All just a thought but can someone at carbide do something to improve the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the community, or failing that make it a sub link so it appears under Carbide 3D. It took too long to find this originally, and theres A LOT of good information here! I feel like showing a vibrant community would encourage more people to invest in the Shapeoko and the Nomad. It also might help owners find the community easier.
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When writing a technical document it is common practice to use the full name followed by the abbreviation in parentheses to education the readerā¦something an engineer would know. Now the assumption: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
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@RichCournoyer Good point, I assumed that all the young whippersnappers on here know what SEO is, and context makes a difference. Honestly Iām embarrassed, I havenāt had to actually do that outside of publications. When I teach classes Iām used to everyone being in the same vernacular, you donāt get on a forum 
. I have corrected it for the uninitiated, and yes SEO is in-fact search engine optimization.
For more information on SEO see This Article
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Ok, you are forgivenā¦from one Eng to anotherā¦I also completely agree with you ā¦ there is SO much great information hereā¦and perhaps 80% (plus) of the questions have already been asked. I for one cringe that my Command F doesnāt verk like I expect, but I donāt have the answer to the fix. For now, I use Google and the Site: search function to assist in my forum search.
I also realize that many of the noobies are too lazy to actually and or not savvy enough with their computer skills (oh man I have seen some woodworkers with all thumbsā¦or is it only thumbsā¦lol) to search for the answer that has been asked dozens and dozens of times before.
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Not sure how much easier we can make getting here:
- start at the company web site: https://carbide3d.com/
- read all the content and get to the footer
- click on Forum under Support
A further concern is how does the naĆÆve user know what terminology to use when searching ā itās not like we can expect them to read and understand: https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Glossary before posting.
Most of the posts are linked to from the wiki which sort of has a structure/hierarchy, others I just remember from certain terms and find with a search when I need to link them. The folks in charge want to limit discussion here to whatās topical/current, so thatās a balance weāre still trying to work out.
Orā¦no thumbsā¦
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@RichCournoyer I know what you mean about the search function. I found a great post with a G-code snippet l needed, forgot to book mark it, now for the life of me I canāt find it. Damnit @Griff I was typing that joke as you posted it 
.
@WillAdams I think thatās the problem is the fact itās in the footer and under support. I only found it because I had a specific problem/question. While it started out as a support form I think it is growing beyond that based upon what the community has been posting. Personally I would move it to a big olā thing in the header, and out of the support section. Commit to the āCommunityā aspect, and yes, while there is support here, thereās a lot of creative projects and genius hacks!
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Iām just an old woodworker (with all his thumbs and fingers), what Iāve found over the years is to search outside whatever forum you have a question for. Google generally works better then forum search functions. Iām sure this is not news to most but it was a revelation to me years ago.
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We are committed to the community, and this forum will remain (and the original Shapeoko forums are also still open and available for folks with both current machines and the older Shapeoko 1 and 2s: https://forum.shapeoko.com/ )
Itās something of a balancing act, and I believe one reason things are set up the way that they are is that the forum is a community thing, and a bonus, and not a primary source of support, and unofficial. We donāt want folks to get a bad perception of the machine or the company from some statement which is made there by some person who is not a representative of Carbide 3D ā @robgrz @edwardrford and @Jorge would have to actually speak to that ā above my pay grade. I just occasionally answer support tickets and kibitz on the forums a bit.
Actually I kinda like the fact that this forum is still a bit low-key, and people seem to find they way ānaturallyā to either here or the FB group depending on their interests and habits.
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@WillAdamsI fully understand the balancing act, and the community here is awesome, This is actually the first time Iāve ever even joined a forum to post something 
. When I was shopping around for CNC routers stumbling on this forum would have snitched my purchase much earlier. I mean you have a hell of a good product and better support tan Iāve ever seen from a company. Throw open the doors and let emā see what youāve got I say!
@Julien I get the low-key vibe, and itās nice not to have a bunch of trolls roaming aboutā¦ but ānaturallyā in my case was over a year of wondering how only a shady, unofficial /looking/ wiki page was the only source of information. I didnāt even realize it was an official source of information until I arrived on here but I digress. I feel like there may be current and potential owners that are/will be out of the club simply because this isnāt that easy to find.
But then again maybe Iām just bad at using AskJeeves, so Iāll hop off my soap box and leave this to the more interwebs friendly crowd. 
Iām here now and I plan on taking full advantage of this community.
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docs.carbide3d.com should be higher on search results than the wiki for most searches ā if youād let us know which terms werenāt thus, weāll have to see what can be done.
One thing which I have been meaning to do for a while is to ensure that each docs page has a matching link to it from the matching wiki page(s).
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Ya adding links to the Doc page would have been awesome!
I did find the docs before the Wiki, but when I started looking at less supported things like VFD spindles the Wiki was more prevelent.
But honestly the information on here is more rich and first hand experience beats the Wiki.
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