New forum: Place for Newbies?

[Cavecreature]

I totally agree with the above comments. Im new to the forum and already its a favorite. I find it easy to get around and very helpful. Forums that are too cluttered I end up leaving without every figuring anything out.

[mudnut]

Okay Wheels,time for you to go to "The Galley","Drinks and nibbles" To be exact!!Man,ya gotta try my "french bread ,camenbert and anchovie nibbly,seriously,It's to live for!!Mudnut.

[sundown]

I agree with RSN - Fewer forums make for more interesting and inclusive browsing. There are darn few posts that I don't learn at least a little from.

[Andy R]

You can see all the activity from the home portal page (and there is a lot these days).

We can also create more portals to bring posts in from selected forums to group them together. If that is something many of our members would find value in, please let me know and I can set those up...

As for the newbie forum, I am not too sure. I will be starting my sailing lifestyle this fall and sure will have a lot of questions and some type of terms sheet would be handy. We (the moderators) have been talking about adding some informative sections on some technical topics, maybe we should think about one for "The ABCs of Sailing & Blue Water Cruising"...

Thanks for the feedback from everyone, good food for thought!

[Pblais]

Simple questions are easily handled, it's the hard ones you don't get a warranty on around here. Ecery easy question you ask means lots of people can show off that they actually do know something.

Any honest question can be entertained.

maybe we should think about one for "The ABCs of Sailing & Blue Water Cruising"

O - is for Ocean
S - is for Sea or for South Lot's of S words. Maybe a whole forum.

Just a beginning any way.

[Sunspot Baby]

I think the number of categories is about right. When I come on the forum, I see all recent messages from every category. That makes it easy to keep up with what’s going on in general. However, when I want to find a thread about a specific subject i.e. rebedding deadlights or generator sets, I don’t have to look through every thread posted in the electronics, mechanical, structural, and maintenance super section.

I do wish we would all try to make our subject line a little more descriptive of the actual content of the thread. Some like need help with celestial navigation are great. Some are just too cryptic.

George

[Andy R]

Originally Posted by Sunspot Baby

I do wish we would all try to make our subject line a little more descriptive of the actual content of the thread. Some like need help with celestial navigation are great. Some are just too cryptic.

I agree that clear thread titles are important. That is something the moderation team tries to help out with. This is also important for search results as the thread title is a big factor in the results.

Also, searching is a great way to find past discussions on topics. Don't forget you can click on the "search" button at the top of the page and possible find what you are looking for that way too...

[old dog]

I'm a newbie and happy new owner of a woodie. I was hoping there might be a dedicated "care and feeding of woodies" sub-section within the broad maintenance section. I could not find such a place.

Does it exist and I missed it? If so directions please.

If it does not exist, I humbly suggest that you consider adding one.

Thanks,

Just bought our new-to-us old girl. 1972 Youngquist Viking Flybridge Cruiser. Built in Seattle.

[old dog]

Originally Posted by knottybuoyz

What if we created sub-forums under "Construction, Maintenance & Refit for different materials? Wood, FRP, Concrete, Steel, Aluminum, etc?

Rick

I think that would be a great idea.

[Canibul]

Hello from the Turks and Caicos Islands.

[unbusted67]

I don't entirely disagree with the call for a newbies section. I do think it's nice to be immersed in a topic. But I have also sometimes felt the need to just go to a quiet corner and share with someone that is like me, new to the game, that today I found out what a halyard is etc. I am not joking. I also feel like since many newbies start on dingies it is sometimes difficult to relate to some of the more in-depth topics. I know it's called "cruisersforum" but surely it is a bit less simple than that. Is there a dingy forum?
It is just be nice to be able to relate with someone who is experiencing what you are experiencing

[David_Old_Jersey]

No Newbies corner!

I can see the attraction, but my advice is for anyone unsure of their subject is when asking a question they think may be dumb is just to say something to the effect of..........."I have had a boat for 5 minutes and I know next to b#ggar all - I am asking a question cos' I don't know the answer / need some clarification".

At this stage 2 forumites with 400 years of sailing experiance between them will come along and answer your question. Quite possibly by providing 2 completely contradictory answers and then proceed to have a longggggg "discussion" between themselves, whilst competely forgetting about the OP...........or I could be getting this place confused with elsewhere??

[David_Old_Jersey]

I know what a Halyard is .

I learn what most of the other bits of rope do (on the boats I have had), by pulling on them and seeing what happens . can I name them all? errr........ no . Does it matter? Not much, cos' most of those I sail with don't know what they are called either

I was helping a 100% Newbie mate of mine to buy his first boat (a Mobo ) a couple of years ago and as part of me guiding him I wrote a long list of the equipment I thought he should carry onboard to try and make sure he got a vessel that was already well equipped.

Unfortunately (??!!) I did a typo and called "Warps" (Mooring lines!)......."Wraps"........50% of the time he still calls them this!! (and he WAS kinda p#ssed when I realised his error, cos' by then it was a couple of months later and "Wraps" had been well entrenched in his brain!........and a couple of years later, still is ).

[unbusted67]

Hah! That is funny stuff. Quite true.
I am not afraid to ask a dumb question. I am actually quite used to it.

Not only is this forum a place to trade knowledge it is a place to share experiences and be where there other like minded individuals. As for foraging for knowledge I will stick to the main forum topics. But for experiences and being with people who are going through he same trials and tribs, it would be nice to have a newbies corner. It would be good for the old salts to. They could be reminded of the good old days and why they started sailing to begin with. It would also be a good place to get into dinghy discussions. I am sticking by my guns on this one.

I will say that it was especially refreshing to enter into the sailors confessional forum and read how the pros are still very much on the learning curve. For want of a newbies corner that seems to be the best alternative.

[Alan Wheeler]

We have a "Newbies forum"....................................... It's called the CrusiersForum. :-)

Seriously, every single person here is learning. And every single person here can have input, no matter what part of the curve they are sitting on. I learn as much as I share. No actually thats, incorrect. I learn more, waaaay more than I share. Having a a dedicated forum is a waste of time because all of us would be posting on it.

I would also like to make it very clear to everyone. One of the major visions for this forum is to have a "safe" place to post. It's the main reason we are tuff on some rules. We would like this place to be one that anybody can post any question (boating related of course) and not have the feeling that they are asking something that may be stupid, or too basic or what ever. Those that are experianced are very happy to reply to the most basic of question. I may have experiance in one or two fields, but am a compleate novice in others. Infact, sailing is new to me and my wife as well and I am probably one that tends to ask the most basic of question here when it comes to sailing.
It is also important (from our perspective) to not clutter the Forum with too many headings and making the place disjointed. Posts in wrong headings already occur, but I think we have an OK balance at the mo.
However, if the need is there for a dinghy sailing heading to be created, by all means we can certainly do that. Just let us know.