Stickies

CiB
CiB Posts: 6,098
edited August 2009 in Commuting chat
Don't we have too many stickies here now? I can understand occasionally having a couple but some have run their course - bike pics, helmet cam footage, even rants is never much more than rehashes of the same issues that we all face from time to time. The glossary & beginner's guide always seemed a little errmmm 'lucky' to be pinned - time for them to go too?

At the minute it almost looks like everything is a sticky, but if everything's a sticky then nothing's a sticky. Time to trim the bush a bit? There's always the search function instead of the first page stagnating with pinned threads. Let's have a tidy-up.

IMHO.
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Comments

  • King Donut
    King Donut Posts: 498
    +1. Just couldn't be bothered to post it.

    In order to make sure we always remember to only stick relevant threads, can this be a sticky?
  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    I was particularly surprised to see the "Accident Advice" thread stuck, since it's specific to a particular incident.

    I posted in the helmet cam thread last week, and I wouldn't have known it existed if it was buried on page 4. However, your assertion that "if everything's a sticky then nothing's a sticky" is supported by the fact that someone else posted his commute footage in a new thread this morning, despite there being a relevant sticky thread just a few posts above.

    Maybe a few of the threads could be condensed into a post which lists "Threads of note", or a "New here? Read this!" post with links to subject-specific threads.
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    I could stick the older stickies in a sticky? Clean it up a bit?
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Agent57 wrote:
    Maybe a few of the threads could be condensed into a post which lists "Threads of note", or a "New here? Read this!" post with links to subject-specific threads.

    +1. One sticky for newbies. It could be called Dave after the TV channel, so that endlessly repeated stuff has a home and the rest of us know where it is on the off-chance that it might be relevant.
  • spen666
    spen666 Posts: 17,709
    King Donut wrote:
    +1. Just couldn't be bothered to post it.

    In order to make sure we always remember to only stick relevant threads, can this be a sticky?

    I concur

    I'm especially concerned we have the accident advice thread as a sticky when much of what is on there is not legally accurate or best practice.

    By making it a sticky it is implying in this case that the contents are somewhat special- whereas they in reality are not
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  • sarajoy
    sarajoy Posts: 1,675
    I think the Newbies glossary, Bike pics and Rants threads all have good reason to be stickied.

    Having a thread for rants stops the whole board being overtaken by negativity and bad experiences - which we know are awful and scary but the joy of cycling is worth it, right?

    Bike pics - well, it's always added to now and then by newbies - and is interesting to browse.

    And I remember looking into the glossary when first coming here, so I see that as useful rather than having lots of people going "What's LBS?" "What does RLJ mean?"
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  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    sarajoy wrote:
    I think the Newbies glossary, Bike pics and Rants threads all have good reason to be stickied.

    Having a thread for rants stops the whole board being overtaken by negativity and bad experiences - which we know are awful and scary but the joy of cycling is worth it, right?

    Bike pics - well, it's always added to now and then by newbies - and is interesting to browse.

    And I remember looking into the glossary when first coming here, so I see that as useful rather than having lots of people going "What's LBS?" "What does RLJ mean?"
    Bother. Along comes a woman and writes sense. Tssk. You're right, but the idea of dumping them all into one sticky - a Super Sticky indeed - resolves it. I'd rather that than how it is now tbh.
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    I'll wait until Whyamihere has read this as this is his domain lol. We recently cleared up the stickies in the MTB section and it looka a ot better.
  • Agent57
    Agent57 Posts: 2,300
    sarajoy wrote:
    I think the Newbies glossary, Bike pics and Rants threads all have good reason to be stickied.

    Having a thread for rants stops the whole board being overtaken by negativity and bad experiences - which we know are awful and scary but the joy of cycling is worth it, right?

    Bike pics - well, it's always added to now and then by newbies - and is interesting to browse.

    And I remember looking into the glossary when first coming here, so I see that as useful rather than having lots of people going "What's LBS?" "What does RLJ mean?"

    New rants could be merged into the existing thread if they get posted on their own. I don't know how easy phpBB makes this, but it's trivial on vBulletin, so I expect phpBB has a similar facility.

    Bike pics and the glossary can both be condensed into one sticky post, entitled "FAQ, Glossary and Interesting threads" or something like that. The "Interesting threads" section would then list various other threads, making them easy to find. One advantage of not having these threads permanently stuck is that they would get "bumped" if someone added a new pic, video or rant; a bumped thread is often more likely to be noticed than a new post on a stuck thread.
    MTB commuter / 531c commuter / CR1 Team 2009 / RockHopper Pro Disc / 10 mile PB: 25:52 (Jun 2014)
  • sarajoy
    sarajoy Posts: 1,675
    sarajoy wrote:
    I think the Newbies glossary, Bike pics and Rants threads all have good reason to be stickied.

    Having a thread for rants stops the whole board being overtaken by negativity and bad experiences - which we know are awful and scary but the joy of cycling is worth it, right?

    Bike pics - well, it's always added to now and then by newbies - and is interesting to browse.

    And I remember looking into the glossary when first coming here, so I see that as useful rather than having lots of people going "What's LBS?" "What does RLJ mean?"
    Bother. Along comes a woman and writes sense. Tssk. You're right, but the idea of dumping them all into one sticky - a Super Sticky indeed - resolves it. I'd rather that than how it is now tbh.
    Teehee!

    But what I meant was, those and those alone stickied, no others. If any were considered for keeping, those should be among the top of the list.
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  • sarajoy
    sarajoy Posts: 1,675
    One forum I'm on has star ratings on threads. Would be cool if we could have a stickied folder for all 5-star threads... though maybe that's a little complicated...
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  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    You could also create a sub-forum for stickies, inlcuding a FAQ (which is the glorified newbies sticky / lights advice / yada yada)

    If the link to the sub-forum is included as the header for this forum it would always be there and not forgotten about while at the same time keeping the main (active) forum tidy
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
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  • spen666
    spen666 Posts: 17,709
    problem with sticky threads is they become practically useless very quickly as it becomes impossible to find EASILY the information you want.

    I doubt a newbie is going to want to wade through 60 pages of podting to find the answer to his simple question such as what size innertube do I need.

    The sticky idea really only works for announcements which are then locked and removed when the event or notice is passed.
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  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,695
    Right then.

    I definitely see your point, there are too many at the moment. I'll go through with them one by one.

    Accident Advice - I'm not done with this yet. Once all advice has been given, I'm going to remove the cruft, leaving only the relevant helpful posts and lock it as a proper advice thread. I may merge this in with the three mentioned below as well.

    Recommended Lights - I'll probably merge this in a way with the beginners guide and glossary threads at some point, taking the best information from each thread and putting it all in one, easily accessible place. This one won't be locked, as the information will be subject to change.

    Beginners guide - See lights

    Glossary - See lights

    Rants - I think it serves a decent purpose, and it seems popular. If enough people let me know they don't like it though, I'll get rid of it.

    Helmet Cam footage - This is staying

    Commuting bike pictures - This is staying

    Obviously, if you have any suggestions, complaints, insults or marriage proposals, let me know.
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    I've been using forums for over ten years and have moderated a couple in my time as well and people always think it's a bad thing when new people arrive asking the same old questions, so the time-honoured "stickies" solution gets employed.

    In my view it's actually quite a positive thing when new people ask old questions and it's healthy for a forum to revisit things from time-to-time.

    If somebody wrote an excellent article about a specific subject two years ago that is still relevant today then by all means post a link to it in the first reply to the new member's question but I don't think it should be stickied, just linked to every so often... And then the rest of the thread can be used for discussion of problems specific to the person who started the thread, or chatting about little things that might have changed since the 'guide' (that was linked to) was written.

    Hmmm... Maybe I should write a sticky with my thoughts on forum usage ;)
  • JonS123
    JonS123 Posts: 171
    Just have one sticky thread with links to the important threads within that.
  • snooks
    snooks Posts: 1,521
    I think if you can get the lights info interwoven into a section of the beginners guide, that would be a good start.

    The glossary is good, and a benefit to anyone new, but could that not become a link in the beginners guide section and have a universal glossary that works over all of the forums? I'm sure the MTB mud suckers have abbreviations that would confuse the assos chamois cream off the roadies, and VV

    In another forum where I'm a mod, there were no stickies...I made one post sticky, then another, and some of the regulars went into apoplectic shock, because it was me who made the post stickies, I could have something unmentionable to the Pope in front of the crowds in Saint Peter's Square, and got less grief! :shock:

    I did think the sticky count was getting a bit high, but I wasn't bothered enough to start a thread...but seeing one is here.... ;)
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  • spen666
    spen666 Posts: 17,709
    whyamihere wrote:
    Right then.

    I definitely see your point, there are too many at the moment. I'll go through with them one by one.

    Accident Advice - I'm not done with this yet. Once all advice has been given, I'm going to remove the cruft, leaving only the relevant helpful posts and lock it as a proper advice thread. I may merge this in with the three mentioned below as well.

    Recommended Lights - I'll probably merge this in a way with the beginners guide and glossary threads at some point, taking the best information from each thread and putting it all in one, easily accessible place. This one won't be locked, as the information will be subject to change.

    Beginners guide - See lights

    Glossary - See lights

    Rants - I think it serves a decent purpose, and it seems popular. If enough people let me know they don't like it though, I'll get rid of it.

    Helmet Cam footage - This is staying

    Commuting bike pictures - This is staying

    Obviously, if you have any suggestions, complaints, insults or marriage proposals, let me know.

    Why keep the Helmet cam and bike pictures as stickies? - not suggesting the threads go

    If they are popular threads, they will stay on the front page anyway.and therefore there is no need for a sticky.

    If not popular they will drop off the front page and if not popular, then why have them as stickies?

    The what lights thread - is a different beast to the newby or glossary thread and I would suggest it should not be merged with them. I suggest it is simply left to sink or swim on its popularity- ie not a sticky.
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  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,695
    The Cam and Pictures threads were created/stickied by the BR editorial team; I need to ask them first in case they want them left there (content from them is sometimes used on the site/in C+).

    I'd like to have the lights advice stay in a sticky, so I might just take out the information, put it into the other thread then unsticky the main thread to allow it to sink or swim. Not sure yet, I need to think about it.
  • spen666
    spen666 Posts: 17,709
    whyamihere wrote:
    The Cam and Pictures threads were created/stickied by the BR editorial team; I need to ask them first in case they want them left there (content from them is sometimes used on the site/in C+).
    never knew that! :o

    I'd like to have the lights advice stay in a sticky, so I might just take out the information, put it into the other thread then unsticky the main thread to allow it to sink or swim. Not sure yet, I need to think about it.

    I suspect the lights thread would stay popular as its a major topic. Just look at for example how much there is on AUDAX UK website on lighting. It affects most of us.
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  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    You haters.

    Sure the beginners guide may be a little subjective (but the topic is subjective), but there have been less 'what bike' with the same posts explaining the same things about hybrids, road bikes, single speeds etc.

    Futhermore there have been a fair few times people have indicated reading it and have clarified a few things. (Pot holes on my journey doesn't mean I need a dual suspension mountain bike with hydraulic brakes - just in case....

    All of this shows that the thread is useful, used and should stand and remain a sticky.

    Leave it to stand and allow it to stroke my ego everytime I log -on! :wink:
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
  • JonS123 wrote:
    Just have one sticky thread with links to the important threads within that.

    Ooh - I like that idea.
    Never be tempted to race against a Barclays Cycle Hire bike. If you do, there are only two outcomes. Of these, by far the better is that you now have the scalp of a Boris Bike.
  • sarajoy
    sarajoy Posts: 1,675
    JonS123 wrote:
    Just have one sticky thread with links to the important threads within that.

    Ooh - I like that idea.
    +1
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  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    You haters.

    Sure the beginners guide may be a little subjective (but the topic is subjective), but there have been less 'what bike' with the same posts explaining the same things about hybrids, road bikes, single speeds etc.

    Futhermore there have been a fair few times people have indicated reading it and have clarified a few things. (Pot holes on my journey doesn't mean I need a dual suspension mountain bike with hydraulic brakes - just in case....

    All of this shows that the thread is useful, used and should stand and remain a sticky.

    Leave it to stand and allow it to stroke my ego everytime I log -on! :wink:
    Utter cobblers DerDeeDer, start to finish. There are still regular 'What bike...?' threads, not less [actually fewer, but hey ho...], and the fact that the odd person finds it useful isn't a justification for keeping it a sticky. As for keeping stickies to massage your ego, well, in short, if you want to see your name in lights, start another thread. That's what you normally do.

    Bin the stickies, like Spen6666666 said earlier...
    spen666 wrote:
    problem with sticky threads is they become practically useless very quickly as it becomes impossible to find EASILY the information you want.

    I doubt a newbie is going to want to wade through 60 pages of podting to find the answer to his simple question such as what size innertube do I need.

    The sticky idea really only works for announcements which are then locked and removed when the event or notice is passed.
  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    I think Glossary of Terms and Beginers Guide should be merged into 1, or both put on 1 sticky. I found this quite useful as a newbie to understand what was going on. Both are very useful.

    The others should go, as I prefer to see rants as seperate posts, as they can have different topics and should be discussed an dissapear on a natural evolution cycle.

    The film and bike pictures can go, as I have never looked at them. Just interested in my own steeds.... not wanting to see other readers "wives".

    Agree that certain things should be sticky for a limited time e.g. Lights for Autumn, Accident Advice when there are a few or it is requested. But things do change, so it is also good to refesh and start again.
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    edited August 2009
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    You haters.

    Sure the beginners guide may be a little subjective (but the topic is subjective), but there have been less 'what bike' with the same posts explaining the same things about hybrids, road bikes, single speeds etc.

    Futhermore there have been a fair few times people have indicated reading it and have clarified a few things. (Pot holes on my journey doesn't mean I need a dual suspension mountain bike with hydraulic brakes - just in case....

    All of this shows that the thread is useful, used and should stand and remain a sticky.

    Leave it to stand and allow it to stroke my ego everytime I log -on! :wink:
    Utter cobblers DerDeeDer, start to finish. There are still regular 'What bike...?' threads, not less [actually fewer, but hey ho...], and the fact that the odd person finds it useful isn't a justification for keeping it a sticky. As for keeping stickies to massage your ego, well, in short, if you want to see your name in lights, start another thread. That's what you normally do.

    Firstly, the beginners guide wouldn't appeal to you because you aren't a beginner so I pretty much expected this kind of response.

    Secondly, the beginners guide goes beyond recommending a bike, it attempts to add clarity on the types of bike, commonly used for commuting as well as provide a guide of what equipment a person should expect to purchase if they plan to commute by bike.

    It doesn't actually recommend any model or brand of bike. So it isn't a "what bike?" thread

    Thirdly, the fact that people find it useful is justification for having it as a sticky topic. It's the very idea of sticky topics useful and helpful information be they annoucements or advice that keeps appearing on the site.

    The commuting section should have some sticky topics that are iinformative about commuting as well as annoucements, but there is knowing when to stop making sticky's.

    IMO these should be:

    Beginners guide to commuting. - Advice about different types of bikes and general advice on what equipment a person is likely to need when they first start commuting is useful.

    What to do in an accident - This pretty much doesn't need to be explained, I quite like the idea of having a thread readily available that gives me advice should I have an accident as I've never had one (touch wood).

    Glossary of terms - Why should this be merged into the Beginners guide? The glossary is a list of terms and phrases used in this website. It is mostly specific to online discussion in this forum. I'm not seeing how it is a beginners guide to commuting. But it should stay a sticky.

    Sticky's that should be taken down:

    What lights - too subjective, models change almost yearly, with new ones being released with even more frequency. I don't think it's practical to recommend a best light beyond advising "When cycling in the dark it's best to use lights". I mean what's next? What groupset, Campag or Shimano, what wheels, what tyres, what brakes, what saddle? The list goes on.

    Bike pic - not seeing the point of this, pics of bikes are in people's signatures and generally speaking most users (like me) just start a new thread when they want to show pictures of their bikes.

    Head cam journeys - This is just televised SCR, I'm not seeing the point of this being made a sticky and the SCR thread not being a sticky.

    Rant thread - Firstly, its negative. Secondly, there are a large majority of threads that are pretty much rants threads (that van driver, near miss, bus driver, RLJ-pavement-riding-ninja) all over the forum anyway - its largely redundant.
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
  • sarajoy
    sarajoy Posts: 1,675
    I very much agree to have one sticky, which is a thread with a single post that is locked against replies, that contains links to "useful threads"

    As long as they're clearly labelled/sectioned, and there aren't tons of stickies cluttering up the front page, it doesn't really matter if there's lots of them. Mods can then add/delete as they see fit.
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  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,695
    sarajoy wrote:
    I very much agree to have one sticky, which is a thread with a single post that is locked against replies, that contains links to "useful threads"

    As long as they're clearly labelled/sectioned, and there aren't tons of stickies cluttering up the front page, it doesn't really matter if there's lots of them. Mods can then add/delete as they see fit.
    That would be an ideal solution. Unfortunately, it won't work.

    We'll make a sticky called, for example "Links to important threads". This will be promptly ignored and the questions covered in those threads will be brought back time and time again.
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    whyamihere wrote:

    We'll make a sticky called, for example "Links to important threads". This will be promptly ignored and the questions covered in those threads will be brought back time and time again.

    The commuting section should have some sticky topics

    IMO these should be:
      Beginners guide to commuting.
    - Advice about different types of bikes and general advice on what equipment a person is likely to need when they first start commuting is useful.
      What to do in an accident
    - This pretty much doesn't need to be explained, I quite like the idea of having a thread readily available that gives me advice should I have an accident as I've never had one (touch wood).
      Glossary of terms
    - Why should this be merged into the Beginners guide? The glossary is a list of terms and phrases used in this website. It is mostly specific to online discussion in this forum. I'm not seeing how it is a beginners guide to commuting. But it should stay a sticky.

    Sticky's that could do with being taken down be taken down:

      What lights
    - too subjective, models change almost yearly, with new ones being released with even more frequency. I don't think it's practical to recommend a best light beyond advising "When cycling in the dark it's best to use lights". I mean what's next? What groupset, Campag or Shimano, what wheels, what tyres, what brakes, what saddle? The list goes on.
      Bike pic
    - not seeing the point of this, pics of bikes are in people's signatures and generally speaking most users (like me) just start a new thread when they want to show pictures of their bikes.
      Head cam journeys
    - This is just televised SCR, I'm not seeing the point of this being made a sticky and the SCR thread not being a sticky.
      Rant thread
    - Firstly, its negative. Secondly, there are a large majority of threads that are pretty much rants threads (that van driver, near miss, bus driver, RLJ-pavement-riding-ninja) all over the forum anyway - its largely redundant.
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,695
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    whyamihere wrote:

    We'll make a sticky called, for example "Links to important threads". This will be promptly ignored and the questions covered in those threads will be brought back time and time again.

    The commuting section should have some sticky topics

    IMO these should be:

    Beginners guide to commuting
    . - Advice about different types of bikes and general advice on what equipment a person is likely to need when they first start commuting is useful.

    What to do in an accident - This pretty much doesn't need to be explained, I quite like the idea of having a thread readily available that gives me advice should I have an accident as I've never had one (touch wood).

    Glossary of terms - Why should this be merged into the Beginners guide? The glossary is a list of terms and phrases used in this website. It is mostly specific to online discussion in this forum. I'm not seeing how it is a beginners guide to commuting. But it should stay a sticky.

    Sticky's that could do with being taken down be taken down:


    What lights - too subjective, models change almost yearly, with new ones being released with even more frequency. I don't think it's practical to recommend a best light beyond advising "When cycling in the dark it's best to use lights". I mean what's next? What groupset, Campag or Shimano, what wheels, what tyres, what brakes, what saddle? The list goes on.

    Bike pic - not seeing the point of this, pics of bikes are in people's signatures and generally speaking most users (like me) just start a new thread when they want to show pictures of their bikes.

    Head cam journeys - This is just televised SCR, I'm not seeing the point of this being made a sticky and the SCR thread not being a sticky.

    Rant thread
    - Firstly, its negative. Secondly, there are a large majority of threads that are pretty much rants threads (that van driver, near miss, bus driver, RLJ-pavement-riding-ninja) all over the forum anyway - its largely redundant.
    In reverse order:

    Rant thread: I am going to unsticky this. I reckon it will stand up on its own to be honest. If needs be, it can be made sticky again in the future, we'll see how it goes.

    Cam and pictures thread - The editorial team want these to stay.

    Lights - I think there's a great advantage in having a thread recommending lights. If we're just saying "Use lights", we'll essentially be endorsing the awful yellow blinkies that cost a quid or so and having people thinking they're visible enough. If we can show people that there really is a point to having good lights, and what good lights are, they will hopefully get good ones. This is something I feel that new riders will benefit from most, and so it's going in the beginners thread.

    Glossary - This is going into the Beginners thread because it's relevant only to new members. While it is essentially specific to this forum, it only applies to new members of the forum, old hands will know them all already.

    The other two topics are becoming stickies.

    Don't worry by the way, you're getting name-checked in the new Beginners thread. ;)