Editing User:Cobalt327

=Consolidating similar articles=
I've been mulling over how to go about consolidating some articles that have similar titles and contents like on Q-jet carbs and RPO codes to name two.

I (and others) have gone to linking the various articles to each other but this is a temporary solution at best, IMO. It will take some time to do this right, but in the end it should result in much easier navigation to the subjects.
:How about more categories and subcategories? "Quadrajet carburetors" would make a good category. That would at least hold us over until a full and thorough merge of interrelated topics could be completed--[[User:Jon|Jon]] 12:18, 8 February 2012 (MST)
::'''Jon'''- 
I've been talking to 'lt1silverhawk' (who I've invited to add his thought here) about doing something along those lines (you may recall he started a page "How to Rebuild a Rochester Quadrajet 4MV Carburetor"). We had discussed, and subsequently discounted, the idea of combining '''all''' the Q-jet info into some huge single "Master Article", the thinking being it would be too unwieldy and cumbersome for someone looking to ID their carb or do a simple rebuild, etc. I have almost 1 GB of "raw" Word docs on Q-jet carbs (72 folders and 906 files) and another 5.5 MB in jpg images that I'd like to eventually have available here after it's been edited.

Now when you say to make "Quadrajet carburetors" a category, would that be like "Engine" or "Transmission"? Let me know if I've misunderstood this.
:::Yes, that's correct, make it a category like "Engine" or "Transmission". Agreed on avoiding a huge unwieldy page. One strategy is to do a "Master Article" that links out to the sub-articles. For example, check out [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy the Wikipedia article on "Energy"]. Many of the article sections have headers like: "Main article: Conservation of Energy", etc., that lead the reader to other full articles.--[[User:Jon|Jon]] 14:33, 8 February 2012 (MST)

::::Hello Jon and cobalt. Thank you for inviting me to this discussion. As cobalt mentioned, he has been in touch with me and we have talked about the various ways of taking many articles on similar subjects and merge them into a few detailed articles. I did take a thorough look at the ''"Energy"'' article you linked. If I understand correctly, you wish to see one master article that that branches out to several main articles, all on one page. Is that correct?

::::I believe the best approach is to have a master article on one page that covers every related topic in a general manner, and to have the specifics covered on other pages and linked to the master article. From my perspective, both as a user and an editor, few inter-related articles are not as overwhelming as an all-in-one. Chances are that if someone is looking for procedures on something, he or she is not going to want to skim through everything else first.

::::For example, sticking with the Quadrajet, the page titled ''"Quadrajet"'' can cover every thing related to the carburetor in a general sense: history, variations, applications, pros and cons, significance, etc. More specific sub-topics that require detailed explanations can be given their own pages: how to rebuild specific versions (2bbl, 4bbl), identification, tuning. Also, anything that can be covered in a general sense should be spared a specific page. For example, if someone decides to do a page on cleaning carburetors, there is no need to cover it again in any other page.

::::I look forward to reading any thoughts you guys may have. - --[[User:LT1Silverhawk|LT1Silverhawk]] 20:17, 9 February 2012 (MST)

:::::Agreed on all counts.--[[User:Jon|Jon]] 20:28, 9 February 2012 (MST)




[[File:WAGON_80_001.jpg|thumb|left|200px|'''1980 MALIBU''']]