Better Isolation of Bodies by Type?

[AllenF]

It sure would be much better, IMHO, to break out this forum into body type headings.

What I would like to see is a 20D heading, a 30D heading, a 40D heading, a 50D heading etc. Then under these headings after a click all the threads that pertain to these bodies would be there.

I find new folks asking the same questions due to the huge amounts of new posts which cover up the basic posts and thus they are asking the same things over and over again.

I tend to look at topics about my bodies so if I could just go to EOS Camera gear and click it then scroll down to 50D, for example, and then click on it and l behold all the threads about the 50D are in one nice and neat place. We now can also have stickies about this body there too.

How about it Moderators? Is this something that we can have soon?

Others, feel free to chime in.

[BigBlueDodge]

How do you propose that we handle questions that cross many bodies? For example, what if someone wants to know how to to Micro Adjust their lens. Since the process is the same on the 50D/5D MKII/1D MKIII/1DsMKIII where does the post go? And then, how far do you go back? Do you create a forum for every model Canon produced? We still regularly get questions about 10D's.

At the end of the day, if people would just use the search function then there wouldn't be the same question posted over and over and over and over and over again. But it seems to be taboo for members to suggest the poster do a search. I've literally seen people post a question, that has already been posted and is sitting on the front page in plain site.

[Jon]

This suggestion has been made repeatedly. Like David said, there are very few questions on POTN that deal with a single model camera. Most apply either to an entire family (the Digital Rebel/##0D line, the #0D line, etc.) or a problem with the individual's specific camera. And usually when there is a specific issue that affects only a single model (1D3 AF issues, for instance), that gets consolidated into one thread which is then stickied.

[Perry Ge]

And then there are the "which camera should I buy" threads.

[AllenF]

I would bet that the 50D thread could for example be filled with most of the questions that surround this model. Sure there are some questions that would fit in a general area but we surely could trim down into categories much better than we have it now. I don't think it would be all that difficult. If the search works as good as some say then these categories will flesh out quickly and accurately.

For example
Most bodies have a post your pictures thread this could go at the top.
Then there are many noise comparison threads top again.
Then there are the which features do you like and why threads top again.
Just these 3 examples would centralize many valuable and often sought out types of questions.

What camera or lens should I buy? should be in it's own area too.

Once several threads have be started and answered correctly these should become part of the bodies book. How do I macro adjust example is, as I have seen, been asked body specific. So all that I have seen are directed towards those with say the 50D not usually generic.

As for those that are general to say the REBEL then this is where they go. If it is model specific then break it into that area.

[krb]

Adding a more complex sub-forum structure will only increase the chances of new people being lost, confused, and posting in the wrong sub-forum.

[AllenF]

Adding a more complex sub-forum structure will only increase the chances of new people being lost, confused, and posting in the wrong sub-forum.


Really? :roll:

Let me see.....

Now one must scroll through hundreds of posts to sort of find what one is interested in, verses what I am purposing which would break down the forums headings into body types which is what most are trying to find by their mentioning of a body in their questions.

To help those who are having trouble understanding or seeing it I will give you a rough example. Others may have a better method.......

Now we have an "Equipment talk "section and in it we have an " Canon EOS Digital camera" link. When one clicks on this we are faced with a jumbled mess of everything EOS and the fun begins. Most appear too be to overwhelmed to bother sorting through it or too lazy. Hence why the same questions over and over.

I would leave the first 2 listings but add after the click on the "Canon EOS Digital Cameras" link another page of options which would then list all the bodies ie 50D, 40D, 30D, 20D, 10D. When one of these links are clicked the reader would then find on the top book worthy posts and FAQ's dealing with this particular body followed by threads about this body. I think the owners manual and user manual should be there too along with the latest software update.

Seriously how is this more confusing or more difficult over what is the current offering? :?

To get it started I recommend doing the newest body in each type first then adding the older ones as time/ resources allow. Moderators could enlist the help of trusted long time members or send out a call for volunteers.

Getting the new bodies done first will freeze the continuation of the mess and bring the forum up to date from this body forward.

IMO this IS the best Canon site. It should also be more logically laid out. This type of lay out will foster more and better use and make the beginner have easier access to the wealth of information here. This will lead to more members and more clicks which will add revenue to the forums owners. I see no losing point here in doing it other than the work to break it up into body types. Using volunteers could spread this work over many workers which would get it done quicker.

One last benefit would be that the posts would stay on top longer due to the fact that only posts about this body would be here so the other hundreds of posts will not cover them up and need them to be bumped, or far worse, lost in the confusion of non-applicable threads.

[Jon]

If you will really look at the EOS forum, you'll see very few threads that are dealing only with a single model aside from the "Show us your . . . " and " . . . Fans assemble" threads. Most are going across models and even model lines. Creating separate subforums as you want will weed out very little, increase the amount of work we unpaid moderators have to do sorting out misplaced threads, and hide information from more users than it will help, simply because 90% of the questions which arise on POTN are not tied to a specific model of camera even if they're what the OP may have experienced the issue with. If you really want to see only those threads dealing with the 50D for instance, you can always use a very simple tool which is already available, called "Search this Forum" Two mouse clicks and 3 characters, and you've got every EOS thread mentioning the 50D, even if it also asks about another model such as the 1Ds or 1D II. You can also have it sort that output based on relevance or last post date and add additional keywords if you're willing to exercise your fingers a little more.

[cdifoto]

It sure would be much better, IMHO, to break out this forum into body type headings.
The result? Elitist segregation. See dpreview for an example.