Technical Articles

[Alastor]

Has it ever been considered to create “Technical Articles” on popular topics that can be referenced when someone asks questions about a topic that is routinely brought up?

I realize there is the search engine, but not everyone uses it. As well, even when one does find old threads (especially long threads) it can be difficult to weed out all the factual information.

It seems to me it could be added as a sub-forum in the technical forum. The articles should be a collection of all the factual information provided by UCP members. As well, the articles should be open to debate and updated with corrections as needed.

Thoughts?

[Matra et Alpine]

Good idea Alastor.
Would need to watch that we weren't reposting copyright material.

I'm not sure it would help on the weeding out as each will end up with confusion and clarificatoin as we've a wide range of knowledge and understandind. So often a simple explanation needs all the facts to explain it fully and other times it needs a first-steps intro. So I think every point will end up "messy" after a while. BUT that's what forum posts are like and is their pro ( and con ! ) But certainly for a while it would be easier

I guess having a requests, articles and comments sub could mitigate that by keeping the articles 'clean' and debate in the 'comments' and requests for new or clarification in the 'requests'. It works for Matts hi-res well.

Let's see......

[Alastor]

Would need to watch that we weren't reposting copyright material.

Defiantly a valid point. As it is possible to find information on just about any topic one could ever want it will be important for people to provide information in their own words. There is nothing wrong with using another source for information, it is why we are here, but the information must regurgitated in poster’s own words.

I'm not sure it would help on the weeding out as each will end up with confusion and clarificatoin as we've a wide range of knowledge and understandind. So often a simple explanation needs all the facts to explain it fully and other times it needs a first-steps intro. So I think every point will end up "messy" after a while. BUT that's what forum posts are like and is their pro ( and con ! ) But certainly for a while it would be easier

Agreed, they could get to be overly complicated. However, the goal should be a in-depth article that provides enough basic information for anyone to understand topic. Though it is no easy to task to write a good technical article for this very reason.

I guess having a requests, articles and comments sub could mitigate that by keeping the articles 'clean' and debate in the 'comments' and requests for new or clarification in the 'requests'. It works for Matts hi-res well.

Cleanliness is what I was thinking when brought this up. There is ton of information across the technical forums but some times it is hard to retrieve or understand it all. I like the idea of having all the information in a single place, and having a background that gives the reader the basic tools to understand the entire article.

I think you brought up some good suggestion, because if the articles are no more clear than normal threads the articles become futile.