The threads in the FAQ are still growing, as are the views per day. Time to make sure we are going in the right direction.

I have recieved very few inputs/sugestions/comments/groan/moans/ etc. So I am muddling through as best I can.

I has struck me though that you, the viewer, may eventually have a problem finding the appropriate area to answer your question. The purpose of this poll is to see what you, the user, want.

Please repsond below with any topic area requests, suggestions, ideas, moans, groans, lawsuits, etc.

For those who choose " Don't know what is is", click on the first link in my signature, take you right thereccasion14:

The idea of the sub-forums is my preference, as each of the replies currently in the FAQ (SSI, DI, Mod CAPS, Getting started, etc) would be more visible and easily accessed.

Can you/website run an Access data base?

Adam and I have discussed it. I dont know if the forum can do it. I think I might be able to.

I have reservations about databases for non specific criteria "damage increase cap vice DI cap vice DI". Granted, we could do a drop down with selections, then sub areas. That would help with organization. I could do it in access, but have no idea who that would merge with PhP or anything. Outta my realm at the moment.

Look at the horrendous "knowledge base" that EA has. The search field is too limited, the acrhives are out of date, etc.

I use FAQs a lot when trying to quickly find an answer. In my opinion, FAQs are hard to design for the reader in both content and navigation. And they are only as good as the information provided.

There are many ways to do FAQs as you know -- simple list with categories, Forums per category, and even a searchable knowledgebase (like Microsoft has).

I am torn between an FAQ list and a forum per category. Pros and cons to each -- FAQ list is not very interactive, so people can't really add their responses. FAQ subforums allow for sticky threads with the FAQs, but more interaction and queries from the audience, thus naturally enhancing the FAQ information for all readers.

I believe a sub-forum type of system is more flexible and perhaps easier to manage.

An example is JOOMLA, a content management system for web sites (which is what I use on www.paxlair.com)

Joomla FAQ List on main site

New Joomla FAQ List on their Help Site (more comprehensive)

Joomla FAQ Forum with subforums and discussion threads

These links show Joomla's use of FAQ methods. It's pretty obvious they use both FAQ methods (their help FAQ and the the Forum-based FAQ).

I hope my observations are useful.

Regards,
Winfield of PaxLair on Chesapeake

We are considering all options actually. Unfortunately, too few answers, and they are too even.

I would like the challenge of doing something different like a database, but not sure the forum can support it.

I also want to throw in some calculators in the posts, but no idea how to do that either.

Perhaps the old military acronym "KISS" will help. Keep it simple stupid.

I don't think we could use a database within the forum itself, but we could probably use a knowledgebase type software on the same domain

Since WHEN did the military follow it's own advice?

We SHOULD strive to KIUF though. Keep it user friendly. Right now, I jsut have doubts as to how easy it is to locate what you want quickly and with minimal clickage. PLUS, it limits my ability to cross link related posts in the same thread.

A data base is nothing more than the manipulation of an Array, but perhaps using http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki you can achieve the desired result.

When your in Combat Arms, Simple is often the best answer.

I'm pretty sure there used to be a modification/addon for Vbulletin which was similiar to a faq/knowledgebase, but I can't find it
I've asked though and i'll see what comes up

what about cross linking the threads so there easy to find like a index