I think the 'crises' Christian was referring to is not so much of a lack of info from experts, but more in terms of our desire to be more inviting to new members. Making key information easily available is a big part of that. While simple conversation will reveal a lot, I agree with Christian and Moosh that our archive system could be better. Just look at Nick-a-tron's latest post in the original thread sparking this conversation!
nick-a-tron wrote:
Oh man, I feel so stupid now. Really hope I didn't throw away my left over reflecta parts. I need that 7th grill!
He is the guy that pointed out there should be a 7th grill!!! He provided the reference material!!! If he wasn't aware, what hope do any of the rest of us have?!
Maybe we don't need a new section on the forum, but I absolutely think our archives could be cleaned up. I hate to say it, but I am going to ballpark that 80%+ of it is unusable. Missing pictures aside, many of the archived posts simply don't contain the most current/accurate info.
3 random examples:
-The FAQ has a thread "where to get a pulse rifle sling" that has NO MENTION of Noble.
-There is a thread in the miscellaneous section where outcry asks about who makes a smartgun headset kit and someone else chimes in "yeah i'd like to know too" and thats it! No answers, nothing current and I'm not sure why it was archived.
-In the weapons section is a thread about Hudson's knife labeled GERBER Mk2. I myself contributed heavily in that thread pinpointing which serial# the knife had to be and laying out ALL the available sheaths to ID the correct one. The problem is, it was ALL WRONG!! The knife was never even a 'real' gerber. All the work and info about Gerbers in the thread were pointless and the thread exists to perpetuate wrong info.
These are not isolated examples that I had to dig to find. These and dozens exactly like these are right on the main pages of their sections.
Of course there are also tons that have good info, but are ruined by lack of pics that were long ago lost for all eternity (even prior to the photobucket fiasco).
Cleaning up the archives would be a huge help.
I know that is a time consuming and tedious task, but I for one am willing to chip away at it if granted access. I think we have some long overdue housecleaning/updating to do in that section.