Improving GD

[Neil]

OK, I think we definitely need a sticky for general tech queries, I'm sick of the sight of the bloody things.  Any other suggestions?

[Pinball]

Good call, Neil.

Now about my mouse...

[hencole]

It would be useful, if you decide to  have a sticky thread, that people post good external techy forums/site links to keep the questions to a minimal.

[Neil]

There are some really really bad threads about at the minute, no?

[Timmay]

Shouldn't this be in Website Whines? ;)

[Bill Oddie]

A more general enquiry really: other forums have their own bit-torrent trackers,  
How complicated is it to set one of these up and how much bandwith / computing muscle does it take? Could an ordinary home pc with broadband do it?

A bittorrent thread where we shared all of our comedy gold nuggets would be fantastic, though would there be any legal issues with sharing stuff that may be copyrighted?

[Neil]

Shouldn't this be in Website Whines? ;)

No, I wanted everyones input, and only a handful of people read WW.

[Neil]

A more general enquiry really: other forums have their own bit-torrent trackers,  
How complicated is it to set one of these up and how much bandwith / computing muscle does it take? Could an ordinary home pc with broadband do it?

Possibly but it wouldn't be reliable enough.  Toby (who runs the CaB torrent site at http://cab.elesoc.org ) is gonna set us up a dedicated tracker when he finishes moving servers around and that.

Regards legality, I'd prefer it if people were sharing stuff that wasn't commercially available anyway.

[daveytaylor]

Will a sticky thread be enough or do you think you would need another forum section?

[hencole]

There are some really really bad threads about at the minute, no?

No, there are a lot of bad threads around. There seems to be very few occasional posters or new members around at the moment, and something should be done to encourage them to speak their minds.

[Neil]

Will a sticky thread be enough or do you think you would need another forum section?

A sticky would be fine if everyone stuck to it and the mods just closed down any rogue topics.  There's no way I'm dedicating an entire section of the forums to tech stuff, it's REALLY dull.

[Neil]

No, there are a lot of bad threads around. There seems to be very few occasional posters or new members around at the moment, and something should be done to encourage them to speak their minds.

Why do people post to really really bad threads?  They generally seem to be the most popular.  I'm trying not to care as much about what goes on here, but it's hard, I'd rather we were hands-on unlike most other forums where the people who run it just sit back and let people talk about shite, y'know?

[Frinky]

Usually its people hijacking them and turning them into good threads by the end of it, which is slightly ironic.

[blue jammer]

The only problem with a sticky tech thread is that it'll get too big too fast, and people will give up on it (like the cool links thread)

I think it'd be better if a locked, stickied thread of the most common techie problems was made, then edited when newer problems were posted, using the merge thread function, I think that'd work well, and you'd not have to trawl past lots of posts that were no longer relevant.

Or maybe people should just post the techie stuff on a techie forum?!?

[Peking O]

Or maybe people should just post the techie stuff on a techie forum?!?

Yep, I agree. Why not just provide a locked thread with links to everyone's favourite techie forums then that should be the end of it. Maybe.

[Neil]

Or maybe people should just post the techie stuff on a techie forum?!?

That would be much too sensible.

Some people ignore sticky threads, but lots don't, the views on the Cool Things thread on the last board were massive.  I think it's the best way to go, I certainly don't fancy putting together a list of common tech probs and I'm sure noone else does.

[thomasina]

There are some really really bad threads about at the minute, no?

No, there are a lot of bad threads around. There seems to be very few occasional posters or new members around at the moment, and something should be done to encourage them to speak their minds.

Well, the thing is, I wouldn't really feel comfortable whining about the board when I've only just arrived.  The reaction I would expect, justified probably, would be 'Well, fuck off back to novogate, then.'   It would be a bit like walking into your house and insulting your curtains.  

Which threads would you class as the bad ones?  Which are typically C & B and which are crap?  I keep meaning to have a good look at the old threads on the archived board, and then i could probably answer my own question, but so far I've been too lazy to do more than have a quick dip.

[blue jammer]

Yep, I agree. Why not just provide a locked thread with links to everyone's favourite techie forums then that should be the end of it. Maybe.

Yeah, I think that'd work...

Be much simpler, and cut down on clutter in GD.

[gazzyk1ns]

Whatever is decided, I think a "links to good tech/semi-tech forums" is a great idea for everyone. There would be less tech threads (presumably) and also, people would get more accurate/appropriate answers - most of the time when people ask for recommendations here you just get uninformed people posting "well my mum has a 3dfx card, I've never heard her moan about it... so I strongly recommend one, throw your existing one away, my mate John said they're shit".

I guess most "tech" forums are intimidating at first and might take some time to get used to, but I assume nobody is planning on stopping using their PC? Gotta do it sometime...

With regards to the thread title in general Neil, how about just getting Pienaar or whoever to lock any objectionable threads ASAP? You've said before that "this is a forum, not a democracy" and I agree, if I owned a message board and I was getting seriously annoyed at... whatever, then I'd just stop it. If it annoys people to the extent that they don't come here any more then good - it's best for both parties, you're not being annoyed by them posting things you don't want posted and they're not being annoyed by a site not being exactly what they imagined it to be.

[Neil]

Or maybe people should just post the techie stuff on a techie forum?!?

Yep, I agree. Why not just provide a locked thread with links to everyone's favourite techie forums then that should be the end of it. Maybe.

No it wouldn't, because people think their problems are urgent, and so why should they have to sign up to another forum when they can post on here and get a response within a few minutes.  Thing is, it's SO BORING for the rest of us!  This happened to the mailing list a couple of years back, all the Morris-chat got replaced by people wittering on about fecking codecs.

[Rats]

Maybe you could include links to game forums too, talking about games is dull and maybe a link to a comedy forum too. General bullshit is pretty crap though, you get loads of these "do you rinse your dishes" and "it's snowing" threads. I very rarely start threads. I won't start one unless I think I've a good idea or I have something to say. Is there a hack to stop people starting threads if they're fucking twats?

[Neil]

Maybe you could include links to game forums too, talking about games is dull and maybe a link to a comedy forum too.

Uh, you take part in our comedy forum so you can't think it's that dull.  The gamers have been trying to keep their stuff to single threads.

General bullshit is pretty crap though, you get loads of these "do you rinse your dishes" and "it's snowing" threads. I very rarely start threads. I won't start one unless I think I've a good idea or I have something to say. Is there a hack to stop people starting threads if they're fucking twats?

It's the people who reply who get me.  I dunno, I think I'm getting old or something.

[easytarget]

Will a sticky thread be enough or do you think you would need another forum section?

A sticky would be fine if everyone stuck to it and the mods just closed down any rogue topics.  There's no way I'm dedicating an entire section of the forums to tech stuff, it's REALLY dull.

But that would separate all the boring techy questions into one place, uninterested folks could ignore it and those that enjoy fixing other people's computers could do that.

[Neil]

So would a sticky!!

[gazzyk1ns]

I think you're being a bit too "nice" about it Neil, just stop what you don't want. Twats will always try to rebel but there will certainly be less of what you don't want. For example, me and Jammer are poting in his broadband thread at the moment, and I assume you don't mind the odd discussion regarding recommendations etc... if you do then just say, I know I wouldn't think of complaining and I know obviously Jammer never intended to piss you off by starting it.

Maybe some clear rules are needed? That's how I see it anyway. Most people will respect authority here. I think there have been some shite threads lately because people saw you weren't around for a while, the site is all-new, etc etc..

[Rats]

Yeah I know, I'm just arsing about.

[hencole]

I'm guilty as the next man for posting in banal threads just to pass the time. Must do some work instead.

[Timmay]

Is there anyone else out there who's not so much worried, or concerned, just confused as to why in a "General Discussion" forum, we're not allowed to first talk about wanking, sex, or minges (which is fair enough, I've no argument against any of that per se), but now it looks like techy discussion isn't going to be allowed either - we're going to be provided some links to other places for help.

I understand there's several threads around at the moment, but there aren't many normally. Perhaps it's a bad time for PCs. What with all the viruses doing the rounds at the moment. I also understand why you're taking the action you are - I presume it's to present the forums more as the comedy central of the internet you'd like them to be, with a bit of light discussion elsewhere on the board.

But Neil, don't think that I'm arguing for the sake of arguing, or spoiling for a fight like you usually think I am - I'm genuinely puzzled. If more and more topics are becoming taboo, or are encouraged to be pushed off somewhere more specialised, what's the point in even bothering with a GD forum?

[Jet Set Willy]

Nobody is forced to come onto Verbwhores! Neil (and TJ? dunno how it all works) run the site and if they took it away they'd be in for a lot of bad feeling, which would be unfair given what they put into it. So I think it's fair that they have some say about what goes on. It should be the whores' responsibilty to keep the forums in the spirit they were set up in. If you don't want to do that you should go somewhere more suitable. If you think they're no good, then take it upon yourself to make it good, not try and change verbwhores to be the forums that you want. Just don't be so lazy!

[Neil]

Is there anyone else out there who's not so much worried, or concerned, just confused as to why in a "General Discussion" forum, we're not allowed to first talk about wanking, sex, or minges (which is fair enough, I've no argument against any of that per se), but now it looks like techy discussion isn't going to be allowed either - we're going to be provided some links to other places for help.

No, you'll be provided with a single thread to keep them all together.  One place for them to stop the rest of the forum getting tied up with them.

I understand there's several threads around at the moment, but there aren't many normally.

Untrue.

I also understand why you're taking the action you are - I presume it's to present the forums more as the comedy central of the internet you'd like them to be, with a bit of light discussion elsewhere on the board.

Well, sort of, I definitely do want more people who are interested in talking about comedy and music.  Or even just, you know, things that actually make you think.

But Neil, don't think that I'm arguing for the sake of arguing, or spoiling for a fight like you usually think I am - I'm genuinely puzzled. If more and more topics are becoming taboo, or are encouraged to be pushed off somewhere more specialised, what's the point in even bothering with a GD forum?

Good question, but look at it from our point of view for once.  Why should we put up with a forum where people just want to talk about "wanking, sex or minges"?  It's embarrasing.  We take a lot of abuse for trying to keep the forums readable, and I can sort of understand why, and I can understand why dicks like martian martian call me "vain" for occasionaly going mental because noone gives a toss about the actual site.  What are we supposed to do though?  Wash our hands of VW and stop reading our own forums?  I know what this place is capable of, and I know how lazy it can get.  Topics about "what sort of washing up liquid you use" I mean, puhhlease, why shouldn't I get annoyed at that?  

What do YOU suggest we do?