Rothgarr
Active Member
While I agree organization is a plus, I also ignore a topic once it winds up a master thread (and there are too many of them).
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Is anyone else unhappy with the way this forum has been re-organized?
- Thread starter NedH
- Start date
Mo City
Active Member
Confession: All I ever view here is the "New Posts" list and didn't even notice master threads existed until now. Just went to the Model 3 forum and observed some. When did this start?
I agree moderation can be good sometimes but consolidating threads is risky. IMO, banning trolls, rude and abusive posters is the most important thing. A very good sports forum I frequent locks repetitive threads most of the time instead of consolidating them. Posters also get banned for periods of time depending on the offense. It works well. People learn and change their habits or go away.
Most threads more than 100 posts are too large and unruly, the exceptions being where long-running discussions make sense (such as investing in TSLA stock, certain HW3 hardware discussions, etc).
I respect the amount of time mods put in to keep things tidy. It's a labor of love.
I agree moderation can be good sometimes but consolidating threads is risky. IMO, banning trolls, rude and abusive posters is the most important thing. A very good sports forum I frequent locks repetitive threads most of the time instead of consolidating them. Posters also get banned for periods of time depending on the offense. It works well. People learn and change their habits or go away.
Most threads more than 100 posts are too large and unruly, the exceptions being where long-running discussions make sense (such as investing in TSLA stock, certain HW3 hardware discussions, etc).
I respect the amount of time mods put in to keep things tidy. It's a labor of love.
mblakele
FSD Beta (99)
just change it back to how it used to be, you can merge two of the same topics into one thread but don't merge everything loosely related into one giant master thread. I don't even bother reading or looking for something in the master thread, it's a giant mess with many different conversations going on at once.
OK.
Stop doing this.
I, like many others, don't like looking at Master threads. I would never look at a master thread for anything other than the exact Topic in the title of the master thread... and I have no interest in dozens of ongoing discussions about a particular release number after having learned what major feature is in a new release. After that, I pretty much never want to click on that thread.
I had no idea that all of this content was ending up under master threads until seeing this thread.
I think it's a terrible practice, and the change I suggest is to simply stop doing it. If we need some sort of categorisation method to deal with the posts, we should find one that works, but I think the best response to the current practice is to simply stop.
Atari2600
Active Member
It could be much worse. If this were AVSForum there would be a single forum called "EVs" and everything concerning Tesla Model 3 would be in a single master thread with over 150,000 posts in it.
It would be nice if all software version discussions were sent to the software updates forum.
It would be nice if Master Threads concerned a single specific topic not tied to a software version.
It would be nice if all software version discussions were sent to the software updates forum.
It would be nice if Master Threads concerned a single specific topic not tied to a software version.
Since I believe in posting why if I disagree, I will say that, I dont look in the master threads either, but am very glad they exist because the forum quickly becomes unreadable otherwise. After a software release, you end up with 20 different threads by 20 different people trying to be "first" to report that "2 cars show XXX release on teslafi, is it wide?!?!?!?" or " "Downloading the new update now!", Or " I just bought this car 2 days ago, took a 10 mile trip and it shows 20 miles lost, do I need to take my car back to tesla?!?!?!?!?"
Its not a "few" posts like that, its enough to cover the first page or two of the forum. I would personally let people read the 40 page threads if they really care about the topic, or really want to know, rather than expect people (usually the same people) to respond and respond and respond to 20 different threads on the same topic.
Not sure what the answer is, because I know that those master threads are unreadable but having them makes the rest of the forum readable, and keeps people from shouting "USE SEARCH NOOB!!!" at every new poster who is SURE that they should be clicking that new post button rather than looking to see if someone else possibly has their issue, even though almost every post like that ends with "anyone else seeing this?".
Its not a "few" posts like that, its enough to cover the first page or two of the forum. I would personally let people read the 40 page threads if they really care about the topic, or really want to know, rather than expect people (usually the same people) to respond and respond and respond to 20 different threads on the same topic.
Not sure what the answer is, because I know that those master threads are unreadable but having them makes the rest of the forum readable, and keeps people from shouting "USE SEARCH NOOB!!!" at every new poster who is SURE that they should be clicking that new post button rather than looking to see if someone else possibly has their issue, even though almost every post like that ends with "anyone else seeing this?".
boiler81
Member
1st, I readily acknowledge that moderating an online forum is a brutal thankless job. However, that doesn't have to mean that things are a mess either.
IMHO, the entire Tesla forum world, not just TMC, is a giant mess of sloppily moderated disorganization. For suggestions on how to do it much better: Go check out Subaru Forester Owners Forum So many techniques and organizational ideas to easily copy.
e.g. Why are there not locked/read only Knowledge base sections?!? One locked section for all known/leaked TSB .PDFs... One for specs, by model year... another locked area for firmware revisions/patch notes, etc.
Why aren't all the step-by-step 'how to' guides in there own locked sticky/area, sorted by vehicle portion/subsystem?
PS- Maybe, just maybe, if it was organized, not as many people would ask dumb repetitive questions, because they could readily see where that answer was...
IMHO, the entire Tesla forum world, not just TMC, is a giant mess of sloppily moderated disorganization. For suggestions on how to do it much better: Go check out Subaru Forester Owners Forum So many techniques and organizational ideas to easily copy.
e.g. Why are there not locked/read only Knowledge base sections?!? One locked section for all known/leaked TSB .PDFs... One for specs, by model year... another locked area for firmware revisions/patch notes, etc.
Why aren't all the step-by-step 'how to' guides in there own locked sticky/area, sorted by vehicle portion/subsystem?
PS- Maybe, just maybe, if it was organized, not as many people would ask dumb repetitive questions, because they could readily see where that answer was...
I agree completely. It’s much more difficult to follow threads I care about when they end up merged into a massive thread just because they’re vaguely related to 30 other threads. Whoever is spearheading the effort has a poor understanding of forum usability.
I’ve been spending less time browsing these boards recently.
I’ve been spending less time browsing these boards recently.
I suspect the mega threads work for those who are reading "most" of the posts. It is one place to look. The moderators almost by definition fall into that category. If you haven't been keeping up they are hopeless. Most sane people are NOT going to read a 1,000+ post thread. The problem with a mega thread is in your interested in a sub thread you have wade through the entire thing. Do we have the technology to break a new thread off while leaving a pointer where it was before? This is not too unlike the idea of creating more forums/sub forums..
I recall someone suggested initiator moderated threads in a previous discussion about forum organization. That would create a marketplace for styles of thread control. This also could facilitate a curator for a very specific topic.
Running a forum is hard work and I appreciate the work that it takes but we shouldn't stop trying to improve the experience.
I recall someone suggested initiator moderated threads in a previous discussion about forum organization. That would create a marketplace for styles of thread control. This also could facilitate a curator for a very specific topic.
Running a forum is hard work and I appreciate the work that it takes but we shouldn't stop trying to improve the experience.
Oh, I totally agree that there's value to mergeing posts on a repeat topic. But you described two different topics - one is the new release, and those posts can be combined into a thread on that release, and the other was a common first-timer question on reported mileage estimates... you can argue it should be merged into some master thread, but it makes no sense to shove it into a master thread about a specific release.
Note:
Have there really been 1,142 posts in just under twelve days since December 23 specifically about version 2019.40.50.x?
The complaint here is that all sorts of posts/questions on various topics have been collected there inappropriately. Looking through them, I can't tell which replies originated in the thread and which were new posts merged into it - but I can definitely say that an awful lot of conversation has nothing to do with that particular release... and the 58 page length certainly reduces the value of the thread for anyone looking to read up on the release. Honestly, I imagine nearly nobody sets out to read a thread that long.
Unfortunately Reddit has the same approach now. Everything is supposed to go in a "daily discussion" thread. I never look at those and also never look at anything here in the "master" or "sticky" sections. In fact if there was a way to suppress those sections entirely, I would do that for sure. I suppose I actually like this poor organization though as it keeps me from looking at this forum too often.
Yes, because as of right now there have been SEVEN versions. And a lot of issues with each one.
Akikiki
A'-Lo-HA ! y'all
Careful people. Thou could find the car stopped along the side of the road and thee put out to watch for another ride.
Yes. And SO MANY of them say exactly the same thing. People don't bother to search before posting.
If the posts are off topic, then you should report those to the mods.
I would assume when they're merging threads, they do some sort of cleanup. But that cleanup wouldn't include deleting the dozens & dozens of identical/low value posts in a thread. That's really what's cluttering things up.
Maybe the real ask here should be that IF the mods are going to make a master thread for some topics, they should spend more time tracking that particular thread to make sure it stays on topic & just removing all of the dupe posts?
People should rely more on the voting options instead of posting, if they aren't adding any new info.
I hate the mega threads. Trying to follow subjects is a royal pain . You have a question and 10 pages later, the answer
RayK
Active Member
Moderating a forum is a thankless job. Take it from somebody who was one for a couple of years and then promoted to the admin team (forum.thinkpads.com). Obvious actions as putting somebody in timeout for a day or forever is easy as there are generally well-established rules for doing so. Merging / moving threads or censoring posts is usually left up to the whims of the moderator(s) and those rules can change from day-to-day and from person-to-person. Depending upon the forum software, these changes may or may not be publicly attributed to the particular mod that did them. Forum logs that are available only to the mods and admins should keep track of those actions (i.e., "who moderates to moderators").
Combining all threads which even peripherally references the software update into one master topic is the easy thing to do from the standpoint of work for the mod team. However, it makes it much more difficult for the forum user to find and then follow a particular issue that is important to them. About the only way to "have your cake and eat it too" is to duplicate some of the existing hierarchy of the sub-forums into something like this:
Just my $0.02.
Combining all threads which even peripherally references the software update into one master topic is the easy thing to do from the standpoint of work for the mod team. However, it makes it much more difficult for the forum user to find and then follow a particular issue that is important to them. About the only way to "have your cake and eat it too" is to duplicate some of the existing hierarchy of the sub-forums into something like this:
- Model 3: Software 2019.40.50.xx
- Driving Dynamics - Autopilot, AEB, TACC, FSD issues
- Battery / Charging / Range - issues related to charging the car and range
- User Interface - problems with screen, navigation, entry/exit, keys, etc.
- Connectivity - WiFi, LTE, OTA update issues
- New Features - options and features added from previous releases
- Model 3: Software 2019.40.2.xx
- Driving Dynamics
- Battery / Charging / Range
- User Interface
- Connectivity
- New Features
- Model 3: Software 2019.40.1.xx
- :
- :
- :
Just my $0.02.
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