Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?

Rivets

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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
After a frustrating week a suggestion that has been brought up many times is to have a sticky that will be forced on every new member before they are allowed to post which would include the following.
If you want help from the technicians on this forum, please be sure to include the following:
1. Make sure that you have included the model and serial numbers for the unit.
2. Make sure that you have included the model, type, spec, code numbers for the engine.
3. If you are or are not mechanically inclined.
4. If it is an electrical problem, are you electrically inclined and what test tools do you have.
5. If you don't know a part name, a picture is better than that black thing under the dash.
6. Please do not tell the techs that their replies can't be possible. Yes we can make mistakes, but we have years of experience and are not there looking at the unit. We can only go by what is posted and if you don't like it, just don't follow it.
7. Please have patience, the dealers and service techs who try to help are very busy at most times of the year and we may not be able to reply for a day or two. We do this because we want to help people, but for personal gain.

Trying to help becomes way more difficult and frustrating when the info provided is not enough or confusing to make a good response.
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
After a frustrating week a suggestion that has been brought up many times is to have a sticky that will be forced on every new member before they are allowed to post which would include the following.
If you want help from the technicians on this forum, please be sure to include the following:
1. Make sure that you have included the model and serial numbers for the unit.
2. Make sure that you have included the model, type, spec, code numbers for the engine.
3. If you are or are not mechanically inclined.
4. If it is an electrical problem, are you electrically inclined and what test tools do you have.
5. If you don't know a part name, a picture is better than that black thing under the dash.
6. Please do not tell the techs that their replies can't be possible. Yes we can make mistakes, but we have years of experience and are not there looking at the unit. We can only go by what is posted and if you don't like it, just don't follow it.
7. Please have patience, the dealers and service techs who try to help are very busy at most times of the year and we may not be able to reply for a day or two. We do this because we want to help people, but for personal gain.

Trying to help becomes way more difficult and frustrating when the info provided is not enough or confusing to make a good response.

Adding to this would be moving the Welcome & Anyone emojies onto the main reply page.
First it makes it easier for us to be "friendly" and second is a note added to the suggested sticky above " if you have not had a reply after a week, please reply using the ANYONE emojie on the right to refresh your post"

Now as to formatting. the "new post" button needs to stand out more on the page so people can find it easily .
A "new post " button need to go next to the "reply" button called "similar problem" thus reduce the number of people adding new problems to old posts.

In the bigger picture you could even consider a form to be filled in as the initial post.
Thus the poster would be asked "nature of post" drop down menu - product comparison- new purchase suggestions - broken equipment -unable to repair - introduce myself etc etc etc
Brand of equipment ( automatically sends it the correct section ) & ( become part of the title )
Model or model number ( become part of the title )
Type of problem ( drop down menu - runs bad / wont start/ parts dont fit / cant find model number , won't move properly ,etc etc ) these then become the rest of the title
Description of problem ( becomes text body) with a sub title "My problem is "
What you have done ( also becomes body of text ) in a new paragraph with the sub title "What I have tried so far"
Machine details ( engine make / model number DOM etc which goes into a footer)
From the answers the server would generate the post and also do a search based on the answers to the questions.
The OP then gets the option to make their post now or read the similar problems posts ans submit post latter via a button " no luck ask the members" which then submits the original post.
 

Boobala

Lawn Pro
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Feb 15, 2015
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
Rivets AND BERT ....

My mower has flat tire and wont start ...it worked last year until the rope broke , what could be wrong ?

:laughing:..:laughing: ...:laughing: ...:laughing: ...:laughing: ...:laughing: ...:laughing: ...:laughing: Won't ya's miss those statements ..??

SORRY fellas ,... your ideas REALLY are good .. and would ease a LOT of frustration AND wasted time and
EMOTIONS !!! ...I 'm not going to cry over it .. thinking our wishes will fall on deaf ears ..SO ... we just HAVE
to laugh at the idea of these things we think of ... wind-up in the rust-bucket of forgotten dreams !!
 

Rivets

Lawn Royalty
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
From what you posted, my guess is operator error. Time to get a new mower, if you have one with a rope start and Pnuematic tires. It has served you well.
 

7394

Lawn Addict
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Sep 5, 2014
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
It would be great if the posts by Rivets & Bert were taken seriously.
 

Boobala

Lawn Pro
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
This is what Rivets posted in an earlier posting ...

..................RIVETS SUGGESTION.JPG

and this is what I "snipped" from it..

..................INSERT.JPG

If you get an inquiry and need further info. ....you can insert this using the insert image feature on the posting page ...
 

DaveHarper

Forum Newbie
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
Perhaps I missed how to do it, but one thing I would like to see is the ability (at least for the original poster) to alter the title of the post. I recently made a post asking for help on how to solve a particular problem. I got a couple of suggestions but, in the end, came up with an unexpected solution on my own. I posted the solution and, at the same time, altered the title to show it included a solution. However, the title was only altered for that post and had no affect on the title that appears in the forum listing (which seems to also be the one that shows if someone does a search). If the original title could be modified to show something like "[solved]" at the end it might save somebody some time if they are looking for a solution to a similar problem.

Dave
 

Boobala

Lawn Pro
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
In a earlier post, I made the statement these suggestions fall on deaf ears ! I have to eat those words and make a retraction, A little while back I offered a suggestion, and lo and behold... today it's a reality, little did I think of the amounts of TIME, HARD WORK, and MONEY, to incorporate these changes, so as the the ADMIN 'S Muhammad said ..Dreams DO come true !! They do hear us ! and if it's possible, then it will come to fruition, THANK YOU Admin and moderators too ! I am proud to be a member of this FANTASTIC site where GREAT folks congregate to help each other, share thoughts and idea's while forgetting the "outside world" and IT'S issues for a brief time. This is a GOOD place to have a GREAT time !! ..:thumbsup:
 

cpurvis

Lawn Addict
Joined
Aug 25, 2015
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  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
Add something to weed out the spammers. I don't know if that means better software or more moderators but there seems to be nothing which "qualifies" new members to prevent them from spamming.

With regard to manufacturer's manuals, since the pdf manuals can't be posted here, how about a sticky page of links directing people to the correct place where they CAN be downloaded?

Please look upon these as suggestions for improvement, not complaints. The site is really good just as it is.
 

bertsmobile1

Lawn Royalty
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Nov 29, 2014
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24,647
  • / Suggestion Box: How can we make this site better?
With regard to spammers is it possible to move spam reported by list members to a directory ( problem posts ) when it gets reported thus removing it from the member assesable posts instantly.
Would make things easier for the moderators to check and delete spam when they have time to do it and gets spam off the site faster.
There are regular readers all over the world thus spam could go quicker defeating the spammers purpose.
I have noticed that the bulk of the spam comes in at specific times suggesting that it is only a few spammers targeting this site
 
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