8 replies to this topic

[Mr.D.]

It would seem redundant to post a how-to on how to write a how-to, however, in an effort to clean and organize the Mods and Overclocking sub-forum up a little bit, I'd like to share my ideas on this, and ask for your input.

The idea is that eventually there will be a [How-To]/[Tutorials] sub-forum right under the Benchmarks sub-forum that people have ignored for the past 6 months. What I would like to do is sift thru the posts below, find some examples of nearly or all-the-way completed [How-To]s and then pin them. This would put them at the top of the forum, in theory getting the most reads. The idea then would be to have the original author make any final tweaks or additions that should be made to the original post, and after a period of 'final commenting', the [How-To]/[Tutorial] would be promoted to the sub-forum above.

The catch being that those tutorials would be locked - no edits or comments allowed. If there were changes that needed to be made, they could be discussed openly in the sub-forum, and if the changes were appropriate, the original poster could then make the necessary edits.

A few thoughts about the threads that would make the cut in this promotion process:

• Must be easily read and easily understood - i.e. no ginormus words and technical details must explained thoroughly.
  
• Should be as complete as possible - nothing is ever done, I recognize this as do most of you, but an incomplete tutorial isn't a tutorial, its a build log.
  
• Should be specific - we don't necessarily need a [How-To] on righty-tighty, lefty-loosy specifics, but this would not be the place for your G5 mod. Everyone does their differently. I'll consider a sub-forum  for complete builds later, as I believe they should be highlighted prominently because most of us get our best ideas from others success, and even their failures.
  
• Should be well photographed - I don't mean with super expensive equipment, I just mean lots of pictures, and the pictures well composed. For an idea of how to compose pictures, go here.

What do you all think?

[WhatTheTech]

Title: Guide Central
Subtext: One stop shopping for answers to any questions that begin with "how do I..." and contain the word "mod"!

Or something like that

Definitely a great idea for a sub-forum - I'm all about streamlining access to information! Can't wait for the launch!

[Ira Aduro]

"How-to" keeps it clear and simple. I'd suggest maybe "Modding How-to" but that's probably not necessary since it is in the modding section.

WhattheTech's subtext is a good idea.

[Mr.D.]

anyone else have an opinion? I'll be asking for the sub-forum to be created beginning of next week so if you have an opinion, voice it now!

[Baudouin]

I'll go for it. Indeed, this sub-forum would regroup all the How-to answers and avoid to scroll around all the mods to find something someone has done before you.

[nickjf20]

I like the whole "Guide Cental" idea ... there's tonnes of good threads out there and discussion is good -- links to them would be the best thing with brief descriptions.
i.e. a sticky at the top of this forum with links would be better than another sub-forum

If G5modders.com ended up having a complete repository of all the great ideas over the years presented as well as the rest of the site we'd be sorted.

Edited by nickjf20, 03 March 2013 - 10:57 PM.

[Mr.D.]

I had not considered a thread with links to guides from other sites... that is definitely something to consider!

With regards to G5modders.com, remember that InsanelyMac is about waaaaayyyyy more than just modding G5s. and indeed this particular sub-forum is about more than just G5s as well. I am sure that WhatTheTech can back me here when I say that, while all good forums will have overlap, not all forums should be exactly the same. Each site can leverage each others strengths and also help to fill gaps left by the other.

Thanks for the ideas - I'll be getting this ball rolling hopefully this week.

[WhatTheTech]

Much agreed - while I have the chime and bluetooth mods on the resource page for the G5, these are mods which are not G5 specific, and are much more home in an hackintosh-centric forum such as this (and will help more people here too!).

[Mr.D.]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has contributed [How-To]s and [Tutorial]s to the HOW_TOs sub-forum above. This sub-forum has only been here for a few weeks and already we have eight excellent guides for everyone to use. For those of you who have projects that you have completed and documented, I invite you to post the guides in this forum so all of us can learn a little something from your efforts and labor!

Have an idea for something that you'd like to see a guide for - reply here and we see what can be done about that.

Also, these mods don't necessarily need to be for modding G5, MacPros, etc... A good guide is a good guide! So if you have something that you'd like to share from any mod that you have done, please post it in the forum!

Thanks y'all!