Who says build threads are just for cars?
Traditionally, one of the biggest challenges for online forums was the relatively fleeting, voluntary nature of the site teams. We have nothing but the utmost respect for our fellow community owners out there, past, present, and future, but the way things used to be done had some problems.
First of all, it was all voluntary. As well it should be. But volunteers tasked with policing the masses can only tolerate so much before they get burned out, making the need for constantly sourcing new moderators and such critical to maintain order.
Second, the often platform-, pursuit-, or place-specific nature of communities gave them limited shelf lives. DSM guys bailed out for Evos. Then bailed out for V8s. Rallyists ran out of money for $5,000 weekends in the dirt two states over. Etc.
TGP brings two simple solutions to these problems.
First, while it’s still voluntary, our use of Discourse means we can configure automatic promotions to groups with increasing permissions and authority, all the way up to admin level. We’re big on agency 'round these parts. If you believe in the mission, want to show up and be part of something bigger than yourself, then—by all means—we want you empowered to help us build the future.
Add to this custom badges and a wealth of clever, plugin extensibility to add fun and practical features to this place, and I think we’re ALL in for a good time.
Second, where the old forums were too specific for their own good, we’re keeping things higher level here. The big idea being, this becomes a place where we celebrate your new vehicle, new hobby, or new job. We help each other build whatever it is we’re building.
So it doesn’t matter you drive a Montero now, but sell all your vehicles to go bicycle only. This is still your home forum. TGP is The Gearhead Project. That means it’s BOTH the gearhead’s project—and the gearhead AS the project.
TGP Forum Build Thread (to date):
- Kris suggested using Discourse to Brian
- Brian mentioned Dicourse to Todd
- Todd shopped vendors, found Jay
- Jay set things up the way we wanted (PRO)
- Brian and Todd logged in, started building things out (like this thread)
Coming up next: Brian and Todd need to finalize our hard-and-fast rules (like: No Assholes, No Religion. No Politics, etc.), make sure all the registration/signup kinks are ironed out, and invite the TGP Staff in to start using this joint.