Re: REPOST (long)

["Eric Renneisen" <renneie@hlthsrc.com>]

[snip]
>It would be great if there was a way that we could incorporate tidbits 
>like this one into the q-list home page ... as is done for the IBMWR 
>homepage ...
[snip]

Well, you've got a personal archive, so that's a great place to start. What 
we need is a group of volunteers that each have a personal archive 
pertaining to their particular model. I know there are several possible 
candidates out there.

My NA 20V page started as a ratty piece of yellow legal paper. Then one 
day Paul Royal sent me a copy of his word processing doc of all the 
tips he had collected, so I just added my tips to it and it became my new 
reference. Well, it grew to its current size of 50 pages! It was roughly 
organized by category, but still cumbersome for me to use, and I knew 
there were others out there doing the same sort of thing.

With the inspiration and help of Christian Long and several other fellow 
20Vers, I sat down one day and began creating the 20V web pages. It has 
come together rather nicely, if I do say so myself. I can only take credit 
for the html, most of the content is from you folks right here. The best 
part about it is that everything is organized and easy to find. Ramana 
Lagemann picked up on this idea about the same time I did, and has begun 
work on a site devoted to upgrades for the 20V cars.

My pages are certainly not perfect, but I would be happy and flattered 
to let anyone use them for a template. It took some time in the beginning 
to set everything up, but it was kind of thrilling to see it all come together, 
and I had plenty of help getting everything straight. The hardest part will be keeping the information objective (not easy to avoid opinionated info with 
this group).

It is not that difficult to do. There are many free html editors out there that 
are as simple to use as a word processor. (I use AOL Press, even though 
I have nothing to do with AOL. It is free, simple to use, and quick to 
download - unlike MS FrontPage.) Once your personal archives are done, 
post it to the web and start taking additions, corrections, and suggestions 
from others. The pages do not have to be on the same site. Each person 
could have a separate location with cross-links to other related pages. My 
pages are on a free site at GeoCities right now, but hopefully that will 
change soon (are you out there, Bob?).

I have seen quite a few complaints about the q-list archives over the many 
moons I have been here, but very few people offering any solutions. It 
seems that many people are looking to Dan for this. Well, I say that Dan 
already does enough for this list. He is not the sole owner, we all are. 
Therein lies the solution. If we get a group together that represents a nice 
cross-section of models, we could put together an awesome collection 
of FAQs, hints, tips, etc. This is not a new idea. How long has the 
message been on the q-list home page asking for volunteers for the FAQ? 
How many volunteers have come forward, Dan? Well, count me in.

I am not trying to chastise anyone here, least of all Steve, the author of 
the quote above. I just see this as a good opportunity to make this virtual 
community better. If the list does get some exposure from the EC 
issue that will feature Sarge's 200Q, it would be nice to have a huge 
resource of information to show people the power of this list. And more 
importantly, it would also serve to keep some of the more FAQs from 
popping up from the inevitable swarm of newbies such exposure would 
create.

Whenever I tell someone about the q-list, it is difficult to convey the 
tremendous value that this list provides. It is impressive to tell someone 
that this is a world-wide list of thousands of Audi owners and enthusiasts,
but it doesn't make their eyes light up. If we could point someone to a web 
page that explains just about every problem they have ever had or will 
have with their car and cheap ways to solve them, now that would start 
some eye socket combustion!

The bottom line is that it needs to be a cooperative effort. This is what the 
internet is about (these days) - distributed effort and mass communication. 
To get involved, you don't even need the vast knowledge of someone like 
Phil Payne. Take me, for instance. I sit here and absorb everything I can. In 
fact, my novice status is what forced me to document all the little details 
about my car in the first place. I've got my part started (it will never be 
complete, thanks to the dynamics of the internet), now who's next?

[pep talk mode off]

Eric Renneisen
90 CQ 20V
Chattanooga, TN

P.S. - Sorry if this is hard to read. Our mail sys folks switched gateways on 
us recently, and now my special chars come through as codes. Anybody 
know why?