Suggestion with forums

[CordlezToaster]

Would it be possible to have one set of hardware forums, ie something like this:
Vista Media Centre - Software
Xp Media Centre - Software
Motherboard and cpus
Video and audio
Tuners
Other hardware hdd, powersupply, cooling
Plugins Vista
Plugins XpMCE

It just seems some threads are doubling up in the hardware forums, would be nice to keep it under one roof so to speak.

That way we could one thread dedicated to a particular motherboard for posting issues etc. not 5-6 seperate posts.

[DDH]

Had to think about this one then vote No.

While I see your point. With the lack of system details for most people I think we'd just add one post to most hardware threads "What operating system are you running?"

[vlad]

People are having problems to post in relevant forums now.
Expanding it is not an answer. Up to Mike, I guess.
No vote from me, as no point, sorry.

[CordlezToaster]

Originally Posted by DDH

Had to think about this one then vote No.

While I see your point. With the lack of system details for most people I think we'd just add one post to most hardware threads "What operating system are you running?"

Really it should be something people add anyway, when posting an issue most people tend to add the os and patch level.

As a member if someone asked about a particular motherboard in one forum i would probably reply but if i see a duplicated thread asking the same thing i wouldnt bother.

Same with video card driver releases it would be easier to post it in one thread informing people rather than putting it in two.
Would be a better way of collating the information and making it easier for users.

[CordlezToaster]

Originally Posted by vlad

People are having problems to post in relevant forums now.
Expanding it is not an answer. Up to Mike, I guess.
No vote from me, as no point, sorry.

not expanding, reducing

[vlad]

Originally Posted by CordlezToaster

not expanding, reducing

I see, maybe it is a time we disregard MCE2005 and move forward.
I agree, let's combine hardware, but leave software separate.

[vlad]

Anyway, you can fill you profile and not have that footer in every message.

[CordlezToaster]

Originally Posted by vlad

Anyway, you can fill you profile and not have that footer in every message.

i know but it fills that big empty space

[Mike]

I think it will be some time yet before we bid farewell to MCE 2005 as a support area. Until then, as much as I would like to see fewer forums, there are separate hardware issues to be dealt with under each category - and they are clearly marked so user confusion should be minimised.

Of course, as you rightly point out, there would be just as many hardware issues that do not need OS separation, but I can guarantee that if I did as you suggest, I'd have plenty of people asking why I combined them.

I've never been in favour of a multitude of forums, but I prefer that to having everything dropped into one bucket.

Even though we have the system info under the user's post, he'd still need to identify his OS in every thread title - if that didn't happen, I'd have people complaining about reading threads that they're not interested in. Of course we could have fixed that problem by using thread pre-fixes, but that was rejected a few weeks ago.

Mike

[vlad]

I was thinking....
I never use forums All I do is click on Today's Posts.
If I have a problem then I use search, and then post. But I never go and browse forums.
The same story with my Outlook 2007. Many people create elaborate folder structure and sort every message to the folders. I create custom searches and if I need to find something - I use them.
Could be a good idea for the forums, but I know that Mike hates searches as the put some load on the DB.