Forum Use

[Paul Fowler-Smith]

In comparison with some members, I find that the photos and comments are not only in many cases simple engineering solutions, or basic ideas to encourage me to move my project forward.
As a non engineer at least since school, I have learnt so much and nothing is more annoying than historical photos from the old and current site lost, along with the explanation as to how to do X.
I understand the costs are mounting (as I commision our own website updates), but I believe this is essential to the forum.

[Oliver Brüninghaus]

Hi Gerhard,

From my point of view it looks that this forum is more like a virtual living room or a notably club for us, the „Armortek Aficionados“ esp. owners.

Some of the members are newbies others experienced metal engineers,
some of the readers are interested potential new customers and others enjoy the build logs for variety,
some are new members and some knows the company and the products for ages.
This forum gives all of these particular people with their different interests an attractive home.
A little bit like a large family.

I like the strictly concentration on brand related comments whether technical or emotional. It keeps the forum focused and informative for Armortek models and users.
From the marketing point of view, a forum with a wide variety of topics/brands & products couldn’t attract new customers in this clear, informative and efficient way.

On the other hand I enjoy to get inspirations from the diverse tank modeling scene (like "Hausen a. Bach" . For this I prefer different platforms out there in the world wide web. Not related to one scale, subject, club or brand.


Hi Kian,
My wish: Keep It Simple, Stupid and please don’t loose the knowledge base of old posts (remember the Potobucket disaster).

Cheers
Oliver

[duncanallender]

Hi all,
Re Forum use, could the 'headers' be more in number than 12 ? ,say 20, so still easy to quickly scan latest posts without feeling of being swamped by too much info.That way , articles would remain up there for longer.
Dunc

[Kevin Hunter]

Apologies if I'm stating the obvious, or missing something, but surely there is no need to mess around with the number of "headline" posts when the forum software already indicates new/unread posts to us.

Granted you have to log in and, while that may not be as convenient as scanning the 12 latest topics and reading as a guest, it is hardly an onerous process.

Anyway, once logged in, all topics with new posts have a yellow icon in the left hand margin. This means that you can readily identify anything you haven't read if a recent flurry of activity - whether deemed appropriate use or otherwise - has forced some new posts out of the "top 12". Once you have read the posts the icon changes to grey.

Suggesting that the number of new posts shown should be increased doesn't necessarily solve the problem. For example, how many posts might you miss if on holiday without internet access? 20? 30? 50? It becomes a case of where to draw the line and we all know you'll never please everybody.

The only downside with the forum as it stands is that non-members, who are welcome to read our forum (and should remain so), can not log in to catch up on missed items. Tongue in cheek, their obvious solution is to buy an Armortek kit and sign up

Regards
Kevin

[Robert E Morey]

Please no Facebook format! Noooo! I find it extremely hard to find much of anything except the most recent posts. I am a fairly technical person - but still find FB very aggravating to find anything I want to see.

I miss the old Armortek user build galleries.

As an example of an easy to use, easy to navigate site, albeit for RC planes is https://www.rcscalebuilder.com/default.asp. This page has everything from events, model tips, scratch building and is still easy to browse. They charge a very small annual fee ($20-25 USD) which in my opinion is worth it. They also have annual kit giveaways (donated by manufacturers) and walk-around photo downloads for paid members. Again this is just an example of a nice site.

I kike this forum mostly for model categories, ie Panther, Tiger, etc. The how to's are nice to.

I would like to see a section on scratch builds but this may be stretching Armortek resources. Perhaps scratch builds using Armortek parts? I find this inspiring and I think builds interest in 1/6 scale overall.

But perhaps what makes this site so enjoyable is the focus on Armortek models from worldwide builders.

Enough rambling...
Bob

[Phil Woollard]

Some very good suggestions guys, I particularly like the idea of a scratch built section using mainly Armortek parts ( then I would wouldn't I). I feel very guilty digressing from the standard builds , but it puts bums on seats!
I have many plans and so much to bring to this forum but have to constantly look over my shoulder .
I'm sure the new management have it all sorted, they just need time ..Phil.

[Adrian Harris]

A lot of forums I frequent have an "Off Topic / Chatter / Wibble" section. As long as there is a tenuous link to the main purpose of the forum, it does provide somewhere where the mods can move threads they feel are popular but not subject related, if that makes sense.

As long as it doesn't fill up with threads about DIY, what music people are listening to or how the football went last night, it might allow for stricter moderation of the main forum sections.

Scratch builds are a more difficult subject. I believe that threads such as David Skeldon's work based on Centurion hulls belongs firmly in the Centurion section, as does all the scratch-built detailing which Stephen White has added to his Aussie tank.

Having said that, it would be interesting to have somewhere where build threads for models such as Dennis Jones's tank transporter could live, as it is a wonderful combination of modelling and engineering and would provide a lot of interest to people who don't tend to stick to the straight and narrow during a build.

Adrian.

[Phil Woollard]

So where ( as you have failed to include my exploits ) do you think my work falls Adrian ? Interested to hear your thoughts as the unrest seems to be down to me.

[Armortek]

I am shutting down this thread.
Suggestions on improving the forum are welcome and can be emailed directly to me.

Until we can add more functionality to this forum that includes the ability to manage off-topic conversations, discussions should be as per the guidelines that Stephen has already posted.

Kian