Forum Feedback Where is TE headed?

[m-jeri]

Think the OP is feeling the blues or getting nostalgic.

Mate have u thought that few years back the MOST active section in any forums were the Gen section/ Reviews / Tuts / and the sorts. And maybe for this particular one very few active members were there. So u get to know most of em and well u got "cuddly" .

Now in ANY forums market section is the MOST active one. and a new trend is the vendor/dealer section. people joins in truck loads to get those deals. you very well know how many joined TE for that itself over the last year. Kids nowadays are trading with dad's/mom's account. I dont even know my parents account details even now...

some of the new ones got active also. New members are mostly school/college folks. they have their own style. the old members, as someone said, got old..kinda...and they matured. now they just watch the maze rather than run in it.some still do.tbh its liek this in EVERY forum. So ofcourse the quantity is getting larger than the quality. Give it a few time things do have a way of working itself out.

But closing the market/dealer section is not the answer. I am sure the forum was started as a public forum. not just for the select few right?. So things like this are supposed to happen. Only matter is that folks like you do what u can to keep the standards. people will follow...

 

[The Sorcerer]

The forum started primarily to be a tech discussion forum. Market section was there to help people sell their stuff in decent amount. We did not have registered dealers and all that. GOs were managed by members- remember the good old sidewinder days? Call it nostalgia if you want to, but TE was at its best in those days.

Also people who have migrated from TDF and such forums, they are one of those characters who would usually say "TE rules TDF Sucks" and all that garbage, but they don't understand that TE is a tech discussion forum where actual discussion happens based on facts and unadulterated experience. In forums like TDF and all, people just troubleshoot and give their opinions based on personal experience. There are barely any discussion that happens in such forums and if they do end up with such discussions, it ends up as a flamebait and personal sniping. I could say that they either don't have any experience with a real community- or they are suffering from inferiority complex.

Unfortunately because of such colourful characters who did not even try to understand the essence of techenclave, they assume that people's direct approach is rude and "offensive". There were chances that we could have restricted such crowds from entering the forums by closing down sign up option, but now the forum is damaged. I miss a lot of posts from sangram, harshal, bikey, etc and its not possible for one person to be in pesonal touch with such guys and ask what they want to as most of the doubts/myths are cleared simply by following up such people's posts. People might say that people have moved on with their lives but that is plain bullshit. We have members who are 30-40+, busy in their own lives, have kids, etc. but also contributed to the forums.

That being said, the only essence of the good ol' TE that is still intact is during meets.

 

[thetoxicmind]

I would prefer a much stricter admin/mod group, like in team-bhp maybe.

I hope you were kidding.

Any stricter and there would be riots.

 

[Gannu]

^Not quite!

I'd agree with Raghu when he demands a stricter administration of the forums. Something in the lines of the TBHP. Registration can be made through invites and maybe something else like a small questionnaire or a space where he can put down why he wants to join TE. Besides, the first 100 posts need to be moderated very strictly.

 

[-D.Payne-]

Wow. I read through ALL the posts here and officially lost 20minutes of my work time.

@Bikey: I feel your pain man. I've seen this happen to *all* the forums I've been part of barring one - team-bhp and fredmiranda. But again, both those places don't have the sheer "fun factor" of TE. Its funny that we can now look back at the early 2000s and say things like "those were the days".

I have a lot to say on this topic, and I'd love to pitch in and contribute to this discussion but sadly work time doesn't let us do anything of that sort.

FWIW, I think that there are some very useful suggestion here: in-house experts, stricter moderation and getting-with-the-program.

And yes, the fact that TE has given us all genuine off-line friends as well is something that will keep us all here for a long while - as lurker or otherwise!

 

[Renegade]

Something in the lines of the TBHP. Registration can be made through invites and maybe something else like a small questionnaire or a space where he can put down why he wants to join TE. Besides, the first 100 posts need to be moderated very strictly.

Frankly I find that quite futile. You cannot and should not judge a member by that. Not even by his first post. And to judge his first 100 posts would be an inhuman task.

I liked the suggestion made by Cranky and maybe we can implement that on trial basis. First 15 moderated posts. Kind of like a screening process. You will surpass that eventually but you will have to lift yourself to do that. As for the existing members, they will slowly get adjusted with all the reported posts, warnings and infractions.

Registration through invites takes away the essence of an open forum. Anyone who is seeking constructive and civil participation should be allowed in. The objective is to push meritocracy and not nepotism.

 

[bottle]

For most of these suggestions to work we would need someone who can dedicate time to TE on a long term basis. AFAIK there isn't anyone like that and I don't really see this happenning for some reason. Most of the staff here can't really dedicate time to TE and when we recruit new people they are active for a while and they too disappear. So without continuity nothing is going to change or rather the forum keeps changing since we have a different set of people active at different points of time.Some how personally I think its refreshing than seeing the same old faces all the time
Also as Aces said technology too is a bit saturated these days, in 2005 everything was new and exciting these days everything is standardised and there isn't any of the thrill in the new products anymore. Its more or less an evolution of what already existed
Finally having to write an essay to join a forum is a bit retarded. Its just a forum not some snooty country club in the middle of nowhere for old farts to congregate. Everyone should be welcome

 

[GrimReaper]

I hope you were kidding.
Any stricter and there would be riots.

Strict imposition of rules will improve the post quality but will result in a drastic decrease in the number of new posts and new active members . Whether it's a good thing is debatable . I already have been witness to the meltdown of 2 Indian forums .
Both these discussion boards were great when i first joined them and the moderators were fantastic . There was this 40 something moderator in one of these dbs from whom i more or less learned all my netiquettes . But eventually new members started pouring in large numbers . Post quality took a nose dive the Administrator lost his head and on one fine day changed the rules (made it more stringent) and banned some 20 odd posters in 1 day ! .
The db became a shadow of its former self as newbies were too freaked out to post ,the new round about registration procedure also discouraged many potential new members .
Most of us oldies got bored and finally decided to move on .

I dont think it is a wise idea to try and make this forum perfect .The imperfection gives it a humane dimension . Newbies are not going to post if they see every poster posting perfect posts (theres a tongue twister fer ya) .

 

[Dare Devil]

I joined TE for gaining knowledge and staying updated with latest Tech.I never posted any informative and meaty threads because of my poor English.But i learned a lot from TE.

In Last Dec i need money for my mom's treatment and posted some stuffs for sale in the market section.Within 10mins SumitB transferred Rs.21k to my Account without any negotiation.So TE is more than Tec related forum for me.

I never forget sumitb,vriship and other members supported me to overcome the painful days of my life.

 

[GrimReaper]

I liked the suggestion made by Cranky and maybe we can implement that on trial basis. First 15 moderated posts. Kind of like a screening process.

That sounds very reasonable . But on what basis will the evaluation be made ? Will you infract a newbie for posting in sms language ? its a breach of forum etiquette but too many Indian posters do that (Even the 'About Me' column in matrimonial sites are not spared :S ) .You will end up serving lorry loads of infractions .

Registration through invites takes away the essence of an open forum. Anyone who is seeking constructive and civil participation should be allowed in. The objective is to push meritocracy and not nepotism.

Making discussion boards exclusive isnt a good idea . Newbies are the future .

I never posted any informative and meaty threads because of my poor English.But i learned a lot from TE.

Poor English should never be a barrier . We Indians are not native English speakers . Some may be fluent in English because they use it more often in life. Grammer should never be used as a parameter to judge a poster .

 

[Renegade]

That sounds very reasonable . But on what basis will the evaluation be made ? Will you infract a newbie for posting in sms language ? its a breach of forum etiquette but too many Indian posters do that (Even the 'About Me' column in matrimonial sites are not spared :S ) .You will end up serving lorry loads of infractions .

When a new member makes a post, it gets parked for approval. Once you approve, it appears on the forum. Till it appears on the forum, you cant really infract. So no, no infractions for that.

Your point is valid though and I have that concern too, the evaluation of posts is subjective. Some of the mods might think that it is constructive while other may think it is spam.

However if we have a rule it must be followed, both by old and new members. SMS language is not allowed even now and users are warned. So why should it change in the future.

Making discussion boards exclusive isnt a good idea . Newbies are the future .

And that is what I said too.

 

[malhotraraul]

it is not that senior members are that eager to help or something ..............

example 1)
i got cheated by one member & opened up a thread for the same so that others do not get cheated in the future & so on & after all that 20 page thread response i was not left with any choice but forget the money, i am in touch with a very senior member & at the end of the day i was told that you register a complain with the cops & etc, my uncles are lawyers & when i consulted them for the same the procedure is very very hectic & the entire site would come under review & the owners will be coming under questioning & so on, so u see just saying do this & do that does not help, what i was expecting was experience & nothing else.

example 2)
i wanted to make NAS server for downloading & hence asked help to member as how to do it, i was told to buy certain router & external HDD & install tomato & stuff, hence i did the same, but when stuck, no one knew what to do because most of them just refer google & then do not know what to do further, so if they are not experienced & referring google then everyone can, next time if anyone esks, instead of giving half information, just say, GOOGLE IT !!!!

example 3)
recently one of the member asked senior member to make a PC config which was limited to a budget, the config was made within a minute but more than 75% of parts was not available or discontinued, because the person who gave the config referred google for it & was not aware of the market.

i just hope when we look for help, we are not given google crap all the time.
i believe in learning from my own mistakes & i learned from 3 mistakes so that i can give proper info to any newbie who asks for help & i would not have to refer google for it.

the most important thing in my life is to know ways not to do things wrong way, because there is only one right way which u will find out after that.
i hope i was able to convey what i wanted to say.

 

[stalker]

No lengthy post from me about how much I miss the old days blah blah blah...

Suggestions :

Moderate the first 50 posts by a new member - The point here is NOT TO JUDGE the member. The point is to try and inculcate proper netiquette. Obviously this will be a painful task, but I really don't see any other way of being inclusive while not loosing out on our core values.

Make the market section invite only - Wasn't that the whole idea in the first place? To have easy access to a platform through which we could sell/buy things from people we could trust? Making the market section invite only means that a user HAS to integrate himself/herself with the community before he/she manages to reap the benefits. At the same time, we are still inclusive, we are just shifting some of the responsibility to the end users.

 

[GrimReaper]

However if we have a rule it must be followed, both by old and new members. SMS language is not allowed even now and users are warned. So why should it change in the future.

It shouldnt .I just gave an example so as to make a point .I chose that particular example because it clearly shows there are differing POVs among different dbs.Some are very tolerant towards people using chatspeak .

And that is what I said too.

I was adding to your post not contradicting it

 

[greenhorn]

@ malhotraraul, The advice we give is out of goodwill, and given as-is, and none of us are liable for it. Follow it at your own risk. If you want to set up a home network, I can advice you how to, but i certainly do not want to be held liable if some small issue happens ( you cant do folder sharing etc ) Or if you want to build a PC, but because the AM2 board is older , will not boot your AM3 processor (because it needs a bios update).

At best, we can guarantee that we will not screw things up, and even that's not a given.

We are all just enthusiasts, not unlike you. If you want failproof support, contact your vendor, or a professional.

 

[6pack]

@ malhotraraul, The advice we give is out of goodwill, and given as-is, and none of us are liable for it. Follow it at your own risk. If you want to set up a home network, I can advice you how to, but i certainly do not want to be held liable if some small issue happens ( you cant do folder sharing etc ) Or if you want to build a PC, but because the AM2 board is older , will not boot your AM3 processor (because it needs a bios update).
At best, we can guarantee that we will not screw things up, and even that's not a given.

We are all just enthusiasts, not unlike you. If you want failproof support, contact your vendor, or a professional.

This is the difference between true techies and the noobs (pardon me, no offense meant). I mean people who really care will try out all permutations and combination's and then ask for help if they get lost or come to a standstill. Most newcomers just want answers at the drop of a hat. Like example, someone wants to buy an item tomorrow and asks at 7 in the evening for advice. what was he doing the whole week before? counting chicks? then when they don't get answers they start cribbing and complaining that no one is helping them. People should go and try to learn something on their own. Then they can share that info with others and make this place better.

 

[blr_p]

Most newcomers just want answers at the drop of a hat. Like example, someone wants to buy an item tomorrow and asks at 7 in the evening for advice. what was he doing the whole week before? counting chicks? then when they don't get answers they start cribbing and complaining that no one is helping them.

Its always URGENT too isn't it !!

Many a time i've wondered the same thing. About to spring for some good money yet with uncertain requirements want the right answer.

@Bikey
The mgmgt has spoken do you see anything lacking in what they've said ?

One era may have come to a close and the next has begun or maybe it never did end in the first place and its all in your mind

 

[ultra vires]

Can somebody please look at XDA forums.

1) Open memberships
2) Encouraged to read First and then post.
3) IF any newbies post a redundant thread then memebers reply back with link for the old thread.
4) Wiki - Most important part.. One single place where all info is stored.

 

[malhotraraul]

@ malhotraraul, The advice we give is out of goodwill, and given as-is, and none of us are liable for it. Follow it at your own risk. If you want to set up a home network, I can advice you how to, but i certainly do not want to be held liable if some small issue happens ( you cant do folder sharing etc ) Or if you want to build a PC, but because the AM2 board is older , will not boot your AM3 processor (because it needs a bios update).
At best, we can guarantee that we will not screw things up, and even that's not a given.

We are all just enthusiasts, not unlike you. If you want failproof support, contact your vendor, or a professional.

this is not about If's & but's about hardware support, who are you categorizing here ????

read again, i said experience & most of the information here is Google based, so what did you give out & what went wrong ????

 

[asingh]

My 2.5 cents..!

Where TE is:

I am a relatively new member here. If you see my joining date it is June 2009. I had created an ID here, for a market inquiry on the S2409W. I never bothered to read any of the posts cause I was quite busy (for posting) with TDF/guru3d/ATI gaming forums -- and setting up my own system. Then I had time and decided to start to post. What I can say. This place is WOW. People have immense knowledge. You guys might not know, but people at TDF look at this place with AWE. There are some troll posters from there -- who just read stuff here to gain knowledge. This is an excellent place to gain knowledge and learn about computer hardware. The knowledge pool is vibrant and intense. Also this forum has a lot of mature member -- with reference to age. Not hitting out at young guys, but it is a pleasure to read posts here. I savor reading posts by stalwarts like Sorcerer, Bikeinstein, Gannu...and all the other great guys here. Sorry cannot remember more names.

Where TE is going:

It has become a war-zone. Specially many people do not know basic posting civic sense Which I find extremely irritating. Is it possible that we have a panel on the left side - similar to guru3d where one has to input system configuration. Also people write in sms/twitter lingo. Posters have to understand here, that people take time and do research before replying. It is direct download of immense years of knowledge and experience gained -- there is no academy for hardware knowledge, or the type of topics we discuss. Also people love to recommend edgy stuff here. Just to save money, they tell people to OC on stock, low PSU..stuff like that. Currently I am getting hit at for playing safe with recommendations. And since this is a free post forum people take the liberty to go wild. Typically wild wild west. (WWW) -- what an euphemism. And to be honest -- slowly that feeling is creeping in me regarding TE. Enough is enough. Most of the posts I see here are moving to corrective mode. Members correcting each other, since a wide bunch do not know what they are posting. Also a lot of irrelevant information is dished out. People ask for 'x', and a,b,c,d are recommended. Which confuse the OP even more. It is quite visible seeing the transition here. Correct me if wrong. Senior members get less time to post, and many new posters are going hay-wire. This is a situation extremely hard to control. No ways, can all incoming new member posts be monitored and control. But the moderators do quite a good job here, deleting flame posts, or removing stuff about sex, drugs, violence, racist, sexist comments. Which is highly admirable.