I am back fora while..

Welcome back, Bob!!

And I'm sure you will have your windmill back in no time.

Unfortunately, windmill are very easy to loose if you don't post anything to the newsgroup. Unfortunately, the rules to get/keep a windmill force people to post "something" regularly, even if they don't have anything interesting to say. That's why we often see bunch of post such as "thank you" or "great", "I too did the same thing as the 10 others", etc.

There should be distinct rules to "keep" the windmill than to obtain it. This would help to keep the newsgroup "cleaner". (we have to dig more and more to find valuable post).

On a positive side, we can see that the newsgroup is being very active and popular, which is not visible when people only "read" things. Would be a nice feature to know how many people actually read threads, would show up how active the POI-Factory newsgroup is. It appears to gain in popularity every months...

- Pierre

Hey, glad to see you're back. Always enjoyed your informative posts.

I agree with you, lemayp. A couple things I see happening lately:
The same answer is being posted several times on the same thread. Evidently either the member isn't reading the thread before posting or the post is made for the reason mentioned above, 'need to keep my windmill'.

The second thing I see is more and more threads are created covering subjects that have been discussed (or are being discussed) and are most often fully answered. Is this also done because I 'need to keep my windmill'? I'd like to suggest that before a new thread is made, do a search to see if that subject has already been resolved.

A little leniency on keeping the windmill might eliminate some of these problems. I still say this is the best GPS site going .... maybe we could make it just a little bit better??

Thanks.

RT

Maybe if we can suggest some great way to keep the windmills without posting, we can earn a lightbulb... and a windmill! =)

Ideas from me? humm.... no clue... that's why I don't have any lightbulbs.

As to the origin of the windmill icon on this site? And why a windmill? The lightbulb sounds kinda cool. IMHO

dd

I should have checked here ( http://www.poi-factory.com/node/2887 ) first, silly me.
Now, how do we qualify for one?

dd

Many of those questions are covered in FAQ. I don't know how many times I directed to the page. I'm glad we have MM, because she's always polite answering these questions. I also noticed that some tend to create a new thread rather than posting to an existing one.

I suggested to Jon that some sites mandate reading through FAQ before they're allowed to post. One in particular, 8th Generation Honda Civic forum, has a very strict guidelines and if you're caught posting irrelevant topic you're given a warning and 2nd time, you're suspended. I thought it was too strict, but I found the forum to be very highly active and yet clean, and was easy to find a thread I was looking for.

oups.. i thought the lightbulb was for great ideas.... =(

I Didnt mean to start this.. I Was just making a funny and thought it was funny that I lost my Windmill.. I will still be a part of this great family and dont really care if I do or dont have one.. I love helping others out and love to ctreate POI files (Which btw, I am now getting emails thanking me for my hard work, that is most gratifing to me to keep coming back.

I find the only real reason to have a windmill is to get the red light poi file, which btw I really dont care.. Yea, I do download them sometimes but really dont make much differnce if I get it or not..

What I do enjoy is coming on line and reading all the information that is here.. yes, I do use "Mark as read" command but in most, I do read all the messages.. I love to hear from everyone.

I feel no one should really care if they have one or not.. IF they want the redlight files, they should pay for them .. As forest gump would say
"and that All I got to say about that"

So really, It dont realy matter if I have a Windmill or not.. This place is just a great place to hang out when I got time to do so..

BTW My next trip is going to be to China.. I am sure that will be fun!!

PS.s
Will be updating my POI files with all the great info from all of the great users out there!

I agree with all re: the mulitple threads being created about topics that have already been posted and/or addressed.

My suggestion, because I think many of these are coming from new members that have not read through the site, as opposed to people simply trying to keep their windmills ....

Maybe Miss POI/Jon could add a function to the site that would require a 'keyword search' prior to allowing someone to create a new forum topic??

These are all great ideas, Jon has been working for a few weeks on some programing that will greatly improve the way things work on the site. It is still a work in progress and will still take some time but you guys are going to love the changes that we are planning to make.

Once we roll out the new system things are going to be much more fun and more organized;)

Keep in mind that this is our first time running a site like this and we have just hit our one year mark. We know that there are lots of things that we can improve upon, we are learning as we go and really appreciate your patience with us.

Also remember that this is all about having fun, this site and the things that you do on it should not feel like work or a second job. This is a side hobby that you should be doing because you really enjoy it and it makes you happy.

Miss Poi

This forum already looks great. Looking forward to the improvements!

RT Says I agree with you, lemayp. A couple things I see happening lately:
The same answer is being posted several times on the same thread. Evidently either the member isn't reading the thread before posting or the post is made for the reason mentioned above, 'need to keep my windmill'.

The second thing I see is more and more threads are created covering subjects that have been discussed (or are being discussed) and are most often fully answered. Is this also done because I 'need to keep my windmill'? I'd like to suggest that before a new thread is made, do a search to see if that subject has already been resolved.

A little leniency on keeping the windmill might eliminate some of these problems. I still say this is the best GPS site going .... maybe we could make it just a little bit better??

And I Agree With RT There should be a different way of getting a windmill and keeping it with out having to post all the time

Great to see you back

Well Spoken Miss POI you and JM are doing one Fine Job

Ohh.... I always wanted to go there, esp before the olympics... I hope you can share some of your stories on the site when you get back. I'm sure you'll have some tales... =)

Welcome back bobkz. You are going to have a great time in china. By the way, I'm heading down to disney the for next two weeks, I'll look forward to talking to you all when I get back.

The changes you have made in the past have been great, so I am looking forward to the new ones. As far as this is work, it is. It is a labor of love and fun. I am on this website at least twice a day reading, even though I have not signed in. It has been educational, fun and most interesting. I consider the others on the site, as friends.

Please keep up the great job you and JM are doing.

Alan

and it also looks like I've "earned my wings/blades" for the short term once again. I want to offer you one of my blades if you need it for the short term, in fact take it to China with ya and have a good time. My motto is "Share what you've got and keep what you need."
You might also consider taking some US made products to China to sell, as this might help with the trade deficit numbers for the Bush Administration. I'd suggest some bootleg movies with Chinese subtitles?

I think the "keyword search" is great. By doing that enables the individual to see if there are posts out there that can help them before starting a new thread on a topic that already exists. Also, we have to keep in mind that not everyone is computer savvy. Myself included. Refer to me as a novice...

Are you taking your GPS with you? I wonder it would work there. What cities will you be visiting? I have some co-workers just come back from China.

I also suggest newbies be required to read through FAQ before they're allowed to post. Lately, I've seen a flood of questions that are well covered in FAQ. These posts actually make it more difficult to search for previous posts with answers/solutions.

rhamona,
this has nothing to do with someone being a computer savvy or not. To me, it's a common sense. Forum is not a chat session. There's a good reason why many sites have FAQ pages. You say you're a novice...I say you have the forum netiquette mastered.

Over the next few weeks I would like to take a closer look at our faq's and add important things that may be missing. I will be looking over the discussion forums to look for items that are not covered in the FAQ area. Maybe this will cut down on some of the repeat questions that keep popping up.

Miss Poi

Hi Miss poi,

Majority of the questions are covered in FAQ already. What the site needs now is to get people (mostly the newbies) to start using search and faq. People will still post even if you have the best FAQ if they don't read them.

I suggest you take a look at 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum. First thing they make you do when you want to sign up for an username is to read the forum rules. Their cardinal rule is that you have to check faq and search for existing thread before you post a new topic/thread and they do enforce the rule. I first thought the rules are too harsh, but I soon realized that it really makes searching very easy so you actually spend less time looking for answers. AND the site is still very active even with the rules.

Given that you have a critical mass (30K+ users), you probably should start considering putting some rules/policies in place to keep the site manageable for you/Jon.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not against people posting. I just think they should post in existing thread rather than create a new one. Having many threads for the same question actually make searching less valuable, because it forces people view these threads to see if it can help them...pretty soon they stop searching and just post a new thread...

My 2cents.

Wow, I really like that. I will be discussing this option with Jon to see if we can incorporate it into our community.

Miss Poi

Several comments were made regarding questions often being repeated on this site. I believe at times people don't think of going to the faq's or are not aware that they exist. I suggust that a tab be placed on the home page along with "discussion" , etc labeled FAQ's. the larger noted category would replace the present smaller sub listing and draw more attention; possibly minimizing repeated questions.

First of all, thank you for maintaining this site of information.
My suggestions:
1. Change the required number of postings to gain free updates of redlight camera POI within the short period of time. I believe some postings are done for that purpose. Use number of windowmills as insignia for level of participation on posting or forego it entirely.
2. Originally, I paid the $5.00 for the red-light camera POI. Perhaps change this to $5-10 yearly subscription without required minimum number of posting within a set period of time. If one has technical issues, require him/her to read FAQ first before posting is allowed. Good indexing or categorization of FAQ's will be challenging.
These are just my opinions.