Danny,

If it's not letting the cat out of the bag:

Does this mean you're going to what I might call for lack of a better term a
"two level" format like CleanMPG.com, with authored lead articles?

Does this new format involve posts needing to be "moderated" or approved
before appearing in the forums?

I visit many car oriented sites that have the editorials and news as the main focus and that's fine but the beauty of Prius Chat comes from the many interesting regulars who post their ideas, thoughts and experiences. I have gained so much knowledge from the collective posts in the short time I have been here. Why not keep the present format and incorporate editorials and articles at the top. Why fix something that's not broke?
Just my 2 Yen.

I kind of like the way the forum works now but I try to remain open to new ideas and evolution. Is there a Web site that is set up the way you're proposing? Knowing what it will look like may encourage people to volunteer as writers.

Gotta +1 in a big way.

... Brad

I like the current format...but I'll reserve judgement.

Aye kin right reel good, and ma smelling is excel ant.

Does this mean we can't get snarky about Toyota? Do they want copyright?

Hey, I like to write. Count me in.

I've longed for a payola atribute on PC if that's what is necessary to get greater bandwidth / page downloads.

i think it can be a good idea if done right. as it stands now, there are great links, commentary, etc but its buried amidst a ton of threads and posts.

putting them all in one place i think is a great idea. kinda have that now a bit on the home page and maybe just expanding on that info in a forum format might be the way to go.

the Topic of the Month idea was a good one, maybe have ANYONE submit a story, be it a rant, opinion, in depth analysis on a new technology, etc...have a team review them and post them in on a forum with a less of a back and forth banter and just a comments section to post feedback to the article

Well? It's been about a half year now. Danny, how's the new format progressing ... or did the feedback cause it to morph another direction.

.

I also like the current format. Include articles if you like, but I think it would be a mistake to "moderate" complaints. From what I've seen, the current format works very nicely, thank you.

Re: Interested in writing for PriusChat? -- what about a wiki?

To be honest, the thing I really miss from PC (from the whole Prius community in fact) is a wiki.

The amount of excellent information found on PC is astounding but often burried deep into threads and not always easy to find (even with the excellent integrated & Google search tools), especially when you're unsure about what you're looking for.

The knowledge base threads try to cope with this but still needs to follow a thread structure.

To me, a combination of discussion within forums/threads, associated with a wiki would enable the easy collection of a structured and linked knowledge base that would extract the collective knowledge currently buried in the forums and make it accessible to everyone, being the Prius newbie or the long time technical PC members.

A wiki would also make that information collectively editable, to keep it up to date with the current knowledge.

What do you think?

Re: Interested in writing for PriusChat? -- what about a wiki?

ahh and that is why tech writers get paid. its a very daunting task to be able to explain ANY thing on a technical level, especially with an audience this large. a big part of my job is tech guidance for a relatively simple product and its amazing at the difference in the levels of understanding from one person to another, that are in every other way of their lives, very accomplished. but that boils down to the level of exposure to the technology

a complete understanding of anything here requires that the reader learn the basics first. otherwise any explanation would be long and therefore useless to all but a few people. i can tell you from DAILY job experience, most people do not want to spend a second of their time doing research. they want a direct answer to a direct question that in many cases, they dont even know how to ask.

i agree, there is a TON of valuable information here and also a TON of mis-information and not all of it is easy to discern, especially if someone admits to a mistake several posts down the line. but therein lies the disadvantage of an online forum format. threads wander, but that is human nature and that an inconvenient as it maybe, is part of the appeal of this site.

i fully agree that a better managed FAQ or knowledge base is what we need. but who is going to take on the challenge?? i think asking for volunteers to dissect the task into single questions or topics is the only real way to do this

And one can always post to the news group alt.autos.toyota.prius . Yes, it's true, news groups are alive and well, and still blessedly free of avatars and useless graphics (that is, they're all text and therefore load fast).

If it's not broke, don't fix it!