Where do we go from here?

jayn_j

Press On Regardless
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Sep 29, 2003
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Sheboygan, WI
I've been meaning to ask this all weekend, and then Scott went and posted the headline that booted me into action.

Should we be doing something to tune up our HT forums? Obviously, we are already doing something right if we are doing as well as Scott says. Still, I think we could do a few things to improve this area.

First question is "What are we doing right?" That stuff shouldn't be changed. I think our biggest strength is that we are approachable. Our forums are uncluttered and people can ask questions without fear of being called a moron. I think we make an honest effort to provide advice that matches the posters knowlege level and also which is sensitive to the budget. We need to keep doing that.

Second, we tend to address the entry level HT person. We have more HTIB and sub $1k system articles than anywhere else. Most people who come here for advice are looking at the entry level.

I think there are a couple of areas where we can improve. First, we should probably take a pass at the archived threads and see if a few could be moved to better forums. Rocky's building a HT thread in the TV forum is a good example.

Second, I think we should encourage the regular posters to write a series of basics articles that can be set up as stickies. HD-MMs recent one on surround speaker types is a good example. I've done a couple, and am planning a couple more. For example, I'd like to do one on soundbars, showing the balance between convenience with decreased flexibility and compromised surround imaging. I can see similar articles in every one of the forums, and think we should encourage them. The mods and active members can decide if they are worthy of sticky status. I wrote the movie poster article with sticky in mind, but it kind of went nowhere, and I can accept letting it die.

Should equipment reviews and brand recommendations be sticky? Should we move upscale any? What do you think about this?
 
I've been meaning to ask this all weekend, and then Scott went and posted the headline that booted me into action.

Should we be doing something to tune up our HT forums? Obviously, we are already doing something right if we are doing as well as Scott says. Still, I think we could do a few things to improve this area.

First question is "What are we doing right?" That stuff shouldn't be changed. I think our biggest strength is that we are approachable. Our forums are uncluttered and people can ask questions without fear of being called a moron. I think we make an honest effort to provide advice that matches the posters knowlege level and also which is sensitive to the budget. We need to keep doing that.

Second, we tend to address the entry level HT person. We have more HTIB and sub $1k system articles than anywhere else. Most people who come here for advice are looking at the entry level.

I think there are a couple of areas where we can improve. First, we should probably take a pass at the archived threads and see if a few could be moved to better forums. Rocky's building a HT thread in the TV forum is a good example.

Second, I think we should encourage the regular posters to write a series of basics articles that can be set up as stickies. HD-MMs recent one on surround speaker types is a good example. I've done a couple, and am planning a couple more. For example, I'd like to do one on soundbars, showing the balance between convenience with decreased flexibility and compromised surround imaging. I can see similar articles in every one of the forums, and think we should encourage them. The mods and active members can decide if they are worthy of sticky status. I wrote the movie poster article with sticky in mind, but it kind of went nowhere, and I can accept letting it die.

Should equipment reviews and brand recommendations be sticky? Should we move upscale any? What do you think about this?

The best part of posting here is that we are approachable, and not afraid to share our experiences.

Given the turn-over in models every year, that would make for a lot of stickies. As for moving upscale, I'm not sure what you have in mind there. Most of the queries here do seem to revolve around mid-scale equipment. I like our "Most bang for the buck" feel here.
 
I wrote the movie poster article with sticky in mind
Well worth it! Just made it a sticky. ;)
Just let me or another mod know if something else needs to be stickied.

Personally, I don't like seeing too many stickies, but reviews, reference materials and original articles, definitly deserve to be stickied, at least for some time. Bring them on! :up
 
I dunno about adding many more stickies or trying to move more upscale. I like the non-snob factor here and the catering to stuff that the majority of the consumers consider affordable. That doesn't mean we can't discuss those uber-expensive blu-ray players for example, but getting more than 1 or 2 owners input might be challenging.

I also don't mind seeing the same question asked a few times over the months and I really like that 20 people don't jump on someone who didn't search or used the wrong search terms.

heck I really enjoy reading that people have good experiences with a samsung player in a thread where I bash a samsung player and recommend something else. Other forums, I think it turns in to a pissing match cause I dislike samsung and someone else loves em.

I enjoy reading about little things from members... Like "hey I got a new Denon receiver, check it out, btw, I have some questions" Other places, that kind of post would be swept into the catch-all "official Denon AVR-xxxx owners thread" and the OP then has to go find their post in the now hundreds of pages in that thread and jockey for help and ask a question on page 94 only to find an answer from someone on page 107.
 
Jay - thanks for this post. I have been very busy with work this week, and just saw the thread, but I think you are right onto the issue that several of us on the staff have been mulling over; how we ramp up our HT forums, and make this a place that people come to first.

I know AVS has a ton of info, but I must admit any time I have gone there, I have been generally turned off by the complexity of the site, and very much want to find a way for us to stay user-friendly. And of course, our approachability is key. Heck, I learned so much when designing my HT from you guys, it was a great collaborative venture.

I look forward to seeing what suggestions people have to take this forum to the next level.
 
Jay - thanks for this post. I have been very busy with work this week, and just saw the thread, but I think you are right onto the issue that several of us on the staff have been mulling over; how we ramp up our HT forums, and make this a place that people come to first.

I know AVS has a ton of info, but I must admit any time I have gone there, I have been generally turned off by the complexity of the site, and very much want to find a way for us to stay user-friendly. And of course, our approachability is key. Heck, I learned so much when designing my HT from you guys, it was a great collaborative venture.

I look forward to seeing what suggestions people have to take this forum to the next level.

I certainly know about the busy. We are getting very close to actually flying this airplane. Our piece has actually been certified for the test flights and we are now working on service ready code and hardware.

You may have noticed my postings are down the last few weeks. Somebody in IT made an issue of posting from work, so I am only getting an hour or so a day after the kids go to bed. :(

One idea for the stickies would be to give them their own forum, or to create sub-forums called how-to for the stickies. I don't know. That might lose some of that informal style. I know that I enjoy doing the research and collecting the articles. I also know that my writing style is a bit formal and stuffy. All that engineer training and those standards and technical requirement documents. I definitely need an editor and would take no offense if someone wanted to clean up my stuff.

As for going upscale, I wasn't suggesting that. Just brought it up as a talking point. I actually think our interests are in the higher end of the mass market stuff, and our strength as a forum is in helping people who just want a little better, not the ultimate.
 
One thing I would like to see in the blu-ray forum is a seperate hardware/software setup. Sometimes that forums gets very active and stuff drops off the first page. Just an idea with all the new players coming out.
 
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