HiString's Poll: Separate forums?

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Should there be separate forums for separate projects?

  • YES

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • NO

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .

Ethan

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[I am posting this in "HiString's" behalf. The majority decision will be carried out.]

Organising the forums before they get too large...

We have the possibility of organizing the new home as we move in, rather than let it become a conglomeration of threads as was the case at RO. Admin believes this should be a democratic decision by the community rather than an admin imposed decision.

The idea would be to attempt to ?group? information about either a particular ?clone? (e.g: 1176 clones, etc.) or particular types of gear (e.g: Comps separated from Pre?s) to facilitate efficient and easy access to specific information.

A couple of possible formats would be:

Clone forums:

1176
La2 / T4
SSL Comp
Green Mic Pre
API Pre?s

Plus maybe one or two general discussion forums. ALTERNATIVELY, we could go with:

Gear forums:

Pre?s
Comps
Mics
EQ?s
Power Supplies
Etc, etc.

I personally can see pros and cons either way, but I think that firstly we should discuss and decide whether the overall forum would be better if organized in this fashion, and then decide the format separately.

Please cast your vote.

And to quote Kev???We love our DIY?
 
A different approach - that maybe could combine the best of both worlds - could be organizing links like this:

http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=110&highlight=meta

..still keeping all in one forum, and the possibility to add comments to each thread..

..just a thought..

Jakob E.
 
Aha,

That is quite a flexible approach. Someone could volunteer to look after each "Meta" post- there could be a Meta post for Newbie stuff, projects- split down to actual types like your SSL Meta, component data, group-orders etc etc.

Could be handier (and maybe more flexible?) than separate headings...

Just need volunteers!

If it does go ahead, I'd volunteer to "housekeep" a Meta Thread.

:thumb:

Mark
 
I know the main concern with separate forums was some people not being able to stay in the loop...

If separate forums are decided on, how about just dividing it into TUBE, and SOLID STATE (and from there use meta threads--good idea Jakob). That way it is simple enough so that one knows where to go to look for what they want, and it would be easier to recieve help on any particular tube project or solid state project because the group will not be divided in say 5 different forums at any given time.
 
Yes, a dual-channel system like that would be the obvious solution!

Also, the categories would be broad enough that everyone would have to regularly check out both worlds

Jakob E.
 
how about a general DIY forum and simply a Trouble shooting forum?

that will remove the "help., somthethings not right" into another forum. I think that would clean up things pretty well

problem with Tube/Solid state is I think there going to be crossed threads... IMHO

seems like we get alot of those "I just finished my G1176 and blah blah isnt right, any thoughts"
 
I say keep it as it is. I love being able to read so many different things at once, separate forums would make it harder to cover the cross over information in topics.

Any way to improve organization would be cool - I like Jakobs META idea.
Would there be a way to have user preferences...so that each user could create a top ten list that will be there when you log in??

Great work so far guys!

Cheers Tom
 
Separate forums will separate this community. Many good things will be overlooked with separate forum. I like to read everything to keep my view open.
 
I like the all under one roof concept. I for one, would have missed so much great information if things were spread out. The Meta file idea would be very helpful though. It would concentrate some of the extraneous and far flung posts into a managable format without splitting things away from the group.
 
..and it could even be used to keep track of content in threads that go astray - not that this ever happens in TechTalk.. :razz: - we ALWAYS stick to the thread title...

Jakob E.
 
I do think there is a great deal of 'who's just built what' etc going on here. It is both inspiring and good fun to see what the rest of you are up to. Most (all?) of us suffer from lack of time, and not being able to build as much as we'd like...and it is always nice to see projects that others have built; it's a bit of a substitute for not having completed your latest project, if you will.

Also, there are some people that come to see us from time to time (PRR, Fred Forssell, Dan Kennedy etc), and I always want to read their posts whatever the subject. Having everything on one forum facilitates this, and I think it may also make it easier for those who do not come here so often, but whose posts everyone will want to read.

One thing with the all-in-one forum that I find gets difficult is the speed at which it moves. It is not difficult scanning the headings for the ones you are interested in, but sometimes you reply to someone that has asked for help, and you forget about it, or what thread it was, and you basically end up ignoring someone's follow up question or reply simply because you forgot or lost track, or it's been 48 hours since you last logged on etc. Especially with a newbie, you may end up offending or rejecting someone by accident, and I do think it's important that especially the newbies get looked after well. I was, and I do usually try to return the favour. I don't know if the buttons to the left actually mark threads that you replied to (should have checked before you posted...twat!), but some way of keeping track of your own replies would be nice. Perhaps one possible option would be to have user-programmable buttons...? I know jack about software (although I was once a wiz with basic on an apple IIe!) so it's really just a thought.

As far as troubleshooting etc, some form of intelligent or programmable search function would be good, which is basically in effect the metathread idea, if I'm not mistaken? The majority of searches are probably for a fairly limited number of topics, such as either faultfinding a gyraf project, vari-mu compression, discrete op-amps, neve modules, transformers, PSU's etc, so if these common searches could be facilitated it would be a real benefit.

My views are obviously based on how I use this wonderful forum, but I do think that separating it into several subsections is a bad move and would hurt the community spirit. One day it may be inevitable, but I do not think that we have reached that point yet. The deeper question is one that any growing company or organisation has to face; how do you grow big and still keep the good spirit and sense of community and friendship of being small?

Bjorn
 
If things are to be divided, then I vote for the meta-thread idea, as long as it isn't going to become too much of a handfull to administer.
 
I wish I had thought of Scenaria's idea of just two forums before I had the poll posted.

In reading the responses, two things seem apparent........

1: A lot of people seem to have forgotten how confusing, daunting and intimidating TT could be for a complete newcomer, especially those that had little or no idea about electronics to start with.

2: After what has happened over the last few days and the "sense of community" which has been displayed, I seriously doubt that some form of forum organisation would break up the community.

It would seem that some people are taking a somewhat overly selfish view and not thinking about the future of this site.


:cool:
 
I voted yes, but would hate to see things get too disjointed here. Im not into the idea of a troubleshooting vs. regular forum, much of the stuff I learn comes from reading other people troubleshooting but Id probably never read that stuff if I wasnt looking to troubleshoot, you know?

The 70 page gyraf 1176 thread was a real drag. I mean, it was awesome, but god help you if you actually wanted to find something in there specifically that maybe you read a few weeks eariler. In the case of something like that, I think an 1176 forum or meta thread would have been REALLY cool, just for organizational stuff.

You can see the same thing happening down the line as more of us get involved in the 1081 project. The SSL quad project as well...

So I guess Im not voting so much for several different forums just for the sake of having them, but just for some means of organization on the topics that get really big, projects that so many of us here participate in building, 1176, SSL, 1081, Pultec, etc. I dont know that I have a suggestion as to what would be the best way to approach that, but anything easier than a 70 page thread on "gyraf 1176" I think is a step in the right direction. I know from my experience, having a specific thread on acquiring parts for this stuff would be beyond awesome, theres always that ONE problem part, you know?

dave
 
Well, how about a newbie forum? To me that seems like a bad idea because it might make people feel stupid and unwanted...like they're a burden or something. If anything, I would encourage more lurking, so that potential DIY'ers feel more at home once they actually ask a question. Perhaps we should have some kinda quick intro page for newbies, or maybe an FAQ page...some form of introduction to DIY? I do think that we've always been good at welcoming newcomers; I'm not always here, but it seems like most people get at least a 'welcome to tech talk'. It would be good if we could get more 'recent' newbies in here to chime in and comment!

As far as sense of community goes, perhaps splitting tech talk/the lab into subsections is not such a bad idea. Certainly recent events do point to a very strong sense of community. If we are going to grow, then sub-forums will have to happen sooner or later.

Bjorn

Regarding 'somewhat overly selfish views', I think we do all need to chip in with how we like to view things and how we use the site. That is selfish by its very nature, but it's needed to get some form of average in terms of how to best organise things. It is at least a starting point.
 
I don't have a definitive answer to this, but I approached the issue with these considerations:

Do I personally try and organise information is an orderly fashion or do I just through documents, etc., into a pile ultimately not knowing where anything specifically is.

If I walk into a library, I know that everything has a place, that there is a system in place to make finding information relatively quick and painless.

Just imagine if libraries put books randomly on the shelves with no consideration. That is what TT was like and what this place will quickly end up like.

:cool:
 
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