[DISCUSSION] Should we have a board for "instructions support" ?

[Jerac]

We can easily see how the first page of this board has plenty of old topics which rarely if ever go out of it. This is because many new posts are added solely because someone building a MOC with instructions requires help.

I've been thinking about this for some time because I am partially responsible for the issue. My X-Wing refuses to "fade" not because it is a great MOC, but because its forum lifespan is extended by the people building it. It feels good to see your creation on the top all the time, but it gets old and makes it harder for other people to gather feedback for their creations.

If you do not see this as an issue then there is no action to be don, case closed ;)

If you do though, I might have an idea - create a new subforum for all maintenance topics. How would it work:
- A MOC with downloadable or purchasable instructions is posted to the forums normally just like now.
- For each MOC with downloadable or purchasable instructions, a topic for support is created in the new subforum, and is linked to from MOC's presentation.
- For existing MOCs with downloadable or purchasable instructions,a topic for support is created in the new subforum, and is linked to from MOC's presentation and last post.

The catch is - it is changing human habits, so there will be a transition period where moderators will have more work to do. 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Jerac
rewording

[AfolFree]

Agreed, it would also make it easier to find advices on the hardest MOCs.
I'm pretty sure Cavegod's Sandcrawler and Mortesv's Nebulon B could be pinned in this subforum 

[Hold0511]

I'd back this - I love your and others MOCs but after a while its a bit of a pain that they stay at the top - saying that I know its a first world SW forum minor issue...

[Cylo]

I agree! It would be an improvement of the forum!

[Magmafrost]

I wonder if the issue could be solved simply by switching the default sort to "start date". I dont know about how other people use the forum, but for me the default sort is useless and I always switch to start date anyway (I mean I guess that's *because of* the threads you're talking about). IDK, I guess it depends how much work the admins want to put in to this, if indeed they consider it a major issue at all.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Magmafrost

[Ellisss_2]

Great idea, this should definitely be implemented!

[masterX244]

Vanillaforum software (for example used over at brickset forums) had a nice feature for this case: being able to "weigh" a thread by the mods which prevents replies from moving a thread up to the top of page 1.

Edited July 29, 2019 by masterX244

[FrankusFurtus]

A sidenote.

I have the feeling that these topics just reflect the demand for a special kind of model-detail within the community not being satisfied by lego. More and more AFOLs seem to go  „the moc-way“  instead of praying to Billund in order to fulfill their dreams ;-). 

 

From my point of view we could whitness something similar in the technic theme.

So - i have a feeling that a demand for such a support-forum or subforum will likely increase then decrease in the future...

 

 

 

[Samppu]

I agree with the previous writers. Changing the settings to "start date to the top" will solve the problem for those who dont care about building other peoples instructions, but for the MOC instruction builders it would be an improvement to have them all in one place as thus you could

1. find support easily.

2. find other great SW builds that have instructions available for free or purchase (which would be helpful to announce already in the headline) in one place not needing to scroll through the entire EB forum.

 

- Samppu

[Kristof]

As of now, frankly, I am myself bothered by the persistent moc threads no more than I am by the dozen pinned topics or things like 'update your minifigs' or worse yet 'your last purchase', which are occupying the first page constantly and, quite frankly, those are more like boring chatrooms to me than anything else.

The threads with these high demand mocs often feature people posting pictures of their completed builds or WIPs which can be cool. And the fact that some other topics get pushed away... well, yes, though it rarely happens to me that I find some true jewel being left unnoticed on the second or third forum page, and that is with me hardly checking back every day.

I have a hard time estimating whether in near future it is likely that we have first 2 pages worth of MOC instructions related posts, where it would really scream for some solution. Maybe the current trend suggests that? If so, starting a subforum might be sensible so people slowly transition to using it. But then again the forum mechanics doesn't seem sleek enough to me that it will ever be free of maintenance. Plus the actual MOC topics would lose quite a bit of audience without the exposure.