[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

where's that basket of tomatoes!!

if you've subscribed to the thread, you could directly go to www.team-bhp.com/forum/usercp.php - which will bring up your subscribed threads which have been recently responded to. if the sticker thread has not been responded to, you could still find it by clicking on the View All Subscribed Threads at the right bottom corner. from there, click on the Last Post link and wallah!

psst. did i understand the problem right?

All right that helped the problem of wanting to bypass the first page. Thanks Iron h4wk. Basket of tomatoes hidden since I am just starting to post frequently from the past couple of weeks. Mistake self-excused


Now about that lancer evo picture, is it really necessary to jump to the picture when the thread opens?

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Now about that lancer evo picture, is it really necessary to jump to the picture when the thread opens?

the link on the main page opens the first page of the thread and the first post on that is the red Evo. this is similar to clicking on the thread link (which takes you to the first post of the thread) instead of clicking on the Last Post button.

use the process i had detailed in my previous post to bypass this.

EDIT: the link on the main page has been bookmarked to open the second post on the sticker thread - the one with the red Evo!

[honeybee]

@GTO, thanks for pointing it out. I tried it and that's exactly what I wanted.

[libranof1987]

I was just thinking. Since there have been so many incidents of T-BHP stickered cars being driven around rashly, how about including a small piece of paper in the sticker set which reads something like "You are representing the community by pasting this sticker on your vehicle. Please drive responsibly; hand out stickers only to those who know T-BHP and are responsibly drivers".

I'm sure the self-respecting lot will be more careful/conscious while driving. May not stop the problem but will definitely curb it.

[Poitive]

Originally Posted by honeybee
Mods, what about the other suggestion I had made? Finding all posts by a certain user in a particular thread?

Originally Posted by GTO

Easy one. When viewing a list of threads, click on the number under the "replies" column. In the resultant new window, you'll see a list of all the BHPians who have posted in a thread, with their number of replies (descending order). Click on the number of replies (next to the handle) and you'll get what you want.

The procedure seems a bit tedious. I mean, to first find that thread on a list. There are many threads which are long (like this one) and one may want to find all the posts by a user which may be particularly useful (say GTO in this case) and for that we first have to find this thread in a list.

Would it be possible to have some button/link (say under thread tools or search) where one could find all posts by a particular member?

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

"You are representing the community by pasting this sticker on your vehicle. Please drive responsibly; hand out stickers only to those who know T-BHP and are responsibly drivers".

Fake TBHP stickers are easily available in Bangalore and any sticker making shop can easily make it. I came across many TBHP stickered vehicles and most of them (say 95%+) are non members.

And representing TBHP community? I do not think so - You dont need to be a member to buy this sticker set. Anyone can go to TBHP store and buy it. So we cannot blame owners for TBHP sticker and rash driving? I observed most of the TBHP stickered vehicles in Bangalore are rashly driven. We even have 2 Indigo taxi and an auto with TBHP stickers here.

Another thing is unused stickers ending up on TBHP member's friend/colleague/relatives hand - Most of these people have no clue about TBHP.

[vina]

Everyone:

I have seen one major problem on TBHP - some of the most usefully threads are also often times some of the most useless. Thousands of posts strewn across hundreds of pages with several pages.

Many of the posts are utterly useless even on threads that are very very useful otherwise. Case in point: GTOs review of Beat Diesel here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ve-review.html

The "thanks" feature has been around for months and still on the first two pages almost all of the posts (there are perhaps a few exceptions if you are willing to stretch) are actually "congratulations GTO" "well done GTO" and such.

I mean if I am going through the thread it adds exactly nothing to my knowledge to go through any of these posts (BTW GTO has done a wonderful job, as he has done on quite a few other reviews - my point is not that the review was bad - my point is what happens next is no good).

Several more examples exist - any active BHPian can attest to what I'm saying.


Even when posts are not useless there are several threads where the following pattern can be easily observed:

1. some BHPian asks a question
2. some vague replies come
3. somebody sends a pointed response that enumerates lots of options along with recommendation on what will be most likely the best solution and what other sources of information exist
4. people continue to give suggestions - several of these are repeats.

Now 3 months later another guy has the same (or similar) question - finds the thread and the thread now has over a dozen pages with perhaps 3 or 4 posts (of the type in point no. 3 above) that cover the whole thing very well.


I believe we should have some mechanism of facilitating easy access to such comprehensive posts. Such a mechanism will:

1. Help people find what they are looking for very fast
2. Reduce the chances that same questions will be asked again and again in different threads and even different posts on the same thread
3. Reduce the load on TBHP servers - if people can find what they are looking for fast they will waste less of their time and less of TBHP bandwidth
4. Improve the quality of discourse (may be, though I'm not sure; clear guidelines haven't stopped people, including the author of this post, from cluttering TBHP.

My suggestion - Now that we have "thanks" feature - there can be some mechanism in search that can automatically take the "thanks" into account when enumerating posts - perhaps the algorithm that sorts the posts by relevance.

And/or apart from having a rating for threads, we can have a rating mechanism for posts (though "thanks" should serve the same purpose)





PS: If some Mod can write an article on how to search TBHP efficiently, that will also help both BHPians and non-BHPians who come looking for info on TBHP right now. In my experience at the moment Google search with "site"team-bhp.com" in the search terms gives better results right now than TBHP's own engine (e.g. try searching with keywords "tyre site:team-bhp.com" in google and "tyre" in the search box on top right) - I may be doing something wrong while searching but then most of us have quite a bit of experience with google, not so much with TBHP's engine.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by vina

Several more examples exist - any active BHPian can attest to what I'm saying.

Very true. I usually read the main review and let it be. Sometimes, occasionally peek in. Reason: too much clutter. but then, Vina, tbhp is a platform to interact for like minded people and hence, you really cant phase off the "Congratulations" etc.. It might take the life out of tbhp, and make it mechanized, like a normal wikipedia.

I guess what the mods can do best is to sort out unique discussions, and move them to individual threads.

Originally Posted by vina

Help people find what they are looking for very fast

Now that we have "thanks" feature - there can be some mechanism in search that can automatically take the "thanks" into account when enumerating posts

When reading say, a technical question thread created a while before. What I usually do is read some immediate answers, and then those with most number of thanks (which can be easily identified). This mostly answers the question. In some rare cases which it doesnt, I try to read the route of the discussion, which mostly gives me the answer. If still I'm not able to find it, I go back to the 1st page and ready post by post systematically.

Originally Posted by vina

In my experience at the moment Google search with "site"team-bhp.com" in the search terms gives better results right now than TBHP's own engine

I think tbhp search is powered by google. The difference you felt might be of the interface.

[vina]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

...
When reading say, a technical question thread created a while before. What I usually do is read some immediate answers, and then those with most number of thanks (which can be easily identified). This mostly answers the question. In some rare cases which it doesnt, I try to read the route of the discussion, which mostly gives me the answer. If still I'm not able to find it, I go back to the 1st page and ready post by post systematically.

that is what I do too - but the last part happens very often and it is hugely time consuming.

Originally Posted by dhanushs

I think tbhp search is powered by google. The difference you felt might be of the interface.

I told exactly what I did to search - in my opinion if the same search engine is used (i.e. Google) then "tyre site:team-bhp.com" and putting "tyre" into search box should have given exactly same results.

Not only does that not happen, Google results are far better quality.

I'm not saying that Google is not the engine used by TBHP - I'm saying we need some guidelines on how to use TBHP engine best.




Another suggestion/query to TBHP:

there are a lot of threads from years ago that last one or two pages and are not even relevant today (e.g. discussion on a discontinued car's service, or a short discussion on which an article was written on TBHP later etc.) . Can we have a mechanism to remove the threads or merge them with some other threads - presently they are just clutter

[NPV]

Originally Posted by vina

Another suggestion/query to TBHP:

there are a lot of threads from years ago that last one or two pages and are not even relevant today (e.g. discussion on a discontinued car's service, or a short discussion on which an article was written on TBHP later etc.) . Can we have a mechanism to remove the threads or merge them with some other threads - presently they are just clutter

+1 to that. In case there are similar past/old threads can we have them merged or have one of them be and lock the rest ?

[Sheel]

I hope I am allowed.

A video depicting and teaching how to blip while braking and going down the 'box. Please, I want this video. I have been desperately trying to get hang of this to make my driving smoother & blip everytime I am going down the 'box, but once you bring the braking part into equation, I fumble and either I brake more or accelerate more (clutch engaged). Its so easy to blip and go down the 'box on a Motorcycle...Sigh!

Teaching us as to how to drive an automatic and a 4X4 (not how to off-road) A pictorial illustration works better than a video, methinks.

More Motorcycle road tests. Please.

While testing Cars, monsoon pictures would be appreciated (Cars being driven in wet & a video of it)

[Thad E Ginathom]

You need to take your technical questions to one of the technical threads/forums, where I'm sure you'll get discussion and advice.

[Sheel]

While I agree about the tech part, but its a request to the Support Team for the same & hence I put it here

[xingamazon]

I know the Team-BHP moderators always keep emphasising on the point of asking the members to follow certain rules but it ends up not being followed.
with that in mind, I was looking into the XDA-Developers site, they have a fun+subject video on what to do and what not to do. Its a good informative one.

Can we have some video of this sort explaining users on what to do in what sections so that people understand thier duties and responsibility.

Here is the link of the video by XDA :

You are a Noob

Here is thier registration page:
xda-developers - Forum Rules

Just a suggestion.

[mdsaab]

I am facing a weird problem.
When browsing from my android. The page opens exactly to where i had last read or posted. Which is fantastic.
But when browsing from firefox on my laptop. Even after clicking view first unread. It just goes to the last post which was posted on the thread.
What can i do to set this right?