Greetings fellow strokers!!! Please forgive the little rant I am about to embark on, but I feel it is necessary for us to discuss some things....mainly the thread title.

We, the moderators of this forum and the administration, have been working our collective tails off for the last few weeks in an attempt to clean this forum up a bit.

The problem we are having is that we have to move between 5-25 post per day to the forum that best suites the thread topic.

Now, if we go by the letter of FTE law anything that is not directly related to the 99-03 Powerstroke engine is off topic in this forum. Now obviously, a purely technical forum of that nature wouldn't be a whole lot of fun to read or participate in, and we are all here to have some fun in addition to learning everything we can....so in that spirit I will tell you what I think should and should not belong, and then I will open the floor for discussion. After all, I think all of our objectives is to have the best forum that we can possibly have.

First, what I think should belong. Anything That fits the forum title (99-03 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel in case you've forgotten ). To me that means anything from the fuel fill neck to the tip of the tailpipe. It's all engine related. I also fully endorse the "fun" stuff where we talk about the mods, the power, the PMS, etc, etc. I also am not opposed to discussions of other parts of the truck that are different from the mainstream because of the diesel. As example...the transmissions have slightly different gearing between gas and diesel, so transmission threads are also ok IMO.

What I do not think is ok are thread about tires, wheels, door locks, dome lights, axle and differential, transfer case, running lights, brakes, hubs, body parts, or anything else that every Superduty has in common regardless of engine....FTE is full of forums dedicated to all things truck. We all have participated in those threads, but the time for that has passed. Obviously, my job is to guide the newbies to the right places, but you experienced users know better.

I do not want to alienate anyone. The members of this forum are exceptionally knowledgeable, and I want every one of you to stay fat, dumb and happy (figuratively speaking of course) right here, but this forum has been a free for all for way too long, and we need your help to make it hapen.

So....here's you chance. The floor is open to any and all opinions.

 

i think it's a good idea. not that people here don't know about non-engine related stuff, but this forum gets enough action. the gasser dudes that arent very "motorhead"-like, seem to know more about that kind of "chassis" related stuff. i post most my questions like that there, and only save the powerstroke related stuff for here.


glad to see that this is being addressed.

 

Yea - I'm guilty... Sorry Scott - I guess I never thought about it like that. I always have posted here, pretty much since I joined - and rarely ever even visit any of the other forums really.... guess I'll have to change that

 

Yup. Guilty here, too. Just posted a hub thread today.

I just never even think about there being a different forum for the chassis-related stuff.

I think about this one more as a 7.3-powered Superduty forum.

Except for the member's only area, I rarely go ANYWHERE else on FTE.

I just looked over on the Superduty forum. Except for jtharvey, I don't recognize ONE name. This is where I feel most comfortable, and where I recognize the other players.

Since the forum is so popular for generic 7.3-powered Superdutys, why not just make it that? Gasser guys could have their own, too, and if I wasn't getting any response to a non-engine problem here (fat chance), I could ask over there, (of course hiding my sig file).

I set a bookmark for the other forum, but I doubt I'll spend much time there. Guess I have a hard time sharing experiences with gasser guys. It's just not the same!

Maybe the "FTE law" needs re-legislation. Otherwise, I think this one's not going to be as much fun, nor as technically informative, as it has been.

Pop

 

I am guilty also. Originally came to this forum, for 99-2003 7.3L part of it. Heck as far as I knew there wasn't even anything else. Most of the guys that post here REALLY know there stuff. I have gotten used to having these guys answer my questions (even the non related ones).
I WILL START POSTING IN OTHER PLACES AS WELL.
Sorry ( I am still kind of new)

Should we address threads getting highjacked and totally thrown out of wack?

 

I must admit that I'm guilty of an infraction or two on this basis. I think that many of us have developed an online "friendship" within this forum and trust the opinions of this group. I, like CAT_man, don't stray far from this group and in my quest for answers sometimes will post a question that would be considered a general truck question. I do appreciate that some of our threads will spin off into some "bee-essing" sessions and it can be a nice way to pass the time sent here. However, I for one, will now direct my questions to where they belong and do my part to help keep this great forum running at top speed. It's good you brought it up, Scott.

 

I'm prolly guilty of that too. But, to be honest, I never really checked many of the other threads. I'm like Pop, I kind of saw this as a 7.3 powered truck forum, not just the diesel specific stuff. I mean, the only real trucks have diesels anyway, right?

But, I also agree that this forum can get pretty cluttered at times. And, in my recent experiences in other areas of the site, I've found a lot of good information. For example, I was looking at some suspension lift options. Checked over in the general SD forum, didn't see a whole lot of what I was looking for, so I posted a new topic over there, honestly not expecting much action. Well, much to my suprise, I was able to have more answered than what I had originally asked for...always a plus.

I guess my point is, it seems like us diesel guys kind of stick together, and I often trust you all on this thread to give solid mechanical advice on other areas of the truck more so than anyone else. But, on the flip side, I've never given other forums a chance. My thought process is something like this -- if you're wise enough to go out and buy a diesel in the first place, you've got something going for you. I suspect that you'll be pretty good at giving advice in general.

Final point to the mods, try to clean it up a good bit. Final point to forum members, give some other areas of the site a try, you might be suprised what the other SD guys know. I was.

Edit: But, remember, we're a bunch of friends/family over here on the diesel forum, and no one can take that away from us. If you can't get help somewhere else, I say bring it right back to us, no matter what part of the truck it has to do with.

JT

 

I am with JT on that one.
If you can't find good help somewhere else, then JUST BRING IT HOME.

 

Absolutely right. That is one of the thing I like best about this particular forum and is one of the main reasons I volunteered for this job, but that doesn't mean that you can't also have friends in other forums. There are exceptionally smart "resident experts" in every single forum I've visited on this site....use their knowledge too. It makes us all better.

 

Just ran across THIS THREAD. Dan makes an excellent point that I think is relevant here.

 

I am new to posting in this or anyother forum. and i like being able to go to one place to
read alot about our trucks and post a little. I did not know that this was just about the engine and not the whole truck in general. I liked that i had one place to read and learn about the truck i am driving not just the engine.

I agree with pop Maybe the "FTE law" needs re-legislation. Otherwise, I think this one's not going to be as much fun, nor as technically informative, as it has been.

just a newbee 2 cents
Keith

 

Just curious, what's driving the desire to more extensively control where specific subjects are posted? I understand we are using a lot of bandwith, are they trying to limit similar posts in multiple boards and save bandwidth?

I've been around here a while, and it seems to me that most posters that visit FTE spend most of their time on only one or two boards. Like Pop said, I know who's advice I trust here and who's I don't. Over on the superduty board, I'm not as familiar with most of the posters.

I think we lost a lot of knowledge on this particular board when the OBS trucks and our trucks were put in separate forum. I go down there once in a while just to see who's still around, but I don't go there very often. Fortunately, many of those guys still peek in here fairly regularly.

I also think you are going to see a lot more "gas vs diesel" conflict (like was going on earlier this week in the superduty fourm) and even diesel vs diesel conflict on the superduty board if you force the 6.0, 7.3, and gasser guys all together. There is also a LOT of differences between our trucks here in the 7.3 board (I guess you could call them "early" superduties) and the '05 & '06 superduties.

Just my opinion.

 

Well, I would like to not refer to it as a "law", but more as a guideline (one that is flexible depending upon the chorums decision here). There are 2 choices in my opinion, and here is (what I see) as thier pro's and cons

1. Allow a free-for-all. Great interaction between the users of "the diesel" forum - or "the gas" engine forum. However things get jumbled, more than likely there are 2 threads in each respective forum discussing the same thing.

2. Try to distribute questions across the forums, it allows easier searching (especially for newer users), and congregates all related topics in one area. It does however mean that a lot of the users that you are familiar with need to be attracted to a different forum to discuss other issues.


Why I believe the 2nd option is preferrable, is because yesterday I checked this forum, thier were 2 pages of threads with new posts on them...
I visit the site around 2-5 times a day, an average user that visits 2-3 times a week is going to get swamped.

We don't believe changing things for the sake of change is good, but I think it will make it easier to search things, you can get a greater range of technical info, threads will be answered by those with a lot of technical knowledge in that department.

If you want the guys that you know to contribute info on a question that you have in another forum - I personally find sending them a Private Message with a link to the thread to get them to contribute works very well


Your thoughts would be appreciated

 

This is where I got the idea about "FTE law".

[QUOTE Big350]Great interaction between the users of "the diesel" forum - or "the gas" engine forum.[QUOTE]

I see "great interaction" as a GOOD thing.

[QUOTE Big350]more than likely there are 2 threads in each respective forum discussing the same thing.[QUOTE]

If there is a similar thread on another forum, I can find it when I do a search. That's potentially twice the information, with different slants on the subject from different groups, unaffected by the influences of the other. Once again, I see that as a good thing, but only if I choose to go there for information on my DIESEL truck.

I think we're getting a clearer picture on why this has come up, and it seems to be load distribution, not user friendliness.

I also believe that since this forum is limited to a specific engine and narrow range of years, most everyone else on here has a truck that's more similar to mine than on other forums. We will experience similar problems with our fellow forum members, and therefore THIS forum will have the most immediate, most specific answer to an inquiry for assistance.

What percentage of this forum's users are "Supporters"? Is that about the same as other forums, take for instance the audio forum? Or are we more willing to "pay for play" here?

We are friendlier, and thus more attractive for supporters and ADVERTISERS, than other diesel forums (TDS). There must be a reason. Do you really want to mess that up?

Pop

 

I Usually Hang Out In This Forum ( 99-03 7.3 Powerstroke ) But Occasionally Will Go To The Superduty Forum. I Prefer This Forum Where We Are All Diesel Owners. I Wish It Could Be Something Like :

A 7.3 Superduty Forum .... No Matter What The Topic
A 6.0 Superduty Forum .... No Matter What The Topic
A Gas Superduty Forum ... No Matter What The Topic
Ect.
Ect.

Like Some Of The Others Have Said.... You Get Used To And Perfer A Certain Group .