DIY Modifications and Articles?

[GrnBn]

Okay folks, this forum may be new(ish), but modifying cars is as old as the car itself. We need to produce some DIY articles for our various subforums. I'd like this thread to be a spawning ground for ideas, and hopefully we can spin them into threads of their own if one takes off. I'll start by listing some things we potentially could make write-ups for:

1. DIY Engine Damper
2. Filled Motor Mounts
3. Rear Wiper Delete
4. Debadging in Stages




I could think of more, but this isn't about me or my ideas. What does everyone think? Can we start adding to the list, or making these a reality? I want this forum to be a source of knowledge for anyone from a total car noob to a seasoned auto enthusiast.

[m4v3r1ck]

I did tried to minimize wind sound by filling the space on the front glass (is it windscreen? not sure what it called, anyway where your front wipers are) with isolating material.

I debadges the whole car except for the front badge since it leaves a hole when I debadge it. They are all double taped so use a knife carefully.

I demount the antenna (I NEVER listens to radio anyway so won't miss it) and put a sharkfin antenna at the rear

Plastidip the front grille, cover the whole front end, including the front glass, in case of wind spreading the plastic.

[GrnBn]

All of those things sound awesome! In order to build our knowledge base and provide a sort of basic guide for others, we totally need those things explained in steps, preferably with pictures along the way! I'm hoping to do one for the process of removing the rear badges, and eventually how to do a rear wiper delete. Once we've got really solid write-ups, we can index them so the info is easily accessible to all.

[MysticMirage]

A DIY section on the forum is needed, I agree.

Subsections should include:

DIY Submission (all threads are posted here to be reviewed by staff, then after approved, moved by staff to a section below; this keep crap DIYs out of the forum)
DIY Exterior
DIY Interior
DIY Lighting
DIY Engine
DIY Audio/In-Car Enternainment
DIY Suspension/Brake
DIY Requests

So the forum makes sense... I would put this subforum in the 'Technical Discussion' section.

Just my 2 cents.

[Daox]

DIY articles are definitely appreciated and are extremely helpful to others. In fact, so much so, that we offer free MF decals to those who write them up!

As for a DIY section/sub-forum, we've stayed away from that specifically because it never stays clean. People are always asking how to do something instead of posting how to do something. So, how we have it setup right now is that you would just post your DIY in the appropriate sub-forum. The sticky index thread has a list of DIY articles for that section. If a new DIY is added, it will be added to that list.

[MysticMirage]

DIY articles are definitely appreciated and are extremely helpful to others. In fact, so much so, that we offer free MF decals to those who write them up!

As for a DIY section/sub-forum, we've stayed away from that specifically because it never stays clean. People are always asking how to do something instead of posting how to do something. So, how we have it setup right now is that you would just post your DIY in the appropriate sub-forum. The sticky index thread has a list of DIY articles for that section. If a new DIY is added, it will be added to that list.

That's what staff is for! If they aren't keeping the forum in order, it's time to rehire! Organization is key to a well-run forum. Setting it up now will be easier than realizing you need to do it later. We learned that the hard way on my other forum. 3,000,000 posts is hard to keep in order without the correct subforums. I know this forum isn't there yet, but proper planning prevents problems.

[m4v3r1ck]

I already wrote the lamp replacement topic ... you can all check the thread to order the correct LED type.

[GrnBn]

That's what staff is for! If they aren't keeping the forum in order, it's time to rehire! Organization is key to a well-run forum. Setting it up now will be easier than realizing you need to do it later. We learned that the hard way on my other forum. 3,000,000 posts is hard to keep in order without the correct subforums. I know this forum isn't there yet, but proper planning prevents problems.

And the staff is telling us their preferred method for organization is to have DIY articles sticky'd on the index. Every subforum has an index as far as I can tell, so this provides a uniform methodology. Quality threads will be indexed by the moderators, which makes sense in terms of keeping crappy DIY's and "tell me how" threads from filling up separate and unnecessary subforums. Why should "DIY" be a separate subforum of each already existing one? That seems like more work, and a division of efforts. I'm sure there is some sort of meta discussion subforum where the admin and moderators can discuss what's going on and make the necessary moves to keep this place running and functional.

[MysticMirage]

It's for ease of browsing. If I'm new to a site, I'm not looking through all the general topic threads for a DIY, if that's what I know I'm looking for. I'd be looking for a DIY section like every other forum has. After doing this for 10 years and as an Admin on a multiple sites with millions of posts and 30k+ members, you learn things. Having a forum organized easily to find information stops lots of useless posting, since people can easily find information without digging. With how many posts will be stickied in the future, it will be cluttered and little things like having to scroll past a page of stickies turns away some people when they just want to see the top posts of a section. The reason for even having a moderator team is for a division of efforts. It causes less effort as a whole. That's why you see most placed have moderators assigned to specific areas on forums. As a forum grows, organization of the site plays a huge roll in keeping the users active.

[GrnBn]

We're missing each other. I'm not calling in to question your knowledge of how these things work, I'm pointing out that they have a plan for addressing this. Their framework calls for the index thread in each subforum to serve as a repository of good posts. There won't be pages of stickies, you won't have to look for anything other than the index at the top of the list. It sounds like a good system, so lets give it a shot before bagging on it.