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Review Sub-Forum

Bomber

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Okay, we know that the newer people around this forum have a habit of creating a 'what cube' thread.
This I am sure most people would like to eradicate or at least crack down on. As the thread title suggests I propose an idea that may be suited to reducing the amount of 'what cube should I get' to a minimum. My proposition is a 'Review Sub-Forum' where anyone can go to check out what cube suits them best, it seems notes when signing up are not enough. I think a message guiding them to a list of possible cubes that are on offer to them is, in my opinion, quite a good idea.
I would suggest discussion!

It may come as a surprise that I actually do not want this to happen, the forum is quite minimalist, simple and user friendly so is quite attractive to newer members. I think more sub-forums would make the website look cluttered.

I am just finding multiple threads based on one person's opinion tedious, boring and in some cases unacceptably unnecessary and downright ignorant. Members should not feed and encourage these threads unless it actually seems worthwhile. An honest person may have spent time on research and actually used their initiative, but when it is obvious they have found cube4you and gone "Look at all the DIYs" and thought they were the only one to experience that you should not reply.

Another suggestion may be to make a 'What Should I Buy?' sub-forum, that would mean those of us that honestly don't care never have to set foot in it, as it were. Also, people looking for a cube would almost literally just find other 'what should I buy threads?' all in one place, and possibly look at what people have suggested to others instead of starting a new thread.
 
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Bomber

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I totally agree, but my point is that these offenders would not utilise such a thread and continue to create their own. We need a place that could separate them from the quality and sort them so those likely to start the thread would see they already exist.
 

shelley

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So sticky the thread, refer offenders to the stickied thread, and close the threads they make. The kind of people you're concerned about usually don't care what sub-forum they're looking in before they make their threads anyway. I still see the occasional hardware question in the beginner forum.
 

byu

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So sticky the thread, refer offenders to the stickied thread, and close the threads they make. The kind of people you're concerned about usually don't care what sub-forum they're looking in before they make their threads anyway. I still see the occasional hardware question in the beginner forum.

That by far sounds like the most practical solution.
 

AvGalen

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So sticky the thread, refer offenders to the stickied thread, and close the threads they make. The kind of people you're concerned about usually don't care what sub-forum they're looking in before they make their threads anyway. I still see the occasional hardware question in the beginner forum.

That by far sounds like the most practical solution.

http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=21
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1665
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3800

Something like that?
 

Inusagi

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They need updates. V cubes isn't there, and it is just mentioned Chinese DIY as one description, but there's a lot of Chinese DIYs.
 

Bomber

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So sticky the thread, refer offenders to the stickied thread, and close the threads they make. The kind of people you're concerned about usually don't care what sub-forum they're looking in before they make their threads anyway. I still see the occasional hardware question in the beginner forum.

If the offenders are the ones that cannot be bothered to read two words to work out what sub-forum they are posting in, what makes you think they will bother to read a stickied thread attempting to discipline them?
I admit, I do not read any of the stickied threads. But do you see me breaking every rule? Have I made yet another thread that helps to flood the forum almost every day?

As I see it these people want to join in, they want to be one of the elite cubers so want the right equipment. The only thing is that they are going about it in the wrong way. If they find a place where they can still post like everyone else I think they will do so, they just need to know where to do it. Not whether they should or not, which is what we just happen to tell them.

These people are wishful in thinking they are competent people, that means they want to be treated as competent. If they are told that they shouldn't do this or shouldn't do that then they are likely to ignore the comment. If the thread is moved to somewhere where only people who don't really need to post will read it I am sure they will feel much better. For example.
 
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Inusagi

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They need updates. V cubes isn't there, and it is just mentioned Chinese DIY as one description, but there's a lot of Chinese DIYs.
Is there anything that is stopping you from adding to those threads?

What do you mean by that? Sorry for trying to help out. My point is; that those threads didn't help me at the beginning, so would it help those other beginners? So why do you want me to stop adding those threads, and what's wrong with them? (sorry if you felt that I was saying anything unfair, cause I wasn't trying to say anything like that:(...)
 

Bomber

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Basically a lot of people would like to stop new forum members from posting threads that are posted repetitively and have obvious answers. This is not possible so I thought that making a sub-forum where they could post to their heart's content would not only let them post but would allow others to use and learn from them.

They need updates. V cubes isn't there, and it is just mentioned Chinese DIY as one description, but there's a lot of Chinese DIYs.
Is there anything that is stopping you from adding to those threads?

What do you mean by that? Sorry for trying to help out. My point is; that those threads didn't help me at the beginning, so would it help those other beginners? So why do you want me to stop adding those threads, and what's wrong with them? (sorry if you felt that I was saying anything unfair, cause I wasn't trying to say anything like that:(...)


I think I mentioned something similar to what you are saying, most people won't read the sticky or it may even be badly written so they feel they have to post to find out.
And if I may say so I don't actually know exactly what you mean by your posts. What needs to be said about the V-Cubes? I think AvGalen means that there is nothing to stop you from posting a thread that may potentially be stickied.
 

shelley

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They need updates. V cubes isn't there, and it is just mentioned Chinese DIY as one description, but there's a lot of Chinese DIYs.
Is there anything that is stopping you from adding to those threads?

What do you mean by that? Sorry for trying to help out. My point is; that those threads didn't help me at the beginning, so would it help those other beginners? So why do you want me to stop adding those threads, and what's wrong with them? (sorry if you felt that I was saying anything unfair, cause I wasn't trying to say anything like that:(...)

He didn't want you to stop adding to the threads. He asked if anything was stopping you from adding to the threads.

The information you want will only be available as long as someone is willing to post it. If we made a review sub-forum, reviews won't magically appear. Thus, I think a review sub-forum would only be useful if there were a lot of people writing reviews and had nowhere else to post them (which was the case with hardware questions before the hardware sub-forum was created). As it is now, people are barely willing to update the stickies we have.
 
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Bomber

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As this discussion has unfolded I think we have dismissed the idea of a review sub-forum due to the fact that they won't magically appear, as you have said.
Maybe discussion would be easier if it had a different name, or just referring to it as a method to reduce low quality threads. It should just be the 'sub-forum that will stop noobs from posting the same threads over and over again'. That is what discussion has become.
 

Inusagi

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I think I mentioned something similar to what you are saying, most people won't read the sticky or it may even be badly written so they feel they have to post to find out.
And if I may say so I don't actually know exactly what you mean by your posts. What needs to be said about the V-Cubes? I think AvGalen means that there is nothing to stop you from posting a thread that may potentially be stickied.

The thing with V cubes is that the 5x5 excist, and that may be updated, cause it's actually the best 5x5 for a lot of people. Also Mefferts 4x4. The thing I want to say, is that those threads that Avgalen posted weren't very good, cause the 4x4 and 5x5 cubes that most people prefer, isn't even mentioned. Also, the chinese DIYs isn't that helpful for beginners, cause it isn't explaining all the types. So the description isn't good enough, cause beginners can end up buying the wrong cubes...

He didn't want you to stop adding to the threads. He asked if anything was stopping you from adding to the threads.

The information you want will only be available as long as someone is willing to post it. If we made a review sub-forum, reviews won't magically appear. Thus, I think a review sub-forum would only be useful if there were a lot of people writing reviews and had nowhere else to post them (which was the case with hardware questions before the hardware sub-forum was created). As it is now, people are barely willing to update the stickies we have.

yeah I agree with that. I don't think it would be necessary to make a sub forum, cause it would be the same. So my point from the beginning, was that those threads need to be updated, instead of making a sub-forum, cause it will be the same. That's all. I can't see what's wrong with that...
 

AvGalen

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I think I mentioned something similar to what you are saying, most people won't read the sticky or it may even be badly written so they feel they have to post to find out.
And if I may say so I don't actually know exactly what you mean by your posts. What needs to be said about the V-Cubes? I think AvGalen means that there is nothing to stop you from posting a thread that may potentially be stickied.

The thing with V cubes is that the 5x5 excist, and that may be updated, cause it's actually the best 5x5 for a lot of people. Also Mefferts 4x4. The thing I want to say, is that those threads that Avgalen posted weren't very good, cause the 4x4 and 5x5 cubes that most people prefer, isn't even mentioned. Also, the chinese DIYs isn't that helpful for beginners, cause it isn't explaining all the types. So the description isn't good enough, cause beginners can end up buying the wrong cubes...

He didn't want you to stop adding to the threads. He asked if anything was stopping you from adding to the threads.

The information you want will only be available as long as someone is willing to post it. If we made a review sub-forum, reviews won't magically appear. Thus, I think a review sub-forum would only be useful if there were a lot of people writing reviews and had nowhere else to post them (which was the case with hardware questions before the hardware sub-forum was created). As it is now, people are barely willing to update the stickies we have.

yeah I agree with that. I don't think it would be necessary to make a sub forum, cause it would be the same. So my point from the beginning, was that those threads need to be updated, instead of making a sub-forum, cause it will be the same. That's all. I can't see what's wrong with that...

And the point I was trying to make was that there IS ALREADY a thread that IS ALREADY STICKIED. Everyone can add to that thread so:
If anyone has something to add about a V5, a Mefferts 4x4x4, or more details about a Chinese type A/B/C/D/E/F/.../Z there is nothing stopping that person from adding it.
Why do so many people expect others to maintain those threads? Why don't they post in it themselves?

There is so much knowledge on this forum. All of that came from our members that took the time to put that knowledge into writing and shared it with others. It can be very frustrating if new members don't take the time to appreciate what is already here and instead clutter the forum by simply asking the same thing again and again.

We don't need another sub-forum where people can ask the same questions over-and-over. We need people to add to existing topics and we need people to point "newbies" to those topics
 

Inusagi

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ok, that was the greatest post so far. It really did clear evrything. But when you say that we can add to that thread, do you mean add by posting to the topic? Cause if we do that, it will become a lot of pages over time, and there isn't always beginners are willing to read 20-30 pages... But I get the point, and it's a good point too.
 
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MistArts

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ok, that was the greatest post so far. It really did clear evrything. But when you say that we can add to that thread, do you mean add by posting to the topic? Cause if we do that, it will become a lot of pages over time, and there isn't always beginners are willing to read 20-30 pages... But I get the point, and it's a good point too.

We could always edit the original post and link to reviewing posts about each puzzle.
 

AvGalen

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ok, that was the greatest post so far. It really did clear evrything. But when you say that we can add to that thread, do you mean add by posting to the topic? Cause if we do that, it will become a lot of pages over time, and there isn't always beginners are willing to read 20-30 pages... But I get the point, and it's a good point too.

We could always edit the original post and link to reviewing posts about each puzzle.
We have a hardware forum where we can create new threads about puzzle A, B, C, etc. Each thread could have hundreds of posts.
The stickie could have a lot of posts as well, but should only have a couple of posts about a puzzle and we could have a summary every 10 or 20 posts so "newbies" don't have to go through >> 100 posts.
Those summaries should indeed link to individual (more detailed) threads
 

qqwref

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And the point I was trying to make was that there IS ALREADY a thread that IS ALREADY STICKIED. Everyone can add to that thread so:
If anyone has something to add about a V5, a Mefferts 4x4x4, or more details about a Chinese type A/B/C/D/E/F/.../Z there is nothing stopping that person from adding it.
Why do so many people expect others to maintain those threads? Why don't they post in it themselves?

In an ideal world, that's how stickies should work... the topic creator should regularly update the first post so that it has the most up-to-date information, and normal users would continually add information to the sticky by posting to it.

The truth is that a sticky that has been contributed to will be way too long to read, and in fact most posts (especially the ones near the beginning, not counting the first post) will be worthless and outdated. Nobody in their right mind would expect a user interested in (say) PLL algs to read through 30 pages of people suggesting one or two algs each - it should all be in one place (that is, the first post) and that is all we should direct people towards. If they want to read the rest of the topic that's fine, but in my experience stickies work best when the first post (or perhaps the first few) has the information and the rest is just knowledgeable users trying to contribute to the repository of info.

Really, a sticky creator should be interested enough in the subject to update it, and if they are not there should be a mod who is interested enough to update it. As far as V-cubes and Mefferts 4x4s go, the opinions are so uniformly positive that whoever created the 'types of cubes' sticky should add those cubes as a matter of course. Having stickies that are 6+ months outdated is not useful for new users (and in fact if a sticky is so outdated that the advice it gives is completely wrong, it might be worth it to actually de-sticky the thread).
 
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