| The History of the Hummer Knowledge Base | |
|
The HML (Hummer Mailing List) took off immediately when it was founded in June, 1996. A great deal of excellent technical information was being generated as questions were asked and answered and problems were solved. The mailing list, however, was not searchable. An attempt was made to set up a searchable version, but it was clumsy at best. Because of the tendancy of list members to quote are re-quote posts on the mailing list, results were very redundant. It also didn't take long for the mailing list archives to outgrow the capablilities of that basic search function. A means of easily accessing this information was needed. The Hummer Info Database (HID) was created.
The inspiration for the Hummer Info Database was Yahoo as it existed at that time. That is, the information was categorized and searchable by keyword. The best and most informative posts from the HML were collected and added to the HID over a period of many years. In April of 2006, a format change was made. The HID became a "wiki" based on the software used by the Wikipedia. The idea was to allow users to contribute to the HID directly. Over time, however, problems became apparent. The "wiki" software has unique structure and formatting, so there was a large learning curve involved. Users found it confusing. There were almost no contributions. So, in November of 2006, another format change was made. The HID was renamed the Hummer Knowledge Base (HKB) and converted back to a web-page style. Many improvements were made in the process. The result is the HKB as it exists today. It is made up of collected posts from the Hummer Network forums and mailing lists, contributed articles and links to informative outside web sites. It is not intended to be a complete Hummer manual or to replace service manuals, parts catalogs, professional Hummer techs and mechanics, service centers or dealerships. It is a good source of information for those with questions or problems which have been addressed in the past, so users can learn from the experiences of others. If you have any technical questions not covered in the HKB, it's recommended that you use the Hummer Network Forums to post your question. There are many knowledgeable people on the forums, so you will get an answer in a timely manner. Since the HML is now searchable using the forum, the original purpose of the HKB is no longer there. As a result, not all information is added to the HKB. It is now an additional tool for Hummer owners, while the Forum is the main focus. The Hummer Network
|
|