Thread: Manifesto for the Manifesto

Yo,

I think we need to seriously re-think the forum manifesto.

First off, the name is confusing as hell. I'm sure a lot of people don't even know what 'manifesto' means or what it has to do with the forum. So the least we can do is change the name.

Second off, I can't find anything now. Without the section stickies, it's really hard for me to find what I want. I'm having to 'find' within the 'find everything' manifesto. That doesn't seem right.

Here's what you do: Keep the manifesto, but change the name to 'FAQ' or better yet if you don't like FAQ how about 'SR20-forum manifesto/FAQ'. Clever blended name: 'ManiFAQsto'. Choose three posts from the FAQ and keep them as perma-stickies in each section. Devise a way to index straight to the place in the FAQ that I clicked from to get to where I need to be in the manifaqsto so I no longer need to search. For example, I click on the manifaqsto from the turbo section I am then placed right on the turbo part of the manifaqsto.

Thoughts?!

-G

Yo,

Here are my thoughts.

1. I know what manifesto is. Public declaration of intentions, blah blah blah.

2. Many threads were un-stuck, because some sections had 20+ stickies and they force the new threads down on the page. Gets too cluttered at the top of each section.

3. If your scroll wheel is broken on your mouse, I could see where you'd want to click on a hyperlink at the top of the manifesto to be taken to your specific section...

A lot of good information was lost when the stickied threads were un-stuck, but not transferred to the "manifesto".

That part really does suck and make me unhappy. Whenever I find one, I report it and hopefully it will get to somewhere important.

1.) I know what manifesto means as well, but it's not for the AUTHORS of the manifesto it's for the USERS. So who cares if we know what it means, I'm sure a lot of people do not. Manifesto is just one of "those" words whether you like it or not. A word someone will use at a party to try to make themselves look intelligent.

2.) Exactly, 20 stickies. That's why I suggest 3.

3.) Be it my scroll wheel broken or not, I should be able to navigate to what I need in the FAQ. It is there to help me, right????

You know, there's a saying in web page design that some of the worst web pages look the best. They look like art, but for a user they are a pain in the ass to use. I think this is kinda where this manifesto thing has headed. Everything looks great all aggregated together and it's a good, sound idea, but the implementation is bad IMO.

-G

you're getting nowhere fast, mods are too thick headed around here you're basically spinning tires in the mud

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!

At this point, the manifesto is still manageable but as more and more threads are added it may very well become bloated. Now, very rarely is too much information....too much, but it will become more and more difficult to navigate. I think @gomba makes a very good point and I would like to second it. I am not sure how difficult it would be to permalink each sub-section at the top of the manifesto but I think that would be incredibly beneficial. Basically, have every subsection bolded as a "Table of Contents" and when you clicked them individually, you would be brought to that specific section. Again, I am not sure how this would be managed within the same post but luckily, I don't have to figure it out!

I don't know a lot about how the forum code is configured or what you can do with it, but I was thinking one way to implement it is make each section a separate post within the manifesto. So then, you could just link to the post #. So turbo stuff would be post #1, then N/A post #2, and so on...you could then just index and link directly to the post within the manifesto.

There may be a better way to do it but that's one thing I thought of.

-G

Yes please. PM away sir.

Gentlemen, let's kick it around for a few days. I'm open to making it as user-friendly as possible.

Keep in mind my limited computer skills. I can organize and link, research, compile, etc.... But don't be thinking I have the slightest clue beyond computer basics. Very basics.

That can be done. It'd require me to purge all posts from the thread, and copy sections into the new posts, then shawn can work on formatting of the first post to create a ToC.

It won't happen very quickly though as I'm consumed with VB4 right now.

Cliff, is there any way to do this within the same post, or is this what you had in mind? Or, would you have to have a seperate post (real post) for each sub-section. I like that's it's all contained within the first post as it keeps it compact.