LFS forum has lots of sticky thread.
Problem is that only the original poster can update the thread.
So after a while the informations become outdated, it is not possible to add new things and links eventually break.

Many of the sticky threads would be better as articles on www.lfsmanual.net, which is a wiki where it is much easier to get things updated.

The idea of "tell a moderator about it and then he fixes it" does not I think, it is way too cumbersome.
Some stickies are also locked, so would have to send private messages and explain with long blabla, too much trouble when maybe there is some small things like old links.

A wiki also allows to have some sort of structure, whereas sticky threads in forum are always chaotic unsorted by nature.

Some examples:

Sticky thread about flags:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/2146-Obeying-Flags
is already on LFSmanual at http://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/Basic_driving_guides#Obeying_Flags
If it is really nessecary to have that info in forum too, then link to it instead of having same text twice.

All the "driving tips" stickies are more or less covered in lfsmanual.

The links to the movies here:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/5626-LFS-Educational-Movies
do not work anymore.

A sticky thread with list of links:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/2139-Welcome----and-some-useful-info-
another similiar sticky thread:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/72-LFS-Websites
another list of links:
http://en.lfsmanual.net/wiki/Links

Stick thread about "List of addons:"
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/57857-The-misc-addons-repository
Outdated links, some things missing.
There is already "Additional Tools" on www.lfsmanual.net


I think the only stickies that should remain are:
a) Stickies that are "at the moment urgently needed":
"Watch out: Hackers are currently stealing passwords!" might be fictional example.
Or something like the calender too:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/86710-League-%26-Event-Calendar-%28unofficial%29
b) Threads that otherwise would get reposted again & again (example: "Cars we want to see in S3")
c) Stickies that are directly about the forum. (example: forum rules or https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/74767-Requirements-for-a-league-subsection )


So not sure if this belongs in this forum, afterall it is not so much a technical problem. More a problem of organisation.
But I think it would be nice if moderators could check through all the stickies, see if they are really needed and replace them with links to LFSmanual.

I agree with most of your points here. It's not good to have the same stuff at multiple places.

One thing I'm not sure about is the list of addons. While it would be good to make it editable by public in a wiki-style page, I don't think it really fits in the LFS manual - simply because it's not really a guide or a manual to something, but more like a showcase of things.

Anyway, I might try to clean up / improve some of the stickies you've mentioned above.

I don't agree for the most part that having information in more than one place is necessarily problematic.
I also don't see a big problem with moderators updating out of date information on the forum.
I do agree that redundant sticky threads could be unstuck, though many of the sticky threads which educate about racing rules and ettiquette were the result of players simply not knowing these things. This is still apparently the case, if my recent online experience is any indicator. People are perhaps more likely to read about these things here on the forum than in the manual. I can't recall the last time I used the manual, but perhaps I'm in the minority in that regard?

Regarding the information on the forum; it was due to arguments, disagreements and misunderstandings right here on the forum that many sticky threads were created in the first place, and the same effect can't be realised if the information is only available off-forum.

So while I do favour a cleaner and leaner forum experience, I wouldn't be too keen to sacrifice those sticky threads that have apparently helped to reduce confusion and misinformation in forum discussions.

thanks for replies.

Quote :

One thing I'm not sure about is the list of addons. While it would be good to make it editable by public in a wiki-style page, I don't think it really fits in the LFS manual - simply because it's not really a guide or a manual to something, but more like a showcase of things.

True, it is not really a "manual."
On other hand it especially those lists that would be best to have in a form that everyone can edit, so that new things can be added easier, old things removed and so on.
If it helps your peace of mind just imagine it as the LFS-wiki then one sees how it could fit.

Quote :

People are perhaps more likely to read about these things here on the forum than in the manual.

There can still be sticky threads in forum, but those threads should not contain the actual text. Instead they just have a link to relevant page in lfs wiki.
For example this thread is already like this anyway:
"Guide: Running an LFS Server"
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/9572-Guide%3A-Running-an-LFS-Server
The author realized he can not update a thread on his own forever, so it got moved to wiki.
(If you look at that page's history, it got edited a few times, by different people too. That would be unfeasible as forum thread)

As example where it did (does) not work take the "Easy to drive setup pack"
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/279-Easy-to-drive-setup-pack-%5Bout-of-date%5D
Those setups were unusable since a looong time because filenames of setups had changed.
But it took many years until finally it was unstickied and many new players were confused by it.

But even now that that this thread is not sticky anymore, players still get directed towards it, for example from the guide in this sticky:
https://www.lfs.net/forum/thread/31010-From-a-noob-to-a-noob%3A-A-small-guide-
That thread especially recommends those (unusable) setups in first few sentences.
So yes, I am sure some years ago those threads were very useful and helpful but now those very same threads are bringing confusion.

I think moderators updating those texts does not work (otherwise it would have been done ) because simply they can not look everywhere. I also think nobody wants to annoy moderators all the time with small things like "fix this typo here" or "change this link there", it is just not effective.

Having different versions of the same texts also hinders expanding those texts or fixing errors.
Because first one has to figure out "Which of those texts is most up to date?"

Yeah, I agree those examples are valid.