Superfan

I did a mock up of what the parts info page thread structure could look like. I think it would be easier to search for a particular item if everything would be organized in this hierarchical order.

Toadman

Nice! But advertising by manufacturers via forums is a no-go. With the resources we have it's best to use the "Search" feature if you can't browse for what you're looking for.

Omicron

Yes, and I move any aftermarket parts that are actually available to the "Aftermarket Parts" forum under the "Mazdaspeed/Aftermarket Parts" main forum. Should make it a bit easier to find things you can actually buy. Stuff that's still in development, or questions and discussions on parts and performance, go under "Mazdaspeed/Aftermarket Parts."

Superfan

Well it's not really advertising (is it?), I'm just breaking it down into easily accessible groups. I figure the thread contents would cover manufactures claims (performance gains), product specs (size, weight, etc) and end user reviews (Dyno results, etc..). Basically a sorted version of what’s in: Mazdaspeed/Aftermarket Performance > Aftermarket Parts Info (It would adhere to the current rules)... Of course you can always sift through a search result set but my method would be easier. To avoid BS threads, you would only give thread creation privileges to moderators. The initial post for a part could contain:

Development Status: [Rumored, In Progress, Released]
Country of Origin: [ USA, Japan, Canada]
Claimed Performance Gains: 1000hp/1000lb. ft
DIY Install Difficulty: [1..10]
DIY Install Time (Approx): 15 hours
MSRP: [$0000.00]
Approved Stocking Vendors: [---Links to Vendors---]

Picture: [Item Pic : Installed Pic]


I don’t think any car forum has anything like this. It would give the approved vendors a boost in business and would give other vendors an incentive to join up. You could also have an email box setup so that part manufactures could send in the data. Instead of mods going out to get the part data it would come to them. It would also give the end user a simple medium to research and compare like products. Best of all, this would be unique to this forum as I haven’t seen anything like this anywhere else. If you guys go with this idea I’ll volunteer to help in the setup and maintenance.

Landon_Starr

I have to say I like that idea. The majority of the reason I joined on the forum, as I'm sure is the same with a lot of others, is to sift through what's available in the aftermarket.

I agree that this type of structure would not only increase the efficiency of the forum, but allow the forum to grow and become more popular, and have more general pull for better aftermarket parts availability (junk stuff won't come out b-cuz it will get torn into here)

This would make the drivers more powerful in a manufacturer controlled environment, help manufacturers have a better understanding of market competition, and result in higher quality products, cheaper prices, etc.

An economists 2 cents.

--Landon