Discussion recently about using the Search option to find something on RyPN. I can understand why this should be done. HOWEVER, there have been times when I have searched for something and been unable to find it. Even though I know it's there....somewhere! Is it better to keep searching, or just to put in a new thread? Do we not spend too much time on the internet now as it is? And here's another thing; I once put an update on an old thread to post something new and was criticized for doing that! So should old updates just be that; old? My feeling is that any criticism of new threads shouldn't be allowed. Let the moderators take care of it. That is what they are there for.

Anyway, my two cents.

Les

Les,

I am a big fan of the values used by the Reddit community known as Reddiquette. It isn't fool proof, but is a nice set of operating guidelines. Reddit allows voting, but other than that, it is a forum like any other.

http://www.reddit.com/wiki/reddiquette

Rob

Some parts of Reddiquette applicable to the conversation on RYPN:

Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life.

Don't complain about other users reposting/rehosting stories, images, videos, or any other content.

Don't complain about reposts. Just because you have seen it before doesn't mean everyone has.

Don't follow those who are rabble rousing against another Redditor without first investigating both sides of the issue that's being presented.

Don't conduct personal attacks on other commenters. Ad hominem and other distracting attacks do not add anything to the conversation.

Don't start a flame war. Just report and "walk away". If you really feel you have to confront them, leave a polite message with a quote or link to the rules, and no more.

Don't insult others.

I'd offer a suggestion to the people who love to post "USE THE SEARCH FEATURE!".

Along with saying "Use the search", it's nice to post a link to the relevant thread, if you're certain it's there and can easily find it. That's a much nicer way to help folks.

It's not uncommon to search for something and not find it, especially in a forum, since the forum software has no way to find related discussions.

For example, searching on 4-8-4 won't find results for "Northern" and vice-versa. If they don't use the term you're using, you won't get any results.

I just went through most of a year trying to turn up new information on old coal mines. It was surprising how many times the obvious search terms turned up nothing. Tweaking one after another, many times, finally turned up information--some of which seems to have been buried for years--but most people aren't going to enter variations on, say, "Powhatan mine fire 1944" nineteen or twenty times (it may have been more.) "mine disaster Powhatan", "1944 mine fire" "Cats Run portal mine fire" and other variations on the theme all gave me different results, some useless, some decidedly not. I'd call any good-faith effort to look for a thread good and wouldn't mind if someone asked about last year's 765 trips or the like.

The downside is that 95% of the people on Reddit never bothered to read the Reddiquette. You'll get the same post, literally the same post, multiple days in a row.

Adjusting your search... is part of searching. That's a reality.

And it's especially difficult when your query is made up of common words, or when the search engine isn't very good. I work in search for a living.

Any idiot's search engine can serve a result for contactor. It's a little harder when someone types southern pacific, because lots of documents have both words. A really terrible search engine gives you all documents containing only one of those words: that is called an "any-word" search that should burn in the depths of fiery hell.

Better search engines let you use a complex syntax. Just for starters, put it in quotes "southern pacific" and you get an exact phrase search. Some search engines handle special characters (Louisville & Nashville) better than others.

The real test of any search engine is a rock band called The The*.

The search engine on RyPN is not very good. This is not RyPN's fault, these are the limitations of the phpBB software and the underlying MySQL database.

Fortunately, you can site-search RyPN using Google, thusly:
site:rypn.org your query here


* "The" and many common words are called stopwords, meaning they are too common to justify actually indexing, since near every document would have them. With that in mind, try searching to be or not to be, that is the question. Yup, they're all stopwords but one. But it's also a major issue for things where an adjacent stopword changes the meaning significantly. The Oatmeal, vs. oatmeal. The Henry Ford vs. Henry Ford.

Posting new content to an aged thread is called necroing a thread. It brings it to the top of the list of threads on the forum, where the whole thread gets new attention and is often mistaken for a new thread.

Good: It captures the relevant history of a discussion and ties related things together.
Bad: on heated topics, this wakes the sleeping dog, kicks over the hornets nest and relights the ire, wastes the attention of forum posters, and causes them to contribute low quality content instead of good.

It's a real judgment call when to do that. Here's my take on it.

GOOD:

2011: Railroad folded up, gone to bankruptcy. // Real shame // Saw that coming // Receiver is so-and-so // Auction
2013: Hey, I did a survey of where all that stuff went after the auction. Here's where.

2011: Teeny & Tiny R.R., fun ride. // Yeah nice 4-6-2! // It's former B&O // Converted to oil // clean runner
2013: Yeah they gave up on the oil and are converting it back to coal.

2012: Solar panel on the caboose. // Details // Neat // Historical note: others did __
2013: Glad to report it wintered just fine.

2012: This is what Teeny & Tiny did this week / This weeks activities / This week's activities

BAD:

2011: Teeny & Tiny R.R., fun ride. // Yeah nice 4-6-2! // It's former B&O // Converted to oil // clean runner
2013: Hey, Teeny & Tiny R.R. has a coach #4640. Is that the former Rutland business car?

2011: Teeny & Tiny R.R., fun ride. // Yeah nice 4-6-2! // It's former B&O // Converted to oil // clean runner
2013: Hey, Teeny & Tiny R.R. just shut down operations.

2011: 1361 drama // 1361 fuss // 1361 nonsense // 1361 blither // 1361 blather //1361 hue // 1361 cry
2013: innocent question about 1361

Rx: split thread or delete necro, regardless of its innocence.