Just A Suggestion

Doug MacQueen

It has come to my attention that my post about keeping in touch with modern technology was incorrectly put in this section. I wasn’t aware that there is a section for “Modern Locks”. Why on earth that section is under the title of “Antique Lock Discussion” I haven’t a clue. But that is a minor irony compared to the Misc. Q&A section also held within the “Antique Lock Discussion” section. Currently there are about 650 threads in this section. It goes seems to go on forever. The vast majority of threads in this section should be moved elsewhere. You know, like moving padlock posts into the padlock section, section and safe posts into the safe section and so on. In fact the Misc. section is so misused that I think it should be eliminated entirely. There is a wealth of information contained in this forum. Way more than the casual user even realizes. It is bad enough that so many threads do not accurately describe what is being posted. Many give you no clue what is the subject is. Isn’t there some way of eliminating the confusion and difficulty. I fully understand that if I am looking for something that I know the proper name of, I can use the search function. But what if I just want to scroll through this forum to see what is held within it. That is what the majority of new onlookers want to do. And for that matter, me too. But as said, much of it is buried. Some of it is titled properly but many are not. What started this rant was finding a thread about “Chicago Safe and Lock” in the Misc. Section. That was easy compared to many that are indistinguishable from their titles. This forum has the potential to be a really great resource for all involved, but it won’t be until it is better organized. Doug

Dean Nickel

While I agree with you I will wait for Brian’s take on this for direction being he is the Admin. I think that he links things inside the site thru “The Knowledge” button. I don’t want to change anything without knowing I will not mess him up.

Brian Morland MLA Hon

Hi Doug & Dean, thanks for the comments & suggestions.

The site is largely as inherited and have been reluctant to make major changes. However I’ve been thinking for a while that it could do with a revamp, so now is a good time to get everybody’s take on the subject…

Doug MacQueen

Unless my guess is way off, most of the members, casual viewers and those that just stop in just to see what the forum is all about, fall either in the main categories of being a padlock collector or into safe stuff. Some will be both. Of course there are exceptions like Dean, who collects unit locks. And there are the "Key’'' only collectors. In the “Collectors Showcase” section there is a place for both of these last two collector types, being the “Key” section and the “Misc” section. Yes, there are two "Misc"sections found on the A-L forum. This “Misc” section, should not be confused with the “Misc” section found “Antique Lock Discussion”, although it certainly confuses me. So to be clear it is the “Misc” section in the “Antique Lock Discussion” that I am talking about here. A quick glance shows that it is has more threads than the padlock and safe sections combined. Anybody want to bet the vast majority of these threads are padlock or safe related? And all those that aren’t, certainly will fall into the “Key” or “Misc” (the other “Misc” section) sections that exist under “Collectors Showcase” It is not yet clear to me why so many threads were incorrectly posted in the “Misc” section in the first place. If it is eliminated, will people start filling up the other “Misc” section with misplaced posts? Possibly. The very fact that the one is far more used or rather misused than the other, would tend to indicate not. So removal of the widely misused “Misc” section should encourage people to post more selectively. I realize tackling the job is a big one, given the large number of posts but this would a good first step to improving the forum. Doug

oldbiscuit

I’ll jump in and add my 2 cents for what it’s worth. On another forum I frequent on old engines and tractors,(Smokstak.com) each section has a moderator who kind of oversees the content of the posts. The moderator has the power to delete or move posts to other areas if they aren’t on subject. As an example, the moderator of the gas engine section can move a post on tractors to the tractor area. When a post is moved, the headline of the origional post will still show up in it’s origional area for awhile and also will appear with the post in it’s new location, thus enabling the origional poster to find his post and any answers he was looking for. After a week or so the origional headline in the first area will dissapear. It really helps visitors who are only interested in certain subjects to be able to find what they want. I agree with Doug and Dean that we need to get this forum sorted out to make it more visitor friendly. Mark🙁think):

Doug MacQueen

Brian, I think in general it is starting to make better sense but a couple things stand out. First off, this “Casket & Strongbox” section should either be in the safe and vault section or possibly with “Pre-Industrial Revolution Locks”. It is, at least at this time, way too small a topic to dedicate the space to on the front page. And I didn’t see anything wrong with the subsets that were used before in both the safe as well as the padlock sections. In fact they are a great idea because the better organized the forum is the more it will be used. Stuffing all the topics that you have now put under “Patents and Proprietary” is self defeating unless subsets are used. Don’t forget it was the overstuffed, misplaced and totally unorganized posts of the “Misc” section that started this. Doug

Doug MacQueen

OMG Brian Does this mean that 16th century French Coffres will be mixed in with 1950’s U.S. toy banks???

Dean Nickel

LOL… I think they might be!

Brian Morland MLA Hon

Thank you to Doug, Dean, Tom and Mark and others for your input here. I would also like to thank everybody that has sent me a PM with ideas and suggestions.

It’s a big task to reorganise and re-categorise the board and is still very much ‘work in progress’. I’m sure that there will be a need to rethink and tweak a little as things progress. One point to bear in mind however is the usefulness and power of the search facility and if not already done so is worth spending some time in familiarising its functions. It does mean though that Admin’s and Moderators keep a sharp lookout for typos and spellings, discretely amending errors that have relevance in searches.

Doug – I’m not sure how many posts we have on either of the topics mentioned. It will be interesting to see where posters put them initially, but am rethinking that one.

To a large extent it’s good to have like topics broadly categorised for those that like browsing, on the other hand a search will find terms throughout the board irrespective of its category or where a post has been moved to.

I am pleased to continue to receive comments via the PM system or post here in this thread and always try to find a balance.

Retro00064

Hmmm, so “Patent & Propriety Locks” is where stuff like door and furniture locks go, right? What’s a “propriety lock”? 🙁think): And I wasn’t 100% sure that was the correct forum for door locks when I posted mine in there. Perhaps at least that forum’s description could use a little clarification to make it a little more clear what locks to post in there? What do you think? Just my two cents.

Regards,

Zachary.

Brian Morland MLA Hon

No, you got it right Zachary, ‘Propriety’ is just another way of saying ‘Locks by a particular Manufacturer’. So ‘Patent & Propriety’ means anything that’s got a patent or can be identified by a maker. Don’t forget you can always refine the contents of a category with the ‘search’ facility.

But it’s a good point you’ve made, I do intend to have a ‘sticky’ in each category giving a far more comprehensive description – lots of jobs to-do!

Tom Gordon

Why not call it “patented or branded” rather than have to give a description as well?