Would a separate "How I fixed it" sub-forum be useful?

[Dave_B]

Are there like wiki stubs for different pedals?

Not yet.  That's certainly a candidate for the to-do list. 

[choklitlove]

We do have our Wiki, which could get a whole lot more use. The Wiki allows anybody to help in making indexes and there isn't any reason individuals couldn't also have their own "favorites" sections as well.

Anybody who would like a Wiki account can just PM me and I'll make you one.

i know you and a couple others have encouraged participation in the wiki.  could you make a thread or a even a forum with some info/possiblities/howtos on the wiki?  because i, for one, do not understand it.  this would be a good place for questions and answers.  this also may be a good idea to spark some participation in the wiki.

[KMS]

I see a lot of modifications on this forum and for the most part; stomp box builders are here because they are looking for something different and looking for ways to customize their pedal (which they cannot find at the music store).

It would be real easy to make subs that never got used due to the integrated complexity of the reasons why folks come here to get information.

Another aspect that seems to missing from this forum is the final outcome of a problem.  I see many threads with all kinds of ideas but no final "OK this is what worked" post.

To make subs dedicated to particular pedals would be too much subbing and would not help us build routers and power supplies and other pedal paraphernalia.

I think the simplest way to solve this dilemma without making a complex set of sub categories is to simply make a sub forum named, "This is how I fixed it".

The forum would be dedicated to posts that have been made on the main board where the problem was identified correctly and then a solution was found that actually worked and was posted.  It would require the poster who started the thread to copy the thread over to the sub forum once they had a real fix to their problem (or an administrator could transfer copy the post too).

I would expect hardly any discussion on the sub forum....it would just be used for a reference by all of use who are looking for a quick cookbook fix.

The user could run a search on the sub forum and quickly find what they were looking for if such information was available on the sub forum.

This would be easy to set up and require little to no maintenance and if for some reason the sub forum was found to be useless then it could simply be deleted and nothing would be lost.

My 2 cents

[rockhorst]

Then still I'd make it a child forum of this part of the board. Then it would serve as sort of a upgraded sticky on quick fixes.

[KMS]

Then still I'd make it a child forum of this part of the board. Then it would serve as sort of a upgraded sticky on quick fixes.

Yes.....that would make it very usable.

[RedHouse]

We need meta's

[Mark Hammer]

We need meta's

They look wonderful but who makes/creates them?  Are they a product of the judgment and labour of the moderator or created/added-to by the poster themselves?  I don't have a sense of how much traffic there is per unit of time at prodigy-pro.  What I do see is that, at the moment, they have 179257 articles and 3129 registered users, whereas this forum has 323618 Posts in 42173 Topics by 5709 Members.  The difference in burden for the moderator (if they are the ones to produce the metas and keep them straight) is clearly substantial.  Because Peter and Aron have been so good to us, and because I declined their offer to be a moderator way back when, I'm looking for what gives the most utility with the least amount of effort on their part.  If prodigy-style metas could work without any involvement from them, great.  If what might substitute with half the effectiveness but NONE of the work is a sub-forum like the Lounge or the Digital sub-forum, them I'd go with that.

[Dave_B]

Regarding Meta vs. Wiki, does one have an advantage over the other?  Attempting to put my Wiki bias aside, the formatting/editing options would appear to be more flexible for us than Meta threads.  Anyone can edit/correct/add a Wiki entry, but I'm guessing Meta's would have to be maintained by a few people who are already pretty busy.  Is that correct?

For those who are intimidated by the idea of editing a Wiki page, click the 'edit' text on one of the entries (assuming it will let you) and have a look at the "code".  It's really not complicated. 

[Roobin]

It seems there are many good ideas around here. The idea of a sub-forum could be useful if used properly.

I also like O's idea about "Repair:..." titles. Another thing I believe would be useful is if everyone who fixed, say, a AD80 could post in the same post. This would make it easier to find things. - so one could just go to the thread for that particular pedal.

However, there are some disadvantages with this:

1) If the thread is not used for a long time, people may start a new thread on it, thus undermining the whole idea

2) It might cause loooooong thread, esp with something like a fuzz face or big muff. This would make accessing a particular problem hard - but this could be overcome by a search in that particular thread.

If the sub-forum does go ahead, it might be an idea to apply the above idea of one 1 thread per pedal to it, to organise everything, instead of hundreds of thread on FF.

Also, would this be for any type of fixing - like a broken solder or trace? This does seem a bit useless. Or would it just be for say known schematic errors or missing parts?

Just some ideas.