Question for moderators and others to ruminate...

[Indyking]

Why certain threads keep being moved to other topics from the main forum? If you think about it, almost every thread in the main forum could fit in one of the 5 other topics, but for some reason, some threads get moved and others don't. It almost seems that some threads are biased towards staying while others receive a VIP treatment, as if there was an attempt to conceal some threads. I agree the divisions in topics result in a more clear/organized forum but why not eliminate the Main Forum and replace it for a Miscellaneous?

The rattle noises thread, for instance, is something that many of us are frustrated and protesting about but it just got moved to Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting. Please look again in the first page of the main forum and ask yourselves: if the rattles thread fit better under Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting, what makes other threads like “can you add navigation”, “DST change”, “question about LKA”, “cruise control not deactivated by breaking”, etc, etc etc, fit the Main Forum instead of moving to Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting?

[RodJo]

Please move to the Website Questions Forum.


j/k

[jamesktg]

I would guess that this main forum section is visited first and that this dashboard noise issue is coming up more and more to the point that it could/might affect sales of a Prius. I very seldom go into other sections and would never have seen the Prius problems if it was in another section. For that, I would like to thank PC members for highlighting this isue. I cannot stand a vehicle that constantly creaks and rattle especially if I have to pay $30K incl taxes for a vehicle.

I for one am holding off on my Prius purchase until they rectify the problem and put in better materials for the dashboard, door trims and improve the quality instead of using the cheap plastic.

[efusco]

The idea of eliminating the "main forum" is worth consideration, and you make some good points to why.

Some posts are not moved simply b/c we don't notice and it isn't pointed out to us, but not for any "VIP" treatment.

[DeanFL]

Originally Posted by Indyking

Why certain threads keep being moved to other topics from the main forum? If you think about it, almost every thread in the main forum could fit in one of the 5 other topics, but for some reason, some threads get moved and others don't. It almost seems that some threads are biased towards staying while others receive a VIP treatment, as if there was an attempt to conceal some threads. I agree the divisions in topics result in a more clear/organized forum but why not eliminate the Main Forum and replace it for a Miscellaneous?

The rattle noises thread, for instance, is something that many of us are frustrated and protesting about but it just got moved to Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting. Please look again in the first page of the main forum and ask yourselves: if the rattles thread fit better under Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting, what makes other threads like “can you add navigation”, “DST change”, “question about LKA”, “cruise control not deactivated by breaking”, etc, etc etc, fit the Main Forum instead of moving to Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting?

I had the same thought after the "Oil Change Interval debate" was moved yesterday. It does seem to be a very topical topic (...) and of interest to many. Of course it IS maintenance-related, but as you stated so well most any thread can be moved to a specific category. I was going to write something on that yesterday, but realized I couldn't say it as well as you now did.

I, for one, do not frequent the outside-the-main forum much so may miss some important topics that may be moved... There's a lot of gray in the subject of subjects (another ...) and do respect the moderators decisions.

[spiderman]

What would be nice is if all posts started in the Main (for an hour or two) and then magically got farmed to the other areas. Most people hit the Main and to a much lesser degree the others. That is why there are many repeating posts.

Of course that would take a lot more moderating to accomplish.

If you remove the Main, one of the other categories will likely become the new "Main".

[LRKingII]

Hmmm i just hit the "unread posts" under where it says Welcone and my nick.

[HTMLSpinnr]

There's a big reason most posts end up here. In the top menu on the page header, inside the "Forums" drop-down, the "2010 Toyota Prius" link brings most users "right here". Most posters have no idea the other forums even exist as a result.

The reason we (I) move threads is to keep things organized. When we get tens of hundreds of posts here in the main forum, new posts quickly end up on page 3. Keeping organized also makes searching much simpler when one can simply limit the scope to one forum. When posts are moved, there are links to follow, and they typically will expire after a month.

I'll leave it to the super-mods on whether we should eliminate the "catch-all" forum all-together.

Either way, I'm asking everyone nicely - please pick an appropriate forum to post topics to begin with. When things move, it's because we finally notice and decide the topic has a more appropriate location than where it's sitting. There's even an "announcement" at the top of the forum w/ suggestions to follow.

[Paradox]

It's pretty much a decision to be made by a moderator... What I do is move it to a forum I see appropriate if I catch it early. If say the forum has been going on for days with 30+ posts I'll just leave it in the main. Many posts are easy to find a place for like accessories/modifications, fuel economy etc. Others are questionable imo if they should be in the care/maint/troubleshooting forum. Unless a post seems obvious that it belongs in there, I tend to leave it in the main forum.

[hobbit]

I've often gone to post something in what's now the 2nd-gen
tree and sat there looking at the subforum names for several
minutes going, "well, is it a tech thing? Is it a care/maintenance
thing? It's both! But it affects how people *drive*, too, so
where the heck do I most appropriately put this??" ... etc ...
Sometimes there's just no right answer.
.
_H*