Nomercy448

I'm sure there's a lot more that will have to go into it to make it happen, other than just the raw idea, but it would be great if you could run it up the flag pole to the powers that be. I think the game specific forums could really benefit from a resource/reference base like this. Heck, I'll even commit to putting down reviews on about a hundred coyote calls to kick it off if it goes through!

Chopayne

Nomercy I like it, but I think it should go by categories, not brands. Ive been on archerytalk forum where they have bows and its accessories by brands, and it is way too much

CalHunter

Nomercy, I've run it up the flagpole with admin. I did suggest it as a sub-forum for this entire forum so it would be equipment review for small game, predators and trapping. I'll keep you posted on what admin decides. In the meantime, I can pin a few topics at the top of this forum for product reviews if you'd like. Let me know.

Cal

Nomercy448

Ideally I'm envisioning each thread would be an individual model, but rather than having 200 coyote call threads, I figured that grouping by brand would shrink it down.

Maybe the sub forum, since it would be controlled for new threads, would be ordered by categories, so you could search all of the call reviews, or all of the decoy reviews, etc individually, rather than all mottled together.

Good point!

Chopayne

Well I mean if you like the Archery talk setup then itll work, I just think that the more we divide it up, the less views and hits each thread will get.

CalHunter

Admin likes the idea so far. I'm waiting to hear about a final decision. Hope you guys are ready to post some good stuff.

Nomercy448

I don't really like archerytalk's format, and I agree that it gets too spread out, but I don't really envision this being similar to archerytalk's discussion style.

I'm picturing something similar to what you'd find at retailers websites like midway or cabelas. Say a user wants to hear reviews for a Verminator Syco Tweety, he can open the review subforum, scroll to the call section, find the verminators section, and click on the Syco Tweety thread and see what the reviews say.

It wouldn't be an open discussion forum where users could discuss anything regarding a given brand, and the threads would be unlimited, like archerytalk's forum. It'd be a customer review list. If users had specific questions about a product and can't find the answer in the reviews available, they can ask it in the discussion section of the forum. Thereafter, if suitable answers to their questions are found, a guy like me could take the time to cut and paste the quotes and add them as a review to the respective review list in the review forum so that info could be there for the next guy.

What would be slick is if the threads could be formatted as modified polls, so they could display their "star rating" at the top of the page, then how each reviewer rated that call. Beyond that, maybe the thread title could include it so you could see from the forum front page the respective rating each respective item has. Not sure if our program has that capability or not, but it'd be similar to what retailer sites do, and would be a nice attribute to include.

CalHunter

NoMercy, I'm still waiting for admin's final blessing but they have inquired how many sub-forums are wanted. For the sake of simplicity, what do you think about having one sub-forum where different reference articles/FAQ's, topics, etc. could be posted and available for interested members.

This would be one sub-forum that has one topic for different gear or questions, such as what are the best electronic callers and why. What is the best caliber and bullets for a particular animal, i.e. coyotes, bobcats, foxes, etc. Each topic could be started with a poll question and posts could be added with appropriate reference material. I'll post one in this forum as a test so it can be critiqued, modified as needed and then moved to the sub-forum when admin approves it. Let me know what else you envision.

Nomercy448

My vision was more review based, where the threads would be a list of products, and users could only reply to posts, not add threads.

Discussions, like which caliber, which sounds to use, what shot to use for coyotes, really fit under the current framework of the game specific forums we already have.

My thought was that each game specific forum would get one game specific equipment review subforum embedded in it, so small game/pred/trapping, deer, turkey, waterfowl, big game, exotics, (am I forgetting anybody?) would all get their own spot to review their own game specific equipment. All the elk calls would be in one place, turkey calls in one place, coyote calls in one place, etc etc.

Really taking a cue from cabelas or gander mountains websites. You pick coyote calls, and you can see all of them there, pick which ones you're interested in researching, and read consumer reviews.

Nomercy448

To expand, to Chopayne's point as well, a discussion based system gets really convoluted really quickly, reference archery talk. We have an outlet for discussion in the forums already, the review sections would be more of a reference and research opportunity, find your own answers (and most importantly MORE answers) before you even ask the question. The archerytalk brand specific equip discussion forum is great if you're trouble shooting cam timing on your specific model, but it doesn't really help a new guy pick which bow to buy. A call review section should help a new guy get into the game.