Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss "How To Threads"

I was thinking about another forum (car forum) that I used to frequent and there were a lot of "How to" or DIY threads and that got me to thinking that it might be a good idea to add a forum to the list just for these types of threads. I realize there is a ton of info here on PB some of which can be hard to locate. If we had a special place to post these DIY projects, members would be inspired to show off there creations, adaptations, expertise, etc. I, for one, enjoy writing instructional threads (with pictures). The topics would be endless, captured in their special forum category, and possibly easier to find.

I realize the forums are broken up into very well thought out categories now, but I wonder if a "DIY " forum would be a hit.

Most sections include some personal DIY projects. There are so many variables, that unlike a car repair or diagnosis, there is almost never one set of steps to reach any goal.

Another possibility might be hashtags. A lot of messageboards use them just like Twitter. Hashtag a DIY post with #DIY, then it's a simple search to dig them all up at once.

There is a lot of DIY stuff here at PB, but it's scattered all over the place in forum specific areas. Sure would be cool to find it all in one place. I think we could generate more DIY articles if it was promoted somehow. I would think that if the DIY write-up was worth a hoot our moderators could put it in that special DIY place if the thread was not started in the DIY section. I could read DIY stuff all day even if I did not need it at the time...if it was laid out for us.

I don't know anything about hashtags, but it sounds like a good option. If the hashtags thing would work (I'd need a lesson) it would allow the Structure DIY stuff to stay in the "Creating Habitat" forum where it belongs. And if the thread was worthy of a DIY topic it could be hashtaged somehow by the member or moderators.

Food for thought.

I haven't used tweeter...:) but I like the idea.

The search can be a little difficult, so that might really help.

The way the Search function works it doesn't have to have a Hashtag on it. It is just looking through forums for whatever word you are searching. So as long as everyone uses the term DIY in their post and only uses it on real DIY posts then you can just word seach for DIY and find them all easily. A Hashtag on Twitter creates essentially a link to make it associated with other posts with the same Hashtag/link. This forum is setup differently than Twitter. So a Hashtag used here, if everyone decides that is the way to go, would basically just let everyone else know you want this post to be found when someone searches for #DIY.

After my previous post I tried to search for #DIY and it returned 0 results. It should have at least found a few posts in this thread. I then tried to search for just DIY and also returned 0 results. So, I thought maybe the search function wasn't working. I searched for a real word and received many results. So, I am thinking that the search function may only return results on real words. May have to come up with a different way/word to identify DIY projects. Maybe "Do It Yourself" all together either in the title or somewhere in the original post. Then as long as people use the quotations when they search it will only return results with all three words together in that order.

Edit: It appears that the Search function won't search for the words Do, It, Yourself or any combination of the three. Can someone else confirm this? I have no clue why that would be the case. Strange.

"Strange" pretty well sums up the search feature, allright. It's always seemed a bit peculiar to me.

I bet the search function does not work with 3 letter words. I believe it will also max out at 200 results.

Heck, just about the whole forum is about DIY but is broken into separate areas Yep, specific stuff can be a character builder.

You can do a google search for anything, and limit the search to pondboss, by entering site:pondboss.com after the keywords. The site only searches one word, 4 letters or more, I believe.

What Rainman said - I have a lot better luck using Google site specific searches than the internal search engine. You can also use boolean search criteria on google, I haven't had a ton of luck with that on the internal search.

I firmly agree that the PB search function can be hit or miss and that googlin the topic with "Pondboss" is a good way to go.

My original point is that I could see myself (and many others)writing up step by step guidelines for who knows what, but we need a way to collect it so its not mixed in with the conversation threads which makes it hard to find. I remember a thread on a dock build that many people could benefit from, I think BrianL wrote it. I bet it would take some time for me to find it. If I could google "DIY dock site:pondboss.com" I would get all the threads here that describe a dock build. Not to mention when I don't even know if the DIY thread exists, I'll give up after 10 minutes of searching on PB and go elsewhere to find help. Per Rainman the "DIY" might not work because its less than 4 letters. If PB could come up with a four letter, or more, buzz word for DIY (like "DoItYourself" or "HowTo")and the moderators would be willing to insert it in the thread title if the OP did not, we would be onto something.

If this is too much of a pain or not that important to the majority of the members/moderators, Its not a buzz kill for me. I just thought it would be cool and a way to encourage more technical writing.

How about a thread like "Property Projects and Construction"? Would that work?

But if it was a DIY aeration system, would it fit better in a thread like that or an aeration thread?

Maybe it is as simple as the moderators "pinning" a good do-it-yourself thread in that particular category so that it stays on the top of the list and does not disappear with time. Maybe even adding the word "howto" to the title. Getting a thread that you started pinned would be like getting a star on your homework. Let the endorphins fly! People would be encouraged to document their project and share, it would be easy to find once you were in the proper forum category, and you get a STAR.

I agree with DD1 in that "just about the whole forum is about DIY but is broken into separate areas".

This is basically an informational forum where members help others for do-it-yourself and advice for pond management. I am not sure what is really specifically wanted in this thread. If one is interested in a specific topic or type of pond management one can use a search function for the topic/s. Many if not most of the threads / topics has some sort of advice, ideas, and experiences for how to pond information. I do agree that the amount of information is extensive & overwhelming and it can be difficult to locate. Maybe that is really the theme of this thread?. How to find specific information topics.

Thanks for chiming in Bill, and, yes the theme here is finding information, but faster than what it takes to sift through all the hits on the search function. If the threads that are written well and deemed out of the ordinary, meaning that they didn't digress and they are helpful and to the point, they should be more readily accessed. So many threads start out on topic, but end going astray. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy our community and enjoy reading those threads. Let's try to make a place that hand us the valued threads that stay on topic and step the reader through a process. So many threads start of asking a question, let's encourage threads that start off by saying "here's how I did it" and get it easily accessible.

No real big deal, just some conveniences I've seen on other forums.

The PB search function works and does "word" searches just like Google or MSN the difference is in how each ones search is conducted. The PB search function could be better and sometimes I do use Google as noted above. Especially on searches for threads over 8 years old.