Proposal for a new forum section

[lucamax]

Hi,

I open a new Bar topic to propose you a new section of this great forum. I suggest to open a sort of alphabetical index of the projects and aeroplane described in the forum. The idea is born in my mind because I noticed that fortunatly there are several topics and posts about a lot of projects and sometimes it could be hard to find the exactly location of the project you're looking for. What do you thik about? In my opinion a new section like that could help a lot all forum users ad in particulary a novice, like me .

Thank you for your attention.
Good things to all!

 

[Antonio]

Not a bad idea to generate a Secret Projects Guide but the question is whether is this technically possible. Overscan has the answer.

In the meantime, the forum's search tool works quite well and you can also try to google "secretprojects"+"subject".

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

not necessarily a section but possibly a "sort by" feature...

eg. sort by date, sort alphabetically, etc.

 

[Matej]

If you know, what you are looking for, then the search engine is much better solution. And I think that to create such a list will be the difficult task. I tried it once at my web, but not with a good results.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

It would have to be manually created, which is a non-starter. It is possible with some forum systems to use tags, these might possibly be a way to categorise stuff better.

You can also try this, Google Custom Search of Secretprojects Forum :

http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=011371948094539798733:lzyt7tvbalq

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Note - suggestions like this are very welcome as I am working on the next incarnation of the forum - I can't guarantee your idea will be included, but it great to have some ideas.

Already on the list is improved search - I'm implementing a Google search option plus the ability to easily search just the forum you are looking at.

 

[Stargazer]

Thanks overscan for this. It's nice to be on a forum that is open to improvement. I don't have any suggestion at the moment because this forum is extremely satisfying to me as it is. Oh, yes! I remember one thing that could be improved (but probably very difficult to implement): when I want to reuse or link a pic that I know has been attached elsewhere on the forum, it's virtually impossible to find it easily. It would be great, next to the "Attach image" to be able to browse all the attachments (at least those we have uploaded ourselves). But as I said, I believe this must be extremely difficult to do from a technical point of view.

 

[lucamax]

Hi Friends!

First of all, thank you for your attention . In my opinion it would be nice to have a sort of index of aircraft described in the forum, not only in a search function. I believe that a list would allow users with less experience to learn about projects and airplanes that they don't know: the problem, in my opinion, is that if you don't know what to look for, you risk to lose valuable information and news about little-known programs. For example, if I don't know the existence of a project, which has been treated time ago in the forum, I don't search for that and I probably lose the opportunity to increase my knowledge in this field. An alphabetical index would be useful to "open eyes" to inexperienced users informing them of the existence of a project or an airplane. I hope that I explained myself in an understandable way, I apologize for grammar mistakes .

 

[Stargazer]

Another improvement (and an easy one this time) that I really would appreciate: a repetition of the links "Show unread posts since last visit. | Show new replies to your posts." at the bottom of the pages. It's so annoying having to scroll up at the end of a page to click on either of these...

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I can probably do that one.

Currently I have two different possible paths - SMF 2.0, which is an update of the existing forum software, or moving to a new system (Joomla CMS & Kunena forum plugin).

SMF 2.0 is years late arriving, but it will be much more familiar.

Joomla & Kunena would be quite different to the current forum but would allow a much more complex website with article publishing and other features.

 

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Currently I have two different possible paths

Tough call. New features sound great, and if the tools have an active developer and user-support community even better, but I'm sure you're aware that data migration from the existing forum would be a key issue! (Or do both toolsets interface to a common db backend such as MySQL?)

Looking forward to an improved search; one little niggle with the current version is the inability to specify how many results you want on a page and/or a 'show all' option (say if number of results is < 100). I find it useful to do a browser text search on the results page.

 

[Antonio]

I'd like to enjoy the view ALL continous page mode option for every multi-page topic. It's very handy to keep an updated offline copy in my computer but it's not available for all topics. Some of that topics are more than 10 pages long...

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Well, that one was easy Pometablava

 

[lucamax]

I am not a technician but I'd like to propose a sort of easy solution: what do you think about creating a simple post closed and editable only by moderators and administrator where you just insert the links listed alphabetically or by country or by year of aircraft and projects to the pages of forum where these aircraft are described?

 

[Matej]

Are you a volunteer, willing to update the list on the regular basis? Because this is the critical point of your proposal. Everything what requires frequent manual update wont work.

 

[Antonio]

Everything what requires frequent manual update wont work.

I agree.

 

[lucamax]

Everything what requires frequent manual update wont work.

You're right, I didn't think about that. I don't know how complex is to organize a forum, especially when there are a lot of users and pages, but I can imagine that. I'm sorry for the trouble, my suggestion was just an idea

 

[Stargazer]

The question is whether you want such an index to be exhaustive, or just to provide guidelines. If it's the former, there is nothing better than a search engine properly used. If it's the latter, I guess an index could be possible, with listings by manufacturer and type (for example: Vickers-Supermarine models, USAF P/F-fighters, U.S. Navy OS-specifications, German Reich aircraft designations, Tupolev ANT-/Tu- models, British specifications, US MX- programs...); everytime some new item would get published on one of the types listed, a new link would be added next to it in the list. The advantage over the search engine would be in the selection of relevant items as opposed to all the mere mentions or false leads that inevitably arise from an automated search.

For such a system to work, however, two things are needed: 1°) a series of moderators assigned to specific subjects and portions of information they are knowledgeable with and 2°) a constant, regular watch by these moderators of every new post that could be related to the topics they deal with. I guess the more people would contribute, the less work there'd be for all... However this poses the problem of access rights... Either 1°) every contributors has access to a specific index and can edit within the interface or 2°) every "watcher" submits his/her weekly or monthly list of additions to one of a few selected mods designated for the task.

I find the idea extremely tempting, but I still don't know if it is workable.

 

[Matej]

I'm sorry for the trouble, my suggestion was just an idea

No need to apologize. Any idea is welcome, we must only evaluate, which one is vitable and which is not.

 

[lucamax]

If it's the latter, I guess an index could be possible, with listings by manufacturer and type (for example: Vickers-Supermarine models, USAF P/F-fighters, U.S. Navy OS-specifications, German Reich aircraft designations, Tupolev ANT-/Tu- models, British specifications, US MX- programs...); everytime some new item would get published on one of the types listed, a new link would be added next to it in the list. The advantage over the search engine would be in the selection of relevant items as opposed to all the mere mentions or false leads that inevitably arise from an automated search.

Exactly! I was thinking something like that. Unfortunatly a section or a list of this type will be a very hard work, especially to manage ad organize.. I don't know. I like the idea, but I understand that is very difficult to realize..

 

[Steve Pace]

How about something like this:

Experimental Prototype and Service Test Aircraft
Government and Military Research Aircraft
RAF Bombers
RAF Fighters
RN Fighters
USAF Attack types
USAF Bombers
USAF Pursuits and Fighters
USN and USMC Attack types
USN and USMC Bombers
USN and USMC Fighters
(more)

-SP

 

[lucamax]

How about something like this:

Experimental Prototype and Service Test Aircraft
Government and Military Research Aircraft
RAF Bombers
RAF Fighters
RN Fighters
USAF Attack types
USAF Bombers
USAF Pursuits and Fighters
USN and USMC Attack types
USN and USMC Bombers
USN and USMC Fighters
(more)

-SP

I like!

 

[Steve Pace]

How about something like this:

Experimental Prototype and Service Test Aircraft
Government and Military Research Aircraft
RAF Bombers
RAF Fighters
RN Fighters
USAF Attack types
USAF Bombers
USAF Pursuits and Fighters
USN and USMC Attack types
USN and USMC Bombers
USN and USMC Fighters
(more)

-SP

I like!

I guess you're the one. -SP

 

[Stargazer]

Steve, maybe your suggestion didn't generate so much enthusiasm because it was 1°) strictly US-centered and 2°) not easy to maintain. Being used to classifying and organizing information, I would tend to think that going for lists by manufacturers seems a lot more logical. Still, if you want to go for an organization by types (attack, fighter, transport...) it would be much better to go by programs, not designators. Indeed, TFX or AX should include all the competing designs and not just the F-14 and A-10 winners.

 

[Steve Pace]

Steve, maybe your suggestion didn't generate so much enthusiasm because it was 1°) strictly US-centered and 2°) not easy to maintain. Being used to classifying and organizing information, I would tend to think that going for lists by manufacturers seems a lot more logical. Still, if you want to go for an organization by types (attack, fighter, transport...) it would be much better to go by programs, not designators. Indeed, TFX or AX should include all the competing designs and not just the F-14 and A-10 winners.

I put RAF and RN types in the list. Of course, it would be for all nations' aircraft. -SP

 

[lucamax]

I would tend to think that going for lists by manufacturers seems a lot more logical.

It would be great. For my blog I use a similar type of index, ordered by the alphabetical name of any single aircraft, and a list of country labes, but for a blog it easy to do.