Archived First of upcoming organizational changes implemented

[Tyler]

One of the most important things about any forum is the structure in which topics are organized. Other forums often have a long list of categories you can post in, which becomes confusing and the content starts to spread too thin. I have always tried to maintain the most straightforward and organized approach to this that I can, according to the amount of activity that we have. As we grow and I learn what works and doesn't, I do make revisions to the structure that I use at T3G.

One of the more recent changes was the addition of the overland / camping gear section. I like that section a lot and I don't regret adding it. However, one section I have never been happy with is the lighting / electrical / audio / comm section we had. So I've decided to combine most of these topics into one section:



The overland section had its name slightly modified and now hosts discussions for auxiliary lighting and communication options. Discussions about audio, which are much less common, are now in the general 3rd gen section. To make things even more organized, you will see thread prefixes (not done yet) within these sections that categorize each specific thread (e.g., lighting, comm, bed toppers, audio, etc.).

Revising our forum structure is a work in progress and nothing major will ever occur, so you don't have to be worried if you feel comfortable with the way things are. In fact, I bet if I didn't make this thread most people probably wouldn't notice the difference. I just like to make threads about changes so they are documented for my own purposes. And then those who are interesting in watching T3G develop over the years can stay informed.

 

[tomtaylz]

One thing I think would be an improvement is the new members/build threads to be separated.

Not sure if everyone feels this way, but I like just browsing through build threads and they can get a bit lost in the new members saying hello.

Also, not every member is going to be doing a build in the traditional sense, and if it is a new member and build thread combined the welcomes can make it harder to follow along with what’s going on.

 

[Tyler]

One thing I think would be an improvement is the new members/build threads to be separated.

Not sure if everyone feels this way, but I like just browsing through build threads and they can get a bit lost in the new members saying hello.

Also, not every member is going to be doing a build in the traditional sense, and if it is a new member and build thread combined the welcomes can make it harder to follow along with what’s going on.

Thank you for your suggestion.

This is how I saw it when I made it this way:

These threads are meant to be primarily build threads. Almost everyone joining the forum is going to already own the truck, and therefore they should be eligible to create one build thread for their truck. Even if their truck is stock or has minimal mods, they deserve to be able to have a build thread if they wish. These threads shouldn't be reserved for the "true" builds that are badass and over the top (I'm not saying that is what you suggested, just stating my original thought process).

The introductions are not as important to me. It's not that I don't value new members and don't want to welcome them to the site, it's just that creating a thread to simply state that you're new to the forum just to then immediately go create a second thread for the build, which is the thread that will actually have the meat and potatoes in it, seems redundant. So I combined the introductions into the builds. If anything, think of it as only having a builds section and not having an introductions section (and not the other way around).

Put simply, each new member is entitled to one thread in that forum. They are intended to be used as a build thread for their truck, but the introductory posts that you'll likely see on only the first couple of pages of the thread are fine.

Lastly, when the forum is much bigger than it is now and we are receiving something closer to 50+ new threads there daily, this whole thing can be reconsidered as I can see how separating the two would help trim the fat you may not be interested in.