FAQ upgrade, rules posting, and site staff contact info

[bastard]

The software upgrade the site just "enjoyed" led me to rediscover a couple of deficiencies I'd like to see addressed. Don't get this wrong, I'm not trying to incite any drama or drag up any recent events, other than the software upgrade. These are issues I have been concerned with for some time and I arrived at them independently from any other members and their problems.
As I was perusing the publicly available parts of the forum today when I couldn't log in and didn't know why, I realized there is no comprehensive list of rules posted on this site. And since I couldn't log in, there was no site staff contact information available, access to email addresses and personal messages require log in. And the FAQ didn't have any useful information about this site whatsoever.

• The bullet points
• FAQ- How about we get this expanded to include helpful information about this site? Instead of the generic phpBB issued stuff that pretty much anyone using an internet forum already knows anyway. If you can register and post a message, you can figure out everything there. As another member has mentioned, "How about a section for questions that are frequently asked?" The Volvo site brickboard dot com has just such a comprehensive mechanical FAQ for certain older models which happened to include the one I had. I found it infinitely helpful.
• Rules- I think this one is self evident. How do the powers that be expect for the rules to be followed if they aren't posted? It makes one wonder if they aren't made up as we go along. I have found the site staff to be famously helpful and even, dare I say, loving in the attention they show this site and the performance of their duties. I believe their workload would be reduced by having a comprehensive posting of this site's rules prominently displayed where there is no chance that they can't be seen.
• site contact info- Here again, this seems so basic I can't believe it isn't here already. When I couldn't log in today, I had to use someone else's computer, register a different account (since there was no rule posted that specifically prohibits multiple accounts) and PM the first moderator I saw online. This isn't always an option, not everyone has access to several computers at all hours of the day and night. And often, the information available from members of this forum is time critical.

I often see members told to "do a search." This has never yielded good results for me yet. I find 30 pages of thread titles to sift through. I'm not sure where this fits in here and I think it is cool that all the information is on here, I would like to see it sorted out a little better. Here again, not knocking anyone specifically, I appreciate everything everyone does to make this forum work. I see room for improvement and I am willing to help in any way I can to implement any of these additions.

[J Wikoff]

The FAQ thing requires a lot of time to put together, and it kinda ties into the search thing in that the stuff is there, just a little hard to find sometimes. "Fixing" the search tool, IIRC, is difficult to fix. I don't personally know enough about the php stuff or whatever to know if there is a good way to change the search tool. But I do vaguely remember Jeff Kreacher (Owner) saying it would not be easy.

The rules listing... I'm looking into that.

[willwren]

Rules are simple.

In basic terms, if you do something that would get you in trouble at school or work, you'll be warned here. You'll get a couple warnings before further action. From there, it's at the discretion of the Staff. Those are fairly basic, but we all know that as soon as we assemble all the rules from all the things people have done over the last 5 or so years here, someone will dream up something new and incredibly stupid that isn't covered.

Act like civilized adult human beings. If you don't, you'll hear from someone a couple times before the door shuts behind you.

As far as the search goes, you need to get more specific. Narrow your results down by other keywords, author, and you can have the results displayed as individual posts or as a list of topics that contain the information. Furthermore, you can select just a single section of the Forum to get results from.

The search tool is very powerful and capable if you use it the way it was intended. Play with the features a little, and you'll nail it down.

[BLACK94SSEi]

I know Im not on here much lately, but Ill chime in and agree that the contact info should be made available to members who have trouble logging in etc.

I recently ran into this problem when I tried to log in several times during the cache/cookie issue, and could not. After looking for someone to contact and failing, I created another username ID to be able to log in and then contact a staff member.

It would be a nice feature of the site to have the contact info available should someone have issues and can not log in.

[bastard]

I think a bump is in order here.
This information is even more important now than it was when I originally posted this thread.
With the change of ownership, what if any are the rules changes? And why are they still not listed in a conspicuous location?

[niceguy]

Originally Posted by bastard

I think a bump is in order here.
This information is even more important now than it was when I originally posted this thread.
With the change of ownership, what if any are the rules changes? And why are they still not listed in a conspicuous location?

The site has been in my possession for approximately 6 days. Within that six days I must sleep, eat, partake in hobbies, deal with issues here (such as spammers from other forums), fielding phone calls from former staff as well as having been fielding tons of questions via PM and email. Now this doesn't take into account Wife, my pets, social life and drinking binges.

Rules will be set in place shortly and will become a part of the TOS. There will also be an official announcement.

Naturally, the rules that were in place previous to the site changing hands stand until further notice.

New moderators will also be put in place shortly.

[niceguy]

Site rules have been posted in every forum. They are subject to change at anytime and nothing is set in stone. BUT, for the most part, this is what has worked in the past.

Site Rules Announcement.

In regards to contact any one here, you can PM me here or go to the bottom right hand corner and click Contact Us.

[bastard]

Thanks, that was prompt.