OK, good to know. How frequently is this happening? (I only ask so that when I pass on the information, I will be able to most accurately describe the problem.)
Maybe one out of 4 times. Just like with cars, those ‘intermittent’ problems are the worst!
It hasn’t happened at all to me. Just over the past week or so I’ve seen several triple threads all posted one after the other. This was the most recent:
http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2280515/30000-maintenance-on-2010-mercury-grand-marquis
Its only been a few times but just seemed like something happening more recently.
I just created a thread last night. It didn’t do anything weird. Its probably nothing but a couple of coincidences that made me wonder.
@cdaquila - now, when I post, I get the ‘busy’ sequence of bars, and it doesn’t look like it posts. Then I click on ‘recent discussions’ and the post is there.
IBID Texases post. Happens to me a lot…quite a lot.
I haven’t had this problem. (usually Firefox 6.0.2 if that matters; Windows XP).
Hm. It’s happened to me with the busy sequence, and unfortunately my posts don’t go through. Thank you. Texases, is it still the intermittent problem, or is it happening every time? Chase, I am assuming this happens frequently, but not always…?
Today hasn’t been a problem…go figger…
Frequently, yes, not always, yes again. Normally with IE9, almost never with FireFox.
I sent a message via the board and received something in return titled “Car Talk Missive from Tom and Ray” which is a form letter/missive and it has all of what you recommended in it.
I think the basics as you IDed is fine. You are referring to the same style used on tech forums when someone asks about a problem with something like a computer, right? You absolutely don’t want to be asking for too much information in the form. I think I saw something from one member about including climate condidtions and I don’t think that’s a good idea. Just the basic stuff and let other matters be voluntarily added by the OP, or the fella/gal offering advice can ask. My view is keep it simple in the beginning.
Remember, many folks may not be so experienced at using the Net and especially using a forum platform and will see a ton of questions and think, “Oh My Lord, sayonara. I’ll go talk to a human, not a computer.” Many folks with a few years or even less of experience on the Net forget how intimidating it all was in the beginning.
As with many tech sites, or help forums, there will be a lot of folks on your site just for one problem and have little to no experience using the Net, and those are the ones to pay closer mind of. You experienced folks probably don’t need a lot of prompting to post relevant information in outlining your problem(s).
Also remember that a lot of folks don’t know diddly about their cars. Even the very basic request for info may send them scrambling for a mnaual or running outside looking at their cars for information. It never ceases to amaze me how little people pay attention to the devices they use, be it cars or computers. So I think it’s best to keep it really simple in the beginning.
I like the way MIH put it… people don’t know squat or have bad experiences. Make/mod/yr and mileage are key… especially model!! i.e. ***** a gl to a glx could mean a crap load of options to throw into the query mix. But I don’t think that requires more than a gentle reminder while signing up to posting. Don’t forget there are always more readers than actual posters. The demographics are older cars?
****There is no way any one with auto knowledge has seen every make and model every produced and with variants… So searching the web with as much accurate info results with the best solutions. 
I just saw what you did with the dropdown boxes on the new post page. That seems to work, as I’m seeing a lot of tags on the new posts. It might be nice to put a year box, too. Say from 2012 backwards to say 1970. Most will be within the last 10 years or so, so going backwards will make it easier for folks to find the year quickly. The average person maintaining a vehicle any older than that will be quick to state the year, as they’ve invested time and energy into making it known, and will want to broadcast it.
Why was the Fuel Shark thread closed?
Its not that I have any attachment to it. I never really paid it much attention. But its just fairly odd that it was closed.
I’m guessing it was closed because a new poster showed up with obvious selling in mind. I hope it wasn’t because we treated him accordingly!
Ah, so I must have missed those posts & they must have been removed in addition to the thread closing.
I debated whether to put a final comment in at the end explaining why I closed it, but texases was pretty much right. The individual in question was a) selling stuff and b) antagonizing people, and when certain folks told him to, in essence, go jump in a lake, he only escalated. Instead of letting it get out of hand, I decided to cut the whole thing off. I could have left all the comments in, but it was much ado about very little. I have to ask - do you prefer when I tell you why when I close things? I like to be pretty transparent, but I don’t want to inject myself too much into the goings-on here if it isn’t helpful.
I usually prefer to know (I hate when I miss the fireworks), but that might just be me.
I did appreciate your comment on the last one that you closed - but that might just be because you were pretty explicit about not comparing me to a bug 
(I think that’s what it was).
Thank you for the follow up/clarification in this case.
I think it’s your job, to do as you see fit. If you choose to leave a brief explanation of why you closed a thread, I’ll be happy to read it. If not, that’s OK by me, too. Even with the posts left, normally we can tell if it was getting heated, silly or abusive. My keeping on top of posts here has taken a back seat to real life, so I missed all the fireworks. /sigh…I’ll live. 
@cdaquila - any thought to automatic retirement for a thread, say after, say, 6 months of inactivity? Still readable, but not active?
Most excellent idea (yes, I’ve had some weird stuff on my mind for a bit - “party on Garth”). Automatic retirement would still allow people to search them, but eliminate the number of posts brought back to life for no real reason - force people to create their own, which (I think) would be a very good thing indeed.