Mac OSX/Linux forum

[#1]

It's all still there AFAIK, and the "Other Forums" was done to try and keep the top level list a bit shorter, I never really thought it was Plusnet trying to hide things.

[#2]

Just adding my voice to this topic, I agree with

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@HairyMcbiker wrote:
It really depends on whether you want to trawl through posts about non relevant stuff, personally I would prefer 4 new boards, M$, Linux, Android, Mac.
They maybe low volume but at least they are SPECIFIC.

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In the current format, I can't be bothered to post any new OS specific topics, as visibility of topics feels to have been lost, and now requires much more careful consideration of a topic's title to make it stand out when browsing through a jumbled mix of unrelated subjects in the Software/Hardware section.

[#3]

But they ARE all related, just by a definition different to what they used to be.  They all relate to platforms used by users, to access the services provided by THIS ISP.

Essentially this forum is about supporting THIS ISP's SERVICES, not supporting every bit of tin and operating system under the sun.  What do you want on here next - how to repair cars, segmented by manufacturer because that's what you use to get home to use the operating system and tin which connects you to PlusNet?

[#4]

That is about as daft a remark as I've seen. People use different OSes when using Plusnet Services and that is very relevant and they sometimes need help to successfully use the services with those OSes - including Windows!
They also use different Modems, Routers etc and that is very relevant to their ability to use the services, which they sometimes need help with, to successfully use the Plusnet Services.
They use different Computers that sometimes have issues, different Virus checkers and so on and so which will sometimes prevent them from successfully using Plusnet Services. Perhaps you'd like to ban any topics about that lot as well, Chat included (where they can talk about car repairs)
Whilst they might not be the services directly supplied by Plusnet and hence why they are on a different part of the board structure, perhaps a reminder of what one member of staff said -

ScottStorey wrote:
But it does have a potentially huge community benefit. A happy active thriving community socialising and not dealing with just problems day in day out.
Although some people love doing just that, its nice to bond over common interests as well.

The sooner they are split back to the 3 boards that existed on SMF (when most people seemed happy) the better. My (obviously mistaken) impression of the board structure had taken that as read, if I'd actually realised they were going to be amalgamated, I would have had a lot more to say at the time

[#5]

@Anotherone - you are correct - it does shorten the top level listing. But to the detriment of the posts within those categories. If you take it to the extreme, you would have one very short category (saving loads of screen space) called 'General, problems, and other stuff' - this could be the only category and it would keep that screen short. But think of the postings that go into that category. You would have to trawl through a load of unrelated posts before finding anything that you are remotely interested in.

Obviously, there has to be balance, but having one big tech category, in my opinion, is too big. Technology is now a vast subject and is rapidly expanding. The forums should at least reflect that - not try to dumb it down. As for having a happy community of users -this type of forum has lost me and I really don't want to check any more as I have better things to do with my time (and more specific forums to check).

If I'm really honest, PN missed an opportunity here -they could have implemented something like stackoverflow where you can tag posts and then click on tags. That is now becoming a more accepted way of organising forum communication.

[#6]

I think @Townman is only considering how casual forum users might browse the forum.

On the old forum, I used to subscribe to different 'boards', so that I would immediately receive an email, telling me that a new topic had been posted that I was likely to be interested in.  Having it arranged that way meant that I (and others) can respond quickly to questions which are relevant to our personal specialize subjects, while at the same time not having to waste time regularly browsing boards for new activity, or wade through mountains of posts which we can't help with.

The 'IPv6 Trial' board is typical of this, any new posts are quickly responded to, because those interested are subscribed to the board.

Personally I would sign-up to new 'Hardware' and 'Linux' boards, but wouldn't subscribe to 'OSX', 'Android', or 'Windows' boards.  But I'm sure other users would choose other combinations that are relevant to them.

Having more specific boards makes it much easier to keep track of topics which are most likely to interest different forum users, particularly when users are made aware of the subscribing to a board feature.

[#7]

Indeed, that's a very different perspective and the best argument I've seen for it being split, if an isp's forum is to persist in having boards not specific to the delivery of the services they provide. 

[#8]

@Townman - here's the rub - if PN want this to be a community resource, then it should be up to the community as to what kind of resource it is. If PN decide they want to strictly limit the resource, then some of the community will become disenfranchised and not contribute anymore. I don't see this as just a resource for the ISP and all things related, and from the old board, I guessed that PN wanted it to be more than that. If they want the community to grow, they should be directed by the community instead of dictating. It's a two way process as they are providing us with a tool to help them. If that tool doesn't suit us, then we go elsewhere.

[#9]

@kabads I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding what you are saying or you have misunderstood what I was saying.
if you look at the uncollapsed Forum page you'll see there are 6 main sections. Each has a number of items - I'm not sure that's the best terminology - Boards would be better.
The 4th section is Other Forums which it says has 4 items. What I and others elsewhere are saying, is it should be 6 items -

Hardware, Windows Software, MAC/Linux Software, Gaming, Chat, Introductions.

The first three are the same as they were on SMF, as are the next two, Introductions is a new board.

[#10]

BUMP ! - Has this been forgotten ?

@jaread83 - When will these boards be reinstated ?

[#11]

I can definitely say it has not been forgotten and there is a good chance that they will be. It's on the Radar.

[#12]

As @Anotherone mentioned - this is on our radar and it came up in a meeting to discuss. Becuase of the importance of other things (chasing up support tickets) we couldn't talk about it at any length though.

@LouisaMartin, I can't remember if a decision was made about this or not?

[#13]

This issue was raised a month ago, and you still don't know whether a decision has been made !

[#14]

I'm just the Front end Dev @Anonymous, I don't make any decisions about the structure or content on this community. That would be down to the community team. @LouisaMartin, @Chris, @HarryB can you confirm what the outcome was for this in the meeting? I seem to remember the decision was to not split up these boards due to inactivity but I can't confirm that as someone said that they will post here about it.

[#15]

The decision was made to keep the boards as they are. We don't want to increase the number of boards and the amount of traffic to here didn't warrant splitting them out.