New forum coming soon, have your say on new features you would like to see now.

[GardenKit]

No, please no. It was the worst thing about a large forum I used to use. It made people control their posts and such forth. Very bad idea and no need for it. This forum doesn't need a currency (because that's exactly what rep points become).

I agree with you there, but on the other hand I am concerned about the quality of some advice given on forums.

Because this is 'our forum' we tend to be able to decide for ourselves whose advice to take and whose to dismiss. We each have our own rep list in our heads.

 

But visitors to a forum tend to take all advice as gospel, so some form of rating the members in terms of expertise/accuracy of answers etc could maybe be beneficial.

[Chris Sheppard]

No, please no. It was the worst thing about a large forum I used to use. It made people control their posts and such forth. Very bad idea and no need for it. This forum doesn't need a currency (because that's exactly what rep points become).

 

 

I'd like to see some sort of system that can control the excitedness of some new members (usually coinciding with colleges finishing) so that rather than a sea of similar threads appearing along the lines of "giz' a job", "wot do i need to buy to be a self employed tree surgeon" etc, they maybe need to contribute a few replies first or use the search function X number of times before they can start their own threads.

 

Maybe even a section for those new into tree work where they can ask all those sort of questions? If there is one already I've missed it

[Kveldssanger]

I agree with you there, but on the other hand I am concerned about the quality of some advice given on forums.

Because this is 'our forum' we tend to be able to decide for ourselves whose advice to take and whose to dismiss. We each have our own rep list in our heads.

 

But visitors to a forum tend to take all advice as gospel, so some form of rating the members in terms of expertise/accuracy of answers etc could maybe be beneficial.

 

There has to be another way to balance this desire with maintaining good quality and honest posting by users. If you want an example of the absurdity that is a rep-based forum community, take a look at the bodybuilding.com forums. A noble intention turned sour the minute people realised they could monopolise rep points and 'neg' people into the 'red', giving the impression such 'red' users are not to be taken seriously. Plus, it's a good way to thought police, and police different thought aside from that which is the norm and will be met with "good post, mate!".

 

Perhaps we can have something along the lines of 'superusers', who have shown to contribute to discussions and provide value to a conversation or the community as a whole. This would be enacted by only the mods, of course (or even just Steve). A little tag or something.

 

Perhaps also a FAQ sticky at the top of different forums with a run-down of pointless and easy questions asked in such abundance that every new time they are asked it makes children cry across a seven mile radius.

[Mesterh]

I don't like the idea of rep points as some users would have loads and I don't think it makes their advice any better than others. I think it should be the'job' of more knowledgeable members to put things straight.

[Steve Bullman]

I don't like the idea of rep system either for the various reasons already stated, have a better solution in place though

[Gary Prentice]

I don't like the idea of rep points as some users would have loads and I don't think it makes their advice any better than others. I think it should be the'job' of more knowledgeable members to put things straight.

 

I think it works that way at the moment. There is enough knowledgeable, and frequent, posters to monitor the majority of threads and politely step in to 'correct' the worst replies.

 

Personally I already have a mental list of the members who are going to correctly answer the majority of my questions or at least point me to links and the like where the answer lays.

[john k]

Will there still be a standalone app, or are you planning to just rely on the responsive design for mobile users?

[Big J]

Not having sifted through the entire thread, all I'd really like to see added is a much, much larger PM inbox. Given that most PMs are just text, the storage requirements are very small. Having only 100 is very limiting.

[jbowdige]

Start a collection of nationwide chip drop sites. obviously there would have to be boundaries and rules implied but i think it would be a good feature and handy knowledge to know

[Drew87]

Perhaps a Miscellaneous Forum:

 

EG: Offering New Posts for Tradesmen to help in the ArbWorld

(Welders, Panel Beaters, Arb-Hort+Agr Engineering)