviews, and reviews are more of point-in-time resources.

We have the Resources/ Guides feature on here. That tends to be better for something like a heroic post.

Do we need a STH Wiki for these? I somewhat dread setting something like that up and having a third CMS to manage and get set with anti-spam, but if that is what it takes, maybe that is what we do.

 

[piranha32]

Is there a way to attach a post from a thread as a guide, as the head of a new thread there? Moving the post will not do any good, since it will break the original thread.
Since there are not that many "heroic posts" you could also invite the author to do ctrl-c ctrl-v as a guide.

 

[pimposh]

One like to see different versions/revisions/variations/flavours/you name it organized a bit in single post/wiki.
A timeline would be handy too, to not acquire obsolete units (if we can name any of them 'supported' vs 'randomly supported') if there are just more recent versions available. Point is, if you're not following these products, you feel lost to find what is what with number of topics created.

 

[Patrick]

@piranha32 I think that would be something like creating a resource that automatically creates an associated thread. You are right I am struggling with the quantity. We are talking about a dozen or so models at this point.

@pimposh I would think that there would be an index for those units where we could keep track of them. I agree that is a challenge.

 

[piranha32]

@piranha32 I think that would be something like creating a resource that automatically creates an associated thread. You are right I am struggling with the quantity. We are talking about a dozen or so models at this point.

I think the simplest solution (at least for now) is to ask the author to repost as a guide. I'm sure everybody will be honored receiving such invitation from you.

 

[Patrick]

@piranha32 That is a good idea.

I think the challenge is what happens 2-3 months later does the guide get updated? The advantage of the Wiki is that if a new BIOS or something comes out later it can be added by others.

 

[piranha32]

@piranha32 That is a good idea.

I think the challenge is what happens 2-3 months later does the guide get updated? The advantage of the Wiki is that if a new BIOS or something comes out later it can be added by others.

I think it depends on the willingness of the author to keep the article up to date. The author may be adding comments updating the original post, without updating it. The author may also be updating the post, making sure that new readers always have up-to-date information. In the latter case the author may be updating the guide, or wiki article. In this case it doesn't matter it is a wiki or a guide. Where it does matter, is when you would like to give others permission to contribute. Here, a wiki is a much more powerful tool, and much better long-term solution.
However, guides are very simple and easy way to get started, and accumulate high quality content, which can be transferred to wiki, once it will be available.

 

[cageek]

What about using one of these AI chatbots to summarize designated machine threads in an entry below the initial post? Add some guidelines for what you want to be included. Incorporate some forms of feedback mechanisms from users (i.e. similar to thumbs up) both on the generated entry (like this is right/important/wrong) and on follow on posts (like this should be added).

It might work or it might not, but it would be interesting.

 

[piranha32]

Are you talking about machine-generated wiki articles? It can be an interesting experiment.
Another idea: an interactive chatbot trained on posts, answering questions about hardware

 

[cageek]

Are you talking about machine-generated wiki articles? It can be an interesting experiment.
Another idea: an interactive chatbot trained on posts, answering questions about hardware

Essentially a machine-generated wiki article as you say. I would guess most people want to glance at common things like machines, models, costs, specs, manufacturer links, other research links, support/software links, FAQs, etc..

The second idea is interesting too - e.g. Tell me how much ram this machine can take? Compare this to another machine.

 

[mattventura]

A Wiki would be great, not just for that topic, but for lots of things in general. Like detailed info and howtos about motherboards, NICs, HBAs, and other hardware.

 

[MiniKnight]

Just remember to use MediaWiki not clones.