Should we have a Stringing Forum?

[Cheung]

I don't think we need a stringing forum but a stringing section on the left hand side would be nice, things like stringing techniques, stringing machine reviews, ect....

I quite like this idea

[timeless]

I think it's time for a POLL!!!

BTW, when the idea of a stringing forum comes to mind, I always thought of it as being a forum UNDER/WITHIN the BF/BC discussion forum. Not a separate website/entity. So some people call it a sub-forum, and others just another forum. In any case, I too think it would be a good idea to have it listed with all the other forums/sub-forums in the left hand table of links, probably under "Equipment".

[Neil Nicholls]

I always thought of it as being a forum UNDER/WITHIN the BF/BC discussion forum. Not a separate website/entity.

me too...........

[kwun]

ok. i have created the "stringing techiques" forum.

still not sure where is the dividing line between that and equipment forum.

a lot of thread talks about 1-2 more lbs on the cross string, is that stringing techinques or just equipment/performance related?

[Neil Nicholls]

ok. i have created the "stringing techiques" forum.

still not sure where is the dividing line between that and equipment forum.

a lot of thread talks about 1-2 more lbs on the cross string, is that stringing techinques or just equipment/performance related?

Thankyou.
I'm happy to help moving the threads if you want.


if it is "should I string the crosses at 2lb more than mains"
it is stringing

if it is "how does the racquet perform with strings at that tension"
it is equip[ment

if in doubt, either
stick em in stringing and we'll sort it out later
or
post a list of the thread numbers and we'll have a look

[kwun]

if it is "should I string the crosses at 2lb more than mains"
it is stringing

if it is "how does the racquet perform with strings at that tension"
it is equip[ment

what if it is :

"will the racket perform better if i string 2lbs more in the cross?"

[Neil Nicholls]

what if it is :

"will the racket perform better if i string 2lbs more in the cross?"

equipment forum

[Dill]

what if it is :

"will the racket perform better if i string 2lbs more in the cross?"

Can we not put that one in the "try it and see" forum?

Can I start a campaign for a try it and see forum

[kwun]

Can we not put that one in the "try it and see" forum?

Can I start a campaign for a try it and see forum

i will make you the moderator for that one, and i will see your blood vessel burst one by one....

[timeless]

I say we shove everything and anything to do with strings, tension, etc. into the new stringing forum. All the rest of the equipment can remain in Equipment. That way it will offload and isolate a lot of confusion into one place haha. Eventually the stringing forum will have a bunch of stickies for common questions involving tension and stringing too.

[Neil Nicholls]

I say we shove everything and anything to do with strings, tension, etc. into the new stringing forum.

Nooooooooo.....

I didn't want stuff like "is BG-65Ti better than BG-65" in there

[kwun]

I say we shove everything and anything to do with strings, tension, etc. into the new stringing forum. All the rest of the equipment can remain in Equipment. That way it will offload and isolate a lot of confusion into one place haha. Eventually the stringing forum will have a bunch of stickies for common questions involving tension and stringing too.

there is too much overlap between string and racket. it will be hard to set the division. i have spent enough thoughts trying to figure out the string / stringing division.

i was actually considering spliting up the Equpment forum into small ones. but after a lot thoughts, i just cannot figure out a way to split it. two that are potential are:

split by type of equipment:

- Clothing Forum
- Racket/String/Grip
- General Equipment

split by question type:

- Equipment recommendation
- General Equipment

neither of which are very good division.

[timeless]

To someone who doesn't know, who better to ask than a stringer? You can't just take the good and without the bad. As enticing as it may seem, it's not fair to the Equipment forum to leave whatever crap you don't want to deal with in there hahaha .

Eventually I would think a sticky outlining the characteristics of the popular strings would be in order as well. Their strengths and weaknesses etc. so that people can clearly see for themselves which is "better" without asking about it.

[kwun]

To someone who doesn't know, who better to ask than a stringer? You can't just take the good and without the bad. As enticing as it may seem, it's not fair to the Equipment forum to leave whatever crap you don't want to deal with in there hahaha .

Eventually I would think a sticky outlining the characteristics of the popular strings would be in order as well. Their strengths and weaknesses etc. so that people can clearly see for themselves which is "better" without asking about it.

i agree with both. i think stringers among us should also frequent the Equipment Forum and answer string related questions in there as well.

as for the string characteristic, what we need to do is to create a badminton knowledge base for all badminton topics. we have tons of expertise here in BC and we can do a lot to benefit others. the string characteristics and even stringing techniques knowledge should be covered.

[timeless]

I think the boundaries between stringing and strings, racquets, and grips are quite clear. The only problems being if someone were to ask something like, "Which strings would go best for this racquet?"

I suggests FAQs in each forum outlining the common questions etc. and a notice at the top of each forum stating that all readers must read it because any posts containing questions already covered in the FAQ will be ignored and deleted. That's what all the major hardware/software forums these days do. There's just no way around it, otherwise you'll be holding the hands of every other new user.

Kwun, I was actually thinking an expansion of the Equipment forum would be nice too but didn't want to push it since I thought there seemed to be so much resistance already regarding a new stringing forum. However, since you brought it up how about:

Equipment:
- Raquets & Grips
- Strings & Stringing
- All Others (Clothes, Shoes, etc.)

That should keep it relatively simple until further need for expansion arises. I'm guessing the average amount of threads and activity in each forum would be about even in the above arrangement. Just my opinion of course, I'm sure you have a better idea of which topics get the most hits on.

[timeless]

You posted before I finished my own! But yes an online encarta-like knowledge base would be the optimal solution. Then the forums will hopefully be left to new discussions. Might get kinda slow in the forums after awhile tho!

[kwun]

You posted before I finished my own! But yes an online encarta-like knowledge base would be the optimal solution. Then the forums will hopefully be left to new discussions. Might get kinda slow in the forums after awhile tho!

hopefully the knowledge base will not stifle any discussions but instead provides a higher level/standard of basic knowledge and thus stimulates even more thoughtful discussions in the forum.

the difficulty is that assembling such a knowledge base isn't going to be a simple task. we need the input and contribution from the community of BC experts, and organize the knowledge in such a way that is accessible. the idea i have is to set up a Wiki site for badminton. a wiki is a software that allows each member edit pages of a website and adds/modifies entries to the knowledge base as they deem appropriate. it works for a larger base of contributors like the website www.wikipedia.org and i am trying to learn to use the software and see how much is needed to adapt it to BadmintonCentral.

if it is successful though, it will be a huge contribution to the badminton community in general.