Would you be interested in sharing some tech tips with the rest of the class?| Grassroots Motorsports forum |

David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/30/13 11:26 a.m.

Everyone loves tech tips, right? Right now we have a Tech Tips section on our site but, to be honest, I don't think anyone knows it exists. There's some neat stuff in there, but is anyone seeing them?

What if we created/launched a Tech Tips sub message board forum? Would that make it easier to share tech tips? And if we did, would you share some?

4cylndrfury MegaDork
10/30/13 11:38 a.m.

Never visited the tech tips section before. Its pretty cool. A more forumlike approach would be nice. I do like the vote up/down setup. Apply that feature to a Tips subforum, and I think it will be a hit!

David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/30/13 11:57 a.m.

And, hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have posted this as the class is heading out for lunch.

Dr. Hess MegaDork
10/30/13 11:59 a.m.

Didn't we used to have that?

Woody GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/30/13 12:00 p.m.

Like this?

fasted58 PowerDork
10/30/13 12:03 p.m.

Dr. Hess wrote: Didn't we used to have that?

still there

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/tech-tips/

David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/30/13 12:04 p.m.

Dr. Hess wrote: Didn't we used to have that?

We have a Tech Tips section on the site, but it's rather dead. I'm wondering if moving that info into a message board format would get things moving.

ransom GRM+ Memberand UberDork
10/30/13 12:06 p.m.

+1 on the tips subforum. And grave threats to people who don't give them good, clear titles.

fasted58 PowerDork
10/30/13 12:07 p.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

page gathering dust huh

come to think of it haven't looked there in months

David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/30/13 12:10 p.m.

ransom wrote: And grave threats to people who don't give them good, clear titles.

Good point there. Thanks.

JG Pasterjak Production/Art Director
10/30/13 12:23 p.m.

If this gains traction, it wouldn't be that hard to put the tip with the most up votes in the online extras section of the mag each month. We totally know a guy.

jg

ArthurDent HalfDork
10/30/13 12:27 p.m.

Maybe in a wiki format. Then users could add to or give any corrections on existing tips.

MadScientistMatt UltraDork
10/30/13 12:29 p.m.

I didn't even realize that was there.

clutchsmoke HalfDork
10/30/13 12:31 p.m.

JG Pasterjak wrote: If this gains traction, it wouldn't be that hard to put the tip with the most up votes in the online extras section of the mag each month. We totally know a guy. jg

Just the tip?

David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/30/13 12:34 p.m.

ArthurDent wrote: Maybe in a wiki format. Then users could add to or give any corrections on existing tips.

A wiki would be neat, but adding that would like involve some programming--which means time and money. We could launch a sub-forum today. I see it being something like the build thread forum.

turboswede GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
10/30/13 12:46 p.m.

I'll just re-post a portion of my post on the e-newsletter thread:

You know for tech tips and DIY stuff, there is a lot already available on the internet and recreating that content is a bit silly:

http://www.homemadetools.net/

http://hackaday.com/

http://www.instructables.com/

http://makezine.com/

http://www.ehow.com/

http://www.wikihow.com/

and many more. Much of the typical tech-tips are likely marque-specific or specific to a particular issue, so it might be tricky to keep it generic enough to keep people interested. Perhaps reach out to one or more of the above sites to share some of their content? What about a contest to get GRM'ers to submit their own content to one or more of their sites with special recognition for published items?

Slippery GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
10/30/13 1:28 p.m.

I like the subforum idea. Not sure I would contribute much, but mostly benefit from it :)

David S. Wallens Editorial Director
10/30/13 1:32 p.m.

Slippery wrote: I like the subforum idea. Not sure I would contribute much, but mostly benefit from it :)

And that's cool, too.

Klayfish SuperDork
10/30/13 1:39 p.m.

Slippery wrote: I like the subforum idea. Not sure I would contribute much, but mostly benefit from it :)

Ditto. I'm not real good with a wrench...just ask my LeMons team. But I always want to get my hands dirty when I can, so any tips I can pick up are great.

DukeOfUndersteer UltimaDork
10/30/13 1:54 p.m.

I'll show you guys what a panhard bar does.

Let's go to the cutaway car...

DrBoost PowerDork
10/30/13 2:18 p.m.

Yeah, a subforum would be cool. I totally forgot that existed.

conesare2seconds Reader
10/30/13 2:36 p.m.

I'm in; good idea.

yamaha PowerDork
10/30/13 2:42 p.m.

MadScientistMatt wrote: I didn't even realize that was there.

I didn't either....

turboswede GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
10/30/13 3:10 p.m.

Oh good. That will be another forum that won't really work all that well on mobile devices and will have to be monitored for spammers.

At least it might get more traffic than the Classic forum.

PHeller UberDork
10/30/13 3:29 p.m.

My worry about the tech tips section is that as it gets larger, searching it will become difficult.

Say I wanted to copy and paste some tech tips from other websites about the Miata. How to change the transmission or differential oil, for example, and I almost want to use GRM Tech Tips as my own personal repository of information. What type of transmission fluid is suggested, what type of diff oil. That kind of thing.