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
- 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.)
- 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.)
- 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
- 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