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217 members have voted

  1. 1. Are you happy to keep using these gigantic threads for everything related to a specific gun?

    • Yes
      73
    • No
      144


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A bit of democracy at work...

 

I gotta say, I think the threads for the WE and AGM M4s are kinda raging out of control.

It's getting to the point (IMO) where people simply can't find information because the threads are too big to find it easily.

 

Would you rather I close these threads (which are, after all, supposed to be reviews of the guns) and then, instead, we carry on discussing specific issues by posting threads about the issue in the tech forum?

 

It seems, to me, that it'd be making better use of the forums AND it'd be a lot easier for people to find fixes for problems if there were specific threads dedicated to issues such as the forward control on the WE gun or the bolt catch on the WA/AGM etc.

 

I should say that I am prepared to start threads (and copy particularly useful information into them) for specific subjects.

If you DO like the idea of specific threads and you can find something useful in the old threads you can let me know and I'll chop it out of the old thread and paste it into the new one.

That'll only happen AFTER a vote on whether to do it or not.

 

Up to you guys. I'm just thinking of what's easiest for people trying to find the information. :)

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I subscribe to the beleif that the Tech forums are there for a reason. For specific issues, there should be a thread. That way, in stead of sifting through 50 pages of "WOW! Look at that!," You can, in stead, simply read the "Bolt breakage issue" topic.

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i think in some cases they are ok and some cases maybe not, like in R85 issue by Army the long thread is very useful to read with fixes and testing from the long run information, i voted YES, but if it goes to NO i think it should be kept on high regard for which threads to let go anywhere and not simply ban every thread automaticly if it reaches page 5 that would be dumb in my books.Alternative way could be also to allow Admins and Mods to clean long threads of useless OMGs etc. to make them stand better the test of time.

Edited by Frontiers
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I can see the attraction of them for folks that have followed them from day one but in all honesty I just feel they're a complete turn off for anyone trying to get themselves up to speed with the guns, not just these two guns theres a few other review threads that have developed into the same sort of thing.

 

I think somewhere amongst it all, the WE thread has a wiki which will certainly help a bit, but I'd reckon the best compromise is to leave threads of that sort open for folks who want to use them (primarily the folks that have been following them for a while and have developed a taste for them), but dont place any expectation on others to use/have read them

 

ie when someone posts on general or technical regarding a gun thats got one of these humungous threads then leave their topic open so they're question/point/finding can get answered - rather than have a captain obvious come along and say 'ooh you do realise theres a ginormous WE/AGM/M249/realsword thread, go and have a read thru that' quickly followed by a moderator closing their topic, which has happened a few times now.

 

After all we could apply that sort of logic to every gun and see all tech (and most general) questions relegated to nothing more than 'search the big review of X, its in there somewhere. thread closed' responses :D

 

Theres also the issue of a load of out of date old cobblers being scattered thru them. Thats not really a problem for folks who've been following them as they'll usually just be keeping an eye on the latest stuff over the last 5 or 10 pages now - but heaven help anyone with a brand new latest gen WE or whatever who starts at page one and, based on what they read at that stage, starts ordering bits that no longer have a problem, or go off on wild goose chases implementing 'fixes' blissfully unaware that ten pages later those same fixes have been established as nowt but a waste of good parts. :rolleyes:

 

Edited by snorkelman
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I'm glad this is finally being suggested.

 

I found myself wanting to read up fixes/compatability and a bit of "tech" info on both the AGM and We GBB's to decide whether it was worth investing in either of them, yet when I went to look I was faced with a 300 page thread, and I for one am not prepared to sieve information from that, I'd much rather have the information in a specific thread, e.g. Bolt Issues, Hop Fix etc. so I can quickly identify major problems, and suggestions making life much easier.

 

And if you ask a question you are usually replied with "OMGzz Se4rchh1t 1n t3H 3P1c Thr34add!"

 

It's not about being lazy, I don't expect answers to be put on a plate, but it just means discussion is alot more specific, and more to the point.

 

I mean the first few pages of the We Thread are like " Wow We are making a GBB M4, how much will it cost?" until the original news thread begins to slowly get to get decent information in it.

 

Please break it up, its a good idea :) (Possibly in it's own Sub-Forum in technical discussion?)

Edited by Delta_Knight
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IMO I think they should be broken down. I think there should be threads for each of the GBBR's for reviews, problems(and fixes by users), and upgrades(including ups that are needed for the rifle to be "reliable").

 

I think that would solve a lot of issues with newbies, such as myself.

 

You can still cope with it in time if you start reading from page 1 now :P

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I voted to keep it the way it is. I seriously doubt that if you change anything it will have a positive effect on the 300 pages of information that already exist. If you plan to sift and sort the thread into different categories which would remove the context of most everyones posts I don't see how the subject of the thread will automatically be improved. It should be noted that the WE M4 thread was started in the news section before the gun was released and it was moved to reviews after people started chatting about there own impressions of the M4. Since then members have taken the initiative to use the information gathered in this thread and put it into the WE M4 guide found here.

 

Granted, if you want to lay down guide lines for future threads, that could potentially be beneficial for everyone, but I for my own reasons like the WE M4 thread the way it is.

Edited by elrey
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If the OP posts new an relevant information, that information should be edited into the main post. Posts by other users with enough information deemed to be their own review should be split into their own topic. Also, I like what some forums have - thread wikis. The second post is reserved by one which can be edited by all users and then used to contain highlights and links to relevant information in the thread. When used properly, it can be a "table of contents" of sorts for large threads.

 

Something does need to be done, though. When threads get large, lots of good information often winds up in them and it begins too difficult to find it after the fact. No one wants to sort through 50+ pages to find information they need.

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right now these long threads are kinda ridiculous and for someone like me who is interested in buying a we m16 or an agm m4 i dont know whether what im looking at is accurate or out of date.

the different versions of the we m16 make it particularly hard to find information because people post about problems that the current versions dont have but others such as myself cant figure out what were looking at.

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Lupin is right on the money.

 

Perhaps we can further divide the forum into sub forums for each brand or type of gun? I know that we have for reviews but the tech forum can often times be a mess of information.

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The WE wiki page is pretty much the answer to the Tolstoy sized threads. The long threads are more like chat rooms and when something useful is picked up, it gets edited into the wiki. Problem is that the wiki is somewhere else and it doesn't get edited very frequently (I don't know ho to put information in it myself). I suggest to keep the long threads as they are BUT make a single review thread (like a mirror to the wiki) that tackles most of the problems in summary.

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Honestly the general search function on this site is horrible. I like being able to do the daily AGM reads about anything and everything AGM. It creates an open environment for people to share the things they learn all in one place without necessarily starting a new topic.

 

plus, the 'search topic' function works pretty well.

Edited by stew_b_10
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yep as I wrote earlier if folks want to keep up with the current Big Giant Threads sure go ahead and do so (they're easy enough to keep track of if you've read them as they developed). Keep them open for that

 

But it shouldnt become an expectation that other folks new to gun X or gun Y plough thru them, or search them first, or only post any questions on those guns in them and nowhere else, because then they cease to be threads and turn into ghettos.

 

 

Edited by snorkelman
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Maybe if there is good info somewhere in the thread, provide a table of contents in the first page? Or is there no clean way of doing this using forum software?

I brought this point up earlier and I think it's a good idea. Check last page for my old post - it's called a Wiki Community Board and I believe it works with IPB which is the forum software Arnie's runs.

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