Any way to separate Pilot threads by Model Year(s)?

[AJR]

First post here... wanted to say hi! I am a very happy new owner of a new 2007 Pilot EX-L (no nav) - well, it's my wife's new EX-L . I have been reading these forums for a few weeks for tips, suggestions, mods, and accessories (the cabin filter changeout DIY alone will save me lots of $$$ - thank you!). There is some really great information within the 270,000+ posts! However, since there are over 18,000 threads, it can be cumbersome to maneuver the threads to see if it has anything to do with the Pilot year/style/model. For instance, not many post what year their Pilot is that they added an accessory to, or made a DIY or how-to thread and whether it will work/fit in all models. I only bring this up because I haven't seen anyone discussing this (and I'm sure I'm going to get some backlash from some supreme members because I'm a newbie).

I would think under each main forum (or a select few main forums), there could be something like:

Accessories
... 2006+
... 2003-2005
... 1999-2002

Problems
... 2006+
... 2003-2005
... 1999-2002

Maintenance
Audio & Electronics

etc, based on the years the styles were the same (I'm not sure what years are grouped together based on major reworks and upgrades of the Pilot). You could keep the main forum for general posts that should work with all models, but then be able to focus on specifics based on the year you own.

Now, I'm not one to just come in and start saying "do this and do that". I know what it takes to run a large community (I maintain 3 large sites) and know what an undertaking it can be to start moving things around. This is merely a suggestion in hopes of clearing up the overall generalization of the boards. I know there are one or two Sticky threads I've seen in the forums that link to all the specific items of one style/model's threads. Of course, these stickies only work if the OP maintains them. It would be nice though to be able to look at others that have an 06/07 Pilot, their problems, accessories/mods, maintenence schedules, and anything else without having to wade through the 2000-2005 Pilots that have done things that I can't do to my Pilot.

Just as an example, I have also recently purchased an 07 Honda Civic Hybrid. I am on GreenHybrid.com all the time for that car, and the posts became so overwhelming in the HCH area, they split it out for the different generation models which has made it quite nice!

Please... be gentle...
( -duck- -dodge- -perry- -spin- -guard- -turn- -thrust- )

[whizmo]

It's certainly a good suggestion, but I think premature at this point since the Pilot really is in its very 1st generation and all Pilots are very similar. (There is no pre-2003 Pilot BTW.) Anybody interested in any particular problem area or modification is probably interested in reviewing posts from all model years, at least at this point.

I suspect the admin will want to do something like this when we have a "2nd gen" Pilot since it will presumably be a new or heavily revised design in all aspects. But right now, the Pilot variations from year to year are actually quite minor.

- Mark

[AJR]

Thanks for the info... I thought there were different gens. I don't remember the 03 having 3rd row seating when we first looked at them. So I thought they redesigned them in 05+ with the 3rd row, along with other new improvements. I know (as an example) that the thread for LED light replacements (interior & exterior) have different model numbers and quantities for different years. This might be minor, but I've also seen other threads that say certain things only work for certain years. So I assumed that there were different gens that could be separated.

[N_Jay]

Originally posted by AJR
Thanks for the info... I thought there were different gens. I don't remember the 03 having 3rd row seating when we first looked at them. So I thought they redesigned them in 05+ with the 3rd row, along with other new improvements. I know (as an example) that the thread for LED light replacements (interior & exterior) have different model numbers and quantities for different years. This might be minor, but I've also seen other threads that say certain things only work for certain years. So I assumed that there were different gens that could be separated.

'03 was the first model year released in June '02.

There have been minor differences every model year.

The 3rd row with 8 seats was a principle differentiator for the Pilot from inception. Even the pre-release rumors called it a "4wd odyssey with 8 seats"

[colorider]

Originally posted by whizmo
It's certainly a good suggestion, but I think premature at this point since the Pilot really is in its very 1st generation and all Pilots are very similar. (There is no pre-2003 Pilot BTW.) Anybody interested in any particular problem area or modification is probably interested in reviewing posts from all model years, at least at this point.

I suspect the admin will want to do something like this when we have a "2nd gen" Pilot since it will presumably be a new or heavily revised design in all aspects. But right now, the Pilot variations from year to year are actually quite minor.

- Mark

Agree that we may look closer at this idea later as the Pilot evolves into later "gens". Downside is that we will quite possibly have an even greater problem of members posting in the wrong area of the forum.

I know - job security!!!

[whizmo]

It's always a balancing act on how finely you slice/dice forums like this.

I used to be a frequent participant in Edmunds' forums, but the mods there went on a campaign to create hundreds of sub-forums for every car so that information would be more readily available and ended up screwing it up (IMHO) pretty badly. They want from having a few threads with very active participation to having hundreds of threads with almost no participation. I think they forgot that their forums were DISCUSSION forums, not REFERENCE forums. If you really are interested in a very specific area, then forum search tools (or even Google) already do a pretty good job of zeroing-in on what you want.

A problem is always that any schema you develop is inflexible and only suits some readers. One guy wants it diviided by model years, but another wants it divided by type of modification, problem area, etc. If you try and satisfy everyone, you end up with tiny little threads for things like "Air Conditioning Problems on 2006 Pilots". Any tree-type schema is inherently inflexible. Search is the cludgy solution right now, but over time we should see better tools that allow data to be found based on multiple keys.

Just rambling...

- Mark