Welcome To The Board....Please Read!

#1 09-08-1999, 01:26 AM

Hi Jeepers, welcome to the new board![img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I have a few suggestions and points to make about this new system and the forum in general. I hope that my suggestions can help to make things go smoothly.

As with anything new there may be the odd glitch, but I've been observing the new system over the last few days and Patrick J. Chicas has done a great job of working things out. I'm sure he'll be on top of any possible problems in the future!

Because this new system is so rich in features, I feel that we should attempt to utilize these features to there fullest. This will help to create an organized and friendly nature to the board. I think that this forum will feel more and more like a community and thankfully we will no longer have to endure the flammers, trollers and other riff raff.

PLEASE FILL OUT YOUR PROFILE

By using your profile you will allow other Jeepers to give a more informed response to your messages.

E-mail
Give an e-mail address if you feel comfortable doing so. Some people use Hotmail or a simular e-mail server if they don't want to provide their home e-mail.

Web Page
Include a link to promote your web page!

Location
Include the area you live in. This can be very important at times. Often people forget to state where they live when they are looking for or selling parts and Jeeps. Also, knowing the area you are in may invite goodwill from those nearby or may team you up with a 'wheeling buddy somewhere down the road.

Jeep Year & Model
Again, this info is often left out of posts, which can make answering a question difficult.

Club Web Page
Promote your club!

Years 'Wheeling
Showing what your experience level is can go a long way to helping other users of the forum make appropriate responses to your questions.

Other things to consider

Flames and childish behaviour
Making pointless and rude messages designed to invoke others into a battle of words will likely get you banned from the forum. DON'T DO IT!

Private Message Feature
Very cool feature if you have something you only want one or two people to read.

Trim Messages
It can be helpful to trim messages so they are easy to read and understand.

Complete Messages
Don't be afraid to get long winded. It's better to give too much information than too little. The more information you provide, the better the responses you will get.

Post Pictures
Whenever possible, post pictures of the area you are discussing! What a great feature, eh?[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Research a little beforehand
There is some basic information available here on ORC that may answer some of your questions. Take a look here before posting a message: http://ORC's Jeep Tech Page

HTML and Mark-up
What can I say? Use it to make a point or just have fun!

This is all I could think of right now, but I'm sure I'm leaving some things out.
I hope to see you all here soon, this is going to be a great new home! I know it may take a little while to get use to and there is bound to be a feeling out period, but I honestly think this is a step in the right direction. I'm feeling all fuzzy inside, or as Dave would say, "I'm feeling a little moist".[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

These are my personal views and suggestions, I am not affiliated with Off-road.com in any other way than being a user of their service!

jo-jo aka Jonathan Poole
77 Jeep CJ5 Fozzy Locker
RTI Score 1250

#2 09-09-1999, 12:42 AM

jo-jo,

I both agree and disgree with you as far as on-topic posts. The main problem with the other board is we had no choice but to see the title of every post and it's replies...for instance:

My Jeep is bigger than yours! - TJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - CJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - YJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - XJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - ZJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - CJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - YJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - XJ, 8 Sep 1999
Re: My Jeep is bigger than yours! - ZJ, 8 Sep 1999
I hate Tanya - LoLife, 8 Sep 1999
Re: I love Tanya - NoLife, 8 Sep 1999
Re: love,hate,love,hate... what is it? - loser, 8 Sep 1999
Re: I love Tanya - NoLife, 8 Sep 1999
Re: love,hate,love,hate... what is it? - loser, 8 Sep 1999
Re: I love Tanya - NoLife, 8 Sep 1999
Re: love,hate,love,hate... what is it? - loser, 8 Sep 1999

Discussions regarding politics or 'who wants to see Tanya wearing a bikini' [img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif[/img] quickly filled up the screen making relevent posts rapidly fade away. This shouldnt happen here with the new software. A political thread could go on for weeks with hundreds of replies and it would have little effect on those that dont care about the subject because it will remain contained in its own little heading. Tanya should now be safe to post here and not have every swinging *richard* either trying to hit on her or put her down.

Like I told CJDave ... I've been around the Jeep forums for almost 4 years and have seen some good ones turn to crap because of off-topic posts. Those were different times and it wasnt about the topic but the fact that a whole page had nothing to do with jeeps. The serious jeepers found new homes, some strictly use newsgroups now and those old forums died out or still struggle to this day. Did you know that Parts Mike was a regular here at ORC just like us? There was no PM forum back then. The ORC jeep forum had some rough times a few years ago and lots of us left here to go join PM at his new place. PM was nobody special, he just offered us a place where we could talk jeeps without massive flaming. To this day the PM forum sees very little flames or off-topic posts... it also sees far less traffic than ORC.

ORC remains the most active jeep bbs out there, with only one major downside - flamers/trolls. Hopefully, this will be fixed with the new software.

Personally, I want to get to know the regulars here on a level other than how much they score on a 20 degree ramp. I think there is nothing wrong with some occasional light topics that dont really seem to have much to do with Jeeps. On the other hand, this isnt the place to discuss 'involved matters' such as the rise and fall of western civilization. You have the choice to ignore any topic you want and it should be pretty transparent to you unlike the older software where everything was 'in your face...like it or not'.

I dont know...what do you think?

One other thing.... this spellchecker sucks!

Regards,
Lar



LarryM
85CJ7

#3 09-09-1999, 03:24 AM

Your right Larry!

I think I was just finally getting to vent my frustrations about the bull on the old board without it being filtered. I did think later on today that it won't be a problem as long as I keep veiwing the threads in collapsed mode rather than string mode. So I guess my rant is pointless.

I remember when I started using Parts Mike how slow it was (and still is, at least compaired to ORC). I recently went to the first PM archive looking for some info. It was interesting to read some of the posts about the move from ORC.[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I too would like to get to know people a bit better, but I was thinking that the private message feature would be useful for that. Here again it's a moot point.

Ya, the spell checker sucks!

Do you think that I should change the message I wrote? I doubt many will read it anyway, but another great feature is the ability to go back and edit your message.[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

jo-jo aka Jonathan Poole
77 Jeep CJ5 Fozzy Locker
RTI Score 1250