New Airstreams vs old Airstreams

[Denis4x4]

Instead of adding to another thread on adding a tech section, I thought I would propose that the Airforums consider dividing the sections by AS age. Too often, a thread starts out asking about an issue on 2004 - 2013 Airstreams. Before long, somebody chimes in with a 1972 model that has nothing to do with the OP's question.

When it comes to AS lifestyle, it's apparent that owners of older AS's are more supportive of clubs/events than owners of newer AS's. i belong to and support several car clubs that are model specific and their websites are specific to those model years that appeal to owners.

There are several sites appealing to owners of older RV's and owners of AS's are regular contributors. In addition to my AS, I also own an older MH and a 1985 Avion.

To sum up, the owner of a 1972 AS has a different take on the situation regarding the problems associated with new AS's.

[jdalrymple]

Only in the spirit of a open discussion and not to be argumentative:

Those categories exist.

Getting folks to post in the correct categories is the trick.

Adding more places to post won't correct behavior.


Regards,

JD

[mutcth]

In this same vein, I wish that some of the sections were more inclusive/broader. For example, a 2008 Safari SE is basically the same as a 2006. Wish they were all packaged together rather than broken apart.

That's one of the things I really like about the Argosy section - it's one big forum.

Tom

[PharmGeek]

As still pretty much a newb to this forum...I get really darn confused about choosing the right section...seems like I scroll up and down for 3 min and end up confused...user error no doubt...but perhaps a different format or organizational scheme would help immprove behavior? A thought anyway..alternatively I may just be a dullard.

[Stefrobrts]

The important thing is that new posts appear on the Portal/New Posts list, so people are going to see it there no matter what Forum you put it in. While information about the specific year of trailer is important, the appliances and systems are so similar it's entirely possible a vintage person might have your answer. Or maybe only a person with your specific trailer will have the answer, depending on the question.

If you have a thread where you think someone's input has taken it off track, let a moderator know, and maybe we can strip off the posts into their own thread and get it back on track.

If you put it in the wrong forum, the moderators often catch that as well and quietly move it to a more appropriate spot. So don't let that stress you out.

Personally I like the forums organization as it is. I also belong to car forums where they divide it up pretty specifically, and if I post a question in my year's forums, it will only be seen by the folks with my specific year car, which is a small population, when folks with the older and newer cars might have good input as well.

[TBRich]

Originally Posted by Denis4x4

....>snip<....When it comes to AS lifestyle, it's apparent that owners of older AS's are more supportive of clubs/events than owners of newer AS's.....>snip<....

Hmmm... Sorry, but that's not been my experience at all ... I know plenty of owners of newer Airstreams who are supportive of clubs/events and the Airstream lifestyle in general ... myself included.

[mustang]

I have owned many Airstreams from 60's to my present 86 model. I never had a problem like described.

[mefly2]

Interesting observations ...

[Luigi123]

Perception is reality---at Rallies people are happy to see each other spend time catching up, newbies sometimes don't know where to jump in without imposing, thus sometimes read too much into it that they are not inclusive enough then drop out. We were invited to a small rally around 30 AS, there was an open house we went through 15-20 AS made friends, joined the WBCC, and bought an AS that same year. Airstreams are like most other niche brands, but it takes two to tango-- invite us in, we will do the rest whether we are young, old, new, or newer.

[Skater]

Originally Posted by Denis4x4

Instead of adding to another thread on adding a tech section, I thought I would propose that the Airforums consider dividing the sections by AS age. Too often, a thread starts out asking about an issue on 2004 - 2013 Airstreams. Before long, somebody chimes in with a 1972 model that has nothing to do with the OP's question.

There are a couple issues here:
1. The forum shows new posts on the right side without showing what forum they're from, so it's easy to miss that a question related to a specific year or model and people jump in, trying to be helpful, without realizing their answer has no bearing on the situation.

2. The layout of the forums itself isn't really the issue. Read practically any thread at all - there's always someone jumping in with irrelevancies. In the Wifi thread recently, it was someone claiming Wifi wasn't a necessity of camping. Irrelevant. In the hitch forums, people with different brands of hitches who've never owned the hitch in question jump in with their experience. Irrelevant. In the tow vehicle forum, people pop in with CHEVY RULES!!! on a thread about a problem with Fords. Irrelevant. I think people don't realize how rude they're being when they do this - someone is trying to get an answer to his/her question, but he/she has to wade through a bunch of useless, irrelevant posts that often develop into a complete side topic of their own. (In other forums I use, we have a emoticon that has the little guy banging his head against a brick wall... imagine I just posted it right here.)

I don't know how to address this issue; if we could administer slaps over the internet, it might help.

3. In general, people say things on the forum/Internet they would never, ever consider saying in real life, which goes to Luigi123's experience.

[Protagonist]

I've recently made extensive use of the "Ignore Forum" and "Ignore Thread" tools.

As the owner of an Interstate Class B, I'm not going to have worthwhile input on most trailer-specific sub-forums, so now, every time I see a thread for a specific make/model I "ignore" that whole sub-forum. Not only minimizes the number of irrelevant-to-me posts I have to wade through, but minimizes the chance for me to make irrelevant-to-others posts in those sub-forums.

I also subscribed to the whole sub-forum for WBCCI and Sprinter/B-van, so I am alerted via e-mail when there are new threads in either forum.

In between are the Technical and Community sections that aren't model-specific, where I neither ignore nor subscribe to any particular sub-forum but rather decide on the threads on a case-by-case basis.

Makes using the AirForums a lot easier for me.

If you have an interest in a specific make or model, you can use the Forums button at the top, drill down to the make and model you'rte interested, and subscribe to that whole sub-forum, with whatever notification scheme you prefer. Then, when anybody starts a new thread in that section, you'll be notified.

And the converse, if you have a distinct lack of interest in a make or model, you can use the same process to find the sub-forum you're not interested in, and use the Forum Tools drop-down menu to ignore that whole sub-forum.

New posts in ignored forums may still show up on the right-hand side Recent Discussions list (I haven't paid much attention to find out), but they won't show up when you use the "New Posts" button on the blue navigation bar.