Organizing Information

[sevenply]

I'm not familiar with who runs this site or how it operates but I have a suggestion. It would be nice to put some of the information here into categorized texts. Some things would be much easier to read and find this way. One thing I was thinking of doing and then trying to find a site to post to was this. When I buy a new lock I'm usually wondering how many pins, are there any security pins typically if so how many and what type, etc. A lot of that information is on this site but it takes a bit of effort to find it. So organizing it in an easy to find fashion would be nice.

For example among other things would be a link to "General Lock Info". Then on this page would be an alphabetic list of lock brands. Such as Fortress, Master Lock, Segal. When you click on a brand you would get a page with each model. For example if you click on Master Lock you would then see No. 1, No. 3, No. 5, No. 15, etc. Click on No. 1 and you would get a text file with info like:
Master Lock No. 1
Number of pins: 4
Security Pins: None
Type of Security Pins: N/A
Security Rating: None?
Official Site: http://masterlock.com/cgi-bin/prod_sear ... x=3&Go.y=7
Difficulty: easy
Notes:

Thats a rough template. Another thing I have personally tried to read through was the law thread sticky. I think it would be much easier to read if organized in a similar fashion. Is this something that could happen here or is this place going to stricly be a BBS? If someone with the power to do this agrees to this or would like to see it prepared first I would be glad to try and tackle this.

[Chucklz]

Attempting something like this for every model of every brand of lock would be a huge task. Especially if you consider that say, the Master #1,3,6.... all use the same cylinder. Would these locks get seperate entries with pointers to one "master entry" Difficulty is also extremely subjective. For example, I have picked a few BEST cores that rake open in a few minutes, while I have a 4 pin Master knockoff lock, no security pins, keyed to an extremely difficult bitting that takes longer to pick.

I am in no way attempting to discourage you... just letting you know what you would be in for. If you want to start to make such a list, be my guest...

[MrB]

I'm kind of with sevenply on this. Information can be hard to find sometimes. Just to take an example: the heading for the FAQs and General Information forum says newbies introduce yourselves here. But the actual newbie introduction thread is in the Got Questions? forum.

Along the lines of what sevenply suggests, maybe there could be a locked forum containing only stickies, and each sticky would have a general title such as "Lock Information". Within Lock Information would be headings and sub-headings for as many types of lock as could reasonably be described. It need not start out complete. Site members could add information to it and submit the modifications for review by pm or email to moderators. If the modifications looked sane, a moderator could update the sticky with the new version.

We almost need something like a Wiki, but I don't think the forum software supports that.

I have to apologise a bit here, because it sounds like I'm proposing new work for the moderators. But really, there is so much information we need the site members to contribute most of the work.

[sevenply]

I would definately need help from everyone here. The idea would be to tackle them as we go. I'm not really looking to scoure the internet and libraries to get a complete listing of every lock ever made. I have about 6 locks so far. I don't mind writing up details for these. I also don't mind having people PM or email me with info on a lock they have or with corrections and I could update the info.

I'm not sure if the difficutly is good or not. I was also thinking of maybe having difficulty relevant to high security locks and non high security locks. This way someone will know for a high security lock it is typical easy or difficult. It definatly is subjective and some of the same exact models are way harder or way easier than the norm. So we would try to convey the norm for that model. There could be a seperate dificulty for picking and raking. This would allow someone to get a sense if the lock is generally considered easy or diffuclt.

I wasn't even aware that those master locks you listed used the same core. I say list each model seperatly because someone looking for info likely wouldn't be aware of that fact. They can all link to the same page and then in the notes it can be mentioned which models all use the same core.

It is definately a project that would grow and evolve.

[Chucklz]

I certainly didn't want to appear hostile to the idea. Start writing and collecting, and I will sticky it.

[WhiteHat]

things also to sticky would be romstars epic post on pick types and dicssasembling cylinders.

they would be here:
viewtopic.php?t=4467

and here:
viewtopic.php?t=2241

I think that the whole FAQ's section is getting swamped by a plethora of stickies.... could all be combined...

perhaps all the interesting information on this site could be combined into some sort of Lockpicking101 guide.....hey, now there's an idea...

[Hak]

Didn't someone on this forum already have an idea like this? Making a site that contains info about all the locks, models, etc. i think he was gonna call it "The Lock Box" or something close to that. I can't recall if he ever finished it though...

[sevenply]

Chucklz: I didn't take take your reply as being hostile. I just wanted to clearify my intentions. I'm still new to all this. So without the help of others this won't amount to much.

I am also hoping to have this information organized in something better than a sticky. Stickies become multiple pages with no organization. If someone is looking for a specific lock and it isn't documented they have to read every page of the sticky to be sure.

SJ's wiki looks like a nice way to organize this. His post is here: viewtopic.php?t=5285

[Hak]

If you wanted to go about doing this task of making a site full of info on locks, you should probably get a few others to help you, because if you don't it will likely take you at least a month (assuming your on about 6 hours a day) to complete this. It will also be relatively complicated to get the desired info for every single lock.

Also, did you want to do this for just pin tumbler locks, or did you want to do all other types like cam locks, lever locks, etc...

[Chronos]

I think this sounds like a good idea and would be willing to help in any way possible. I am okay with webpage design and have access to a server that we could post the info on if you want, or I could just help look up the info. Just let me know and I will help.