# Forum suggestion



## amo (Jan 3, 2002)

First off, I think this is a great site.  I've only used it a few times but it is really cool to have as an online support system.  I do have one problem, though.  Many (if not most) of my questions have to do with Apple hardware.  While you do have a hardware forum, it doesn't seem to get used much.  Other online bbs' (such as macnn and macaddict) have hardware forums that are more precisely dedicated to the individual's needs.

In example, they have a Hardware catagory, and then seperate forums for Power Macs/Cubes, iMacs, Power/Ti Books and then iBooks.  Then they have another one for other stuff like printers, iPods, Airport, etc.

I personally think this would much better.  In fact, when I have a specific question about my TiBook, I goto MacAddict because I know that other TiBook owners will browse that forum and there is a better chance of my question being answered by someone who knows.  And possibly, make the moderator be an owner of the product for which he moderates.  Ie, the moderator for the iMac forum would have to own an iMac him/herself.

That's just my opinion, but I think it would really strengthen the bond of Apple users here if they had a place where they could not only talk with other Apple users, but other users of the same Apple computer genre.

Hopefully I got my point across w/o being too wordy, but if this change were to happen here, I really wouldn't have much of a reason to visit any other Mac-forum on the web.  Thanks for your time!


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## amo (Jan 3, 2002)

I forgot to add that you have done this with the PDA section, but not the Mac Hardware section, which seems very odd.  I would have made a plain PDA forum _under_ the hardware section .. like I said, I'm not the Admin so it's just my opinion.


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## themacko (Jan 3, 2002)

Yeah, I agree.  People quickly loose interest in something they know nothing about.  By seperating it into sections based on products, people probably would get more and perhaps better responses.


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## edX (Jan 3, 2002)

I think related to this is how do we get more people to actually pay attention to the different forums. Huge gangs of people seem to cluster in the osx general discussion area and only a handful or two of regulars seem to bother to look anywhere else. I look at the dates on many of the forums and last posts occur days ago. These older posts are easily ignored or forgotten.
case in point - admin posted a question about toast in os9 forum. I didn't notice it for 2 or 3 days but then replied. I am not sure yet if admin has seen my reply since he has never responded. My guess is even he forgets where he has put his posts and forgets to check them.
and the other side is that general discussion gets so clogged with posts that belong elsewhere that new posts disappear out of first page view too quickly.
I am wondering if there is any way to move posts to their appropriate forums without leaving a marker. this would force people to go looking around more and might get people to pay attention to where they post in the first place. of course newbies should be given a little more grace than regulars just because it takes a bit to figure all the topics here out.
I realize my suggestion is probably not the answer, but maybe there is something that can be done.


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## edX (Jan 4, 2002)

ok, i just had another idea. what about a 'how to use the site' post that sits on the top of every forum like the current request for donations. it could include directions on how the software works, how to post in appropriate forums, maybe even some guidelines for respecting each others opinions (ok that might be reaching).  At any rate some instructions on how to use this site would be helpful. I still don't know what a buddy list does. never tried it cause it sounds so aol or msn-ish.
so, just another idea  i had while posting about a classic update to general discussion.  

wow, things are very quiet around here tonite after setting a new record earlier. me thinks they wore themselves out trying to figure out what apple will unveil.


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## themacko (Jan 4, 2002)

There is an option to send an email to newly registered users, that email could be the 'forum etiquette' that you were talking about .. basically telling peopel that there _is_ a better chance of your question being answered if you ask it in the correct forum.  I also think that *twyg* could use a little a help moderating the General forum .. there are loads of new posts in there and probably half of them could or should go into a more specific forum.  And not all of these posts should be moved, but the the poster should be told that they did post in the wrong spot.  It's not being mean, it's just keeping things organized for everyone.


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## edX (Jan 4, 2002)

i think your idea would be a great start scott. i would personally volunteer to help out the moderation but i am afraid my time is about to get more limited. still i could probably devote 30-60 mins every day either in morning or nite to help out.

would that make me "middle aged moderator"?


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## AdmiralAK (Jan 4, 2002)

Moderating is a nice but judging job 
I moderate at howard forums, over here there seem to be ok, but there are times that I just see a subject out of place (in the wrong forum) -- like questions that I want to move to the correct forum so people can actually see it and make use of it (even once the question is answered) -- but I cant do that.


The idea of having specialized hardware is quite cool.  The PDA thing was actually my idea.  when the admin was moving things around a while back I put in a request to have PDA forums he he --

Having forums like TiBook in their name means that there would have to be name changes (or at least adding forums) when apple changes the names around.  a better convention, IMHO , would be to have

* TOTL & Professional Desktops (like all the towers, cubes)

* Home desktops  (all imac varieties)

* Apple portables (iBook, TiBook, all old PPC powerbooks)

* Pre- G3 machines

* 68k hardware



any ideas ?


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## amo (Jan 4, 2002)

That sounds pretty good, AK.  But here's a couple of my thoughts.    Apple computers don't change names all that often, maybe every few years so I don't think that should be a problem.  I've been to a couple bbs' where they just have 'Desktop Macs' and 'Portables' but it seems like it's not much better than we have it here.  iBooks and TiBooks should each have their own forum, because while both are laptops both are also very much different.

I'm glad to see that this idea is getting some support!  Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts.


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## ScottW (Jan 4, 2002)

I actually lean toward the group that says, less forums is better. You'd never guess that looking at this site though. 

The reason is as mentioned earlier in this thread, folks tend to gravitate to one or two forums. This is human nature. If you walk into a house, do you go hang out in the room with no one in it, or do you go looking for where people are talking... where things are current?

Managing a forum is quite the task. Forums like AppleInsider, hold to the rules that you stay on subject or else. This requires, in my honest opinion, lots of work for those moderating... and a division between moderator and poster... forcing people to "push barriers", aka human nature.

I rarely visit each forum, I usually click on "view new threads since last visit" and take it from that point... only when I ask a question do I choose a forum and sometimes... I will post something "General Discussion" instead of Site Discussion because I know it will get more views.

So, that tells me... WHY I like fewer forums. This way, no one misses out on anything... and no one gets left in the dust.

So, for example...

Mac OS X: General Discussion
Mac OS X: Troubleshooting
Mac OS X: Tips/Tricks
Mac OS X: Software (includes games, reviews, etc)
Mac OS X: Unix Focus

Mac Classic: General Discussion
Mac Classic: Troubleshooting
Mac Classic: Tips/Tricks
Mac Classic: Software (includes games, reviews, etc)
Mac Classic: Running under Mac OS X

Mac Hardware: Professional G3/G4 Towers & Cubes
Mac Hardware: Consumer iMac models 
Mac Hardware: Portables (iBook, TiBook, all old PPC powerbooks) 
Mac Hardware: Pre-G3 PowerMacs (Performas, Towers, Powerbooks)
Mac Hardware: 68k hardware 
Mac Hardware: Digital Devices (iPod, iWalk, etc)

Mac Other: Rumors
Mac Other: Programming
Mac Other: Classifieds
Mac Other: Open Letters to Apple

Any remaining forums would be merged into one of the above forums or split out and and divided into appropriate forums.

Thoughts?


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## AdmiralAK (Jan 4, 2002)

OMG 
No "non technical" forum--what will we do without the cuss thread ?? he he he 


That looks good but I would add 3 more sections


1) FAQ -- I think composing good FAQs avoids repetitions of questions of the same nature.
2) PDAs --or would those fall under digital devices ?
3) What about the "ask a volunteer" part ?



Admiral


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## ScottW (Jan 4, 2002)

The others WILL stay... I am just discussing the Mac Forums only.


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## themacko (Jan 4, 2002)

I don't have any problems with that .. looks good to me.


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## edX (Jan 4, 2002)

I guess that as i think about it, i agree with the less forums is better approach. broader topics would include more posts and keep each area of general interest moving quicker and therefore attracting more visiter interest.  
I think the most artificial division is that between osx and classic. the two are so often intertwined that it makes sense to deal with them together.eg - updating one can speed up the other. and hardware is often just hardware. yes there are differences between models but there are more similarities. again the more specific division just makes it more likely that someone who could help will miss your post. My point from the start is that there needs to be a better way to make sure people use more of the site than general discussion which is always filled with off topic posts. and yes some of them are mine. 
so my suggestion is better condensation of topics with perhaps a few new ones like the books forum being added. obviously there is nothing set in stone here. 
I will also qualify my suggestion with one other thing - i am thinking in terms of current site traffic and use. if admin has some sort of advertising or something going that is going to bring lots more people in to participate, then more specific forums might be the best way for the future.
thanks for reading.


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## ScottW (Jan 5, 2002)

I have to agree with Ed... maybe we are making too big of a deal... here, I have mapped out the entire site forums... let me know.

Site Specific Areas
-------------------
Site Discussion
Site Volunteers (forum viewable only by volunteers)

Mac Crowd
---------
Mac: General Discussion
Mac: Mac OS X
Mac: Mac OS X (Unix Focus)
Mac: Classic
Mac: Troubleshooting 
Mac: Software (OS X programs)
Mac: Software (Classic programs)
Mac: Hardware 
Mac: iPod

Mac: Rumors 
Mac: Programming 
Mac: Open Letters to Apple 

Linux Crowd
------------
Linux: General Discussion
Linux: Troubleshooting
Linux: Software
Linux: Hardware

Windows Crowd
-------------
Windows: General Discussion
Windows: Windows XP
Windows: Windows 95,98,ME
Windows: Windows NT,2000
Windows: Troubleshooting
Windows: Software
Windows: Hardware

PDA Crowd
----------
PDA: Palm OS Devices
PDA: Windows CE
PDA: Other (Linux, Newton, etc)

Community Interest Forums
-------------------------
Classifieds
DesignCrowd
SCI-FI 
All Throughts Non-Technical


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## edX (Jan 5, 2002)

are there really enough windows users here to make a "crowd"? 

seriously, i think this latest outline looks pretty realistic. it makes more sense to me and my sense of organization. chances are by watching how something like this worked some of these parts might even get combined eventually.

but that would work for me for now. i vote yes.


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## amo (Jan 5, 2002)

Why are there so many Windows forums, though?   This is mainly a site for Mac users, right?  I would much rather see all those forums for Winblows users get converted into the specific hardware forums (iBook, Power Mac, iMac, etc) for all the Mac users that have supported this site.  I seriously doubt all those windows forums would get half as much use as the split-up hardware forums, IMO.


Site Specific Areas 
------------------- 
Site Discussion 
Site Volunteers (forum viewable only by volunteers) 

Mac Crowd 
--------- 
Mac: General Discussion 
Mac: Mac OS X 
Mac: Mac OS X (Unix Focus) 
Mac: Classic 
Mac: Troubleshooting 
Mac: Software (OS X programs) 
Mac: Software (Classic programs) 

Mac: Power Macs/Cubes
Mac: TiBooks/Power Books
Mac: iMacs
Mac: iBooks
Mac: Apple Hardware (iPod, Cinema Displays, etc)
Mac: Other Hardware {Printers, harddrives, etc)

Mac: Rumors 
Mac: Programming 
Mac: Open Letters to Apple 

Other OS
-----------
Linux: General Discussion
Linux: Troubleshooting

Windows: General DIscussion
Windows: Software
Windows: Hardware

PDA Crowd 
---------- 
PDA: Palm OS Devices 
PDA: Windows CE / Pocket PC
PDA: Other (Linux, Newton, etc) 

Community Interest Forums 
------------------------- 
Classifieds 
DesignCrowd 
SCI-FI 
All Throughts Non-Technical


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## themacko (Jan 7, 2002)

I'm gonna have to go with amo on this, I'd rather see the site focus on Macs and perhaps expand the Mac hardware section rather than have a huge windows and linux section.


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