Threads that have already been discussed

[Alexander Burstein]

Once in a while I'll see a member on this forum point out that a topic has been previously discussed. From that persons perspective they're trying to lead someone to a solution without having to repeat, or wait, for responses that might help them. That is what they're doing, but revisiting old topics is a good thing too. Everyone does a great job of furthering discussions and it's something that I thought of this morning. So this is more of a "lets keep it up" thread than anything else.

A few positives that come out of revisiting old topics in new threads:

*Some members that may have missed previous discussions may participate this time around and either learn something, or share something that could've been missed or didn't exist at the time.

*As a member who frequents this site as often as time allows, I like to wake up and find new threads instead of old ones that I've already read.

*New technology or new solutions; updating older threads.

Again, most members here still comment on topics that have been covered in previous threads and I think this is great. New discussions are encouraged and new points of view spark healthy debate (generally). Overall I think repeated topics in new threads help the community on this site as a whole. Lets still refer older threads that will answer questions, and encourage people asking more questions.

Sincerely,

Alexander

[atheisticmystic]

Threads that have already been discussed has already been discussed

[John Blankenship]

Threads that have already been discussed has already been discussed

But, have we discussed discussing threads that have been discussed?

I guess we have now.

How discussting (sic).

[ccsnd]

Lets discuss discussed discussing threads that have been discussed.

[Jeff Wexler]

Walking a thin line here... am I going to have to lock this topic so soon

[Gerard-NYNY]

As long as this discussion is officially open (until whatsisname says so) I offer the suggestion of having an index in addition to the site search.

Having worked in a professional library, I know there is software that is used to build indexes for books, so there must be some type of software for websites, somewhere.

Perhaps an alphabetical list of subjects, equipment names and brands, and specific indications related to subjects would be a good place for newbies and everyone else to check in on.

The amount of info on the site is only going to grow. Having an index that automatically updates itself would be a totally professional feature that shows how serious we are about the craft and the learning experience..

Otherwise discussions that have previously been discussed and forgotten until new threads of discussion appear and are not discussed because of an indication by a member who objects to further discussion.

Thus, with an index, the discussion threads can be read without editorial comment on the subject of discussing things that have been 'asked and answered' and subsequently become extrapolated into editorializations about whatever the hell the issue was, will occur less often.

[ElanorR]

+1 to Alexander Burstein.

[Jeff Wexler]

Having worked in a professional library, I know there is software that is used to build indexes for books, so there must be some type of software for websites, somewhere.

If you can discover such a thing for forums like this site, I will give you the job of indexing the 142,505 posts we have so far.

[Brian Maier]

Personally I would rather see a new thread on an old topic than have nothing new posted. Because if people are afraid they didn't do the right search on google it will lead to stagnation. I find it more frustrating to open a thread on a "old topic" only to find "this has already been discussed". Just my opinion.

[Alexander Burstein]

If you can discover such a thing for forums like this site, I will give you the job of indexing the 142,505 posts we have so far.

Would he do it for each post or each thread? Each post sounds more complicated.

[Jeff Wexler]

I wasn't really being literal, I just wanted to put some perspective on what seems on the surface something that could be accomplished with just a bit of software. I don't know if anyone had noticed or not, but under the "resource" tab, David Waelder had already taken a shot at indexing or producing a digest of posts relating to the Arri Alexa camera. This was a totally manual effort, nothing automatic about it, and it does produce as useful digest of posts within a certain topic.

Take a LOOK at the first experimental efforts.

[John Blankenship]

Pity the person who takes the job of digesting the Nomad threads.

[Joshua Anderson]

Any sort of indexing would probably need manual tagging of each post. The sheer volume of posts here would be an enormous task for any person to take on by themselves.

I agree that reposting topics and questions is helpful for everyone. I think it's helpful to rethink my own preferences on subjects and with changes in technologies and filmmaking, it's rare to find a question or an issue that has culminated in an absolute, closed case.

But Mike likes to chime in. He thinks it's old hat to re-hash old topics and most people think it's old hat to give the same response. It is what it is. Like all of us, sometimes he has helpful things to say and no one has died due to his more asinine comments.

[old school]

Personally I don't like commenting on topics that we have done over n over again such as what mic/recorder/mixer/rf is best. I'm all for helping new and old members out when possible, but it is boring to write the same POV's and opinions to the same questions all the time. It's "Groundhogs Day" sometimes around here. I'm all for making this joint better but we don't need to reinvent it to do so.

CrewC

[Gerard-NYNY]

If you can discover such a thing for forums like this site, I will give you the job of indexing the 142,505 posts we have so far.

I'd be happy to edit an index once a software product creates one. There is a human interactive process that goes along with building an index even though the computer does a lot of the work. In the old days, a librarian or an editor would create one completely without a computer. I've seen some great indexes over the years that were done manually. A computer driven one would be a bit more basic, especially for this site. The format is discussion, compared to some books, like textbooks, which are comprised of essays, articles or chapters based on interrelated subjects.

I'll ask a friend who edits law books about what's out there.

[Alexander Burstein]

Personally I don't like commenting on topics that we have done over n over again such as what mic/recorder/mixer/rf is best. I'm all for helping new and old members out when possible, but it is boring to write the same POV's and opinions to the same questions all the time. It's "Groundhogs Day" sometimes around here. I'm all for making this joint better but we don't need to reinvent it to do so.

CrewC

I'm with ya, and it depends. Just now in a thread right below this one I had posted a link to a list of good books that someone asked about for getting started. Those "best of" topics don't prompt too many new discussions, but I read them anyway in case I hear from new perspectives. I'm really happy with the wide variety of topics on this site though.

[Victor Nguyen]

I'm new to this forum and to sound. And I know I will ask a lot of question that have been answer on this forum already. Can anybody give me tips to find threads that might already answer my question? or just use the old google?

[Olle Sjostrom]

Victor, the search function on this board is weird, please use google like this "[subject] site:jwsoundgroup.net" please someone correct me if I'm wrong.

And by [subject] I mean if you wanna search for zaxcom nomad, you write "'zaxcom nomad' site:jwsoundgroup.net"

[Christian Spaeth]

if you wanna search for zaxcom nomad, you write "'zaxcom nomad' site:jwsoundgroup.net"

And, if I may add, if you're in a hurry and want to save a few digits, type "zaxcom nomad jwsoundgroup" into google. That's how I do it and it works.

[studiomprd]

" And I know I will ask a lot of question that have been answer on this forum already. "

hi and welcome, again...

yes searching will help, and you really need to try a lot of variations on your search terms for best results.

As I also have mentioned, you need to get a couple of books, too...they will more than answer a lot of your more basic questions, and get you thinking to better figure things out yourself. remember, too, that there will be a lot of trial and error in your learning curve.

[Bondelev]

Actually many forums have a "sticky threads" option, where you can choose threads and mark them to automatically show up on the top. Most of the time the threads are locked after they seem to reach a limit. It might be worth investigating which threads are most used and most searched, and making them sticky.

[Jeff Wexler]

We can do "sticky" here, and "pinning" a topic (maybe it's the same thing?) but I haven't played around with those too much. I also think the use of TAGS is a good idea but that is up to the poster to put some tags on their post. I know some forums that require that the poster do a lot of these things before a post will be accepted. I don't really want to put restrictions on our members so I won't be doing that. I am giving a lot of thought to the ways we can have this site provide even more benefit for our members and guests. The focus since the beginning has always been primarily on ease of use, flexibility in posting, the addition of images and video, things like that. Now that there is such a huge volume of posts, many of them with really useful information, some sort of indexing or digest would be great. The search function is still a little wonky (and may not improve much internally) but Google searches are working great. Google regularly crawls this site and I have found that a Google search for almost anything that relates to our work yields a reference to a post on this site, usually the 3rd or 4th result in the search.

[LarryF]

Hi Jeff,

How about adding Google search directly to the site? That way Google searches in the site first. As you say, Google works great. The Google implementation seems to be a simple process (but everything always does to a neophyte). What bugs me about the current search function, other than it doesn't work all that well, is that it refuses two character inputs such as SM, UM, HH, HM, etc. We may have to rename Lectro products to become the HHH and HMM.

Best,

Larry F

[Jeff Wexler]

Yes, Larry, that's the answer: Lectro should change ALL the model designations to something that this site can search for.

I knew you would come up with a fix.

Thanks.

[LarryF]

Yes, Larry, that's the answer: Lectro should change ALL the model designations to something that this site can search for.

I knew you would come up with a fix.

Thanks.

We can just add a " U" for Uhf and immediately have the HUH and the HUM.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro