General House Cleaning at the FOG

[Peter Halle]

Good Afternoon:

Over the last few weeks Forrest, Shane, and I have been discussing ways to clean up some of the old posts in the Forum.  Although this is a huge database of useful information, sometimes there are some Boards that really need to be tidied up for various reasons.

One of those Boards is the Classified Board.  Most items advertised there tend to sell relatively quickly and the threads never get closed out.  So, please visit this link to see a proposed change to the rules of that board:  Classified Ads

As always, we are open to feedback regarding that change.  If you have any comments, please post them here.

Peter

[Rey Johnson]

I hope that there is not a need ever to archive old posts...the posts are my Festool encyclopedia.
Rey

[Peter Halle]

Rey,

There haven't been any discussions regarding archiving or deleting.  I believe the intent is to leave information around except in the classified section as per the suggested rule change regarding that Board. 

Peter

[John Langevin]

Peter,

One suggestion I have contemplated for some time concerns the structure of the posts. Since the FOG is essentially a somewhat loosely structured relational database, its archival value lies in how well its structure meets the needs of the user. Oftentimes I will remember a topic or post but am unsuccesful in locating it because I can't remember exactly what its heading was.

What I would like to suggest for discussion is that we develop some sort of simple "index card form" with pulldown selection boxes; this is how most relational databases are structured in order to ensure the integrity of the data they contain. It need not be applied to all subjects but would be most useful when discussing specific tools and techniques or problems and enhancements. For example if your creating a post in Tools and Enhancements and you are referring to a specific sander you would get a pulldown list of all the official Festool Model designations. This way all references to a RTS400 would be easily accessed by simply selecting that model in a pulldown box in the query form.

I relize it would be a huge (and not necessarily useful task) to attempt to edit old posts to conform to a new structure but perhaps for the most popular topics as they recur and reference older posts they could be enhanced through the new system.

I would love to get other members' feedback on this idea as to whether they would find it useful and worthwhile.

Regards,

John Langevin

[Alex]

This way all references to a RTS400 would be easily accessed by simply selecting that model in a pulldown box in the query form.

I simply select all references to the RTS400 by entering that string in the search form of this site ....... and there you are.

[Peter Halle]

This is just an announcement.

We have been working and will be working to clean up some of the Boards here.  If you go to visit the classifieds now , you will find that the vast majority of the information has been retained.  However the older posts have been locked so that they can't accidentally be resurrected.  Some of the posts that were outdated and that just posted a link to craigslist have been deleted.

Next concentration will be the Festool Review Board.  If the posts there aren't true detailed reviews - they will be moved to the general discussion area- but not deleted.  You will still be able to search and find them.  Occasionally you might see MOVED posts appearing if we forget to undo a checkbox.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Peter

[Brice Burrell]

....Next concentration will be the Festool Review Board.  If the posts there aren't true detailed reviews - they will be moved to the general discussion area- but not deleted.....

I think this is a great idea. I think the review section would be best utilized if it were kept lean and strictly on topic.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

No, thank you, I appreciate the time you guys put it here to keep things running so smoothly.

[Peter Halle]

Just a reminder that as part of general maintenance, we will be moving some threads to areas of the forum where they are a better fit.  Threads are not being deleted.  I apologize for the large number of notifications that are popping up.  These are generated by the system and will be helpful in case anyone has externally linked to a particular discussion from outside the forum.

Thank again for your patience and understanding.

Peter

[MeinhardH]

Is it possible to add a feature to the Classifieds section that would allow the thread originator to delete the post when all items are sold instead of adding "SOLD" to the thread title?  If so, require the originator to do and then the Classifieds can be a self-cleaning section.  Thanks for the consideration.

[SRSemenza]

Is it possible to add a feature to the Classifieds section that would allow the thread originator to delete the post when all items are sold instead of adding "SOLD" to the thread title?  If so, require the originator to do and then the Classifieds can be a self-cleaning section.  Thanks for the consideration.

Hi,

  Welcome to the forum! 

      We can certainly work on some house cleaning in the Classified section.

Thanks,

[Paul G]

Peter,

One suggestion I have contemplated for some time concerns the structure of the posts. Since the FOG is essentially a somewhat loosely structured relational database, its archival value lies in how well its structure meets the needs of the user. Oftentimes I will remember a topic or post but am unsuccesful in locating it because I can't remember exactly what its heading was.

What I would like to suggest for discussion is that we develop some sort of simple "index card form" with pulldown selection boxes; this is how most relational databases are structured in order to ensure the integrity of the data they contain. It need not be applied to all subjects but would be most useful when discussing specific tools and techniques or problems and enhancements. For example if your creating a post in Tools and Enhancements and you are referring to a specific sander you would get a pulldown list of all the official Festool Model designations. This way all references to a RTS400 would be easily accessed by simply selecting that model in a pulldown box in the query form.

I relize it would be a huge (and not necessarily useful task) to attempt to edit old posts to conform to a new structure but perhaps for the most popular topics as they recur and reference older posts they could be enhanced through the new system.

I would love to get other members' feedback on this idea as to whether they would find it useful and worthwhile.

Regards,

John Langevin

Isn't that what search is for?

[grbmds]

Search is definitely helpful. However, FOG posters give different names to various tool parts, tools, concepts, woodworking techniques,etc. This makes it hard sometimes to find a specific post because the term used doesn't match other posts. This is especially true with posts on topics which are addressed in other posts under different names in the subject.

I wish there were a way to provide a "glossary" of terms which would allow posters to categorize a little more consistently. I'm not sure what that would be though, so I can't expect others to know either.

I still find most things I'm looking for. It just takes a lot longer sometimes.

[Rick Christopherson]

Is it possible to add a feature to the Classifieds section that would allow the thread originator to delete the post when all items are sold instead of adding "SOLD" to the thread title?  If so, require the originator to do and then the Classifieds can be a self-cleaning section.  Thanks for the consideration.

I know this is a new posting in a very old thread, but this topic is something of interest at the moment. The value of a classified ad doesn't stop when the tool/product has been sold. Just 2 nights ago I searched the classified ads to research how much an ATF55E saw might sell for. My father wants to sell his old ATF55E saw, but neither of us had any idea what the going price may be. By reviewing several older ads for that model saw, I was able to come up with a pretty good market value for his saw based on previous sales and comparable conditions.

For similar reasons, it would be kind of nice to allow the ad poster to decide whether the thread be locked for comments/questions during the sale (but locked after the sale, of course). But I don't know if that is possible or not.

[Festool USA]

To date, this is why we have historically left ads present - so members can research previous selling prices to potentially value their used tools.

Rick, it's not possible to allow the poster to decide whether the thread is locked or not. All communications about ads should be done privately, as the transaction is a private one, not public.

[F3STOOLVIKING]

Hi

I'm just doing some brainstorming here but wouldn't it be neat if an ad in the classifieds had a limited life-span. And when the time runs out for the ad the seller gets bumped with a query if the item is sold. At this point the seller gets two options:

If the item is not sold he/she get the option to extend the ad for another period.

If it is sold the seller will be asked to fill out "a form" with the price the item was sold for as well for what tool it is. Maybe just use scroll-down boxes with multiple price-range options as well for tool-model. After that the ad will be removed. The collected data will be stored in a database like a poll where the average price, number of items sold and time-span eg:

ETS-150, $300, 2012-2014, 4 items sold
RO-90,    $400, 2013-2014, 2 items sold

This way a potential seller/buyer knows how much would be reasonable to ask/pay for a used item.

If this is executable i don't know, just thinking out loud.

 

Festoolviking

[Festool USA]

The classifieds is a bit of a value add for the forum and not its primary purpose. We can't invest a lot of time and effort in creating a complex system for the classifieds section, which would require custom programming, etc.

Let's try to KISS. 

[F3STOOLVIKING]

Had to look that one up.

http://www.acronymfinder.com/KISS.html

Hope you're not referring to the "top-rank"

  

Festoolviking

[wow]

Had to look that one up.

http://www.acronymfinder.com/KISS.html

Hope you're not referring to the "top-rank"

  

Festoolviking

Generally accepted to mean "Keep It Simple, Stupid".

[F3STOOLVIKING]

Point taken 

Festoolviking

[Peter Halle]

One thing you can do to make sure you are looking at the most recent is go to the classified Board.  Then click on the Heading that says "Last Post" and it will rearrange the list.  The first click will be oldest first, the second click will put the newest ones in front of you.  That might help to some degree.

Peter

[Richard/RMW]

Had to look that one up.

http://www.acronymfinder.com/KISS.html

Hope you're not referring to the "top-rank"

  

Festoolviking

Clearly Shane meant "Sweetie"...

RMW

[Festool USA]