I know there are many regular visitors of this site that visit many of the other popular modeling site forums as well (WWMM2, ML, Track-Link, Hyperscale, RMS). Besides staying caught up with all the posts made on the Internet (a serious job), what is that you like about these other boards that you don't experience on this site?

I am going to be doing some upgrades and changes to our forum and thought it would be helpful to have this kind of honest feedback.

On a secondary note though (as long as I am asking ). Don't you get a bit tired of both network54 and disc.server and their slow or non-available status? I have been seeing a lot of DNS error, no response, or generally slow page loading from all their sites lately and would think this gets a bit frustrating.

Thanks,
Jim

hi jim,

as far as the forums go, i think you've got it right, the other sites i visit are pretty poor in comparison.

one thing i would like, on the latest posts page, if the thread has gone on to more than one page, can you make it so we can skip to the latest page by clicking on the page number as with the normal forums main page?

the only thing i do prefer about the other sites is how track-link has great big pics of members latest builds on the homepage. i know we have the on-display thumbnails, but cant they be made bigger?

keep up the good work

cheers

joe

I have gone to ML and FSM from time to time but I find our own site to be easier to navigate. The different forum topics that we have here break down better and I find it easier to find things here. Not to put down any of the other sites, but they have too many sticky forums and they don't give any information to improve one's modeling abilities like we receive here. Heck let's face it I'm a Armoramaholic and I like it. Why do you think that we keep getting so many new members? One statement that I see quite often from new members is that they find this site friendly and helpful. Bingo!!

The only thing I think would be better is what Joe has already stated so I am off my soap box now.

Ditto - I like the ability to skip to the last page in a multi-page thread too. Other than that little feature, there's nothing else out there that I visit regularly that tops the Forum structure here.

Gunnie

I stick to three sites mainly, with occasional visits to others. Armorama, A-Uk and totalmodel.com are my main sites and are visited about half a dozen times each every day . This keeps me in touch with a huge international community, A-Uk with people my own side of the pond, and totalmodel with international modellers that include all aspects of the hobby including wargamers and railways. I've learnt a lot from the cross-over of information between the different disciplines.

Hi Jim. I usually have the same routine every time I start surfing. I check IPMS stockholm first ... as its my local. Then hyperlink´s "click here to see whats new". Then missing link´s "constructive comments". Then track link´s "recently added content" and then here. I leave here to last as I stay the longest here and add comments, or whatever.
What I love most, is seeing other peoples´ work, whether it be in progress or finished. Its great sometimes to read about a subject you´re interested in, and help out, but the main buzz is seeing something fresh.
With nearly 4000 members now, there are maybe only 100, to 200 at most, that post regular pictures. I would love to see campaigns and group builds making "in-progress pictures" a participation must. Also anything else that encourages more in progress and finished work.
Reading the helpful posts about these pictures stirs up debate, lots of great tips, help and trivial but interesting information.
I love the armorama set-up and this would be my number one opinion ... more pictures and input.

The only other forum I visit frequently, is the new Twenot forum. It's only because they have a Sell, Trade and Buy forum with goodies that are easily available and at low cost (local shipping cost). Some day, when all the Dutch and Belgian modelers are over here, we'll have our own trading forum on Armorama too #:-).

I'm quite happy with our forums as they are right now. IMHO no need for drastic changes.

Don't worry. Nothing drastic.

Well unless you count the multi-language change, but that will only affect users who post in something other than English.

Cheers,
Jim

I visit quite a few boards:

• rec.models.scale: I like the ability to add folks to the "killfile" so you don't even know they are there. This USENET board is on its last legs, but the archives go way back to the early 90s. Cookie Sewell's reviews are normally posted here first.
  
• Missing Links: All business, very wake-like, almost no "fluff" that leads to a sometimes unfriendly atmosphere. EVERYONE seems to think it is their duty to inform a first time poster to post their real name and valid e-mail address. I like the fact that their boards are broken into WW2 Axis, WW2 Allied and Modern. I visit the modern board daily, stick my head into the Allied board every week or so and may check out the Axis board if I have a particular question regarding German WW2 armor. If I have a WW2 German armor question, this is where I ask it first. The way they have the forums set up, I can check the modern armor posts in a couple of minutes without having to sift through fluff and non-modern posts. Also the ability to see everyone who has posted prior to opening the thread makes it easy to see if the reply activity. Downside to this is that there is no way to "bump" a topic to the first page without reposting the topic.
  
• HyperScale's Tank Talk: Very small armor community, frequented by aircraft builders who have an armor itch. Cookie Sewell posts his reviews here as well.
  
• Fine Scale Modeler: The "fluff" has almost completely taken over the armor board. I still answer people's posts, but I have not seen any truly useful information posted there.
  
• and once in a while AOL's Scale Modeling Board: I stop by there once in a blue moon to direct people towards better modeling message boards.
  

im not sure if its one of those jargon phrases i never seem to know, but please define 'fluff'.

cheers

joe

fluff = little of substance

thanks,

cant say i spend much time in the finescale/ML forums, they are very boring and difficult to navigate.

cheers

joe

Being that we have similar sub-groups in our Armor forum:

WWII - Germany
WWII - USA
Modern - USA

What could I do to capitalize on these groups? Are they too specific? Would...

WWII Axis
WWII Allied
Modern Armor

...be better?

Of course if I had this feature working as planned a user would be able to select which groups he wanted to have shown by default on each visit.

Another idea...perhaps the main forum page could display the most active groups. So...

Armor Talk
WWII - Germany, Modern Armor, WWII - USA, Softskins

Thanks,
Jim

The only "international" sites I still contribute to is:
- FSM: I'm now only posting on threads involving Italian or Leopard 1A1/A2 stuff. The overall quality is in my view quite poor and on top of that I find the site not enough "visual"
I still visit:
- IPMS Perth: great source for reviews
- Track-Link: to check what's new
- PC-Modeler: to check what's new
What I do not visit anymore:
- Military Modelling: in my view is almost dead
- Missing-Links: I find attending to a funeral much more exciting than going through their forums
I think that we should work on:
- better organizing the Features section to make easier to locate the info
- give a burst to the Reviews section to stay as much as we can up-to date with the new releases (as I told in another post I can have access to quite a bit of new releases - mainly of resin kits - from the Italian manufacturers and I'm prepared to write reviews of them for the site)
- start loading photofiles in the Reference section (I've got over 8.000 pics, mainly on Italian subjects, but quite a bit of them are of US and other foreign manufacturers)
Ciao

Actually, since I moderate the Armor forum, here I check every thread with the green tank logo to ensure folks are behaving. As a visitor to M-L, the first (and usually only) forum I head to is "Modern" from their main discussion board. Of course, their site is armor only and doesn't have the amount of boards that we have. If I wasn't a moderator, I would most likely only visit the modern armor forum regularly. As it is, I probably only visit 5-6 forums out of the 16 modeling forums, none of the non-English forums, all four site related forums and none of the off-topic clubs.

I don't think the way our armor forum is broken down needs to be changed at all. You can just visit the ones you want from the main Armor Talk page. You just have to hope that the topic originator knows to group his topic in the proper category.

I also do not think that the way M-L has their replies tracked by poster would work here. We have some threads that go into multiple pages with more than 100 replies.

:-) I only have a token look at some of the other sites and that is just to see pics of completed models. No other site has inspired me to look very far into what it has to offer. There is nothing out there that competes with Armorama.
Mal

hey....that's us...tell me more...

One thing I like about MODELINGMADNESS.com forum is the easier method of posting pics on the forum. When I click to insert an image a little box opens to paste in the URL rather than having to mess around with the IMG tags. So much easier for newbies.

About the only boards I visit every day are Armorama and Missing Links. Armorama has a much more informal group of users than most other boards, as well as many inexperienced modelers. This leads to more how-to types of topics from the more experienced modelers -- I think the sharing of this type of information is a good thing. Unfortunately, there is also a considerable amount of fluff, but I just skip it and go to the topics that interest me.

I enjoy Missing Links for other reasons. ML has a lot more focus on research and references. I love the Allied group on ML and have gained some great information and reference by asking specific questions -- if you show that you have done your homework and at least made an attempt to find the info, the guys on ML respect that and will often give you amazingly detailed information. Some may consider this boring, but I love it. I also check out the General Forum and Constructive Comments regularly. I stick my nose in the Axis, Modern, Figure and Dio groups about once a week to see what they are talking about. I find it pretty easy to navigate.

If you think ML is boring, stay away from the AFV News forum. These guys are real treadheads -- many own actual military vehicles. These guys talk "AFV" -- nuts & bolts, ballistics, metal properties, swap war stories -- and don't pay much attention to modelling questions. Lots of great reference material tucked into this site, too, but you might have to dig for what you are looking for. I check it a couple times a week.

WW2MM doesn't do much for me, but I do check it out a couple times a week. Too much German stuff for my taste.

RMS -- haven't looked at it for years. I didn't like all the pitbulls that pounced on you if disagreed with their noble knowledge. Have they put out all the flames yet?

FSM -- too hard to navigate and I can't find much of any use.

Hyperscale and Planetfigure have great info on them, but I find them difficult to navigate. I visit each about once a week to see what's new.

TrackLink used to have its forums in newsgroups I could access through my Outlook Express. I liked that. Now it's web-based and I still like to visit a few times a week.

I'm also a member of a couple Yahoo Groups and find these enjoyable, but hard to navigate.

The only other site besides Armorama that I'm remotely impressed with is Perth Military Modeling Site. What I really like is the advanced info that is posted there on new releases. I envy the reviewer his access to early or pre-release kits.

Other than that I am very much in agreement to Fabio's assessments.

I think you've got a great site going here Jim. Don't change TOO much.

And that's why I like Armorama! No hostile actions here, only people who want to help.
Don't change too much Jim, I like the site as it is!!

If I may dive into this topic, as a long time lurker, member for a while and occasional poster I would like to say that this site is by far the best that I have come across.

I visit daily (unless away working) and enjoy it because (a) everyone is polite and willing to help with info or references, (b) it has a clear and (to my mind) logical breakup of areas of interest, (c) easy navigation - especially the ability to visit a particular page of a long topic ,and (d) the number of photos and links.

I also daily visit r.m.s. mainly for a laugh now as there doesn't seem to be a lot relating to models these days; Aircraftresourcecentre - mainly for the daily joke and funny pic - but still has items on some aircraft I am interested in; Hyperscale to check out some reviews and also for the references in Anzacsteel. However I do not visit the associated discussion groups mainly because navigation is so difficult and there are no pics attached. I also visit FSM occasionally but it just hasn't "clicked" with me.

Basically what I like here is that you can say "Here is a pic of what I am up to" and present it for all to see without having to refer to abms or a gallery elsewhere.

I haven't had any problems logging on/ server problems.

If you are considering changes then please just fine tuning where necessary - those of you who have been here longer may be able to think of some things, I certainly can't. Don't be like IT at work who have just upgraded for the sake of change and booted us back to the 16th Century.

As an aside "fluff" in my part of Oz is the polite term for "fart" - or as 1 dictionary defines it "minor explosion between the legs".

Brian

Just bring back the "last posted by xxx" on the forum main page

I visit Hyperscale, Modelling Madness, FSM, ARC and IPMS Stockholm quite often.
IPMS Stockholm is beautifully laid out but is not as instantly accessable as Armorama.
All have good points but for ease of use Armorama is tops for me.
It is the only site I've been tempted to join and join in the forums.

The only thing is when deleting pics from our galleries, it has to be done one by one.
Any chance of a multi-delete?

Cheers
Peter

Good suggestion Peter, also it would be nice if we could post ref photos in the refs album.