TR Forums

Soo trying to stay positive and on that note I offer: "It could be worse, they could have adopted Kinja for it's front page." LOL

JohnC wrote:

sweatshopking wrote:

Tr is still unique, and it's not because of the news stories. It's the community, and the community is still mostly here.
I'm glad you're more optimistic!

You're a good person, Josh, but your optimism sometimes goes way overboard and way past the "amusing" levels. What "community"? A "Google [Bot] and 2 guests"?

Yes, occasionally there are more bots appearing and sometimes even 2-3 registered users but you get the point

Weekend forum traffic is ALWAYS lite, particularly so on Sunday nights. And sadly, as I've said before, there are currently many who have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Dear Renee,

Please don't take the harsh comments to heart. We have been spoiled rotten for nearly two decades by some of the most talented and gifted technical journalists to ever grace the internet. If you ever have any spare time I would recommend you read some of Scott Wasson's reviews and articles, the earlier the better. He also inspired his co-contributors to produce outstanding work. His move to AMD to help guide their graphics division was a major loss for The Tech Report, but like you he needed the money. Kevin, our first forum admin helped NASA develop the landing systems for the first Martian rovers. JBI (Mike), our current forum admin and know it all, worked at Fermi Labs when they were THE particle accelerator in THE world, after that he supported his family as a freelance software consultant, and now he keeps the software of IBM's Chicago division running smoothly. Also, some of us are old and many of us are just generally grumpy.

Sincerely,
JimK, da puma

Well said.

Absolutely

Hi guys and gals.

I never posted much - basically not at all . Heck, I think it took me a decade to sign up. But I have read these forums, and all the front page stories and comments from the beginning - TR has been my home page for longer than I can remember. I feel like I know you all and very much appreciate all your writings over the years.

It's weird, I really am close to tears over the death a website I didn't really participate in.

Anyway, thank you everyone. Please know you have have made a positive impact on someones life.

Goodbye and best wishes,
Doug

Appreciate it Jim! Goal is to make the community love me. As with most editors, it takes time! Love the good ol support!

farmpuma wrote:

Dear Renee,

Please don't take the harsh comments to heart. We have been spoiled rotten for nearly two decades by some of the most talented and gifted technical journalists to ever grace the internet. If you ever have any spare time I would recommend you read some of Scott Wasson's reviews and articles, the earlier the better. He also inspired his co-contributors to produce outstanding work. His move to AMD to help guide their graphics division was a major loss for The Tech Report, but like you he needed the money. Kevin, our first forum admin helped NASA develop the landing systems for the first Martian rovers. JBI (Mike), our current forum admin and know it all, worked at Fermi Labs when they were THE particle accelerator in THE world, after that he supported his family as a freelance software consultant, and now he keeps the software of IBM's Chicago division running smoothly. Also, some of us are old and many of us are just generally grumpy.

Sincerely,
JimK, da puma

Welcome to TR!

Ok, one last post.

Renee,
You cannot make a community love you. The best you can do is enable them to love you.

Silence is not an enabler.

Questar wrote:

Ok, one last post.

Renee,
You cannot make a community love you. The best you can do is enable them to love you.

Getting pretty deep there for a computer tech site.

Inside the second and inside the soul.

farmpuma wrote:

JohnC wrote:

sweatshopking wrote:

Tr is still unique, and it's not because of the news stories. It's the community, and the community is still mostly here.
I'm glad you're more optimistic!

You're a good person, Josh, but your optimism sometimes goes way overboard and way past the "amusing" levels. What "community"? A "Google [Bot] and 2 guests"?

Yes, occasionally there are more bots appearing and sometimes even 2-3 registered users but you get the point

Weekend forum traffic is ALWAYS lite, particularly so on Sunday nights. And sadly, as I've said before, there are currently many who have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Come on, you know what I mean. It's nothing to do with "Sunday nights", I could make another screenshot right now and it would not change what I said in the last sentence

renee wrote:

Appreciate it Jim! Goal is to make the community love me. As with most editors, it takes time! Love the good ol support!

Just a friendly advise for you: if you want to stop community disliking you - at the very least don't insult the intelligence or knowledge of the community by posting the "random list" articles. As you have seen from comments below those articles, no one appreciates those on this site. You can, however, just do posts like, for example, an information about drivers release - many people own various video cards from both Nvidia and AMD so this information would at least be relevant to them and a useful reminder for people who forgot to check for new driver updates before reading such post. This information is available on Nvidia's and AMD's site, so all that is needed is to copy and paste it and relevant links. Here is an example: https://www.techpowerup.com/258215/amd- ... -1-drivers
Even an article telling about something like latest antimalware tests done by https://www.av-test.org/en/ would be much more useful and would not require anything except a brief summary of the results of their tests and a link to those tests.
Once again, this is just a friendly advice (how to fill up front page with content with some relevance), no sarcasm intended.

Oh, and I still cannot find any info about the current owners of TechReport. Why? Are they ashamed that someone will know that they purchased this? Do they have no confidence in longevity of this site? How do advertisers supposed to treat this site seriously and want to advertise their products if they do not know the real owners? I do not expect any of them to make introduction posts but it would be useful to at least know who they are or at least the name of the company who owns the TechReport.

JohnC wrote:

Just a friendly advise for you: if you want to stop community disliking you - at the very least don't insult the intelligence or knowledge of the community by posting the "random list" articles. As you have seen from comments below those articles, no one appreciates those on this site.

I don't think we're supposed to like those articles, their not for us. Frankly I'm not entirely sure their actually intended to be read by anyone, at least any human. Their just intended to check all of the keywords and look really attractive to Google and Bing etc. Something that was apparently a major problem before.
Some nice little SEO to get users to click through and view the page, maybe after that they go elsewhere on TR or just leave and head back to their search.
But as long as their getting clicks from searches and rank highly in search results, their probably doing exactly what their intended to do.

Those articles aren't going anywhere. Which sucks, but their easily ignored. Our bigger concern imo should be can TechReport retain and improve the frequency of the other articles- those TechReport has based it's reputation around, and can the interface be improved to the point where it's not actively driving users away independent of the quality of the content.


As an aside, I'm glad to see Renee comment here. It may not be much, but it IS her first comment on the forums. At least she's taking the time to look, and even if she doesn't have much to say she is cognizant of the mood of the long time readers.

SecretSquirrel wrote:

Jeff Kampman wrote:

Hey folks: I specifically requested that my byline be removed from past articles. No further comment, but it's not something that was initiated by the new management.

The dead are rising! The zombie apocalypse is upon us.
Good to hear from the horses mouth.

I won't question your decision, but attribution to a new author is still a very poor way to handle it, especially in the light of the new focus on SEO. Sure looks good on Renee's CV to have all those writing credits. Ok, so that may be a bit far into the conspiracy weeds, but simply having a generic "TechReport" byline for that kind of situation seems a bit more sensible.

I agree, this was a very bad thing to do.
Edit: wtf, did new owners remove Scott and Andy from About page? This is bad. Seriously, can anyone explain why was all of original people removed from About page? I understand Jeff wanted to be removed but did all other people also wanted to be removed from history of the site?

Questar wrote:

Hi guys and gals.

I never posted much - basically not at all . Heck, I think it took me a decade to sign up. But I have read these forums, and all the front page stories and comments from the beginning - TR has been my home page for longer than I can remember. I feel like I know you all and very much appreciate all your writings over the years.

It's weird, I really am close to tears over the death a website I didn't really participate in.

Anyway, thank you everyone. Please know you have have made a positive impact on someones life.

Goodbye and best wishes,
Doug

Yes I know exactly how it feels. It is unfortunate but nothing u can do.

rndmuser wrote:

Edit: wtf, did new owners remove Scott and Andy from About page? This is bad. Seriously, can anyone explain why was all of original people removed from About page? I understand Jeff wanted to be removed but did all other people also wanted to be removed from history of the site?

They've been gone from that page long before new owners took over iirc. Once scott was at AMD it didn't look great to have him still on the sites about page as it could make people think TR is biased.

farmpuma wrote:

Dear Renee,

Please don't take the harsh comments to heart. We have been spoiled rotten for nearly two decades by some of the most talented and gifted technical journalists to ever grace the internet. If you ever have any spare time I would recommend you read some of Scott Wasson's reviews and articles, the earlier the better. He also inspired his co-contributors to produce outstanding work. His move to AMD to help guide their graphics division was a major loss for The Tech Report, but like you he needed the money. Kevin, our first forum admin helped NASA develop the landing systems for the first Martian rovers. JBI (Mike), our current forum admin and know it all, worked at Fermi Labs when they were THE particle accelerator in THE world, after that he supported his family as a freelance software consultant, and now he keeps the software of IBM's Chicago division running smoothly. Also, some of us are old and many of us are just generally grumpy.

Sincerely,
JimK, da puma

I would say the primary audience of TR is in the 30+ yr demographic, likely older. No surprise the new content isn't catching on. Hopefully enough new visitors will be attracted to keep this place viable.

It's pretty generic and uncreative right now. Not sure what niche it's trying to find, but I hope it finds it soon.

I viewed it as more of a hardware version of Stack Overflow. Software question, go to Stack Overflow. Hardware, go to Tech Report. Where does everyone go for hardware now?

A Monty Python scene is playing in my head. Anyone want to guess which one?

Hint: a balance

sweatshopking wrote:

rndmuser wrote:

Edit: wtf, did new owners remove Scott and Andy from About page? This is bad. Seriously, can anyone explain why was all of original people removed from About page? I understand Jeff wanted to be removed but did all other people also wanted to be removed from history of the site?

They've been gone from that page long before new owners took over iirc. Once scott was at AMD it didn't look great to have him still on the sites about page as it could make people think TR is biased.

Oh, I did not notice it. I remember seeing Scott mentioned, with Quake avatar but I don't remember when was last time I visited that page. It still sucks that their history is not acqnowleged.

roncat wrote:

Where does everyone go for hardware now?

If this is an actual question - I like to read TechPowerUp. They are better than TechSpot and they have pretty knowledgeable people posting in forums and comments and they have the authors of some very famous software utilities.

JohnC wrote:

roncat wrote:

Where does everyone go for hardware now?

If this is an actual question - I like to read TechPowerUp. They are better than TechSpot and they have pretty knowledgeable people posting in forums and comments and they have the authors of some very famous software utilities.

Thank you

Srsly_Bro wrote:

A Monty Python scene is playing in my head. Anyone want to guess which one?

Hint: a balance

Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?

blastdoor wrote:

Srsly_Bro wrote:

A Monty Python scene is playing in my head. Anyone want to guess which one?

Hint: a balance

Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?

I am srsly_bro, troller of the forums.

Srsly_Bro wrote:

blastdoor wrote:

Srsly_Bro wrote:

A Monty Python scene is playing in my head. Anyone want to guess which one?

Hint: a balance

Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?

I am srsly_bro, troller of the forums.

My liege!

sweatshopking wrote:

I know that Renee was shocked and hurt by the reaction she received here.

To be fair, the shock and hurt were reciprocal.

Yan wrote:

sweatshopking wrote:

I know that Renee was shocked and hurt by the reaction she received here.

To be fair, the shock and hurt were reciprocal.

It's like showing up to your job you've had for years and you have a new office, new floor, new duties, they gave you a 10 year old laptop and told you to get on with it, with no notice.

Srsly_Bro wrote:

Yan wrote:

sweatshopking wrote:

I know that Renee was shocked and hurt by the reaction she received here.

To be fair, the shock and hurt were reciprocal.

It's like showing up to your job you've had for years and you have a new office, new floor, new duties, they gave you a 10 year old laptop and told you to get on with it, with no notice.

Not only that, but locking out all of the comments on her articles is also a pretty bad move. Every writer/editor we've had in the past was able to respond to and take criticism, no matter how harsh, in a pretty professional manner. This trend of people just putting up a hard wall to hide from their mistakes is no way to act here. You might get away with that in a place full of teenagers or early 20 somethings, but not in a place populated by old farts like us.

Philldoe wrote:

Srsly_Bro wrote:

sweatshopking wrote:

I know that Renee was shocked and hurt by the reaction she received here.

It's like showing up to your job you've had for years and you have a new office, new floor, new duties, they gave you a 10 year old laptop and told you to get on with it, with no notice.

Not only that, but locking out all of the comments on her articles is also a pretty bad move. Every writer/editor we've had in the past was able to respond to and take criticism, no matter how harsh, in a pretty professional manner. This trend of people just putting up a hard wall to hide from their mistakes is no way to act here. You might get away with that in a place full of teenagers or early 20 somethings, but not in a place populated by old farts like us.

Crazy stuff. I wish someone would have said something early in the thread to warn about this happening.

The Egg wrote:

Fri Jul 12, 2019 9:16 am

@TR Community
Blasting the new ownership with negativity needs to stop. They clearly did very little homework on the site, and shot from the hip on the re-design, but it's also in their best interests for TR to succeed. If the only interaction with the community is a tidal-wave of negativity, they're going to very quickly stop listening. It's just human nature.

I agree, having a torrent of negativity and expecting them to listen to it every single time is impossible. Just look what happens at people that man the counters at any major retail like Walmart or Costco, they end up not listening after a while

Man, I took a few weeks off to see if things would get better, and I come back to...

qmacpoint wrote:

I agree, having a torrent of negativity and expecting them to listen to it every single time is impossible.

The Egg wrote:

Crazy stuff. I wish someone would have said something early in the thread to warn about this happening.

The Egg wrote:

@TR Community
Blasting the new ownership with negativity needs to stop...

At first it was just a torrent of shock and confusion. The first ten pages of this thread are pretty benign overall, and reveal a steady stream of confusion and constructive bug spotting. Only when no community engagement happened for days after the switch did it became a 'torrent of negativity'. Egg, your comment came a full six days after launch.

John Rampton, John Hall, and Renee Johnson are the professional leaders of this site. It's their job to make sure things run smoothly and cultivate the community moving forward. Instead of leading the community, they lost it. The only community engagement so far has come from the unpaid volunteer staff so in essence, the only community engagement has been from the community itself.

It's not pleasant to be the target of derision, but the first community-directed comment from any of our three new leaders came here, on page 34 of the thread, months after the site changed hands, and even then it was just a short defensive comment, not true engagement (and someone should get Renee a TR Staff account if that really is her).

Feelings aside, there's no reason to expect a good reaction from the community when there was zero engagement. Now, if the community doesn't pay the bills, and can be ignored anyway, then there should be no hard feelings about what we say.