MTX User Community - The way forward

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MTX User Community - The way forward

Poll ended at 18 Oct 2014 17:46

You don't care - you're happy to let others decide
1
14%
Stick with what we have, no structure in the use of Facebook and the Forum
0
No votes
Use Facebook as a Place-holder only - per my description below
4
57%
Close the Facebook Group to new members
0
No votes
Abandon Facebook altogether
1
14%
Something else? - Feel free to make suggestions
1
14%
 
Total votes: 7

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Dave
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MTX User Community - The way forward

Post by Dave »

Hi Folks,

there have been many discussions on the Forum and Facebook on how best to interact with the MTX Community.

My view is well known, and I know, shared by various others.
Unfortunately, there still seems to be a reluctance by many to use the Forum properly and many good technical discussions are getting lost on Facebook.
To my mind, we need to make an effort to change this and use the Forum properly to the benefit of all.

Despite various requests being made by a number of us, Facebook is still the first point of call for many people looking to ask MTX questions or start discussions. Often, general Facebook "chats" evolve into technical discussions where lots of useful information is exchanged, but it soon gets lost in the rest of the Facebook "mire".

I have already proposed a "solution" in another post
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=205

"We retain the Facebook Group as nothing more than a placeholder for "first contact".
New members are welcomed to the Group, then directed to the Forum
New (and old) members are advised to go to the forum to post new messages

And, potentially, this might be controversial, ALL OF US refrain from responding to posts, particularly of a technical nature, on Facebook.
Idle gossip is fine, but for anything really MTX related, any answers should ONLY be to point people to the Forum and NO attempt should be made to answer on Facebook. Draconian ? - maybe, but I think that it's the only way that we can get people to use the Forum properly - for the benefit of us all."

So, to that end, I would like to canvass opinion to see if this would "fly".

Please respond to the poll and/or respond in the forum

regards
Dave
Bill B
Posts: 593
Joined: 26 Jan 2014 16:31

Re: MTX User Community - The way forward

Post by Bill B »

I don't do facebook, so I have no opinion as to what is there, However, I'm not sure that even the forum is a good long term place for technical information. At the moment the MTX forum is not very busy, but I also lurk on the Raspberry Pi forum, and there the good technical stuff is prone to get lost in the chatter.

In my opinion, the best long term location for technical info is collated on somewhare like Dave's website, which is why I have often encouraged him to post some of my stuff.

But then I don't have to do the job of maintaining it :) . Is it possible to add a wiki to the forum?
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1024MAK
Posts: 757
Joined: 24 Dec 2012 03:01
Location: Looking forward to summer, in Somerset, UK

Re: MTX User Community - The way forward

Post by 1024MAK »

My views are here...

Here are some good examples of retro computer communities where forums are well used:-
StarDot (Acorn computers including the BBC Micro)
Atari-Forum (Atari ST and related computers)
World of Spectrum (Sinclair ZX Spectrum and clones)
Sinclair ZX World (ZX80, ZX81, Timex 1000 and clones)
QL Forum (Sinclair QL)

Mark
Last edited by 1024MAK on 04 Oct 2014 19:14, edited 1 time in total.
:!: Standby alert :!:
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb :!:
Looking forward to summer in Somerset later in the year :D

Not as many MTXs as Dave! :lol:
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1024MAK
Posts: 757
Joined: 24 Dec 2012 03:01
Location: Looking forward to summer, in Somerset, UK

Re: MTX User Community - The way forward

Post by 1024MAK »

Bill B wrote:In my opinion, the best long term location for technical info is collated on somewhare like Dave's website, which is why I have often encouraged him to post some of my stuff.

But then I don't have to do the job of maintaining it :) . Is it possible to add a wiki to the forum?
A properly designed (and indexed) web site is certainly best.
Wiki sites are good, but it requires one or more people (the more, the better) to create and maintain it. The Atari ST community has a great Wiki. Also there is a QL wiki. But the person who created the QL wiki has trouble persuading others to add to it :(

So anyone up for creating and maintaining a MTX wiki?

Mark
:!: Standby alert :!:
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb :!:
Looking forward to summer in Somerset later in the year :D

Not as many MTXs as Dave! :lol:
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Dave
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Joined: 11 Aug 2012 18:16
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Re: MTX User Community - The way forward

Post by Dave »

Hi Folks,

thanks for the responses.

Always happy to put as much technical stuff on my site as possible - from a purely selfish point of view, this is the best thing for me :-)
(Even though it may be im"properly designed (and indexed)" :-)
I too think that a/my website is a good long term place for the techy stuff.

I agree that the indexing on my site could/should be improved. Google Site search works, but is not ideal. I liked the look of the Zoom search engine and built a small search facility (limited to 50 pages in the free edition). I didn't get any feedback, certainly not enough interest to justify the $100 it would cost me to add it.

I am happy to create a wiki, I have looked at doing it in the past (with free software) but I wasn't sure there was enough interest to justify the effort though. We are certainly not as popular as the more mainstream retro machines.

regards
Dave
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Dave
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Re: MTX User Community - The way forward

Post by Dave »

Well folks, the results are in!

Or rather, the 7 poll responses have been duly considered and, by an overwhelming majority, the motion is carried!

To summarise, Facebook will stay, but only as a "chatroom", the Forum is to be used for all detailed technical discussions, questions, problems (but not personal ones) etc.

I am sure that it'll take a while to get ourselves into this way of working and I'm as likely as anyone else to forget! So, until it becomes the norm, I'd appreciate your support in making sure that the Forum and Facebook are used as has been "agreed". If we see any questions of a technical nature coming up on Facebook, we should give the poster a gentle prod to direct the question here

Regards
Dave
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