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JH · Dec 9, 2001, 05:34 PM

I have a solution to the problem of people posting in the wrong forums (fora? foramus...foratis...!?) cut them down to just 2 :

One for heavy "Developer" stuff - (that most people can barely read!),
the other "General" forum for everything else - software, rumours, winging etc

The reason most people post in "General "is that they actually want the thing to be read - not unreasonable really!

How about a vote on that?

Cheers
Jeff

Nadolig llawen i bawb sy'n berchen Mac, a twll tin i pob PC!
Iechyd da!

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: JH ]

NosniboR80 · Dec 9, 2001, 05:47 PM

Vote #1 in favor.

I'm not much of a contributor since I can't program and don't have any skills really. Just like to stay up with what's going on. If something must change from what has been happening here, then I like this idea. I don't really like the idea of having all of these different fora. I like to see all of the different topics together, while very specific concerns can be dealt with in their respective categories. So, if something must change, then I'm in favor of having just a couple of categories - actually 3. Those two, and OS X - Unix, etc

godzappa · Dec 9, 2001, 05:50 PM

I havent been around for awhile and came to see almost the entire forum locked up

What a joke. I mean theres OFF topic but many of them were just fine. I dont want to have to go to specific forums for every little bit of OSX news and chat.

I say if this sort of thing is going to continue, that the idea of having just 2 forums one for developers and one for everything else is better than a forum filled with locked topics and spending ages tracking them down.

BTP · Dec 9, 2001, 05:59 PM

How hard is it to click on the right forum? I see what you are saying, but for that matter, we could reduce all the forums here down to a few by your proposed critera.

The notice atop the forum is because people have been posting support questions for OS 9, lounge material, anything but a general OS X issue.

I don't think the moderators are overzealous, I think they are more easygoing than before. For those that are only familiar with this type of board, know that when dicsussion places become a chore to read, the community withers. Think of the moderators as keeping house, something I think they do well and properly given the chosen setup of the fora.

But that's just my opinion.

MacGorilla · Dec 9, 2001, 06:00 PM

Vote #2

Anyone want to be this topic will be moved to MacNN General Discussion?

PhreakOut X · Dec 9, 2001, 06:08 PM

I only use General as well no matter what is goin on, because thats where the masses are..... vote #3

Chet Ript2.0 · Dec 9, 2001, 06:08 PM

WTF? This is "General Discussion" isn't it?

iSore · Dec 9, 2001, 06:10 PM

I've been looking forward to the mods cracking-down: think of how much easier it would be to find troubleshooting tips if they got posted to the proper forum. Those other forums wouldn't be dead if people had no choice but to use them when appropriate. As it is, everyone flocks to X: General for all their posts.

Can I get an Amen?!

crayz · Dec 9, 2001, 06:21 PM

sonofabitch. sonicblue, drop the crack habit before moderating again. jesus.

JH · Dec 9, 2001, 06:29 PM

Don't get me wrong this wasn't intended as a dig at moderators (despite the title!) - it just strikes me that if you have too many fora (forums..... foramus - oh! forget it!) then you put a lot of would be posters off.

e.g you can't get Gimp to install from the command line - now lets see am I supposed to be in "Support" or "Unix" or in "Third party software" or shall I not bother and go somwhere else?

Or what if a thread (like any good conversation does) changes tack as it grows, does it then get bounced around the different forums?

2 threads -
One for "Unix & Developer", one for "General" -
you know it makes sense and in the process makes life as a moderator much easier, with less screens to look at they can concentrate on stopping any flaming and other anti-social behaviour!!!

Jeff

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: JH ]

MacGorilla · Dec 9, 2001, 06:30 PM

Originally posted by Chet Ript2.0:
WTF? This is "General Discussion" isn't it?

Ooops I meant it would be moved to the MacNN Lounge

starfleetX · Dec 9, 2001, 06:40 PM

Okay, that's enough complaining people.
It's time for this thread to be locked!

Hee hee

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: starfleetX ]

gorgonzola · Dec 9, 2001, 06:41 PM

I'm the first to admit that we need to rethink our OS X categories. We need to split it up simply because UBB overloads otherwise, and there are simply too many threads going through and none of them stay up long enough for people to see them.

OS X Support is a completely useless forum. No one ever gets support in there. OS X 3rd party DOES have useful threads that are on-topic, so I think we should keep that. Developer is required, no question, and Server is small but it's nice to keep that stuff separate.

I'm suggesting merging Support into General Discussion, and also being more diligent about posting stuff in the right forum. It seems that Support/Discussion overlap a lot more than Discussion/3rd party.

The problem is that not enough threads have been moved and then it builds up like this...

Thoughts?

JH · Dec 9, 2001, 06:42 PM

Gorgonzola - you beat me to the post button!

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: JH ]

mr_sonicblue · Dec 9, 2001, 06:46 PM

My vote would be for merging Support into General. Software, Unix, and Developer are all working nicely the way they are.

JH · Dec 9, 2001, 06:52 PM

OK : Plan B
I can see your point about overloading the one board - so how about this then;
"UNIX", "Server", "Developer" and "General" - I do think "Third party software" can be bundled in with "Discussion" and "Support".

Thanks for responding
Jeff

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: JH ]

gorgonzola · Dec 9, 2001, 06:55 PM

As you can see from the number of locked threads, there's a good number of software-only threads. Enough that a separate forum for that stuff is useful, and the software forum has been going rather well.

At any rate, I think merging support is the thing that really needs to be done immediately (I'm going to do it now, in fact), and after things calm down a little bit and people are more diligent about moving Software threads into that forum, we'll see how it is in a month or so.

Fair enough?

JH · Dec 9, 2001, 07:00 PM

Sure...
now about that "Fora" thing.....

Merry Xmas!

CharlesS · Dec 9, 2001, 07:15 PM

My vote: General, UNIX, Developer, Server.

Third Party Software is kind of a dilemma. When you're announcing a product, you want people to actually read it, so you want to put it in General...

Also, a new piece of software may solve someone's problem that they were looking in General for the solution to. Often I find a new and useful piece of software that does something I've wanted to do for some time because someone posted it in the General forum. If it was in Third Party I probably wouldn't have seen it.

yuriwho · Dec 9, 2001, 07:18 PM

Great news, I was getting bored in general discussion. Time to unite the newbies with the veterans. Good call

Y

Originally posted by gorgonzola:
As you can see from the number of locked threads, there's a good number of software-only threads. Enough that a separate forum for that stuff is useful, and the software forum has been going rather well.

At any rate, I think merging support is the thing that really needs to be done immediately (I'm going to do it now, in fact), and after things calm down a little bit and people are more diligent about moving Software threads into that forum, we'll see how it is in a month or so.

Fair enough?

gorgonzola · Dec 9, 2001, 07:21 PM

Often I find a new and useful piece of software that does something I've wanted to do for some time because someone posted it in the General forum. If it was in Third Party I probably wouldn't have seen it

Agreed, but the thing is that those threads are now going to be more regularly transferred into the proper forum, which is Third Party, so you would see it

Subzero Diesel949 · Dec 9, 2001, 07:41 PM

I think Support should be merged with General Discussion. I usually find myself surfing General Discussion more than the other boards. The other forums are fine as they are.

JH · Dec 9, 2001, 07:41 PM

Following the last couple of comments,
why not try merging "Software" in as well for the time being and see how the load holds up?

Doesn't the number of posts locked/moved show that most people naturally feel that it is "General OS X" news?

And as were in the mood, as most people call in regularly, why not have a "In the last 24 hours" option as the default?

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: JH ]

brachiator · Dec 9, 2001, 10:53 PM

Historically and properly, the plural of forum is "fora" (just like the rarely used singular of data is "datum").

But only a few pointy-heads seem to use "fora" anymore (including me, but then, I'm a law student and we specialize in obscuring communication ;-)

Forums seems to be pretty much standard usage.

As Dubya might say, "We have a plural term out West: forums. And we're going to find the folks who say "fora" and smoke them out. The evildoers. I'm not gonna just fire a 15 million dollar missile into some tent in the desert and hit the camel of some guy who says "fora" in the butt, either. This is a crusade -- not against all people who use Latin terms correctly, mind you, just those who use it to say "fora." The Latin world, and Latins in general, are our friends. I learned all this stuff from Antonio -- you know, the one on the court over there near the Capitol? He's good people."

Mike

parkds · Dec 9, 2001, 11:06 PM

So support has now been merged with OSX general discussion, which is fine since it means more traffic for troubleshoting question. I just find it annoying that when I ask a support question it should get bumped by sonicblue to OSX 3rd party software. Very frustrating. Somehow I doubt he even read my post. Oh well... moderators, don't be so over zealous to move stuff next time please.

mr_sonicblue · Dec 9, 2001, 11:20 PM

Originally posted by parkds:
So support has now been merged with OSX general discussion, which is fine since it means more traffic for troubleshoting question. I just find it annoying that when I ask a support question it should get bumped by sonicblue to OSX 3rd party software. Very frustrating. Somehow I doubt he even read my post. Oh well... moderators, don't be so over zealous to move stuff next time please.

I did read you thread. You asked which THIRD PARTY piece of SOFTWARE could check your drive in OS X.

CharlesS · Dec 9, 2001, 11:32 PM

New software is general OS X news.

I wish the software and general forums were merged. But maybe it's just me...

Millennium · Dec 10, 2001, 12:17 AM

Well, it's too late now, but let me voice emphatic disagreement. The fact is, two forums are not enough; they get far too cluttered. The fact that Support was an active forum with a fairly large number of posts per day proves that it should have stayed as its own forum.

It's not my fault that fewer people read Support. That just goes to show that most people weren't interested in providing support, and that's their problem. Not ours.

Consider this my vote to reinstate a separate Support forum.

juanvaldes · Dec 10, 2001, 01:05 AM

Originally posted by iSore:
I've been looking forward to the mods cracking-down: think of how much easier it would be to find troubleshooting tips if they got posted to the proper forum. Those other forums wouldn't be dead if people had no choice but to use them when appropriate. As it is, everyone flocks to X: General for all their posts.

Can I get an Amen?!

Amen brother!

I for one am glad the mods finally did it. The other forums where made for the purpose of filtering out the topics. It's much less chaotic that way.

[edit] BTW doesn't this thread belong in Suggestions/Comments?

[ 12-10-2001: Message edited by: juanvaldes ]

[email protected] · Dec 10, 2001, 01:15 AM

i told you splitting unix and mac os x was a bad idea - i suggested "darwin" and other options.

not to say "I told you so."

parkds · Dec 10, 2001, 01:31 AM

Originally posted by mr_sonicblue:


I did read you thread. You asked which THIRD PARTY piece of SOFTWARE could check your drive in OS X.

Actually I asked IF the disc and file catalog structures were the same in OSX and OS9 and if any OS9 disk programs could fix an OSX drive. But whatever...blah

Synotic · Dec 10, 2001, 01:49 AM

It isn't that I don't like providing support (if I know the answer, I'll answer). It is just that there are what, 68 forums on this board? I just choose 5 or so that I go to. I can't visit them all.

psu03bob · Dec 10, 2001, 04:26 AM

Originally posted by Millennium:
The fact is, two forums are not enough; they get far too cluttered. The fact that Support was an active forum with a fairly large number of posts per day proves that it should have stayed as its own forum.

It's not my fault that fewer people read Support. That just goes to show that most people weren't interested in providing support, and that's their problem. Not ours.

Consider this my vote to reinstate a separate Support forum.

The problem is not that nobody posts in the Support forum the problem is that the only people who ever read the Support forum are the people who are having problems. It does look like their are a lot more support questions than disscussions in the forum now. Perhaps a solution would be like the "ask a volunteer" section on macosx.com, a group of people who would be willing to volunteer a certain amount of time a week to help people in the Support Forum. This way clutter is reduced, there are less off topic posts, and people could get some help. I bet there are people who would "work" for some different color stars and a title like "Mac OS X Support Genius!" I should also take this opportunity to call myself a hypocrite since I have never even been in the Support forum before.

Gee4orce · Dec 10, 2001, 05:45 AM

I've almost stopped locking/moving threads because I agree that the fact that so many posts are in the 'wrong' forum indicates that there are too many different forums !

Of course, the downside is that a forum is more likely to wrap onto 2 or three pages per day, and topics on pages 2 or 3 are less likely to be viewed.

petej · Dec 10, 2001, 06:12 AM

Originally posted by Synotic:
It isn't that I don't like providing support (if I know the answer, I'll answer). It is just that there are what, 68 forums on this board? I just choose 5 or so that I go to. I can't visit them all.

Amen! Since the board has no subscribe facility (that I could find in the FAQ), I don't have an easy way to track where I've been, so I just pick a small number of forums and only read those.