The death of an internet forum
- Thread starter winex
- Start date
peteruk
New member
[quote author="graphrix"]
I would be willing to blog once, maybe twice a week... if... and only if I had a deadline and needed to have a post because we would need content on regular basis, and you all (readers) depend on that content.
[/quote]
I can't wait Graph, the sooner the better....I would also be willing to do something Cycling related for health and fitness...Irvine is probably one of the best Cities for Cycling anywhere, there might not be many Cyclists on the Board right now but it could take off because there are Hundreds of People who ride the Trails and Streets in Irvine...
I would be willing to blog once, maybe twice a week... if... and only if I had a deadline and needed to have a post because we would need content on regular basis, and you all (readers) depend on that content.
[/quote]
I can't wait Graph, the sooner the better....I would also be willing to do something Cycling related for health and fitness...Irvine is probably one of the best Cities for Cycling anywhere, there might not be many Cyclists on the Board right now but it could take off because there are Hundreds of People who ride the Trails and Streets in Irvine...
nosuchreality
Well-known member
[quote author="graphrix"]
I want these forums to succeed, and I am more than willing to help make them succeed. I keep asking... what do you (readers) want, and what do you (readers) think will bring in new readers? I know, ping Erika at the Irvine Homes Blog... Now what else?[/quote]
It needs a main discussion theme. To me, the strength of prior Blog That Shall Not Be Named, was that it was not about Irvine. It was viewed through Irvine, but in reality about four critical things, things that missing in the Blog That Shall Not Be Named newer commercial incarnation, Community, Family, Quality of Life and the Homes you live them in. Where do live, what do you give up to live there, what do get, who is there with you and what does your family give and get for it all.
That was the strength.
I'd like that, looking at the environment that Irvine exists in, OC. I'd like the blog to be about life in OC, not the shallow narcissistic life of the OC Metro society and movers and shakers page, but the community profiles of the neighborhoods in OC. A virtual walk down the neighborhood borders, it's gathering spots, schools, quality of life and the homes in them and what's happening with them. To me, that was always the biggest piece of value of the Blog That Shall Not Be Named.
Finding out about Culverdale, seeing it's borders, understanding the housing mix, the schools, community resources, demographics, that was knowledge. Knowledge that is both important and valuable to someone looking to insure his family and community is getting the most that they can get.
The OC is full of wonderful neighborhoods. Some small, some larger and structured, but many overlooked. Unknown. Full of potential to offer the quality of life that brings the people to the forums to learn about.
What are the trade offs you can expect in one neighborhood or town versus the other. Most know about Floral Park in Santa Ana, do they know Old Town? OPA? Bird Streets? Dover Shores? Port Streets? East Bluff? Broadmoor? Or any of the many other neighborhoods that have that essence to provide community, quality of life and a place to call home one is both willing to commit to and fight to maintain and keep safe.
I want these forums to succeed, and I am more than willing to help make them succeed. I keep asking... what do you (readers) want, and what do you (readers) think will bring in new readers? I know, ping Erika at the Irvine Homes Blog... Now what else?[/quote]
It needs a main discussion theme. To me, the strength of prior Blog That Shall Not Be Named, was that it was not about Irvine. It was viewed through Irvine, but in reality about four critical things, things that missing in the Blog That Shall Not Be Named newer commercial incarnation, Community, Family, Quality of Life and the Homes you live them in. Where do live, what do you give up to live there, what do get, who is there with you and what does your family give and get for it all.
That was the strength.
I'd like that, looking at the environment that Irvine exists in, OC. I'd like the blog to be about life in OC, not the shallow narcissistic life of the OC Metro society and movers and shakers page, but the community profiles of the neighborhoods in OC. A virtual walk down the neighborhood borders, it's gathering spots, schools, quality of life and the homes in them and what's happening with them. To me, that was always the biggest piece of value of the Blog That Shall Not Be Named.
Finding out about Culverdale, seeing it's borders, understanding the housing mix, the schools, community resources, demographics, that was knowledge. Knowledge that is both important and valuable to someone looking to insure his family and community is getting the most that they can get.
The OC is full of wonderful neighborhoods. Some small, some larger and structured, but many overlooked. Unknown. Full of potential to offer the quality of life that brings the people to the forums to learn about.
What are the trade offs you can expect in one neighborhood or town versus the other. Most know about Floral Park in Santa Ana, do they know Old Town? OPA? Bird Streets? Dover Shores? Port Streets? East Bluff? Broadmoor? Or any of the many other neighborhoods that have that essence to provide community, quality of life and a place to call home one is both willing to commit to and fight to maintain and keep safe.
Wow, there are a lot of comments, and I am perpetually without time these days. I'll address everything that jumped out at me in a single reply.
First of all and most importantly, SoCal, I owe you an email to catch you up on numerous things. I'll try to make time this weekend to reach out to you.
Second, some would consider this nitpicking, but based on the emotional bonds that a person develops after spending a lot of time with any community (online or not), I feel a little clarification about the lineage of forums I am talkiing about is in order. The original Tom's Hardware forum was on Delphi, and was known as Tom's Hardware. When Tom created his own non-Delphi forum, Tom's Hardware Forum was renamed to Extreme Computing. The community didn't like the forum software on Tom's Hardware, so we stayed together at Delphi. The larger Delphi forum community was enough to provide Extreme Computing with new members. Now for the clarification, it wasn't Extreme Computing that broke away from Delphi. When Delphi appointed a moderator to an unmoderrated community who started deleting threads and banning long time members, we started The Lab. The Lab is the community that broke away from Delphi, and we created our own software to do so.
OK, nit picking aside, back to relevant stuff for the future of this forum.
Though a few years had passed between Tom pulling away from our community and the creation of The Lab, the volumes of traffic I am referring to our what we started with as The Lab. As a forum that formed around an interest in tweaking hardware to gain performance, we had everyone from PC technicians who worked with hardware day in and day out to engineers in all kinds of disciplines who viewed hardware modifications as an esoteric hobby. (I was in the second group. I am a software/database person)
The point of that previous paragraph is that if you find the right center of interest and have a feeder system, you don't need to have a single high profile entity like Tom ( or IR for that matter ) to draw people into the community. But people leaving a community tends to have a cascading effect on other members of the community. Without new members continually being drawn in, the community will go it's own way over time. If, for example, SoCal78 found that she needed to spend more time with her family and didn't have time for the forums, there are a certain number of people who enjoy reading her posts on parenting, education, and other issues that would spend less time in the community. Their absence (or reduced participation) would impact people who liked their contributions.
As a Republican with Libertarian leanings, I believe in listening to what the market has to tell me. If you were to ask me what the content of a good feeder system would be centered around, I'd tell you that I simply don't know. It would be arrogant for me to assume that things that I am interested would appeal to everyone. I believe that collective intelligence will always trump individual intelligence. Therefore, rather than taking any one idea from this or other threads, can someone start either an area or individual polls to get people talking about centers of focus for this new community.
With that out of the way, I'd like to suggest two topics to center the new community around - Extreme Right Wing Politics, and Active Elimination of the Democrat Party.
OK, back to more reminiscing - A couple of people mentioned familiarity with Tom's Hardware forum. Were you just casually aware of the forums? Or did you participate? I used to post there under my real name, and was very high profile. If you mention your old handles, it's quite possible that we knew each other in a past forum life.
On to freedom of speech zones, I'm sure I am about to mortify quite a few people, but I'll share a few memories with you on how we made an unmoderated forum work. Before I share these experiences, let me say on record that I think that this community is to gentile and well mannered for an environment like what we had, and I think that complete freedom would work well in this environment.
First of all, we never banned anyone. As computer people, we were into anonymous proxies before software like Tor made it easy for anyone to hide where they were coming from. Attention feeds trolls. Taking time and effort to keep a troll out of a community or clean up their messes only gives them more energy and creates more work for moderators to keep up with. All-in-all, it's a bad cycle and we felt that you shouldn't put unpaid volunteers through. (Actually in the early days, we couldn't ban or moderate people even if we wanted to)
But that doesn't mean that spammers and trolls had impunity in our community. We were a community built around uncommon and esoteric skills with computers. Rather than trying to eliminate trolls, the community had fun playing with them. A large, active and creative community can bring any troll to his knees. As one example, I remember a troll we had on Extreme Computing (our Delphi days). I did a little research and found that he was a member of another Delphi community, and he posted a resume as an attachment in a message to a friend on that community in an attempt to get a summer job. (He was a kid in high school)
So I posted a link to his resume on Extreme Computing, and another person took his resume out of his control by downloading it and re-uploading it on Delphi and a few free websites. Another member of the community with a wicked sense of humor was aware of a phone sex line with a website that would let you enter a phone number and get a free two minute sample call. Putting 2 and 2 together, he started a thread with a link to the form where you enter the phone number, and the phone number of the troll. Of course this kid still lived with his parents, and they started getting all kinds of interesting calls all night every night. The kid came back begging us to remove the post, but of course we didn't have the ability to moderate our own forum at that time, nor could we remove the off-Delphi posts with the same information. After a few months the community moved on to other amusing ideas, but the troll learned that it's not a good idea to poke sticks into a crowd of computer experts.
(Actually, thinking back, the Brightwater/Huntington Beach threads on IHB were really a similar form of troll control. Not quite as amusing, but it's still an example of what the community can do to police itself and liberate the actual moderators from the need to do work)
Now on to overclocking itself. I readily acknowledge that the economics of computer hardware have changed. But still the same, if you can get free performance, why not do so? Also, by taking time to research all the components you want in a system, you end up with a higher quality and more stable system than if you simply go to Dell and buy whatever bargain box you can find a coupon code for on bensbargains.net . And while video game performance is largely dependent on video card performance (video cards can and should be overclocked too), there are those of us who still need more CPU power. I don't have time to play games any more, but I do need a high power environment for my lab at home.
First of all and most importantly, SoCal, I owe you an email to catch you up on numerous things. I'll try to make time this weekend to reach out to you.
Second, some would consider this nitpicking, but based on the emotional bonds that a person develops after spending a lot of time with any community (online or not), I feel a little clarification about the lineage of forums I am talkiing about is in order. The original Tom's Hardware forum was on Delphi, and was known as Tom's Hardware. When Tom created his own non-Delphi forum, Tom's Hardware Forum was renamed to Extreme Computing. The community didn't like the forum software on Tom's Hardware, so we stayed together at Delphi. The larger Delphi forum community was enough to provide Extreme Computing with new members. Now for the clarification, it wasn't Extreme Computing that broke away from Delphi. When Delphi appointed a moderator to an unmoderrated community who started deleting threads and banning long time members, we started The Lab. The Lab is the community that broke away from Delphi, and we created our own software to do so.
OK, nit picking aside, back to relevant stuff for the future of this forum.
Though a few years had passed between Tom pulling away from our community and the creation of The Lab, the volumes of traffic I am referring to our what we started with as The Lab. As a forum that formed around an interest in tweaking hardware to gain performance, we had everyone from PC technicians who worked with hardware day in and day out to engineers in all kinds of disciplines who viewed hardware modifications as an esoteric hobby. (I was in the second group. I am a software/database person)
The point of that previous paragraph is that if you find the right center of interest and have a feeder system, you don't need to have a single high profile entity like Tom ( or IR for that matter ) to draw people into the community. But people leaving a community tends to have a cascading effect on other members of the community. Without new members continually being drawn in, the community will go it's own way over time. If, for example, SoCal78 found that she needed to spend more time with her family and didn't have time for the forums, there are a certain number of people who enjoy reading her posts on parenting, education, and other issues that would spend less time in the community. Their absence (or reduced participation) would impact people who liked their contributions.
As a Republican with Libertarian leanings, I believe in listening to what the market has to tell me. If you were to ask me what the content of a good feeder system would be centered around, I'd tell you that I simply don't know. It would be arrogant for me to assume that things that I am interested would appeal to everyone. I believe that collective intelligence will always trump individual intelligence. Therefore, rather than taking any one idea from this or other threads, can someone start either an area or individual polls to get people talking about centers of focus for this new community.
With that out of the way, I'd like to suggest two topics to center the new community around - Extreme Right Wing Politics, and Active Elimination of the Democrat Party.
OK, back to more reminiscing - A couple of people mentioned familiarity with Tom's Hardware forum. Were you just casually aware of the forums? Or did you participate? I used to post there under my real name, and was very high profile. If you mention your old handles, it's quite possible that we knew each other in a past forum life.
On to freedom of speech zones, I'm sure I am about to mortify quite a few people, but I'll share a few memories with you on how we made an unmoderated forum work. Before I share these experiences, let me say on record that I think that this community is to gentile and well mannered for an environment like what we had, and I think that complete freedom would work well in this environment.
First of all, we never banned anyone. As computer people, we were into anonymous proxies before software like Tor made it easy for anyone to hide where they were coming from. Attention feeds trolls. Taking time and effort to keep a troll out of a community or clean up their messes only gives them more energy and creates more work for moderators to keep up with. All-in-all, it's a bad cycle and we felt that you shouldn't put unpaid volunteers through. (Actually in the early days, we couldn't ban or moderate people even if we wanted to)
But that doesn't mean that spammers and trolls had impunity in our community. We were a community built around uncommon and esoteric skills with computers. Rather than trying to eliminate trolls, the community had fun playing with them. A large, active and creative community can bring any troll to his knees. As one example, I remember a troll we had on Extreme Computing (our Delphi days). I did a little research and found that he was a member of another Delphi community, and he posted a resume as an attachment in a message to a friend on that community in an attempt to get a summer job. (He was a kid in high school)
So I posted a link to his resume on Extreme Computing, and another person took his resume out of his control by downloading it and re-uploading it on Delphi and a few free websites. Another member of the community with a wicked sense of humor was aware of a phone sex line with a website that would let you enter a phone number and get a free two minute sample call. Putting 2 and 2 together, he started a thread with a link to the form where you enter the phone number, and the phone number of the troll. Of course this kid still lived with his parents, and they started getting all kinds of interesting calls all night every night. The kid came back begging us to remove the post, but of course we didn't have the ability to moderate our own forum at that time, nor could we remove the off-Delphi posts with the same information. After a few months the community moved on to other amusing ideas, but the troll learned that it's not a good idea to poke sticks into a crowd of computer experts.
(Actually, thinking back, the Brightwater/Huntington Beach threads on IHB were really a similar form of troll control. Not quite as amusing, but it's still an example of what the community can do to police itself and liberate the actual moderators from the need to do work)
Now on to overclocking itself. I readily acknowledge that the economics of computer hardware have changed. But still the same, if you can get free performance, why not do so? Also, by taking time to research all the components you want in a system, you end up with a higher quality and more stable system than if you simply go to Dell and buy whatever bargain box you can find a coupon code for on bensbargains.net . And while video game performance is largely dependent on video card performance (video cards can and should be overclocked too), there are those of us who still need more CPU power. I don't have time to play games any more, but I do need a high power environment for my lab at home.
[quote author="traceimage"]
Years ago, I used to be a moderator on a forum and we used to have a special thread for introductions. New members would post up a schpiel about themselves, and all the moderators (and regular posters, if they wanted to) would post and say hi. Kinda dorky, but I think it made people feel welcome. Maybe when the Talk Irvine forums are established a little more, we could do something like that. Or maybe we could have a special sticky post with a little story about how the forums got started, or explaining some of the inside jokes, or even introducing some of the quirks of the well-known posters here (eg how IHO loves 3-car garages, etc). Just some thoughts...[/quote]
I second the idea of an introductions thread. It works well for the MLP forums, and there it is a requirement. You can't post anywhere without a post in the introductions thread or your posts are deleted (the mods there warn you first though). You knew ponies would come up sooner or later. <!-- s
--><!-- s -->
Years ago, I used to be a moderator on a forum and we used to have a special thread for introductions. New members would post up a schpiel about themselves, and all the moderators (and regular posters, if they wanted to) would post and say hi. Kinda dorky, but I think it made people feel welcome. Maybe when the Talk Irvine forums are established a little more, we could do something like that. Or maybe we could have a special sticky post with a little story about how the forums got started, or explaining some of the inside jokes, or even introducing some of the quirks of the well-known posters here (eg how IHO loves 3-car garages, etc). Just some thoughts...[/quote]
I second the idea of an introductions thread. It works well for the MLP forums, and there it is a requirement. You can't post anywhere without a post in the introductions thread or your posts are deleted (the mods there warn you first though). You knew ponies would come up sooner or later. <!-- s
--><!-- s -->
graphrix
New member
[quote author="tyr"](Moved from the suggestions folder)
I stepped out of the shadows because I saw the opportunity to help build something unique and exciting. And notwithstanding my opening day tussle with Eva, a community like the one that existed on IHB is unique -- unique in the quality of people, the quality of conversation and the loyalty of the members. I am not at all surprised that the community has remained largely intact during its transition to its new home. A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Socal for making it possible.
But as WINEX and others have pointed out, members come and go in an online community. If there isn't anything to draw new members in (or if the community doesn't embrace and welcome new members), the community will wither on the vine and eventually disappear. The question is what can Talk Irvine offer to increase visibility, drive traffic and attract new members. In no particular order, here are some random thoughts. Feel free to exalt, smite, discuss, dismiss or call me a troll.
I like the term WINEX used to describe his old forums -- a free speech zone. The forums should remain the chaotic, unorganized, free speech zone IHB once was with two exceptions: bona fide trolls and spammers should be banned. Everyone else should be given a soap box. Obviously, the devil is in the details. One man's troll is another man's contrarian. A good example is Newport Skipper. To help make those decisions, there ought to be a committee of forum denizens that would determine when a banning is necessary -- the Socals and a few others who are defenders of both free speech and the community. I leave it to others to figure out who those should be. Software permitting, I also like the idea of those with negative karma (or exceptionally negative karma) not being able to post in an unlimited manner. An easy, self-policing way to put the breaks on those who maybe straddle the line between trolls and just unpopular.
But a vibrant, free forum won't drive new membership. For that you need content. Most of us found IHB because of Larry's content, but we stayed for the community. And here's where stagger and blt are so correct. There is so much intelligence, experience and insight in this community that you could generate an endless supply of interesting, relevant, topical, high-quality content. IrvineRealtor on real estate, graphrix on foreclosures, peterUK on cycling, momo on food, eva on wine, SGIP on the credit markets, bondtrader and blackvault on investing, roundcorners on religion, trooper on civil rights, etc., etc., etc. Add to that neighborhood/HOA-specific discussion groups (great idea, by the way), information resources, a database of restaurant reviews, current events announcements, discussions of local ballot initiatives and elections, and of course, gossip -- stuff that just isn't conveniently or effectively located in one place currently. Harness all of that, organize it well and you've got content that will rival the OC Weekly (which has been a disaster ever since management changed), Daily Pilot, Irvine World News or even the Register.
People will come for the content, they will stay for the community. And there's the model -- develop user based content organized around an alt-weekly community newsletter model, focused on Irvine and its surrounding environs (don't alienate the rest of OC), as well as topical national and international news. The main page could be a blog with the above named users contributing a blurb or two each week (you generally need to update a blog 3-5 times per day to maintain a readership -- IHB was a little unique in the fact that it was a daily blog) or it could be a newspaper model with short articles penned by TIers. Or something else.
IHB decided to cast off its most valuable asset in favor of a half-baked business model and a blog dominated by AzDavidPhx and his lunatic fringe. But that asset still exists, and it has been gifted to the SoCals and the community itself. This is why I said TI's destiny is in its own hands. You've got a chance to build something really cool here. Good luck! I'm looking forward to helping. [/quote]
I might... just maybe... have a simple solution on how to integrate a blogging software with proboards, that will link to a thread on TI for the comments. Since WordPress is open source it might be able to be done, but... but... but... I need a more brilliant mind to double check my idea with reality.
I stepped out of the shadows because I saw the opportunity to help build something unique and exciting. And notwithstanding my opening day tussle with Eva, a community like the one that existed on IHB is unique -- unique in the quality of people, the quality of conversation and the loyalty of the members. I am not at all surprised that the community has remained largely intact during its transition to its new home. A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Socal for making it possible.
But as WINEX and others have pointed out, members come and go in an online community. If there isn't anything to draw new members in (or if the community doesn't embrace and welcome new members), the community will wither on the vine and eventually disappear. The question is what can Talk Irvine offer to increase visibility, drive traffic and attract new members. In no particular order, here are some random thoughts. Feel free to exalt, smite, discuss, dismiss or call me a troll.
I like the term WINEX used to describe his old forums -- a free speech zone. The forums should remain the chaotic, unorganized, free speech zone IHB once was with two exceptions: bona fide trolls and spammers should be banned. Everyone else should be given a soap box. Obviously, the devil is in the details. One man's troll is another man's contrarian. A good example is Newport Skipper. To help make those decisions, there ought to be a committee of forum denizens that would determine when a banning is necessary -- the Socals and a few others who are defenders of both free speech and the community. I leave it to others to figure out who those should be. Software permitting, I also like the idea of those with negative karma (or exceptionally negative karma) not being able to post in an unlimited manner. An easy, self-policing way to put the breaks on those who maybe straddle the line between trolls and just unpopular.
But a vibrant, free forum won't drive new membership. For that you need content. Most of us found IHB because of Larry's content, but we stayed for the community. And here's where stagger and blt are so correct. There is so much intelligence, experience and insight in this community that you could generate an endless supply of interesting, relevant, topical, high-quality content. IrvineRealtor on real estate, graphrix on foreclosures, peterUK on cycling, momo on food, eva on wine, SGIP on the credit markets, bondtrader and blackvault on investing, roundcorners on religion, trooper on civil rights, etc., etc., etc. Add to that neighborhood/HOA-specific discussion groups (great idea, by the way), information resources, a database of restaurant reviews, current events announcements, discussions of local ballot initiatives and elections, and of course, gossip -- stuff that just isn't conveniently or effectively located in one place currently. Harness all of that, organize it well and you've got content that will rival the OC Weekly (which has been a disaster ever since management changed), Daily Pilot, Irvine World News or even the Register.
People will come for the content, they will stay for the community. And there's the model -- develop user based content organized around an alt-weekly community newsletter model, focused on Irvine and its surrounding environs (don't alienate the rest of OC), as well as topical national and international news. The main page could be a blog with the above named users contributing a blurb or two each week (you generally need to update a blog 3-5 times per day to maintain a readership -- IHB was a little unique in the fact that it was a daily blog) or it could be a newspaper model with short articles penned by TIers. Or something else.
IHB decided to cast off its most valuable asset in favor of a half-baked business model and a blog dominated by AzDavidPhx and his lunatic fringe. But that asset still exists, and it has been gifted to the SoCals and the community itself. This is why I said TI's destiny is in its own hands. You've got a chance to build something really cool here. Good luck! I'm looking forward to helping. [/quote]
I might... just maybe... have a simple solution on how to integrate a blogging software with proboards, that will link to a thread on TI for the comments. Since WordPress is open source it might be able to be done, but... but... but... I need a more brilliant mind to double check my idea with reality.
steppingup
New member
[quote author="graphrix"]And... for the record, I would be more than happy to blog about something more than housing, like food or the arts that are happening around OC and LA. And... it would be great if we could get someone like EvaL to blog about food/wine/general happenings around OC too. Maybe Cameray could add to that category, and link her "deals" on a monthly basis? You know, graph blogs every Monday... EvaL/Cameray blogs every third Friday of the month.
Anyone else have an idea of how they can contribute? *cough* Bk posting a monthly architectural/aesthetic/feng shui post *cough*. What about Deuce doing a monthly Irvine sales report and REO/short sales report for Irvine? Maybe a roundcorners photo based construction update? The ideas are endless if people are willing to contribute.[/quote]
raises hand: :-[any interest in gardening related contributions?
While white on rice already does something like this, but recipes centered on what's in season in our own yards could be fun.
Anyone else have an idea of how they can contribute? *cough* Bk posting a monthly architectural/aesthetic/feng shui post *cough*. What about Deuce doing a monthly Irvine sales report and REO/short sales report for Irvine? Maybe a roundcorners photo based construction update? The ideas are endless if people are willing to contribute.[/quote]
raises hand: :-[any interest in gardening related contributions?
While white on rice already does something like this, but recipes centered on what's in season in our own yards could be fun.
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
@winex: To further explain my theory of the de-evolution of computer hardware DIY as a reason why such forums would lose activity, you can just look at the retail sector. Back in the 80s, there were dozens of PC Club / NexCom type stores where you could buy computer systems or parts. In PC Magazine, the majority of ads were from mail order places you could buy systems/parts from.
Now, there is hardly any of either. The Santa Ana ACP Swap Meet used to be full of computer enthusiasts... the last time I went years ago had more non-computer stuff to sell than computer related products. That whole section of stores is no longer dominated by the small mom/pop computer store.
Sure, I agree that if you worked at it, you can improve your system performance over some Best Buy/Fry's system... but in this day an age of zero time gratification... people are too lazy to do so. And hardware has leaped forward so much, the development apps I used back then are dwarfed by the speed of the systems now so my requirements can even run on computer systems that are 5 years old. Add on that the move to portable computing (notebooks/netbooks/smartphones) which has little room for customization, you will find that overclocking becomes a very niche topic of discussion.
Anything tech based will usually have a limited lifespan but things that are life based have a bit more staying power.
And again, I'm not trying to minimize the importance of your suggestions, they are absolutely necessary, I'm just saying that there were other factors that led to the demise in popularity of tech forums (I started to write this long story of my own tech site that failed but it digressed from the original topic).
That being said, I'd be willing to supply some gadget content... I think I can at least do as well as the Gadgetress on the OC Register.
Now, there is hardly any of either. The Santa Ana ACP Swap Meet used to be full of computer enthusiasts... the last time I went years ago had more non-computer stuff to sell than computer related products. That whole section of stores is no longer dominated by the small mom/pop computer store.
Sure, I agree that if you worked at it, you can improve your system performance over some Best Buy/Fry's system... but in this day an age of zero time gratification... people are too lazy to do so. And hardware has leaped forward so much, the development apps I used back then are dwarfed by the speed of the systems now so my requirements can even run on computer systems that are 5 years old. Add on that the move to portable computing (notebooks/netbooks/smartphones) which has little room for customization, you will find that overclocking becomes a very niche topic of discussion.
Anything tech based will usually have a limited lifespan but things that are life based have a bit more staying power.
And again, I'm not trying to minimize the importance of your suggestions, they are absolutely necessary, I'm just saying that there were other factors that led to the demise in popularity of tech forums (I started to write this long story of my own tech site that failed but it digressed from the original topic).
That being said, I'd be willing to supply some gadget content... I think I can at least do as well as the Gadgetress on the OC Register.
socal78
Well-known member
[quote author="steppingup"]
raises hand: :-[any interest in gardening related contributions?
While white on rice already does something like this, but recipes centered on what's in season in our own yards could be fun. [/quote]
Absolutely. That would be great. You have a lot to offer there and would be an asset to a gardening section.
raises hand: :-[any interest in gardening related contributions?
While white on rice already does something like this, but recipes centered on what's in season in our own yards could be fun. [/quote]
Absolutely. That would be great. You have a lot to offer there and would be an asset to a gardening section.
socal78
Well-known member
I've been reading everyone's insights and getting feedback from many both publicly and privately. I hope that we could discuss things out in the open for all to view.
I want you guys to know that it is all weighing on my mind very heavily. I know that it is not easy to place your trust in an "admin", moderator, or site that you become attached to. After what has happened at IHB, I get the sense that some bloggers a little gun-shy right now. I care very much for all of you and feel as though I'm a steward of this "new" community, as I know many of you do as well. It is important for me to retain any trust that has been earned over time.
It seems there are 2 directions:
- One is to recreate the original IHB atmosphere.. get a bunch of smart, passionate, not necessarily local people to have stimulating conversations about everything from the Economy, US/World Politics, Religion, Real Estate, etc.
- The other is to create a local community site. Allow people to stay in touch, make friends, get to know their "neighbors", have an intimate neighborhood feel, etc.
The first one would need to have the no rules, anything goes atmosphere. Let it go where it may. Who knows what could be accomplished.
The second one would have rules and structure and revolve around community, local events, local issues, etc.
Can one site fulfill both needs? After watching the IHB forums for a while, I don't believe so. But, possibly it could.
Anyway, those are just some random thoughts for the time-being.
I want you guys to know that it is all weighing on my mind very heavily. I know that it is not easy to place your trust in an "admin", moderator, or site that you become attached to. After what has happened at IHB, I get the sense that some bloggers a little gun-shy right now. I care very much for all of you and feel as though I'm a steward of this "new" community, as I know many of you do as well. It is important for me to retain any trust that has been earned over time.
It seems there are 2 directions:
- One is to recreate the original IHB atmosphere.. get a bunch of smart, passionate, not necessarily local people to have stimulating conversations about everything from the Economy, US/World Politics, Religion, Real Estate, etc.
- The other is to create a local community site. Allow people to stay in touch, make friends, get to know their "neighbors", have an intimate neighborhood feel, etc.
The first one would need to have the no rules, anything goes atmosphere. Let it go where it may. Who knows what could be accomplished.
The second one would have rules and structure and revolve around community, local events, local issues, etc.
Can one site fulfill both needs? After watching the IHB forums for a while, I don't believe so. But, possibly it could.
Anyway, those are just some random thoughts for the time-being.
What I liked about the "old" IHB were the new unexpected insights from insightful people and the unexpected humor and the unexpected troll-sensing and troll-elimination...I like the less rules mostly anything goes...I think what happened to the old IHB was the powers to be decided to take control and move it to a "my way or the highway" kind of place and a lot of people chose the highway...<!-- s --><!-- s --> I think the attraction for me is to see where TI goes without any top down roadmap...maybe it could even be profitable for the TI founders/contributors someday by not repeating the mistakes of the old IHB. I think Larry could have stepped back a bit, see where the insights/analysis/contributions of the many smart people at IHB could go where it may and try to monetize whatever happens for himself and other founders/contributors as others here at TI have suggested instead of trying to do it all himself and kind of losing it all as I see it.
--><!-- s --> I think the attraction for me is to see where TI goes without any top down roadmap...maybe it could even be profitable for the TI founders/contributors someday by not repeating the mistakes of the old IHB. I think Larry could have stepped back a bit, see where the insights/analysis/contributions of the many smart people at IHB could go where it may and try to monetize whatever happens for himself and other founders/contributors as others here at TI have suggested instead of trying to do it all himself and kind of losing it all as I see it.
A
Anonymous
Guest
[quote author="caycifish"]I don't see why it can't be both. If it naturally evolves one way or another, so be it. Provide the boards/slots/threads/sections/whatever that covers both and let the chips fall where they may.[/quote]
I know I told more than a few people I was not coming over here. The truth is that I intended to lurk and offer some suggestions and then fade away for good. In doing so, I have created, and deleted, some accounts here, including the original Nude account. So, I am risking my personal credibility with people I respect and admire to endorse cayci's point.
SoCal, I think you have drawn an unneeded line. The forums do not need to be unregulated to be interesting or engaging. They can be mildly moderated. And the site doesn't have to be locally centered to cover topics that interest people. We have a plethora of people here that can write, that do write, and that have knowledge of a great many things. The best part of Orange County is that it is so incredibly diverse but that diversity has been distilled into the best and the brightest in this very community.
I have spent a lot of time and energy over the last couple of years helping IHB. The Tech Support threads, the artwork, the t-shirts, and some epic battles with people who called bk a racist. I didn't expend all that effort to see zovall and IrvineRenter flush it all away. I am grateful to you for acting swiftly to save the community. I know you care about the community as much as I do.
But you don't own the community. No one person owns it. It is up to people who come here to decide what it will and won't be. We are in the position because three (really, one) people made a decision and tossed us out. I think it is a mistake to allow that kind of control to rest in one person's hands again. You can't unilateraly decide for the rest of us what is and isn't acceptable. I understand feeling protective, but it isn't just you trying to help.
We can have a blog filled with posts about Irvine and the surrounding area. We can cover topics like real estate, food, finance, schools, kids, arts, and politics from a variety of viewpoints. We can have spirited and diverse discussions on boards that are moderated with a light hand for content and a heavy hand for spam. We can keep this community together and entice new members to join. We can make it happen and it doesn't have to be the "either this or that" choice you appear to want to put us into.
I've pledged my support to this already, multiple times to multiple people. I am asking the community to make their preferences known publically, as I have. You tell me, do we move ahead or do we move on?
I know I told more than a few people I was not coming over here. The truth is that I intended to lurk and offer some suggestions and then fade away for good. In doing so, I have created, and deleted, some accounts here, including the original Nude account. So, I am risking my personal credibility with people I respect and admire to endorse cayci's point.
SoCal, I think you have drawn an unneeded line. The forums do not need to be unregulated to be interesting or engaging. They can be mildly moderated. And the site doesn't have to be locally centered to cover topics that interest people. We have a plethora of people here that can write, that do write, and that have knowledge of a great many things. The best part of Orange County is that it is so incredibly diverse but that diversity has been distilled into the best and the brightest in this very community.
I have spent a lot of time and energy over the last couple of years helping IHB. The Tech Support threads, the artwork, the t-shirts, and some epic battles with people who called bk a racist. I didn't expend all that effort to see zovall and IrvineRenter flush it all away. I am grateful to you for acting swiftly to save the community. I know you care about the community as much as I do.
But you don't own the community. No one person owns it. It is up to people who come here to decide what it will and won't be. We are in the position because three (really, one) people made a decision and tossed us out. I think it is a mistake to allow that kind of control to rest in one person's hands again. You can't unilateraly decide for the rest of us what is and isn't acceptable. I understand feeling protective, but it isn't just you trying to help.
We can have a blog filled with posts about Irvine and the surrounding area. We can cover topics like real estate, food, finance, schools, kids, arts, and politics from a variety of viewpoints. We can have spirited and diverse discussions on boards that are moderated with a light hand for content and a heavy hand for spam. We can keep this community together and entice new members to join. We can make it happen and it doesn't have to be the "either this or that" choice you appear to want to put us into.
I've pledged my support to this already, multiple times to multiple people. I am asking the community to make their preferences known publically, as I have. You tell me, do we move ahead or do we move on?
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
So this site should have been named TalkWhatever.com?
I do see Nude's point and I think that's what the forums are for... a free speech zone (as other posters have put it)... but for content (if any), there has to be some focus although it need not be restricted just to Irvine. Having a focal point doesn't necessarily mean anyone is trying to control anything... just trying to have a point of reference.
Sure there will be topics/content/articles/posts that aren't even close to Irvine-related but given the domain name is www.talkIRVINE.com, that's where it should start because that's where people will look. Like the IHB, almost every single blog article is on some Irvine home yet it pulls in people who wouldn't even think of living in Irvine... but that's because they have some area near where they live that is like Irvine and they can relate to it.
And I don't think SoCal wants to make that distinction, which why she posted her query, she's just wondering about being able to do so without driving anyone away.
I do see Nude's point and I think that's what the forums are for... a free speech zone (as other posters have put it)... but for content (if any), there has to be some focus although it need not be restricted just to Irvine. Having a focal point doesn't necessarily mean anyone is trying to control anything... just trying to have a point of reference.
Sure there will be topics/content/articles/posts that aren't even close to Irvine-related but given the domain name is www.talkIRVINE.com, that's where it should start because that's where people will look. Like the IHB, almost every single blog article is on some Irvine home yet it pulls in people who wouldn't even think of living in Irvine... but that's because they have some area near where they live that is like Irvine and they can relate to it.
And I don't think SoCal wants to make that distinction, which why she posted her query, she's just wondering about being able to do so without driving anyone away.
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
On a sidenote... I'm going to register Talk3CarWideGarages.com.
I second Cayci`s Motion as well.
Let the board develop on its own. Moderation to a minimum.
This group will flush out the offenders on its own as it did before.
I think allot has been learned from the Failure of IHB and the way
that Forum was handled or in reality, ignored until its demise.
This is like a new marriage. Lets not go too crazy with rules and enjoy the honeymoon while its fresh and young.
Let the board develop on its own. Moderation to a minimum.
This group will flush out the offenders on its own as it did before.
I think allot has been learned from the Failure of IHB and the way
that Forum was handled or in reality, ignored until its demise.
This is like a new marriage. Lets not go too crazy with rules and enjoy the honeymoon while its fresh and young.
novaseline
New member
When I used to moderate a forum, I used a simple rule - if the user was being disruptive (trolling, posting MLM or porn, whatever) I gently suggested that they were out of line and asked if they'd fix it (via PM ).
If they fixed it, great.
If they did anything else (tried to fight with me, continued along trolling, whatever) I banned them immediately without remorse.
The less rules the better, but if somebody is causing a problem, there outta here. JIMO.
If they fixed it, great.
If they did anything else (tried to fight with me, continued along trolling, whatever) I banned them immediately without remorse.
The less rules the better, but if somebody is causing a problem, there outta here. JIMO.
socal78
Well-known member
[quote author="a"]
But you don't own the community. No one person owns it. It is up to people who come here to decide what it will and won't be. We are in the position because three (really, one) people made a decision and tossed us out. I think it is a mistake to allow that kind of control to rest in one person's hands again. You can't unilateraly decide for the rest of us what is and isn't acceptable. I understand feeling protective, but it isn't just you trying to help.[/quote]
I don't own the people but I do own the domain and there are responsibilities that come with that. Our host, not me, does unilaterally decide what is and isn't acceptable. Please refer to the terms agreed upon when registering. With as far as the limits have been pushed in the past, I do not wish to log on one day and see the board deleted as has happened to others, so that is one concern. Another is the welcoming aspect. IHB was not known for being very welcoming to new people. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to see that element improve on a community site, so that's another reason we need to establish and respect boundaries.
But you don't own the community. No one person owns it. It is up to people who come here to decide what it will and won't be. We are in the position because three (really, one) people made a decision and tossed us out. I think it is a mistake to allow that kind of control to rest in one person's hands again. You can't unilateraly decide for the rest of us what is and isn't acceptable. I understand feeling protective, but it isn't just you trying to help.[/quote]
I don't own the people but I do own the domain and there are responsibilities that come with that. Our host, not me, does unilaterally decide what is and isn't acceptable. Please refer to the terms agreed upon when registering. With as far as the limits have been pushed in the past, I do not wish to log on one day and see the board deleted as has happened to others, so that is one concern. Another is the welcoming aspect. IHB was not known for being very welcoming to new people. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to see that element improve on a community site, so that's another reason we need to establish and respect boundaries.