About writing in the right forums

[Nestor]

Hello there dear Z fellows!
Apart from wishing you a superb year 2008 with much music and fun, I want to answer to some Private Messages I received recently which make sense to me, asking for a better use of the forum in terms of “where” we should write “what”, because it seems that we sometimes forget to read the small print located down, closed to the topics themselves, and so we write mixed things that don’t belong to the chosen topic.

Of course, as the forum becomes bigger and bigger with hundreds of members adding every year, we need to keep track of what we do or the forum will become a mess without us realizing it and correcting that will be too difficult to do.

It is such a simple problem to solve! Just read what the forum is for… Yeaaa, I know, you have already done it, but perhaps a few years ago so these small prints have become sort of transparent to you, because they are there all the time…

Please, contribute with this little request so the forum keeps its writings in a methodical, logical way. This is good for all of us.

Cheers

Are you writing in the right place?

[dawman]

I am at fault here, and I understand exactly what stardust and hubird are saying.

Many people who come here to learn by searching instead of posting can have a much easier knowledge base if the threads are better organized.

I have taken a deep breath before every post and consulted with myself before posting to make sure it is in the proper place.

Again, members with a clearer sense of sharing have helped to correct this to the way it should be. A very good idea.

[hubird]

well, nothing sneaky anyway, I just thought let's have a few threads 'moved', as they looked so inviting to post whatever one wants in the announcement and general forum.
Especially for new members it would be confusing to see those posts there.
Thanks guys

[Mr Arkadin]

i dunno, i feel this thread should be in Announcements.

[hubird]

that's right

[Nestor]

i dunno, i feel this thread should be in Announcements.

It probably should I thought more people come here than there...

[hubird]

[braincell]

"Off Topic" is my people.

[John Cooper]

[spoimala]

I've seen these "please, post into right forums" messages every now and then and maybe in this forum more often than usually.

There are a few main reasons why this happen:

1) People are impatient and irresponsible. They just want to say what they have in mind and don't care whether it messes up the forum. Usually these are guys that only write a post or two.

2) People are inconsiderate. These are people who are "members of the family" but don't care that much. "Everyone reads all the forums anyway" they may think.

3) The forums are not clearly designed. It's not easy to say where one could post.

We can't do much with the category 1. Category 2 we can heal by messages saying "think before posting". But category 3 is most easily fixed - and it helps with guys in 1 and 2 too.

I gave a few thoughts onto forum separation in PlanetZ and I think it could be improved. Here are my thought about existing forums.

- Announcements
This is somewhat clear. Only remarkable announcements. But by whom? The description could be more explicit saying who can write announcements and is it only for Sonic Core announcements or can plugin authors write their own.

- General Scope Discussion
That's it, the fruits and juice of this board. Clear and precise.

- Problem solving
Forum for asking for help. OK.

- Tips & Tricks
Collection of hottest tips. It may have a purpose.

- XITE, ASB, NOAH
Areas for different hardware, okay.

- Modular talk
Modular is such a central plugin that it may deserve it's own forum

- STS Talk.
This is clear, but does it need an own forum? Under 2000 posts may suggest that it could be merged into Scope discussion.

- Tech Talk
In principle this is clear, but sometimes it's not easy to make decision, whether to post here or scope discussion. Maybe it could be labeled "Host hardware discussion"?

- Scope creativity
What's that? How to get creative with Scope? Isn't it Scope discussion?

- Scope study
What's that? How to learn using Scope? Isn't it Scope discussion? Only a few messages there.

- Device/module wishlist
Couldn't this be merged with Scope Development?

- Scope development
It's fair to have an own forum for developers and development.

- Scope purchasing
Almost every forum has an sell/buy forum, okay.

- XTC
Maybe XTC is such a different topic that it needs an own area. Or could it also be merged with Scope discussion?

- Off topic
Yeah! People want to chit chat. I'm curiosly waiting, when the number of posts here exceed the number of posts in scope discussion


So, I'm saying a few less forums would make this place cleaner and easier to accost.

Any ideas?

[Shroomz~>]

There are a few main reasons why this happen:

1) People are impatient and irresponsible. They just want to say what they have in mind and don't care whether it messes up the forum. Usually these are guys that only write a post or two.

2) People are inconsiderate. These are people who are "members of the family" but don't care that much. "Everyone reads all the forums anyway" they may think.

3) The forums are not clearly designed. It's not easy to say where one could post.

There's also another possibility, which is that in some cases people might just be deliberately taking the piss. In that case it's probably a sort of warped sense of humor whereby they think they're annoying certain other forum members. I could give examples, but it's not worth getting into too deeply, especially since it doesn't bother me personally any more. Just thought it was worth chiming in with that possible scenario.

Mark

[wayne]

....about moderating these forums Nestor ?!?!?!