Build Thread Key Postings Index Experiment.
 

Key Postings in this thread.

• Suggestion to keep an Index of Key Postings to a Thread at the very beginning of a thread.
  (This list item could be turned into a link to this very post, but that might be confusing?)
• Example of a Key Postings Index for basjoos' Aerocivic - how to drop your Cd from 0.34 to 0.17 thread

This is not a suggestion that Indexes be added to existing build threads. (Not discouraging it, but in no way expecting or asking for it.)
It is a suggest that we encourage (NOT REQUIRE) new build threads to keep an index of key posts - maintained by the OP by editing the very first post in the thread.

Example Key Postings Index: Aerocivic - how to drop your Cd from 0.34 to 0.17
 

This is just an example. If basjoos had done this index, he'd quite possibly not have included many of the posts (considered them as less than key importance.) Which post in a build thread are worthy of being indexed should be up to the originator of the build thread. The idea here is that build threads can get awfully long and messy and an index would help new arrivals better skim over some of the lint they tend to accumulate.

It's a job adding an index to an existing multi-page thread. Wouldn't even want to think about how long it would take to read through all 990 posts in Ben Nelson's Electro-Metro Build thread; pick out and link to all of the significant/important/key ones. But I don't believe it would be that much of a chore to do it as you go along rather than going back and re-reading.

Not trying to push this on anyone. Just putting it out there as something you might want to do if you start a build thread.

Bump
 

Think I'm done with the first two posts.
Feel free to tell me what a goofy idea this is.

It's not a goofy idea. It's a big reason why I'm not a fan of long project / build threads. Good info gets buried.

I went back and added a chronological index (summary, really) to post one of the ForkenSwift thread, but it took a fair amount of time. That said, it also made the thread vastly more useful to me - I've gone to the index many, many times to look up specific things.

Indexing all long threads would be amazing, but I bet most people don't see it as worth the trouble.

I live in a town of ~700, 1/2 block to post office, 1 block to grocery store and court house. Closest larger town (~3,300) is a little over 20 miles away. Over 80 miles to the big town (~30,000) where I do serious shopping. Electrics are barely on my radar.

Knowing that your thread has an index moves it from near the bottom of my list of things to read, to fairly near the top. And it will be a big factor when voting for mod-o-the-month.

Don't forget about the wiki option once a project starts to mature, it has a little learning curve to using it, but the indexing will happen automatically, and svoboy tied the forum login to the wiki login, so it is a mite easier to use.

Main Page - EcoModder

I've looked at the Wiki before, but it has me completely baffled. Can't figure out how you'd even start a new article. (Is article the right term?)

You search for something and if it doesn't exist it gives you a "create page" link, i.e. search for "Aerocivic" and you should see a link to create the page since it does not exist yet.