Trailspace FAQ

Tired of seeing (and answering) certain questions over and over on the forums? We now have a Frequently Asked Questions page at http://www.trailspace.com/faq/ to help out in this task.

A link to the FAQ is located near the top of each forum page.

The FAQ page inevitably will evolve over time as we try to meet the needs of our range of readers—both the novice and experienced. If you have any suggestions for other questions to include or ones to expand upon, send me an e-mail (alicia@trailspace.com) or post them right here.

Thanks,
Alicia

Alicia -

Great start for the FAQ! Including the addresses for many of the maufacturers of "non-instruction" and missing/extra pieces tents is a really great service!

Thanks for the great site -

-- Bill S, the Old GreyBearded One (who is still learning!)

But will people actually read *anything* before posting? We have, what, four different Northwest Territory threads going on at the moment? And the most recent Hillary was posted after the FAQ went up. The answers are there, but the questions keep rolling.

nope. people will post without reading. Human nature

For example - on a competition ski boat BB I hang out on, one member posted that his for sale boat was sold.

Six months later, people are still inquiring on that string if the boat is available, how much he wants for it and will he please post pictures.

By the way, where can I get an iron skillet repair kit? I'm going camping this weekend employing the Ray Way and to minimize pack weight, I want to take the small skillet and not the large.

One suggestion--change the FAQ title to "READ THIS FIRST BEFORE POSTING" (Caps are intentional). This way, some people may actually read it first. My guess would be that many of the people looking for tent parts, instructions, etc. don't know what a FAQ is, can't be bothered to actually look through the posts or assume they are the only people who ever bought a KMart tent with no instructions.

Good start Alicia.

Thanks, Tom. You're right about needing to make the FAQ both as obvious as possible and a necessary stop before posting. I'm sure we'll never get everyone to read the FAQs first, but I hope we can at least get the majority who *need* to read it to do so.

We're also considering ways to funnel all of those "I need instructions/parts/help" questions into a separate forum section to keep them from cluttering up the rest of the topics.

-Alicia

Alicia, either that or you and Dave need to start collecting instructions for all these tents and selling them for $5 a set. That money alone might support the site-hehehe.

Can we now ridicule those who post questions already covered in the FAQ? :O)

cheers
ag

Play nice, now. :-)

I've taken to deleting the new ones as the come in and emailing the posters a gentle reminder to read the FAQ.

Hmmm... you may be right, Tom. Forget trying to help people find quality gear for their outings. Maybe we need to see all of those instruction-less tent owners as a new business opportunity.

Just kidding.

I am hoping to find a way for those folks to find the info they need, without clogging up the forums though.

-Alicia

just to let you know Your FAQs section is not a total waste of time, i went through them before making my first post and learnt quite a bit. the experienced camper that i am (Boasting a couple hikes and all of 2 week end camps). good advice. I also emailed the link to this site to a collegue of mine and when i checked to see if he got it, he was going through the FAQs. so keep up the good work. you just need to find a way to redirect some of the question posters to the section. actually putting a note that says read here before posting may help a few. (dont think i know anyone who uses the internet who does not know what are FAQs)
Triniman4u (still no email so can't log on.)

triniman4u: you should be able to log into your account now. Email me if you're still having problems.