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Kevin
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Time for another forum reorganization

Mon Aug 13, 2007 10:39 am

Our last forum reorganization was two years ago and with recent changes in the computing field (specifically AMD buying ATI), we think it's time to take a new look at the forum structure and apply some changes.

Primarily, we will be moving away from vendor based sub-forums to ones based on components. The only vendor to retain a dedicated forum is Apple. Also, we will finally be creating a visual based forum that will analogous to the Echo Vale (sound forum). This visual forum will handle such topics as display equipment, video and photo editing and photography and videography in general.

So without further delay, I present the proposed list of forum sections. I've listed the forum names in bold and the proposed forum description in parentheses.

Administration
  • Announcements(Forum rules and other things of a critical nature.)
  • there are a few other forums here that are hidden to regular forum users, such as the moderator forum
Hardware
  • General Hardware (Don't see a specific place for your hardware question? This is the forum for you!)
  • Processors
  • Motherboards, Chipsets, & RAM
  • Graphics
  • Cases & Power Supplies (Enclosures, modding, blowholes, and the power needed to run it all.)
  • Overclocking, Tweaking, & Cooling (Speed addicts anonymous.)
  • SFF Station (For small-form factor PCs and the (extremely small) people who love them.)
  • Storage (All things storage here: hard drives, DVD RW drives, little wicker baskets.)
  • System Builder's Anonymous (Building a new system? Need help choosing between parts? Then step in and let our trained gerbils assist you.)
Software
  • General Software (The place for all kinds of software for all kinds of operating systems.)
  • Linux, Unix, & Assorted Madness (Where Penguins and Daemons chill together in the warmth of the Sun.)
  • Windows (Monopoly money comes in many flavors: Vista, XP, 2K.)
  • Developer's Den (From Visual Basic to GNU C, this is the place to talk programming.)
Technology
  • Apple Sanctuary (From OSX to iPods, iTunes to Mac Minis, and all other things Apple.)
  • Echo Vale (The place to sound off on all things related to audio technology.)
  • Gaming (How we justify all that high-dollar hardware.)
  • Mobile Tech (Laptops, PDAs, cell phones, and all other tech that you carry with you.)
  • Networking (From the small LANs to the large WANs, discuss all forms of networking (including the Internet) here.)
  • Visual Haven
General Discussion
  • Back Porch (Hang out, sip some ice tea, and shoot the breeze with TR regulars.)
  • Hot Deals (Share critical consumer intelligence on deals and steals.)
  • Bargain Basement (Buy/sell/trade with other forum members at your own risk. You must log in to view this forum.)
  • Distributed Computing (Come join the... uh... er... fold.)
  • Religion & Politics
  • TR Sports (The Tech Report's fantasy sports leagues and general sports discussion.)
  • Smoky Back Room (Contributors only.)


I haven't come up with forum descriptions for the new forums yet, so feel free to make suggestions. Also, if you have concerns or questions over the new layout, please feel free to do so. Things aren't set in stone yet and if we see ideas we like, we'll include them.

Also, the R&P forum doesn't have a description because I'm singling out that forum for a new idea. I don't want to have that discussion in this thread so look for a new announcement regarding R&P in the near future.

I don't have an estimated date for implementing the new layout as I want to get feedback first. Also, the actual implementation will likely happen in stages as there will be a large number of threads to move.

Kevin
 
Hoser
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:53 am

I like the new layout. It keeps things neat and tidy looking.

I just have a few ideas for Forum descriptions........

Graphics (Red or Green....pick your poison)
Procesors (From transistors to sockets. All your processor are belong to us)
Visual Haven (Pixels, megapixels, display preferences....anything you can do on your screen is discussed in here)
Religion & Politics (Asbestos suit required) *I think that header lets people know it's an almost free for all forum*
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flybywire
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:01 pm

Now if only those Intel and AMD fanboys can learn to get along. :P I think doing away with the vendor specific sub-forums should reduce confusion.
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gratuitous
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:04 pm

Last edited by gratuitous on Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
morphine
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:07 pm

gratuitous wrote:
For instance, I'd put Echo Vale in Hardware. I can't really imagine an audio topic that isn't related to (a) specific piece(s) of hardware.

Audio players, encoding, decoding, audio manipulation apps, etc, etc. An endless world.

gratuitous wrote:
Networking is another blurry subject. Topics here could be hardware related, software related, or theoretical/ethical in nature.

Same here. Server-related software (Apache, MySQL, PHP, etc) is a common one.
 
Kevin
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:35 pm

Hoser wrote:
Religion & Politics (Asbestos suit required) *I think that header lets people know it's an almost free for all forum*

As I mentioned, let's save R&P for a different thread. If we discuss it here, then it will just take over this thread.

gratuitous wrote:
The line between what goes in the Hardware section and what goes in the Technology section seems a bit blurry to me.

The point of the Technology section is to have a place for topics that are both hardware and software related. Every forum there can't easily be placed in either software or hardware.

gratuitous wrote:
For instance, I'd put Echo Vale in Hardware. I can't really imagine an audio topic that isn't related to (a) specific piece(s) of hardware. Conversely, topics related to what you do with your audio, such as music encoding, are software issues.

It seems to me that this is an argument for having two audio forums, one for hardware and one for software. Why have two when one has been working so well for so long?
Being right doesn't matter if no one listens.
 
Hance
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:43 pm

I like the new setup. It cuts combines a few forums so that they will be higher traffic and adds a new one for some other stuff. Lets do it
 
bhtooefr
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:51 pm

gratuitous wrote:
The line between what goes in the Hardware section and what goes in the Technology section seems a bit blurry to me.

For instance, I'd put Echo Vale in Hardware. I can't really imagine an audio topic that isn't related to (a) specific piece(s) of hardware. Conversely, topics related to what you do with your audio, such as music encoding, are software issues.

Networking is another blurry subject. Topics here could be hardware related, software related, or theoretical/ethical in nature.


Complete post archival.

Anyway, one little comment... Mac OS X is now UNIX 03 certified, so it's definitely in the scope of LUAM. Does that change anything? ;)
Image
 
astrotech66
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:55 pm

What about a section related to HDTV's and home entertainment? Or would that be part of hardware or technology? I just remember that when I wanted to post about my new HDTV, I wasn't sure where it should go.
 
Glorious
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:01 pm

I think it's great. I've always thought there should be a displays/visual forum.
 
Corrado
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:01 pm

astrotech66 wrote:
What about a section related to HDTV's and home entertainment? Or would that be part of hardware or technology? I just remember that when I wanted to post about my new HDTV, I wasn't sure where it should go.


Agreed, maybe a general 'Consumer Electronics' forum. Home theater, appliances, etc.
 
Dposcorp
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:25 pm

Hance wrote:
I like the new setup. It cuts combines a few forums so that they will be higher traffic and adds a new one for some other stuff. Lets do it


++

Fire it up!
 
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:29 pm

Kevin wrote:
Hoser wrote:
Religion & Politics (Asbestos suit required) *I think that header lets people know it's an almost free for all forum*

As I mentioned, let's save R&P for a different thread. If we discuss it here, then it will just take over this thread.


:oops: I missed that.
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Kevin
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 1:38 pm

bhtooefr wrote:
Anyway, one little comment... Mac OS X is now UNIX 03 certified, so it's definitely in the scope of LUAM. Does that change anything? ;)

Not really. If someone wants to discuss the *nix aspects of MacOS X in LUAM, then that would be fine (as it always has been). But in general, MacOS discussions should be in the Apple forum.

astrotech66 wrote:
What about a section related to HDTV's and home entertainment? Or would that be part of hardware or technology? I just remember that when I wanted to post about my new HDTV, I wasn't sure where it should go.

There was a "HTPC and Home Theater" forum on the proposed list of new forums for the previous reorganization but I never created it. I thought it would have too much overlap with other forums and I wasn't sure that the traffic levels would justify it. HDTV discussions would now be a great topic for the new "Visual Haven." Same with standalone DVD players. Discussions of the home entertainment speakers could go in Echo Vale. The only problem would be threads that wanted to talk about both at once (like "Help me design the best home theater system!")

Corrado wrote:
Agreed, maybe a general 'Consumer Electronics' forum. Home theater, appliances, etc.

Perhaps we could have a "General Technology" forum to go with the General Hardware and General Software forums. Home theater really combines the topics of Echo Vale and Visual Haven and I'm not sure there would be enough interest for a dedicated forum.
Being right doesn't matter if no one listens.
 
mattsteg
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 2:58 pm

Kevin wrote:
HDTV discussions would now be a great topic for the new "Visual Haven." Same with standalone DVD players. Discussions of the home entertainment speakers could go in Echo Vale. The only problem would be threads that wanted to talk about both at once (like "Help me design the best home theater system!")
I suppose it's possible that those two forums could be combined into one that deals with audio, visual, and multimedia stuff. I'm not endorsing the idea, just bringing it up.
...
 
Vrock
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:25 pm

Some ideas for descriptions for Visual Haven:

HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

What you see is what you get

Feast your eyes on a virtual cornucopia of high-definition goodness

Your window to the world of computing and multimedia
 
mattsteg
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:27 pm

Vrock wrote:
Some ideas for descriptions for Visual Haven:

HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

What you see is what you get

Feast your eyes on a virtual cornucopia of high-definition goodness

Your window to the world of computing and multimedia
Don't shortchange the photography people ;)
...
 
Usacomp2k3
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:32 pm

Vrock wrote:
HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

How about adding SLR, ISO, and MP to the list?
 
torax
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:33 pm

Vrock wrote:
HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

Hilarious!
 
Vrock
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:34 pm

mattsteg wrote:
Vrock wrote:
Some ideas for descriptions for Visual Haven:

HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

What you see is what you get

Feast your eyes on a virtual cornucopia of high-definition goodness

Your window to the world of computing and multimedia
Don't shortchange the photography people ;)
Dang it, I forgot about you guys. Hmmm....
 
Vrock
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:35 pm

Usacomp2k3 wrote:
Vrock wrote:
HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

How about adding SLR, ISO, and MP to the list?
Yeah, and maybe cut one or two of the others out so it doesn't get too long...
 
Usacomp2k3
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:37 pm

Vrock wrote:
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
Vrock wrote:
HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

How about adding SLR, ISO, and MP to the list?
Yeah, and maybe cut one or two of the others out so it doesn't get too long...

I thought too long was the point. Confusion for the masses!
 
mattsteg
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:41 pm

Usacomp2k3 wrote:
Vrock wrote:
Usacomp2k3 wrote:
Vrock wrote:
HDTV, LCD, CRT, DLP, LCOS, DVI, HDMI, and a whole bunch more abbreviations

How about adding SLR, ISO, and MP to the list?
Yeah, and maybe cut one or two of the others out so it doesn't get too long...

I thought too long was the point. Confusion for the masses!
CCD CMOS AF-S USM HSM IS VR EF-S DX AF ED SLD ASPH MRC DC RAW...
...
 
Vrock
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:45 pm

Mmmm, alphabet soup....
 
mattsteg
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:48 pm

Vrock wrote:
Mmmm, alphabet soup....
Yeah, camera gear can get pretty bad. You get product names like: "70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor"
...
 
SpotTheCat
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 3:54 pm

Vrock wrote:
What you see is what you get
I was going to suggest that!
 
king_kilr
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:05 pm

Visual Haven: "Pics and vids, no pr0n" :D
Damn the torpedoes , full speed ahead.

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Hance
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 4:09 pm

king_kilr wrote:
Visual Haven: "Pics and vids, lots and lots of pr0n" :D


Fixed that for you 8)
 
BIF
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Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:35 pm

I like the proposed headings. Should make research more efficient.
 
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Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:11 am

The separation of the graphics forums at present is a good thing.
When news or reviews of an ATI product is in the ATI forum it (slightly) stops NVidia fanboys and ATI haters from threadcrapping(**REMOVED**).
Combining the two basically removes any restrictions on such behaviour and will lead to more acrimonious posts IMO.

**EDIT BY MOD: This thread doesn't require attacks on other forum members. -Kevin

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