Info Sticky Discussion Thread (Chattanooga: how much, schools, statistics)

[An Einnseanair]

HERE is the original thread with the concept of a series of new informational threads sketched out. I'm not typing that again.

Originally Posted by mbmouse[URL="//www.city-data.com/forum/members/mbmouse-4359.html"

[/url]]Tell you what. You can not have a thread like you are speaking of, but we can create one similar. We can label it " Moving to Chatt? Info for you inside" and post all that info you were talking about.

The purpose of the original "Faq?" thread/poll wasn't to become a sticky itself, but rather a place for discussion to see if something like that was needed/wanted. Nor do I want this thread "stickied" because I don't want to force the topic on anyone. If people are interested then the discussion will progress and this thread will stay on the first page. If not, then it will fall off the first page and slowly fade from memory. The fact that a moderator shut down the topic so quickly isn't a good omen, but I'm trying one more time because I'd like a few more people to weigh in. If this one gets shut down then I'll drop it forever and crawl back under my rock.

The second sentence in the quote above is a good start... a better name for the first thread in the series. Search functions in forums are notoriously bad (either returning hundreds of off-topic hits or nothing at all), so most people don't even try. And that's even if they know search functions exist. Someone thinking about moving to Chattanooga who is visually scanning the list of topics on the first page might not hit on "Frequently Asked Questions", so "Moving to Chatt? Info for you inside" is a better choice. This is another reason why the plan calls for multiple stickied threads with titles like "Schools in and around Chattanooga" and "Locations and transportation: How to get here and get around". Someone specifically interested in schools would likely read the first topic; different people would hit on the second topic.

Originally Posted by mbmouse

To be honest with you, all the info you are looking to put into a thread here on the forum is really already here on our main City-Data page under Chatt, which you can feel free to put a link to the Chattt CD page in that thread if you want to create it.
How will that work?

I was surprised, but this is true. Mostly. I just finished browsed deeper into the Chattanooga City-Data information and was able to find most of what I was looking for with some digging. But only if I knew exactly what I was looking for, and with MUCH digging. The problem was how much digging I had to do, how poorly the information is presented, and the lack of external links. The order of the individual sections appears be almost intentionally random.

I would have never brought this topic up if the main City-Data page were better organized. A table of contents linked to individual sections, use standardized formatting (all headers have the same font and size instead of this one bold, that one underlined, the other one italicized, etc.), pull the detailed charts and statistics off to sub pages, put all similar information in the same section, etc.

Since I have no control over the main page, I elected to leave it alone and go this route. The FAQ would, of course, include links back to the main page if those links exist.