Proposed new forum structure

[Wally]

After a few days of spreadsheeting, brain storming and pulling my hair out (from work) i've come up with some sort of new forum structure.


I would like some feedback


Basically anything Underlined & bold is a forum section. For the sections that don't mention a sub forum. Its not a sub forum

 

[quartercast]

Where are the support sections? There should be a sales support section.


Also, Software IMHO is probably of more interest to the average user, so it should be placed above Pandora OS and Pandora Development. Those are more for seasoned, hacking types.


Edit: but yes, great start Wally


Edit2: I never liked "Default OS". How about Default OS (Angstrom Linux) or something like that. Or Native OS. Or Angstrom Linux (Default OS).

 

[Wally]

Ah I knew I forgot something, i'll fix it up after (I got distracted by something at work)

 

[thatgui]

I don't think that is a good idea, there are way too many subforums. I would prefer a not so cluttered approach:

• Do we really need a official news section with the production going smooth right now ? It was important back then, when frequent news where important to keep the spirits high, but now ? I would merge it with the General Pandora Talk Section and move the old offical news threads in a subforum of it and renaming it archive.
  
• I don't think it is necessary to divide the support section up - the differences between the three versions of the Pandora are too small. And newcomers often don't know what Pandoras they have so there is a probability that they put it in the wrong section anyway - I would rather encourage people to use tags, put their type in brackets preceeding the threadtitle (like "[Rebirth] Nubs don't work ....", afaik this could even be made with a fixed combobox) or put their type in their signature
  
• Looking in the OS section right now, do we really need that much subsections ? There isn't so much traffic - it would at least merge "Android" with "other OS" and would not create a subforum for the default os
  
• Merge Software News and Beta, no need for two
  
• Merging the Ask Craig/Ed seems a good idea, but people often have the impression that it's one company instead of two, so my guess is that this will add to the confusion - especially if no person is addressed specifically - who should answer Ed or Craig
  
• +1 for the ICP/ ICP2 part, but is an extra subforum for the Spellbound games really necessary - how about renaming it to General talk ?section and merge
  

 

[Wally]

• Do we really need a official news section with the production going smooth right now ? It was important back then, when frequent news where important to keep the spirits high, but now ? I would merge it with the General Pandora Talk Section and move the old offical news threads in a subforum of it and renaming it archive.

Yes we do, its good if any of the Staff / Pandora Devs / Admins have anything extremely important to say. Its also reflected in the RSS feeds (if anyone still uses RSS these days)

• I don't think it is necessary to divide the support section up - the differences between the three versions of the Pandora are too small. And newcomers often don't know what Pandoras they have so there is a probability that they put it in the wrong section anyway - I would rather encourage people to use tags, put their type in brackets preceeding the threadtitle (like "[Rebirth] Nubs don't work ....", afaik this could even be made with a fixed combobox) or put their type in their signature

Yes you are correct however I would like a separate FAQ for each type of Pandora as they all have different issues also if there's a trend in a particular issue then it can be addressed with the manufacturer.

• Looking in the OS section right now, do we really need that much subsections ? There isn't so much traffic - it would at least merge "Android" with "other OS" and would not create a subforum for the default os

Sounds plausible . Perhaps Other OS should be renamed to Unofficial OS. That section needs a major cleanup

• Merge Software News and Beta, no need for two

I thought about this one. I'll have to do this

• Merging the Ask Craig/Ed seems a good idea, but people often have the impression that it's one company instead of two, so my guess is that this will add to the confusion - especially if no person is addressed specifically - who should answer Ed or Craig

Reasoning behind this is quite simple. People will address the person they want to speak to. It's not limited to ED, Craig. It could be Official Pandora Devs (like Notaz, aTc (yikes I hope I didn't wake him) or Skeezix), Forum Staff or maybe someone who have contributed heavily to the Pandora scene. It is up to them if they want to answer and they should have the power to delete the thread if they don't want to.

• +1 for the ICP/ ICP2 part, but is an extra subforum for the Spellbound games really necessary - how about renaming it to General talk ?section and merge

I suppose there's no need for Spellbound games, I'll speak with Craig about this one however if we wanted to support say the Retrode or something.. It could be done here.


Thanks for your feedback I have implemented some of your suggestions and will update the picture shortly.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Please don't separate CC/RB/1G.

 

[Wally]

What if we made Turned "Pandora OS" section into Pandora General and put Support into there instead?

 

[thatgui]

Yes you are correct however I would like a separate FAQ for each type of Pandora as they all have different issues also if there's a trend in a particular issue then it can be addressed with the manufacturer.

Are there different manufacturers (planned) ?


Still don't think its a good idea - no one wants to click through three different subforums just to see all new threads in "support"

Reasoning behind this is quite simple. People will address the person they want to speak to. It's not limited to ED, Craig. It could be Official Pandora Devs (like Notaz, aTc (yikes I hope I didn't wake him) or Skeezix), Forum Staff or maybe someone who have contributed heavily to the Pandora scene. It is up to them if they want to answer and they should have the power to delete the thread if they don't want to.

Looking at the inquries in the ticket system, most people just want their ordered Pandora, and don't care wether craig or ed will take care of it. Have you talked to the Devs if they need/want that ? people usually adress the devs in the software/devs thread, why split that up and probably have to seperate threads about the same topic ? Also giving them all the ability to delete threads could get quickly out of hand, with people crying censorship and start pulling their pitchforks out of the closet.

What if we made Turned "Pandora OS" section into Pandora General and put Support into there instead?

could you elaborate a little more about that, don't understand what your getting at

 

[_wb_]

I don't think a separate subforum is needed for C/C++.


The OS subforum could itself be a subforum of Software.


"Support" should not have too many subforums because people who need support often don't know what kind of support they need. So just one subforum for people who already have a Pandora and one for people who don't have one would be enough.


"Off-topic" seems a strange name for something that contains mostly on topic subforums. Maybe the Pandora 2 stuff could be considered a form of hardware development and be made a subforum of the dev forum. Trading and "ask the OPT" are also on-topic subjects so they don't belong in "off-topic"


So what about this structure:


PANDORA SECTION


- Official Communication

• Official News
  
• Ask the team
  

- General Talk


- Getting a Pandora

• Sales support
  
• Trading
  

- Support (both hardware and software, since the distinction is not always clear to some)


- Pandora Software

• Software News
  
• Pandora OS (SuperZaxxon GNU/Linux)
  
• Alternative Pandora OS's (Slackware, PanDebian, Android, ...)
  
• Beta testing
  

- Pandora development

• General dev talk (with some sticky threads with pointers to useful SDL / PyGame / GL|ES etc info)
  
• .next
  
• Pandora 2 brainstorming
  

OFF-TOPIC SECTION


- General off-topic talk


- Other products

• ICP
  
• ICP2
  

 

[ShleeDragon]

Opening up discussion. From high traffic to low traffic

1) Official OpenPandora news (Official communication)


- Ask the team


2) General Talk (Discussion with end users)


- Newbie Corner (We need a place for new people to come and ask questions in a safe environment. We'll need some knights of New )


3) Pandora Support (support should be higher (not sixth) because it's the first port of call for problems)


- OS Support - Superzaxxon (we discuss the default OS)


- Other OS/Android (we discuss the community OSes - The unofficial OSes has 30 threads. Android has 50.) <- consider merging OS and other OS together together!


4) Software News (Releases are the life blood and People will continue to show off their work)


5) Beta (preview releases need love too and the preview of future releases will excite the community.)


6) Development (I'm not a dev, but I figure this is working out)


- subs


7) Pandora 2 Spam (Here be dragons - Please sticky that thread about the "things we know". Please mod people who cause problems by raging over unknowns)


The rest of the random forums at the bottom.. ICP/ICP2

 

[dreamer]

Oh yes, and Comic Sans everywhere.

 

[Wally]

Excellent Excellent!

Are there different manufacturers (planned) ? Still don't think its a good idea - no one wants to click through three different subforums just to see all new threads in "support"

True!

could you elaborate a little more about that, don't understand what your getting at

Pandora OS Section could be renamed to Pandora General and Software related stuff can go into there


then all the software related stuff can go in there!

I don't think a separate subforum is needed for C/C++.

Yes I quite agree, wasn't sure what developers thought though.


I like the two structures i have seeen. MORE PLEASE MORE!!! NOW!!

Oh yes, and Comic Sans everywhere.

Bwhahahahaa

 

[quartercast]

PANDORA SECTION


- Official Communication

• Official News
  
• Ask the team
  

- General Talk


- Getting a Pandora

• Sales support
  
• Trading
  

- Support (both hardware and software, since the distinction is not always clear to some)


- Pandora Software

• Software News
  
• Pandora OS (SuperZaxxon GNU/Linux)
  
• Alternative Pandora OS's (Slackware, PanDebian, Android, ...)
  
• Beta testing
  

- Pandora development

• General dev talk (with some sticky threads with pointers to useful SDL / PyGame / GL|ES etc info)
  
• .next
  
• Pandora 2 brainstorming
  

OFF-TOPIC SECTION


- General off-topic talk


- Other products

• ICP
  
• ICP2
  

_wb_, you got it 100%, I really like the sales/trading section. Those will generate more sales and after sales support wont clutter up general talk.

 

[Fzero]

yeah this from _wb_ looks good to me too.

 

[freamon]

Could there maybe a (sub) forum for pictures and videos? This could be a central place for Official vids by Craig and ED, and also videos made by the community (showing games running on a particular emulator for instance, or a HOWTO on taking the Pandora apart). There's lot of nice videos around, but they tend to get lost in with the other stuff.

 

[thatgui]

So what about this structure:

• Still think that the "ask the team" section is a bad idea
  
• Altough I like the approach, the "Getting a Pandora" section does not make sense to me: if there would be seperated products, it could see the potential for "sales support", but currently I do not see the need to move this out of general talk. What about the "trading section" ? what should be in there exactly ? Should there only be threads where people sell their Pandora ? If yes, what about people who like to sell other things ? The old trading section did fine - or not ?
  
• still vote to merge "Software News" and "Beta testing"
  

 

[elwing]

• Still think that the "ask the team" section is a bad idea
  

What team?

 

[_wb_]

So what about this structure:

• Still think that the "ask the team" section is a bad idea
  
• Altough I like the approach, the "Getting a Pandora" section does not make sense to me: if there would be seperated products, it could see the potential for "sales support", but currently I do not see the need to move this out of general talk. What about the "trading section" ? what should be in there exactly ? Should there only be threads where people sell their Pandora ? If yes, what about people who like to sell other things ? The old trading section did fine - or not ?
  
• still vote to merge "Software News" and "Beta testing"
  

• If the forum software can deal with it, "Ask the team" should require you to tag each new thread with a name (ED, Craig, maybe others too) and automatically send a notification to that person. It should be carefully moderated to not become yet another shipment/refund complaint forum.
  
• I would like to have no "where is my Pandora?" threads in General talk. The trading section would be for people who want to sell or buy 2nd hand Pandoras and/or Pandora accessories. Non-Pandora related stuff belongs in Off-Topic.
  
• Yes, it would make sense to merge those, since nearly anything "new" can be considered "beta" at first, and once a beta becomes more mature it would need a "software news" thread - and the distinction is not very clear.
  

 

[EvilDragon]

Made some of the ideas here reality as they really make sense, thanks a lot for your suggestions.


I don't really want to move the "Ask ED / Craig"-Section into the Pandora-Section, as it was mostly meant for non-Pandora-related questions.


1GHz-Threads have simply been moved into the General Talk. Beta Testing and Software News have been merged.


The iCP2 General Talk has been moved into the iCP Section (makes more sense there, especially as the official website links there!)


The Pandora 2 section hasn't been touched yet. I didn't see a reason to move it into Development section as the threads there aren't even development things yet.

 

[Esn]

Hey, what happened to the quote boxes? It's now impossible for me to tell if something is a quote or not because there is no longer a square that goes around the quoted text (I'm using Firefox).

Example image (from this topic):

http://imgur.com/nNisn