X-Sim 3 Forum arrangement Ideas

[floriske]

Since user opinion is very important I think it's a good idea to discuss the current board arrangement.

It's pretty clear that users have problems with the current "projects" mod which I can understand.

We would need some sort of "project gallery" for finished projects, but this will be hard on short notice.

My personal idea about the forum arrangement which can be realised on short notice is the following:

News and information
- Is perfect, leave as is

Motion Simulator- Rename to Motion Simulator Building
- Remove the current 4 type specific forums

This forum should be dedicated to building complete sims or peripherals, not single hardware item questions.

Create the following subforums:
- Motion simulator building Q&A (where people can ask general questions about sim building, not related to the various hardware sections)
- Motion simulator Project Gallery (finished projects only, people can't start topics here and have to request permission in the "administrator" section first -> see below)
- Motion simulator Projects in progress
- Motion simulator designs (where people can show and share their design ideas and ask questions about it)
- Peripheral Projects (dashboards, gauges etc.)

ADD: Motion Simulator Hardware
Here people can aks questions about hardware items, but also write guides on how to use it, the guides can be stickied.

create the following subforums:
- Motors (topics and questions about wipers, winches etc. etc.)
- Controllers and Drivers (topics and questions about AMC, h-bridges, JRK's etc. etc.)
- Actuators (topics and questions about actuators etc. etc.)
- Pneumatics (topics and questions about pneumatics etc. etc.)
- Peripherals (topics and questions about dashboards, gauges etc. etc.)
- Other X-sim compatible hardware (topics and questions about other compatible hardware etc. etc.)

X-sim software
- Is perfect, leave as is "

ADD: Administrator section
Here people can report topics, contact admins/mods and request finished project topics

create the following subforums:
- Report a topic or post that is against the regulations
- Request a finished project topic (here people have to request and post finished project topics, after approval by one of the admins it will be moved to the gallery forum, this way the gallery forum stays nice and tidy).
- Contact a moderator or administrator (for all other administrative questions and issues)

Those are my thoughts, but as mentioned: user opinion is more important so use this thread to share your ideas, but bear in mind that for now we can only work on the board layout. Extra modifications like a finished project gallery is the next step.

[motiondave]

That looks fairly straight forward....

[eloverphx]

I like your idea about the layout, but personally I would like to see you keep the different motion sim types separate. It would make it easier for new people to look for pros and cons of building the specific motion style and a little easier to ask questions about them. I think it would help people that have the know how of each style to watch the topic and answer quicker.
Just my thoughts.

[floriske]

I don't completely agree on that, just check how many topics are in the current 4 "type" sections. But in case more people would like to keep it split I think it would be better to split off the Q&A thread from the projects and divide it into the different types instead of the projects.

So like this:

News and information
- Is perfect, leave as is

ADD: Motion Simulator Hardware
Here people can aks questions about hardware items, but also write guides on how to use it, the guides can be stickied.

create the following subforums:
- Motors (topics and questions about wipers, winches etc. etc.)
- Controllers and Drivers (topics and questions about AMC, h-bridges, JRK's etc. etc.)
- Actuators (topics and questions about actuators etc. etc.)
- Pneumatics (topics and questions about pneumatics etc. etc.)
- Peripherals (topics and questions about dashboards, gauges etc. etc.)
- Other X-sim compatible hardware (topics and questions about other compatible hardware etc. etc.)

Motion Simulator- Rename to Motion Simulator (building) Q&A
where people can ask general questions about sim building, not related to the various hardware sections, good topic can be stickied

- Rename "DIY motion simulator building Q&A/FAQ" to "Motion simulator General Q&A"
- Rename the current 4 type specific forums from " ......... motion simulator project discussions (no projects)" to " ......... motion simulator Q&A"

ADD: Motion Simulator Projects

This forum should be dedicated to building complete sims or peripherals, not to pre-building questions (that's what the Q&A is for).

Create the following subforums:
- Motion simulator Project Gallery (finished projects only, people can't start topics here and have to request permission in the "administrator" section first -> see below)
- Motion simulator Projects in progress
- Motion simulator designs (where people can show and share their design ideas and ask questions about it)
- Peripheral Projects (dashboards, gauges etc.)

X-sim software
- Is perfect, leave as is "

ADD: Administrator section
Here people can report topics, contact admins/mods and request finished project topics

create the following subforums:
- Report a topic or post that is against the regulations
- Request a finished project topic (here people have to request and post finished project topics, after approval by one of the admins it will be moved to the gallery forum, this way the gallery forum stays nice and tidy).
- Contact a moderator or administrator (for all other administrative questions and issues)