Nomination for a Newbie Thread FAQ

[John Skardzius]

Well, I don't post often, but have been lurking on this board and its previous incarnation since 2001. I for one, am in favour (favor) of a NUDE section on this board. A FAQ format makes for easier retrieval of information. The issue does end up being one of ownership. In order for it to work, the information would have to be editorialized. AS others have mentioned there is plenty of good information on this board. Finding it is not such an issue, but undestanding the CONTEXT of the information takes up the time. By the time one sorts through hyperbole & misinformation one must then analyse the 2 or 3 valid answers to the question. That is why books still get published. In order to be successful, a method of validating the information, editing it and presenting it in context by a person or persons recognized by the general community as being proficient to make those decisions must be organized. That is a large undertaking and would take a lot of dedication or money. An alternative would be to set up an "open source" encyclopaedia of such information...i.e like Wikkipedia http://www.wikipedia.org Mujch to ponder...to go NUDE or not!

[mtc]

I think your best bet would be to study the manuals and if you dont understand something ask.

aya16 said it all.

My background didn't include Macs, but with my stint in the Sea Scouts some 40 years ago, rather than the Boy Scouts, boats have been in my life as long as I can remember.

Still, I know very little of what there is to know about the sea.

Still, if you read my posting I'm not at all afraid to ask these wonderful sailing partners.

Still, always remember, boats are boats are boats.

The idiosyncrasies of the Mac are many, yet manageable. The M boat is more like the Hobie with its rotating mast, duel rudders, and Spartan accommodations. They're also a lot like an enduro dirt bike with universal tires - limited in the street as well as on the trails - but the perfect machine for someone who just wants some diversity.

Every time - every single time - I have asked a question on this wonderful forum, many other sailors have volunteered their experience. Not once did anyone give me any grief (with the exception of being envious of the blue hull (by the way, got my first scratch and wish my blue hull was white!!)).

I'm sure I'm not alone when offering my time, experience, and opinion for this boat or any other boat if I can help.

Again, get involved, and most importantly:

I think your best bet would be to study the manuals and if you dont understand something ask.

Michael

[k9piper]

Wow,
It looks like we have a lot of different views on this topic. All are good. Sure, you can learn a heck of a lot by reading the manuals and shouldn't you. Sure , we can take a class opr two. Maybe a Newbie thread might be to big or bothersome to manage. Maybe some do not care to pass on what they have learned over the years , while some may want to.
If the idea of a newbie thread is questionable or might tie up the board perhaps we copuld start up an online mentoring list. Perhaps we could pair up the less sail able with the been doing it forever members and just maybe we could "Get ER Done".
I think we have enough folks on this board who could help someone new and maybe we could do the pairing up by wher we live or in a regional area. We might also be able to do it bby the area we sail in.
By doing this it would free up the board areas and would have folks contacting each other by PM.
Heck just a thought from an old salty dog man!

[Andy26M]

I would agree that a FAQ section could be useful. The problem is, as others have mentioned, who is going to be responsible for maintaining it? You can take a look at thousands of FAQ sites all over the web, and the majority of them are out of date.

The people that should be doing a FAQ are MacGregor - who might be able to have a full time person to maintain it, as well as collect up the information for future iterations of the owner's manual. It blows my mind that MacGregor does not actively monitor these sites and have a person designated to jump in and answer questions.

I think k9piper has a wonderful idea. I'm definitely the sort of person who learns a lot better from a hands-on demo than from a book, and would volunteer to be a "mentor" and help out another sailor.

The mentor thing would not be hard - just make a sticky post for people to volunteer and post their "qualifications", and anyone interested in further discussion could PM those folks.

- AndyS

[Heath]

I like the idea of a place for collected knowledge and will try to implement it when I can find a tool (or write one) to do what I want it to do. I'm thinking something like a wiki but want to make sure it has certain features. Please email or PM me with ideas or software suggestions.

Heath

[waternwaves]

Heath et. al.

IT would seem that a book is too quaint

perhaps a Annual database of indexed content..... Keyed with the following.

Subject header

keywords

type of mod

location

etc...,

I think a printed anything......is a little to passe' now....maybe a winzipped app to download onto a PDA/Laptop on the boat..for those of us that sail in distant waters.....or without cell networking. maybe a link from the site to be able to squirt a download once a month or so....so as to not hog bandwidth. The photo issue has me stumped, the only way around that one, with copyright and other aspects seems to be a CD or larger. thinking of it as a tool on the boat.. I probably would keep the existing format just for familiarity, and only upgrade search indexes within the data.

JMHO

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[Lawnchair]

Were we not all newbies at one point in time, as a newbie I appreciate this website, my learning curve is like a sponge and I take everything in. A newbie thread in my opinion would be of value.

As for the Salty Dogs keep opening up the vaults of knowledge this newbie is listening...