Tech issues solved added in tech forums

[LimeMaster]

I know this may out of place since I've been arguing against this feature, but can anyone give me a list of all the sections this feature covers, since I know the staff are set on their decisions?

[Daniel F. Administrators]

For as long as I have known this forum, it has had the various off-topic sections. If this forum will be becoming more strictly tech-oriented then what will happen to those sections? Will they be removed entirely or will they become subscriber-only feature (like HardOCP forum does)?

 

You joined in 2008, Neowin's current forum was created in 2000 (we used a few others including vbulletin before that if anyone can still remember ;)) 

 

No, the non-tech forums are not just going to just disappear because of the re-focus

[fusi0n]

(we used a few others including vbulletin before that if anyone can still remember ;)) 

That was a fun time lol

[Daniel F. Administrators]

It's like getting free donuts and coffee that you are alergic to.  Or that are burnt and you don't want it but have no choice.

 

Then ur in the wrong donut shop there bud :P maybe try paying for your donuts then you can decide how you like em? ;)

[LimeMaster]

I know this may out of place since I've been arguing against this feature, but can anyone give me a list of all the sections this feature covers, since I know the staff are set on their decisions?

Anyone?

[Crisp]

Then ur in the wrong donut shop there bud :p maybe try paying for your donuts then you can decide how you like em? ;)

 

So Neowin doesn't actually use need subscribers?

[Daniel F. Administrators]

Anyone there?

 

Services and OS Support

 

Technical Help & Support

 

tho we may extend to guides and reviews and others where its deemed to help the community

[+Raze Subscriber²]

Nope opinions as always are welcome on Neowin, i respect everyone opinion and listen to them all.

 

Your skipping over all the replies in this thread that say yeah this is a better way, good for getting rid of post count, good to see the focus back on the tech side and we don't care about post count were glad its been removed.

 

Members have expressed for and against...

 

..we are already tweaking the way it works based on everyone feedback and bending over backwards to accommodate those who don't like the change. If we had said tough deal with it or leave then i could understand the hostility, were not trying to mess anyone about her, its simply a refocus on the tech side of the community and away from the threads that appear on a frequent basis that add nothing to the forums and in fact bring down the maturity level and have become overly violent/sexuallized or just plain wierd. There are places for that sure but do we really want it on Neowin?

 

I agree with what you are saying now, but you responded rather harshly and that was uncalled for IMO.   I did not skip over any replies and I do understand others point of view, I just disagree with some of them.  I'm all for any changes that can have a positive impact on the health and vitality and quality of a website's content and the interactions of members and staff.  As far as some of the content you speak of, I make the choice whether or not I view it or participate in it and I very much appreciate any website that has such a great variety of content.  Neowin is, for me, the most enjoyable site I visit, it is my favorite site of all, even with some of weirdness, etc.  If over time Neowin continues to appeal to me I will continue to visit and support the site, if any changes make my experience less than what want, I'll go elsewhere.  And not with any animosity, things change, sometimes we like the changes, sometimes we don't. Choice gives us options and right now I choose to continue with Neowin and I hope for the best for the site!   Thank you.   :)

[Daniel F. Administrators]

So Neowin doesn't actually use need subscribers?

 

No thats paid for - the subs area is a completely different beast

 

And we don't use subscribers, please explain ?

 

He was talking about free.....

[qdave]

Let see..0?

[LimeMaster]

Services and OS Support

 

Technical Help & Support

 

tho we may extend to guides and reviews and others where its deemed to help the community

Thanks! :)

Also, I guess I should learn to embrace this change like I did with Windows 8 instead of whining about it. :whistle: 

[Rohdekill]

I'd think it fun to also include the worst answer.

[Daniel F. Administrators]

I agree with what you are saying now, but you responded rather harshly and that was uncalled for IMO.   I did not skip over any replies and I do understand others point of view, I just disagree with some of them.  I'm all for any changes that can have a positive impact on the health and vitality and quality of a website's content and the interactions of members and staff.  As far as some of the content you speak of, I make the choice whether or not I view it or participate in it and I very much appreciate any website that has such a great variety of content.  Neowin is, for me, the most enjoyable site I visit, it is my favorite site of all, even with some of weirdness, etc.  If over time Neowin continues to appeal to me I will continue to visit and support the site, if any changes make my experience less than what want, I'll go elsewhere.  And not with any animosity, things change, sometimes we like the changes, sometimes we don't. Choice gives us options and right now I choose to continue with Neowin and I hope for the best for the site!   Thank you.   :)

 

Im sorry if I came across harsh, that was not the intent.

 

 

 

As far as some of the content you speak of, I make the choice whether or not I view it or participate in it and I very much appreciate any website that has such a great

The sexualised violent or weird content? While i appreciate that some do enjoy that kind of stuff, you also have to remember that Neowin is an open community for ages 13+ we welcome everyone irrespective of their race, orientation, religion or any other minority or ethnic background you care to mention.

 

But there is a level of taste and decency that comes with that openness, allot of the non tech forums are dropping below what's expected and what is appropriate for 13+ and we also have a corporate/public image to uphold....We are Neowin.net not Neotrash or Neoanythingyouwannapost.com

[Chris123NT]

Yeah, I'm gonna agree this is a dumb change. Post count is important, regardless of if a few people post just to see their post count increase. Deal with those people in their own way and leave the post count showing. Since the LARGE majority of my participation in this forum is NOT in tech sections because lets be honest, this is NOT a leading tech site and isn't going to be, this change will only be a negative to me. We have a good community and group of members, and there is certainly good help here, but that's not what the majority of posts on this message board are about. Message boards have worked just fine for years the same way, no need to change things just for the sake of changing. I don't have an issue with adding the best answers part, but I don't particularly care for removing the post count just to pretend this is a site focused on tech support.

This.

 

Becoming like Microsoft answers isn't going to solve any of your problems either Steve.  Have you seen the level of sheer idiots on that forum?  And that's a forum driven by a "best answer" system.

 

Oh well, I guess I'll see how this plays out, but if it goes the way I'm expecting, it will be time for me to move on and support people via more effective means.

 

And seriously Steve, "whining"?  As someone who has been in your position before as an Administrator of a site, I could never imagine myself being that unprofessional.  You just slapped your members in the face, so don't whine to us when you lose subscribers because you don't at least respect their opinions.  You don't have to agree, but respect goes a long way.

[Xilo]

Question: What value does displaying a stat do when for a vast majority of the people on this site (many of which have been here for years) have 0 or even just 1?

Answer: Absolutely none.

 

Tracking likes would be much more valuable than this ever will be. Even quite a number of people that are active in the support forums still only have 0 or 1.

 

Stats are only useful if they have an inherent value and meaning to them and NOT when it's from an often ignored feature and most people have a value of ZERO. This forum IS NOT stackoverflow!

[Dot Matrix]

This is one of those times where we have to lead on this issue...it's our job to make the community better for everyone.

 

If we asked for opinions first everyone would would give one (which is cool). How do we decide whose opinion should count, who should we ignore, who opinion is genuine etc etc

 

We are never going to please everyone, we are trying to do whats best for everyone staff and members, some will agree some won't... 

You could say this is the very reason Microsoft does what it does when designing new, or removing, features. :yes:

C'mon guys, it's a silly feature we're talking about here. It's not going to have any effect on your browsing UX, so why carry on?

Keep calm, and Neowin on!

[+Raze Subscriber²]

Im sorry if I came across harsh, that was not the intent.

 

 

 

The sexualised violent or weird content? While i appreciate that some do enjoy that kind of stuff, you also have to remember that Neowin is an open community for ages 13+ we welcome everyone irrespective of their race, orientation, religion or any other minority or ethnic background you care to mention.

 

But there is a level of taste and decency that comes with that openness, allot of the non tech forums are dropping below what's expected and what is appropriate for 13+ and we also have a corporate/public image to uphold....We are Neowin.net not Neotrash or Neoanythingyouwannapost.com

 

I did forget about the 13+ age minimum and the corporate/public image is very important too.  Advertisers can be very selective about placement of their ads.

 

Thank you for your response, it does help my understanding of these changes. 

[Daniel F. Administrators]

You could say this is the very reason Microsoft does what it does when designing new, or removing, features. :yes:

 

 

You could, They would say its based on R&D, customer feedback and backup by $billions in sales/profits

 

(and what apple is doing/ internet trends  -thats just my opinion ;)) 

[Ice_Blue]

Thanks, it does make more sense that way.

 

See what happens when one takes a deep breath and steps back for a better view?

 

I couldn't care less what is done with the post count et. al.

 

Where I was totally flabbergasted was seeing, in the space of a few posts, two ADMINS calling their own subscribers "whiners", "post count ######" and "bullies".

 

Not one admin. TWO.

 

If this is an indication of the regard you people have for your own subscribers and long time members, then I am at a loss for words.

 

You, as administrators of this site, are displaying way less maturity than the ones you accuse.

 

Good thing visitors cannot see this thread. Post quality indeed.

 

But the most ironic thing is: who do I report you to?

[Zidane]

See what happens when one takes a deep breath and steps back for a better view?

 

I couldn't care less what is done with the post count et. al.

 

Where I was totally flabbergasted was seeing, in the space of a few posts, two ADMINS calling their own subscribers "whiners", "post count ######" and "bullies".

 

Not one admin. TWO.

 

If this is an indication of the regard you people have for your own subscribers and long time members, then I am at a loss for words.

 

You, as administrators of this site, are displaying way less maturity than the ones you accuse.

 

Good thing visitors cannot see this thread. Post quality indeed.

 

But the most ironic thing is: who do I report you to?

I couldn't have put this better (though Neobond did retrack on his comments in a further post). Especially when one is a Community Manager.

[Stoffel]

See what happens when one takes a deep breath and steps back for a better view?

 

I couldn't care less what is done with the post count et. al.

 

Where I was totally flabbergasted was seeing, in the space of a few posts, two ADMINS calling their own subscribers "whiners", "post count ######" and "bullies".

 

Not one admin. TWO.

 

If this is an indication of the regard you people have for your own subscribers and long time members, then I am at a loss for words.

 

You, as administrators of this site, are displaying way less maturity than the ones you accuse.

 

Good thing visitors cannot see this thread. Post quality indeed.

 

But the most ironic thing is: who do I report you to?

 

I agree and disagree with you. They maybe shouldn't have reacted the way they did, but

 

I read through all 22 (at this point) pages and there were a few people in here who posted WAY more then others about the change and just wouldn't let it go.

 

It's a small change, doesn't affect you that much, just tell them you don't like it and move on.

 

I bet you they referred to just those few individuals. Not the whole, yet still very small, group that doesn't like the change

[xendrome]

"Tech Supported" sounds like you are backing a kick-starter project or something. How about "Solved Tech Issues" or "Tech Issues Solved". Since the button is "Marked Solved"

[Andre S. Veteran]

Stats are only useful if they have an inherent value and meaning to them and NOT when it's from an often ignored feature and most people have a value of ZERO. This forum IS NOT stackoverflow!

That's a very good point. Stack Exchange implements many different mechanisms that all work together in synergy. Even with it being prominently displayed as it is now, I think the concept of "accepting" answers will remain largely ignored unless some other changes are also made. Here are some things Stack Exchange does:

 

 - Any time a list of questions is visible on the site, they are colored according to whether an answer was accepted or not.

 - Members are nudged via notifications and an "acceptance" rating that they should mark answers as accepted.

 - The "accept" feature is complemented by a vote system; both contribute to overall reputation.

 - Helpful members are gradually and automatically granted moderation powers - voting, closing topics, editing, etc, which ensures a steady influx of moderators

 - Prolonged discussion is discouraged by segregating it into comments, which are hidden past a certain number

 

I'm not proposing Neowin adopts a strict Q&A format, but if you need an example of a self-moderating meritocratic system, Stack Exchange basically got it right.

 

See http://stackoverflow.com/about

[Daniel F. Administrators]

two ADMINS calling their own subscribers "whiners", "post count ######" and "bullies".

 

I didn't call anyone out I'm basing that on Warn reports and moderator actions and member replies, responses and conversations and interactions 

 

We see everything the good and bad - just because you don't doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it just means we become experts at removing and hiding it because its a regular occurrence

 

 

 

If this is an indication of the regard you people have for your own subscribers and long time members, then I am at a loss for words.

Lets be honest here for a second, there have been and will always be some members who are bullies (trolls) and whiners (nothing will ever be good enough, ever...)

 

Im not tarring everyone with that brush...and they get banned quickly anyway But they do come and go...and to deny it goes on is silly. The non tech forums can and do decline to playground behavior (parents/old people pick up on this quicker than most). 

 

I regard everyone equal - see my previous posting - 

 

And being a long time member or subscriber doesn't automatically mean that they won't act in that manner either....I dont have opinions of members either way

 

...I base my decisions on facts - their posting history and warn history nothing else is needed.

 

im here to lead the forum staff  and keep order over an busy forum...

 

I made the mod charter and most of the other original policies and procedures and rules that govern the interactions between staff and members alike..which have since been updated and refined by others and myself, why would i do that if I had distain for members?  

 

I know most people don't see what happens or care what goes on in the back office, but without all the facts you're misinformed...

 

 

 

You, as administrators of this site, are displaying way less maturity than the ones you accuse.

thats your opinion i'm not getting into semantics.

 

 

 

But the most ironic thing is: who do I report you to?

Steven Parker or FrogBoy or Redmak 

 

I'm not above the law i have to obey the same rules as the rest of the staff - if i do something wrong or inappropriate then I will be dealt with...I work for Neowin (for free), not the other way around. And as far as i'm aware I have no marks against my record or have ever acted inappropriately toward any staff or community member.  

[Daniel F. Administrators]

 - Any time a list of questions is visible on the site, they are colored according to whether an answer was accepted or not.

 - Members are nudged via notifications and an "acceptance" rating that they should mark answers as accepted.

 - The "accept" feature is complemented by a vote system; both contribute to overall reputation.

 - Helpful members are gradually and automatically granted moderation powers - voting, closing topics, editing, etc, which ensures a steady influx of moderators

 

 

All good points ill pass them on (y)