Why...

[Dave_S_MT]

.... is the FAQ on the forum so bereft?

Seems to be lots of stuff us newbies keep asking/researching and are frequently pointed to the search facility - which is fair enough, but I can't help thinking that many of these things should be considered FAQ... or is it just me???

[Wirralman]

Several years ago I produced a 22 page list of FAQs , I think we were up to version 7 We had a link on the top banner of the forum There was also a Buyers Guide running to a few pages

Despite tons of information being there, most ignored these sections That was a shame because it contained the combined knowledge drawn from many members so for example on the subject of Best Tyres there were quite a few answers Pure road use, mainly road,, 50/ 50 on/off-road, pure off road

There was a list of Just got my bike what servicing should I do ? It gave everything the military had in its manuals In those days MTs were still being sold by the Disposal Agency, Withams

Things move on , tyres are discontinued, parts suppliers cease trading etc for one thing and I have not been able to keep things up to date We changed computer platform a few years ago and lost a lot of data which is why there are broken links today We also lost FAQs at that point

Who knows, we may move platform again and it may be worthwhile updating FAQ but it is not a trivial task The last version I compiled is now well out of date Few members have commented on its absence The downside is that today people can post 'answers' that they believe to be correct but are in actual fact not true Certain members have a reputation for posting inaccurate information as gospel

Search does draw on years of comments but can return too much data at times and is clunky Posting a copy of the FAQ last version now years old could mis-lead Also some members got fed up of the answer 'See FAQs '

So a few answers for you, trust me compiling the answers and keeping them up to date is non-trivial

[Barrie]

So what's the answer then going forward? Seems alot of new members just posting the same mass answered questions again and again, I remember we always had to refer people to the faq and buyers guide when it was up, but at least it was up!
I'll help in whatever way I can to assist you in updating them?

[Joth.Hill]

If you want me to add them to the library web pages of information let me know and send me a copy ...

Joth

[Hollandsd]

I dont know if anybody has investigated the wayback machine online or if it would even help, it takes snapshots of websites over time and if you lose data you can copy the information from it.

There is some useful information on it that isnt on the current website.

Cheers
Dan

[Wirralman]

I dont know if anybody has investigated the wayback machine online or if it would even help, it takes snapshots of websites over time and if you lose data you can copy the information from it.

As an example, follow this link to see the website as it was March 16th 2011:

https://web.archive.org/web/20110316053 ... uk:80/faq/

There is some useful information on it that isnt on the current website.

Cheers
Dan

The data isn't lost, I have copies of version 1 thru 7
But it is 4 years out of date and things move on
Trust me , it takes time to put this together then have it checked for accuracy
Joth has all of the manuals on his website available for free download, so the need for FAQ is far less than when i originally wrote it several years ago Manuals weren't so readily available then
Precisely what information is it that you haven't got access to ?

[Dave_S_MT]

Fair comment re the manuals and I do understand it takes time to maintain these things (the website, I mean, not the MT haha!).

Stuff like buyers guides, sources for parts, tyre choice, whats it worth, etc - these sort of questions seem to crop up regularly. I seem to remember tripping over this site years ago and remember there was some useful stuff (even down to an "is an MT for you" kind of thing, or did I see that somewhere else??).

If its a massive PITA to resurrect stuff, fair enough - as I said, just a thought.

[Wirralman]

Yes , I did an 'is an MT for you section' because some new or would be owner's comments reflected their expectations of a more modern, more sophisicated bike
They want the image but with createor comforts and little work required to run an MT , hence one question
Just want to jump on an go , prepared to be patient ? ( I cant remember the precise wording)