| -----Original Message-----
| From: owner-bricklin@autox.team.net
| [mailto:owner-bricklin@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Alan Coleman
| Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 1:23 AM
| To: Bricklin@autox.team.net
| Subject: the forum
|
| This forum is a perfect place to discuss any BI issues or
| questions. The nice thing about this forum is that all input
| comes to a central point where it is distributed to
| subscribers via email. Everything comes to my email address,
| then I can read it, decide if I have anything worthwhile to
| contribute and respond or not. The number of people what we
| have on the autox.team.net is not enough to overwhelm anyone
| with an enormous number of emails. If you want to go back
| through the archives and search for a subject, you can do it.
| There have also been some valuable contributions by very
| knowlegeable people who did not own a Bricklin or were a member of BI.
|
| Again, I appreciate the effort an thought that went into the
| updating of the web page. Please do not be offended by my
| feedback. I agree with restricting the parts list to members
| onlly. The "new" BI forum would be great if we had a large
| number of people (500+) on it and contributing, creating a
| high volume of traffic. With the new forum, you have to go
| in and search each of the active areas to see if there is a
| subject or question where you can contribute.. It is much
| easier and much less time consuming to check your email.
| There is also less chance of someone missing the opportunity
| to provide some valuable information.
Both have value, Alan. The following is not bashing the list. Just pro / con
discussion.
Regarding the Forum, volume has less of an effect on its value than the
mailing list method. Someone just starting out in the Bricklin world can do
a search and see a topic covered from start to finish on the Forum - no
matter how long it took. If a question is asked by a new person, they can
easily be pointed to the thread where the question was previously asked and
answered. (See Forum / Mailing list discussions at
http://www.bricklin.org/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=9) Updated information /
corrections can also be easily added to a thread. (I just saw someone post a
message to a thread that is a year old!) It also has the capability to
integrate pictures and less exposure to viruses.
I have messages from this list going back to early 1997. It does have a
search interface and has the benefit of being an 'active' transport - the
messages come to the user. Using the mail list method - and assuming the
person reads the bottom of the e-mail - it is possible to search and weed
through quite a bit of mail to get the answer they are looking for. Of
course, in practice, the questions keep get asked and answered here over and
over again. Which just makes that much more to look through when doing a
search.
Alan, try the following and see if this doesn't make the Forum easier for
you to use.
Click 'Active Topics'. As long as you are logging on / off the Forum
properly, this lists the last Topics (threads, not messages) that were
posted since your last visit. (You can also change the date range of the
topics that appear.) You can choose to read them or not by topic title and
without evaluating each post.
Alternately, you can click on 'Recent Topics' and get the last 5, 10, 25 or
50 topics posted.
Regardless, you wind up with the full 'thread' of the conversation in one
logical stream.
I also have concerns about the mailing list longevity. Bricklin
International has been around almost 30 years and should be around for a lot
longer. I'm comfortable that they will perpetuate the information folks
contribute. As this mailing list is not a BI endeavor, it is difficult to
know what will happen in the long run.
| I had to chuckle to myself as I was searching through the
| Brickline for the passwords. It brought back childhood
| memories of using my Captain Midnight magic decoder ring to
| translate weekly messages from the Captain. Can the site be
| set up so that an active BI member can log on with one user
| name and one password?????
That is the ultimate goal. Unfortunately, the current member information we
have cannot easily be used to authenticate the members or easily updated
maintained. Use of a word contained in the Brickline appeared to be the most
expedient and reliable method of identifying current members. I welcome your
ideas on the matter.
| Parts info:
|
| I got some new parts this past week and since I'm not sure
| who is managing the parts list now, I will post them here and
| send them to John Blair as well.
|
| Spark Plug wire separators for AMC 360 ordered and purchased
| this week from
| my local Jeep dealer are an exact match for the original equipment.
|
| J3180107 - 4 required (valve covers and brackets) $2.40 each
| J3186116- 1 required (holds 4 plug wires and coil wire) $2.00
|
| Alan Coleman
| #246 (original owner)
Send them to John Blair if there is any question. We're trying to make his
life easier, but until the DB is 100% working (and you can add yourself),
John will take them.
|