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So, while all may not agree with the split forum decision, we can continue to discuss it.
Closing the matter to discussion was pretty childish.
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Take a close look at the Mac forum, what you may notice is that it's hardly a Mac Forum, but a forum slowly but surely being transformed into an OT: forum. That wasn't our intention, that is just the fact.
Yes, of course. Everyone can see that.
You have no special powers of observation.
But the way to deal with a troublesome baby is not to shoot the baby.
No.
First you figure out (1) why it happened .
Then you figure out (2) what to do about it.
(1) Why:
I submit that the forum has a dearth of technical posts because - Apple has gotten its act together very, very well.
The Macintosh is now a mature platform.
It has become a telephone - you don't have to think, you just use it.
There just aren't that many things that go wrong with Apple Macintosh machines anymore.
So there is a dearth of technical questions.
Simple as that.
Now, was that hard?
MUGs (Macintosh User Groups) have gone through this same process.
There was a time when there were Apple MUGs in every city. I used to attend mine regularly each month.
But I believe that most MUGs have long since disbanded.
Why?
Because Apple Macintoshs became much easier to use.
You did not need the MUGs anymore.
They became largely irrelevant.
Local MUGs certainly did not deal with the issue of irrelevancy by breaking off into a technical branch and a social branch.
That would have been silly.
That would have just accelerated their demise.
(2) What to do:
Those MUGs that remain active - as I understand it - do so because of active leadership and interesting presentations of value to their membership.
I.e. - they do not see themselves as "trouble-shooting" groups. Because Macs have fewer and fewer troubles to shoot these days.
Troubleshooting groups - to stay alive and prosper - need to reinvent themselves as something else.
Something MORE.
As I understand it the MUGs that have survived see themselves not as trouble-shooting groups but as value-added groups. Providing education and presentations:
"Doing such-and-such in Photoshop."
"Tutorial on the parts of Microsoft Office that you never use."
Whatever . . .
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If you don't like the direction that Techsurvivors is going in, then do something about it. Just don't do the wrong thing.
Splitting Techsurvivors up into separate fora is the wrong thing.
The particular chemistry that is Techsurvivors came about entirely by accident. It was not planned.
YOU will plan it right out of existence.
Techsurvivors is a much more pleasant forum that most fora on the Internet.
It is not just the people. There are plenty of good people on the Internet.
It is because of Techsurvivors' unique structure.
Change the structure to what everyone else has on the Internet - and you change what is unique about Techsurvivors into being the same as what everyone else has on the Internet.
Just another web site.
The structure of Techsurvivors is like a business golf outing. Sure you get some work done - but you also get some air, some light, tell some jokes, how are the kids, and you talk about some other things, as well.
Splitting Techsurvivors over into two fora from one forum is like changing the atmosphere of a business meeting from a golfing outing to that of a formal business meeting with a formal agenda and secretary taking notes. It will mean that there will have to be some petty dictator running around policing the fora with a heavier hand than is currently necessary - the typical "you can't post this in this forum, it goes in the other forum" garbage. Locking threads inappropriately - typical of novice moderators. All sorts of silliness that never needed to happen in the first place.
The more rules and divisions and sections that you have, the more policing that you have to do. The more policing that you have to do, the more bad feelings are generated.
And the more you burn out your policemen.
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If Techsurvivors is going more Off Topic, have you considered that it may be because its members like it that way?
If you don't like it - why don't you volunteer to lead some sort of technical teaching project?
"OSX - the command line."
"OSX - Internet Radio Explorations - What's Available"
"OSX / Vista - Dual Booting"
And if people respond to your post - great!
If they ignore your posts - then they are not interested.
And if they just keep going Off Topic - maybe they would just prefer each others' jokes and comparing what books they read most recently . . .
Maybe the Mac has become a telephone.
Maybe they just want to talk?
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If you don't like the off-topic threads - stop reading them!
No one is forcing you to read them!
I don't read half of them, myself.
Do you read the newspaper from cover to cover?
I don't. The advice to teenagers column would boor me to tears - while bringing back too many hard memories.
But I do not protest the existence of such columns in the newspaper.
To each his own.
If being a moderator forces you to read everything that is on Techsurvivors and you find that too painful - then consider another gig.
But don't change the dynamic of a uniquely successful Internet forum to make it read to your liking.
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Stop trying to be a Kindergarten teacher and forcing people to do what you want them to do.
These are mature adults you are dealing with.
Treat them as such.
Best regards,
Epaminondas
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