Please tighten up on threads in the various forums

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#21
JRKO said:
I think as a thread starter you should be willing to moderate your own thread somewhat.
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I think this is the best approach. I think it can be a matter of style - some like a tight thread, some like a bit of socializing along the way. If the thread starter is generally accepted as the 'moderator' for the thread then people can create threads in the style they like. Others will then know where they stand and what to expect from a thread and how their contributions should be composed. People will be able to 'vote with their feet' by contributing to those threads which are to a style of their liking and ignoring those that aren't. At the present time, I'm not sure that anybody attributes the thread-opener with very much authority over the style of the thread. It didn't use to be this way, when I first joined the forum I felt that the thread starter had more control than is evident today.

I wonder if there are some tools & powers that thread starters could be given that would allow them to exercise a bit more control and discretion. Not something as powerful as a real Moderator. Perhaps all it needs is a guideline for people using the Forum to bear in mind that they should defer to the thread starter in matters regarding staying on topic. On the other hand, I can see how this could turn out badly...
 
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#23
I saw a recent post/thread that bothered me - I won't bother to look up the exact thread, though this should describe it well enough. It was about a "tube mic pre" and thus 'correctly' posted in the Tubes section, but when I looked at the schematic, I saw it was one of those solid-state preamps with a tube stage for its effect/distortion. Furthermore, the apparent problem the OP was having with it wasn't in the tube stage, but in some of the other (rather large amount of, for a mic pre!) solid-state circuitry. And yes, I didn't do my part - once I saw the story, I should have hit the Red Triangle and asked it to be moved to a more appropriate section, though admittedly this was a hybrid device and the "tube" part was what made the device special.

This thread is indeed one of the more amusing ones on the board, OTOH humor isn't the main purpose of the board.

I do think an OP has a little "ownership" of the thread. If one asks (totally theoretically, of course) "How can I get X to work in my lab setup?" there may well be those who say "forget about X, you should use Y," but I'd at least be in favor of (if one actually has the knowledge about X) "You can get X to work doing such-and-so, but have you considered Y? I sure think Y works better here." But then one may get defensive OP's saying "I need help getting X to work. I'm aware of Y and its advantages, but I really just want to use X here."

I'm on a big writer's forum (AbsoluteWrite) and in the "writing games" section the OP indeed does get to specify the rules of the thread - not with any extra technical help, but with backup from the Real Moderators.

This brings up yet another, perhaps unrelated and off=topic point - I recently saw a thread title something like "I need help with a Mod on this" and I thought the OP meant he needed a forum moderator, but no, it was about a modification of some device.
 
#27
For the sake of clarity, when I said
JRKO said:
I think as a thread starter you should be willing to moderate your own thread somewhat.
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I didn't mean give the OP basic moderators powers on his thread. I went on to say

JRKO said:
To say thank you for the interest but ask that the superfluous stuff be discussed elsewhere as your enquiry has not been answered, much as you would steer a conversation back to the topic from a digression. Its possible to steer a thread back without resorting to name calling
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If someone genuinly wants help or to discuss an idea (and has searched thoroughly) it is somewhat up to the OP to navigate the thread - otherwise how seriously can we take initial query? You cant realistically expect the second post on the thread will be the complete unalterable answer to the question

Take our OP here for example. He makes a complaint but has not been seen for 4 days despite new 26 posts and several email reminders from the forum itself
 
#30
ehh...I would like to 'rephrase' it a bit to saying;... try not to support offtopic posts

with that I mean to say that offtopic posts is not a big problem, and also impossible to avoid
the actual real problem begins when other members starts to follow up and pursue it

respect the thread topic, and the members posting there
thats about all there is to it
 
#31
Tight regulation doesn't sound good. A bit of 'life', a bit of passion and a bit of confusion - those things make a thread worth reading.

Guys and gals, just remember: this is not a hospital, kill all the germs and maybe it would smell like one, but, who wants to visit a hospital? You got to be sick. Do we want a sick forum? Lifeless, already turning yellow, smelling not that good either....you get my point.

As for those thoughts about giving power to people....well I'm afraid that doesn't work oh so well - history proves my point.
 
#32
It's probably more important to encourage people with real skills and experience to participate more often - we lost a number of extremely knowledgeable people a year or so ago and I felt that. I've benefited the most when the old hands chime in with pearls of wisdom. The benefit of regulating the threads is to avoid these people getting fed up and staying away.
 
#33
The benefit of regulating the threads is to avoid these people getting fed up and staying away.
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People get fed up no matter what you do. Marriages, friendships, nothing last forever. You can't change people and you can't keep all of them happy. I don't even know why I'm talking about this. I see no big problems to solve here. Sometimes it gets too boring, that's perhaps my biggest complaint. Anyway, I'm sure moderators know who is valuable and who is not and act accordingly. As long as Tubelab is around I'll be here.
 
#36
I think Bigun understood what I was speaking about. I also commend Pano on his file that has stayed very true to the Manzanita concept and if you want to build one it is easy to arrive at a setup that will work _ contrast that with most of the amplifier threads that have so much dross in them that as yet I have not found anything I feel confident in having a go at.

If you want to dispute a posters ideas or just get entertainment from a thread I guess that is fair enough. It is when you want to build something that it becomes a problem. It also seems that, particularly in the amplifier threads, that those who disrupt the simple thread assume that everybody has the knowledge they have and know how to add their cryptic alterations. A lot of us do not! I am fortunate enough to live on a large, sometimes beautiful bay and have plenty of other things to occupy my time as well as electronics. This is after all "DO" It Yourself Audio. When I seem something that is simple or nearly so I think that maybe I should have a crack at it but usually within days the simplicity has gone and the thread has become a major read. Yes, Bigun, I too have learned a lot from being here, particularly from people like Pano and GM as well as a few others.
jamikl
 
#37
I agree with with Bigun that it is important to keep the high-value contributors here. I can only speak for myself, obviously, but I'm actually not that bothered by a little subject drift as long as the original poster can moderate the discussion and not allow it to get completely out of hand. I have certainly allowed quite a bit of leeway on the threads I started, but also accept that in some cases the sidebar conversations which inject themselves into "my" thread actually do add value. What turns me off is when someone asks me to do their work for them. I'm always glad to help people help themselves, but the "please solve my homework" kinds of questions get old. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect posters on an electronics forum to know Ohm's law for example.

Also, who should be the ones ensuring that the topic of the thread stays true to the topic in the subject line? The moderators? I'm sure they have other things they'd rather be doing. On "my" threads, I've found it more productive to post something like "that's an interesting topic, however, I think it would be better served in a separate thread". It gets the message across in a way that hasn't seemed to scare anybody off.

~Tom
 
#39
lol I don't need instructions on how to ignore somebody. It's a natural talent of mine. Anyway, I can tolerate a lot of crap if it's done in style. Devious characters showing some flashes of intelligence here and there are permissible
 
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