Using this forum

[Jens]

There has been some mention that, because of all the different section on this new board, it takes forever to go through it. Folks, it doesn't have to be that way !

For example, if you look at the top left corner of the forum page, right under  "my community", you see a line that says "show unread posts since last visit". If you click onto that you are presented with a screen of threads that had traffic since last time. All the individual threads will have a box behind them saying "new". If you click onto "new" you will end up in the appropriate thread at the place where you left off. There may be multiple new posts which you can read in a "threaded" manner, arranged in the order they were posted. You can also scroll up in the thread if you wish or answer a post. If you hit the browser 'back' button you end up in the listing of the unread posts again.
I won't bother to explain "show new replies to your post" .....
If you go back to the main page and scroll all the way down to the bottom left corner you will find a line that says " view the most recent posts on this forum". If you click onto that you will get all the latest messages sorted in chronological order, independent of where they were posted.

All in all, although it may be more intimidating with all the sub-topics, it should take absolutely no more time to read this forum compared to the other ...... !

Jens

[mobile_bob]

i would like to add the following that i found to be quite useful to aid in making the board more managable
for me.

to the left of a board name such as "prime movers..." you will note a small triangle
if you click on that triangle it will condense the section to a single line called "prime movers" and
all the boards contained under that heading will  then be hidden unless you either click on the little triangle again
or click on "prime movers"

used in this manner sections of the forum that are of little or no interest to a member can be shrunk down
and in doing so make the look of the forum much smaller and less intimidating.

having all these sections allow a variety of new folks to come take part in our forum, and bring with them
more info related to their experience and knowlege that will at some point be useful to most all of us.

this place is new, and folks generally are resistant to change, but i think if we give this place a chance it will work out
just fine.

bob g

[mobile_bob]

i just went back and tried collapsing each section of the forum
the result was 13 or 14 heading such as

prime movers
alternators/generators
etc
etc
etc

the result is much more managable, much like me belonging to a dozen different forums but being register
to all at the same time and available to me with a mouse click should i want to take a look at what is happening
within that section or not.

i think i would suggest anyone that is having problems getting their arms around this place shrink each section down

as stated you can do it by clicking on the little triangles, but i find i can also just click on the main topic and get the same
result

try it out, click on "prime movers" and see now it collapses and expands the section.

not ever board on this forum is of interest to everyone, but i suspect every last board on this forum is of interest
to someone...

and if the shtf my bet near everyone will have a much better appreciation of every bit of data this forum may eventually hold
and it will be quite easy to find it, if and when it is needed.

btw, i shrank down every one of the sections and am going to give that a try for a couple days, then maybe i will expand a section of interest each day and rotate through them on day by day and see how that feels.

of course also useing Jens suggestions in concert with this, would make the forum a much more managable place in my opinion.

bob g