Re: The Design of the Board

[dancarroll]

IMHO, what the few who want a more supposedly modern and organized forum miss is that what holds Tech Talk together is a sense of community, and again IMHO, this form of board assists in that sense of community. Folks have come and gone, we have suffered our share of trolls, spies, and such, but through it all the community has survived and prospered. This is more than just a "if I parallel caps, do I add the values forum;" that is, it is more than just a place to get and impart information.

I have been on other forums with a bunch of topics on this, that, and the other thing. Not everyone is involved in everything. Thos forums are not as free form as this one is. And frankly they even get a bit inhospitable: If you want to post about resistors, go to the resistor topics and leave us poly cap geniuses alone!

Nah, I like this better. I admit sometimes the archives can be a bit maddening, but given the givens, I'll take this form over the more organized one anyday.

Now I am utterly, completely, irrefutably, relentelessly, and proudly an Old Fart.

And, I might add, a founding member of the Church of Curtology!

Dan
Dan

[AJ]

[paul_n_oneal]

Yup, I agree and I'm a middle age guy. The good thing about this forum is if you say something that you regret, it will disappear in a few weeks and in time will be forgotten. You can also post any kind of question instead of like Dan said go to this, then this, and then post to the supposed experts in that specific thread. I have personal experience on those types of boards and the moderators/administrators of those boards have not been so friendly. Of course maybe that's their job. I've been hanging out here for almost 5 years now--how time flies and even though I haven't met some of these individuals, I feel like they are my friends and I can trust their input whether that be to my liking or not. Nah, I like this free flow style so I would appreciate it if you leave it like it is. I usually check every day for posts so it's not like I need a specific spot to go to too remember where I posted. Personally, I've always liked this format better.

Paul

[jeffman]

[rodh]

You make some good points. I see nothing wrong with the current format.

Rod

[cjd]

As a "tech support" board, it's great.

For projects, however, it causes them to fall by the wayside or require multiple (new) posts on the same topic.

Some gain, some loss. I like the pure simplicity.

C

[Jason]

...who likes the more modern boards? I happen to like a more organized board that allows me to take a "high level" overview of the threads, and quickly move through the ones I'm interested in, rather than scrolling through a mile-long list of posts. I also like having the ability to "bump" an old thread up from the cellar so someone else might actually respond to it, rather than relying on someone looking back 2 months in the list to find out if there's been any replies. One of the big advantages of a forum like this is that it's a repository of information. That requires a good search function, which I believe this software SORELY lacks. If you are going to search the archive, you better plan on a good 10 minutes to return a result. That's not useful, and in most cases, I doubt many people even use that. On top of that, having features like "stickies", PM, the ability to easily report offensive/inappropriate posts, a much easier way to find new posts, much faster navigation... and the list goes on.

As to the thought that going to new software will somehow make this a less friendly place, I fail to see the logic. All of the same people will still be here, and the same people will moderate the board. It's merely a cosmetic change, but with some added features. I will admit that some places get a little carried away with the various different topic areas. I'd say give use 3 or 4 "topics" - speaker building, electronics, projects, and maybe a for sale/WTB forum. At least that way if someone new stops by, they'll have a clue where to start, or an idea of where to post their question - in an area they are more likely to get a response.

I'm definitely not the kind of person that likes to change things just for the sake of change. However, in this case I think a lot could be gained from new software. If nothing else, a new look could be a lot less intimidating for the newcomer than the current design.

Jason (not quite old fart...yet)

> IMHO, what the few who want a more
> supposedly modern and organized forum miss
> is that what holds Tech Talk together is a
> sense of community, and again IMHO, this
> form of board assists in that sense of
> community. Folks have come and gone, we have
> suffered our share of trolls, spies, and
> such, but through it all the community has
> survived and prospered. This is more than
> just a "if I parallel caps, do I add
> the values forum;" that is, it is more
> than just a place to get and impart
> information.

> I have been on other forums with a bunch of
> topics on this, that, and the other thing.
> Not everyone is involved in everything. Thos
> forums are not as free form as this one is.
> And frankly they even get a bit
> inhospitable: If you want to post about
> resistors, go to the resistor topics and
> leave us poly cap geniuses alone!

> Nah, I like this better. I admit sometimes
> the archives can be a bit maddening, but
> given the givens, I'll take this form over
> the more organized one anyday.

> Now I am utterly, completely, irrefutably,
> relentelessly, and proudly an Old Fart.

> And, I might add, a founding member of the
> Church of Curtology!

> Dan
> Dan

[envisionelec]

> ...who likes the more modern boards?

I don't like this format, myself. Here's why.

1. Outdated
2. No search feature
3. No stickies
4. Lousy archive
5. Mail System Error
6. No HTML
7. No formatting (besides line breaks)
8. Incessant spamming (recent)
9. Name Faking
10. White Background

[nick29498141]

[paul_n_oneal]

The thing I see with these new boards is that only the designs which the moderators feel are good enough make it into stickys. The rest of the people are forgotten and not cared for. This leaves bad vibes to those who don't make the sticky. Who cares here at PE, most of us have our own web pages to document our projects and if they don't they can submit them to Darren for the Project Showcase, which BTW, has had a facelift. Most here do not use the search function. I use google or yahoo to do research or if I'm lazy just post the question and someone will answer. I just fear that if they move in that direction the tech talk board would not be the same. I don't want to be PM'ed all the time either. If I get tired of reading posts, then I just uncheck the email notification so my inbox doesn't fill up. Those boards also have the effect of having very long posts. Look over at HTGuide. Some of those take hours to read through and you don't remember what they were talking about after you're done. I was interested in one design at HT that Dennis Murphy was working on but the moderators felt that his design wasn't the best and let him know. He did the right thing and said I leave it at is, and never posted again IIRC. So I harbor some ill feelings towards forums like that. Well, I've used to many minutes on this post, so that's all I have to say about it. Paul

[jasonc]

While I don't exactly have a problem with the way the board is now, I WOULD like to see a more modern format. I just think it would be easier and more functional.

Jason

[jmt]