Merge Threads

[grantglendinnin]

I was speaking to a friend who runs a fairly busy business forum and was discussing the features of vBulletin in particular.

He has mentioned they had an add-on developed for their forum which allows threads to be merged (standard function in vBulletin) as well as adding .htaccess rules for each thread merged - thus both search engines and the internal search of vBulletin know where the 'main' thread is at.

When a thread is archived, the htaccess rule for that thread in the root of the forum is then deleted and in addition, added to the 'archive' subforum.

At the moment, if you merge thread B (thread id=9) into thread A (thread id =1) - if you click an external link to thread B (ie. from another site/search engine) you are automatically redirected to thread A, therefore in theory all visitors to thread id 9 will be redirected to thread id 1. This is useful if you come to the forum from an external source, all very good.

However, apparently it has also helped with search rankings when using their Google-powered search because instead of having 20 threads on the exact same topic, you get much more specific results. Again, quite a logical step.

One of the worst features of this forum in particular is the poor results using both the internal and Google-powered search - why not clear it up?

I know it's been mentioned numerous times, perhaps the reason this process hasn't been actioned is to keep the forum busy, surely it would benefit everyone if more merging went on in this forum. Sure, there's very little short term benefit (Actinic employee working his/her way through the forum) but the long term benefits would supersede this.

Maybe this should be in Wish Lists...

[cbarling]

Interesting point, Grant.

There hasn't been any policy decision not to do this, so we will need to think about it. Not sure what the implications would be in terms of resource.

Chris

[Mike Hughes]

On the other hand I quite like having threads in bite sized chunks. I hate having to wade through 20 pages of posts to find the info I'm after.

Mike

[grantglendinnin]

On the other hand I quite like having threads in bite sized chunks. I hate having to wade through 20 pages of posts to find the info I'm after.

Good idea - why not take the 'question' and 'answer' posts from threads and put them somewhere else, the KB or similar?

[cbarling]

A surprising amount of stuff has been put in the Knowledge Base, and we've certainly spent a lot of time on it in the last 18 months. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be that well used at the moment. This is possibly because the search seems poor, and turns up too many results.

We do want to look at ways to encourage more use and improve it generally, then we can put even more effort into the content.

Chris

[pinbrook]

A surprising amount of stuff has been put in the Knowledge Base, and we've certainly spent a lot of time on it in the last 18 months. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be that well used at the moment. This is possibly because the search seems poor, and turns up too many results.

We do want to look at ways to encourage more use and improve it generally, then we can put even more effort into the content.

Chris

Cart and Horse Chris, improve the search and people will use it more. Dont keep it up to date and no-one will use it.


One other issue is when people search in order to reply to a post it is less time consuming to remain within the community than go to another place.

Find a tool with good search features and merge the community and kb - killer result

[Mike Hughes]

I agree too. If the search gave results from the forum with knowledge base results above them then that would be a very powerful tool.

Mike

[leehack]

It still baffles me, especially in 2009 how badly advertised the KB is and how poorly used the header area of this forum is. If you want people to use and know about the KB, then shove it in their face. Some blended in blue button with a red star is plain rubbish IMO. Change its colour once a month and make it stand out.

Every member could have links to the important parts of actinic added into their signature by default also.

If you want to advertise something, then strip off and run down the street shouting about it. Don't write the message on the local park bench and hope to get the same exposure.

[pinbrook]

I notice your own signature (Chris) is primed for SEO rather than providing a simple link to the KB

[Ben]

All good points here, and some good ideas. Chris is right - we've been continually updating the knowledge base, but the search could be better and we could definitely do more to promote it. At the end of the day we want it to be used, so your suggestions are key.

There are possibilities for bring the kb into Community - watch this space.