Suggestion for new forum section

[Izzy]

Hi, everyone,

I don't know if this is the right section to post this in, but I would like to suggest a whole new forum section.

I would LOVE to see an entire section devoted to posts (esp. with photos and videos) on different ways to use packing cubes and other accessories in the various Tom Bihn packs, with a separate thread for Synapse 25, another one for Synapse 19, another for Aeronaut 45, another for Aeronaut 30, another for Western Flyer, another for Pilot, another for Co-Pilot, etc.

I know there are already a whole bunch of posts with fabulous ideas, but it's really hard FINDING ones specific to each bag.

If we could have a whole section "Packing Cubes and other organizational hacks for your Tom Bihn Bag" AND HAVE A DEDICATED THREAD IN THAT SECTION FOR EACH BAG, that would be awesome.

So then we could read through a whole thread of ideas for, say, Synapse 25, and then be able to decide exactly what packing cubes and other accessories we might want to buy for which pockets, and for what.

I love the photos/videos section, and I love the Tom Bihn Hacks thread, but it gets a little overwhelming hunting for packing ideas for specific backpacks and bags.

Plus I think it might help the folks at Tom Bihn sell more of the accessories...

I guess what I'm asking for is the same kind of compartmentalizations organization in the forums as in the bags!

If there's a better way to do a search on here than what I've been doing, that would give me easy access to that kind of info, someone please post that, and then I'll delete this suggestion!

[lizziejean3]

I love this idea!!!

[skoobdo]

Me too! It's hard to find photos of specific bags dressed up with accessories without going through so many unrelated ones. It becomes so time consuming that I don't search for them anymore like I did when I first joined recently. It will help me a lot in determining which size organizer or other accessory can fit in different pockets if I could see it in a photo.

[adalangdon]

I favour having stickies dedicated to the topic; a whole forum section is excessive for a what is a popular but nonetheless fairly specific query.

BTW, you can use Google search on the forums for the time being. Unless it's obscure subject matter, you should be able pull up what you want using that.

[Izzy]

That's what I've been doing, but it's both limited and cumbersome. Some posters use the name of the bag, some use the initials, some use the words "packing cubes," some use the word "hack," some use the word "organization," etc. And most of the top hits are posts which simply link to the website sales pages.

[bchaplin]

I'd like this a lot. I recently had to search a bit to find my own post (with photos of how to pack the Smart Alec and Synapse). A sticky with lists of links in a concise format would be very useful! If one of the mods starts one I'd be happy to do some googling to contribute to it.

[haraya]

I think having a separate forum for "how to organize [name of bag]" would be a good idea - using the TB organizational system is arguably a very different, if overlapping, skill set from identifying which TB bag works best for a specific purpose. :)

Until the mods decide whether that makes sense, however, I think the Tags feature might be useful if it was rebooted. (It's easier to search tags, and get pertinent results back, than to do a global search.) Before the redesign of the TB website I used to be able to go in and assign my own tags, but when I tried recently, there seemed to be a bunch of automated tags for each posts, and no way to clear out those old tags in order to create some of my own. If we could use the Tags again, I bet we could do some volunteer tagging, and have a useable archive of "how to pack" posts in no time. Just a thought... :)

[Izzy]

Did I post this in the wrong forum? Not sure it's gotten a read from any of the mods...


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[ceepee]

I seem to recall that, in the dim and distant past, there used to be something like this. Individual threads for each bag where people could post their packing lists. I joined the forum in 2011, so I'm guessing it was somewhere around then.


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[Izzy]

Any mods reading this???




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[jess]

Any mods reading this???




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I believe new forum sections, if created, are done so by @Darcy and the TB Crew rather than the admin team. Also the forums have been fairly quiet IMHO making me wonder if many people, including the admins, may be on vacation so a wait of a few days or a week might not be out of line especially when this is something that might require offline discussion.

[adalangdon]

Suggestion for new forum section

Any mods reading this???




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To back up what @jess said (and at the risk of sounding like a grumpy old git), you may get a quick response to some queries while others like this will almost definitely require deliberation. Also, this forum is managed by individuals who are full-time employed in non-TB jobs, so it is not as if they are obliged to respond immediately/within X working days with even a "we are looking into this issue".


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[tpnl]

Thanks

Have no fear ... we are deliberating ... in between our day jobs, vacation, taking care of quite a few spammers and taking our TB bags places. @jess is correct that this type of work is usually done by TB. As @ceepee mentioned, some of this has been tried before and as @adalangdon said, stickies have been used too as well as what @haraya said about tagging. This will not happen overnight but I am sure we can develop an improved way for all of us to get at the information we want in the specific way we need to see it.

Stay tuned.

Cheers!

[moriond]

Yes, the mods have read this thread. But @jess is correct that the forum mods are not empowered to spontaneously undertake major reorganization of the forums. Also, technically, when they started the Packing Lists & Travel Tips forum, Darcy started individual threads by bag, where people could post pictures of how they were packed. If you go to that forum, and navigate to the very last page (earliest entries), you'll see threads titled like that (generally for bags that are no longer in use, since if the threads were more active, they'd get updated). However, in practice, the way that people post, and where they choose to post is never so easily constrained.

I certainly wish we had better search options. In particular, searches for images are difficult to run, especially since image links (to external sites, Flickr, etc.), or when people use TapaTalk to upload images, cannot be easily separated out, or searched in the way that you can search the attachments gallery. (I find that I have to rely on memory).

Maybe Darcy or other people who maintain the web site can weigh in here?

HTH

moriond

[Sejour]

I certainly wish we had better search options. In particular, searches for images are difficult to run, especially since image links (to external sites, Flickr, etc.), or when people use TapaTalk to upload images, cannot be easily separated out, or searched in the way that you can search the attachments gallery. (I find that I have to rely on memory).

I second this. If I'm honest, I don't like the native search feature. Often I remember a post, try to search for it but it doesn't come up. So, I've switched to Google completely now.

What I've done is replace the native search with Google. So, instead of the Tom Bihn results, I see Google's. At the moment, I'm trying to improve the look of it. But, if anyone is interested, I'll be happy to write a thread on how to do it as well as upload the scripts. Just as an alternative to the Tom Bihn search.

On the picture front, I have no idea how to improve that. But, if that could be improved as well, that would be amazing.