BigJimny Forum and the New Jimny

Martin

It may be too early to discuss this but I have been wondering if there has been any thought given on the structure of the forum after the new Jimny has hit the worldwide market. I'm thinking that there may be some confusion when posting information or questions. Even things like going to manual hubs may be different with the new generation (tricking ECMs, TCMs, whatever new CMs may exist) and people reading posts may be mislead by existing comments/solutions. Conversely, as people begin posting information on changes to their new Jimnys, those comments may not apply to our current vehicles.

As stated, maybe too early to even think about but I am curious.

My suggestion and it is nothing more, would be to have distinct technical sections. Pre 98, pre 2004, 04 and 05, 06 to 13, 14 to 18 and post 19, Jdm, European and rest of the world. I'm aware it's not very elegant and can put people off and is quite UK specific. Ultimately it is entirely Martin's call.

Even within those sections you propose we would still like to know year/model and other data on the car in question to answer or suggest something.
I have some experience from a norwegian forum that was split up into many categories.
Too many will ignite the trolls in us when some novice posts off-topic and there will be less activity in total.
The norwegian forum was probably killed by facebook like most others, but it died earlier mostly because of too many categories.

Leave it as is in my opinion. Maybe a new category for the new Jimny when/if it creates activity.

Edit. Must add that I too welcomed the change into many categories in the first place.
I thought it would be better to have a more order and would keep it tidy.
But it just killed it.

I know what you mean. There's countless examples especially of multi make forums slowly folding up because in part they looked too complicated and were trying to cater to too many different audiences, either that or they become dangerous places full of angry trolls. I would like to believe that the Jimny community is stronger than that. I would suggest it needs plenty of thought and if that means leaving it as is and guiding people to the right information that is just as valid a suggestion as trying to simplify it into different areas. Not easy.

I am also concerned with a forum having too many sections. The other issue we have is that across the entire history of the Suzuki 4x4 ,different markets have different names for the same vehicle (i.e. the UK did not have a "Jimny" until 1998 onwards, we had LJs SJs etc.)

On another forum I have seen a facility called tagging. Everyone posts into a single forum category but has to tag their post as "Series 3" or "For Sale" or "Technical". These tags are then presented as filters across the top. By default everyone sees everything but you can filter on your interest if you want.

Martin

P.S Just googled it. It is a future enhancement without a current implementation date.

Hi, newbie here. I've joined cos I've just registered an interest in the new Jimny.

On other forums, alongside your avatar, you can show the car you drive. This is useful for when anyone posts about their car, everyone knows which model they're talking about. Would that help? Can this site handle it?

There is an add on that can do this for the profile. However it is an enormous add on which actually is designed for other purposes and only provides the extended profile data as an extra.

I will take a look and perhaps run it up on my test site as I would be concerned that it is such a major upgrade that it would affect other elements of the site.

I think you're right to try and minimise the number of sections within the forum, I've seen too many forums where the sheer volume of sections means that the conversation is diluted and the forum as a whole dries up. Tagging sounds like an interesting solution, being able to limit post visibility to just those related to a specific model would be very helpful.

I'm still moderating a SAAB forum (even though i no longer own a SAAB - they just didnt want me to leave!)
The SAAB forum is divided up into the various models and major model changes along with other major topic sections such as cleaning/detailing etc see here...
SAAB Tech Talk sections

I am not aware of ever seeing 'diluting' of the SAAB forums in any way even after a section for the new 95 was created; people seem to cruise around all parts of the forum interacting with everyone else as well as, say, the 95 owners helping each other out while the 93 Classics did the same etc etc, but in many cases things such as parts etc overlapped the respective models anyway, so why shouldn't this be similar in the Big Jimny forums?
Speaking from my years of experience with the SAAB forum I also dont believe it would ever become a case of 'them and us' between the new model and the older ones causing a division in the forum community.
Although SAAB was killed off by GM just after the beautiful new 95 was released, a new section was quickly created with no negative results

Given the much greater activity in Big Jimny than in the SAAB Tech Talk forums I wouldn't think 'dilution' would become a potential problem; there is already strong interest in the 'New' Jimny as various threads already demonstrate, so surely a new section to accomodate the new Jimny would simply become an extension of these threads.

Keeping the number of sections within the forum to a minimum is definitely important; the SAAB crowd wanted a seperate diesel section but it wasn't regarded as a good idea and it was never implemented (thank goodness) as it was deemed completely unnecessary and in my opinion utterly pointless.

I definitely advise a change in the forum structure to differentiate Jimny 3 against Jimny 4.
The situation is already becoming a bit confusing with mixed topics about Jimny 3 and 4.

This forum should have had a bit more categories than just "Chat" and "Technical" a long time ago, but that is another story.
I agree with Yakuza on the other hand, that having too many meticulously laid out sections ends up being too "cumbersome" for average users.

As a compromise, I propose the following:

- Renaming the existing "Chat" category to "Jimny 3 chat".
- Splitting the existing "Technical category" into the following categories:

1. "Jimny 3 technical - problems with mechanics (engine, drivetrain, etc.)"
   
2. "Jimny 3 technical - electrics, lightning, audio, etc.,"
   
3. "Jimny 3 technical - upgrades and accessories"
   
4. "Jimny 3 technical - bodywork and other topics"

I also propose creation of all the same new categories but named "Jimny 4" instead of "Jimny 3" in the name prefix:

1. "Jimny 4 chat"
   
2. "Jimny 4 technical - problems with mechanics (engine, drivetrain, etc.)"
   
3. "Jimny 4 technical - electrics, lightning, audio, etc.,"
   
4. "Jimny 4 technical - upgrades and accessories"
   
5. "Jimny 4 technical - bodywork and other topics"

I think this should serve well for a long time.

Alternatively, subcategories can be added into the "Technical" category instead of splitting it into several categories, and then disabling new topics into the technical category itself.

P.S.: No arrangement is ideal, and neither is this proposition, but I think that anything new is better than the current situation. I also welcome additional suggestions onto my proposal.

That is too complicated and exactly what I worry about. To balance this I would propose to have just one chat. And not split into tech categoties which was just what we did to kill the Norwegian forum. But one tech for jimny 3,and one for jimny 4 is ok.

Also the my jimny and build section should be joined if possible as there is no difference in how they are used.
Sorry for the typo. Phone is too small.

Having seen the Gen4 Jimny, there is so little difference with the tech it's not worth splitting it up. For example, take a look at the pictures of the underside of the new Jimny in the gallery. Brakes and bearing set up is the same so a Gen4 question on adjusting the brake shoes might miss all the relevant stuff in a Gen3 section.

For me it's a matter of encouraging people to identify which one they are talking about, perhaps with some sort of tag.

If there were different sections people will always post in the wrong one.

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