Build Logs

Louie Atienza · Post by **Louie Atienza** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:38 pm

I know currently we have a "rule" about only posting completed instruments, followed by any build pics. I always wondered why that waas the case, and I'm sure they can get pretty large.

Though in this day and age, I think it would be cool of we had a sub-forum just for build logs. My favorite aspect of the challenges, even moreso than building, is watching how others build, and a documentation of their techniques. Beginners can get a helping hand on their build, instead of clogging up forums with muliple "need help" posts. The search engine could then link to the actual posts in the build threads as well, where the problem and solution can be seen in context.

The "seasoned" guys can strut their stuff as well.

Andy Birko · Post by **Andy Birko** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:53 pm

I think a build log sub forum is a great idea! Don't like it? Don't look!

Post by **Charlie Schultz** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:50 pm

As I understand it, the rationale was that yes, they can get large, they can go on for years or they can never get finished. On the other hand, I can see value in them as well, especially for novice builders, and it might give more people the incentive to document their progress. Subforums is one idea. Time limits would be another idea. Or it might be kind of neat to have a photo-documented build for each different kind of instruments, a sort of FAQ if you will. I'm interested to hear other comments.

Louie Atienza · Post by **Louie Atienza** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:50 pm

Charlie Schultz wrote:As I understand it, the rationale was that yes, they can get large, they can go on for years or they can never get finished. On the other hand, I can see value in them as well, especially for novice builders, and it might give more people the incentive to document their progress. Subforums is one idea. Time limits would be another idea. Or it might be kind of neat to have a photo-documented build for each different kind of instruments, a sort of FAQ if you will. I'm interested to hear other comments.

A time limit for completion would be good, and non-complete builds could be purged. This would somewhat encourage completion. Maybe a smaller file size limit for the build pics, and the larger regular file size for the completed pics.

Waddy Thomson · Post by **Waddy Thomson** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 11:20 pm

There are a lot of photos in a build log, or at least there are in mine. My build albums range from 498 photos to as few as about 275. It's a lot of pictures. I have 11 builds documented in photobucket. I started for the purpose of posting build logs on another forum, and have kept it up for all my guitars, so far. It's a good way to follow your builds, and acts as a good reference to what you did. However, on a forum that hosts photographs, it's a lot of data to store. Limiting the number of pictures would probably be a good idea, but it'll take close to two hundred to do a full build. That said, you could encourage people to use a site like photobucket, and post image links for the build log. Downside is that they go away if someone changes a number in his album after posting the picture in the build log, or moves his albums, or takes them down.

Clay Schaeffer · Post by **Clay Schaeffer** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:32 am

A build log subforum might be nice. It might also be a good thing for the pictures to be linked off site and no attempt made to archive the discussions. That might solve some of the problems associated with data storage and time limits. It might also allow people to ask questions of those currently building rather than looking at long completed work.

Louie Atienza · Post by **Louie Atienza** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 3:17 pm

Redundant or obvious photos could be omitted. For example, one doesn't need to show detailed pics of cutting kerfed lining; one picture with teh linings installed and a brief description of how it's cut would suffice. Special techniques on jigs for example could be covered more fully in the tools and jigs section, with a link. I don't think 20 pics of one process is totally necessary, as this wouldn't be a 'how-to' section. Those could easily be offloaded to the appropriate forums; and the process has to be unique enough that there are not 100 threads on "glueing binding" for example.

One thing that really annoys me with other forums is when you go to look at a pics and all you see is 'picture removed." You them have a bunch of text that halfway makes sense.

I think however that overall this would be a great idea; as members can activevly participate in the forum this way, and possibly generate more traffic/views.

As far as space: maybe in 2 years we'll be moving into a 1000TB server, who knows!!

Bryan Bear · Post by **Bryan Bear** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:54 am

I think the only real reason to not allow them is storage space and I can not comment on the magnitude of the problem. Since we are not having to manually archive discussions, I see no reason to worry about how long a thread lasts or if the build is finished. Abandoned threads will simply get bumped further and further from the main page. But the search feature can bring them up as examples for people looking for tips on various procedures.

As to where to store the images, I suppose it depends on the argument for build threads itself. If the argument is that they can help people see different approaches to various tasks then they really need to be uploaded for it to have any future value. If it is just to log your builds and get real time advice then that is less important (but more annoying when they turn up in a search). I for one, found it really valuable seeing pictures of people executing the procedures, particularly when I was starting out.

On a related note, I think we should re-open the discussion of tips, tricks and tuts. I know we discussed this a few years ago and the consensus was to start a discussion if you had a tutorial or tip and put that in the title name but it never really took off. On other fora I visit there are sections for tutorials and it seems popular (on most). People new to whatever hobby the forum is devoted to can go there and get a ton of information that helps them be able to ask better questions. There also seems to be a sense of pride in making a good tutorial. Is there a way to combine these ideas? Is it possible with the new software to allow build threads and when staff recognizes a particularly useful one to have them link a copy to a tutorial section that can be searched separately?

Post by **Charlie Schultz** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:06 pm

Wow, good input everyone! I like the tutorial idea or breaking builds into sections so the individual threads don't get too large. We've started a couple new FAQ discussions in hopes of adding those to our FAQ section and I could see doing the same kind of thing for tutorials, tips, tricks and techniques. As before, please title the thread appropriately.

Louie Atienza · Post by **Louie Atienza** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:35 pm

On some forums, a prefix can be added to the beginning of a thread name; this may be a good way to sort out threads in a particular forum. For example, some prefixes could be "Build Thread" or "New Instrument Build" or "Jigs and Fixtures" or "Techniques" or "Tutorials"... or these can be the titles of different sub-forums, so the main pages could be just "general discussion." The only thing would be that moderators would have to check some "Jigs" or "Techniques" threads to ensure that safety is an important factor (ask me how I know!)

There were some great threads in the old forum that go bumped down and diappeared, and I wished I kept some of them. Bryan's right about threads with no activity getting bumped down, which should keep the main page fresh. But I think it's beneficial to have "completed" build threads, and maybe there should be at least an inactivity limit (maybe 6 months) on builds in progress.

MIMF

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