Disagree about move & some Forum suggestions

[olof]

Recently I posted a message about a new Home Automation book of which I'm quite enthusiastic about
http://domoticaforum.eu/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6706

I put it in the (Hardware) "Announcements & News'' section, for a lack of a better place. However, it was promptly moved to the Off Topic Forum.

How can a book about Home Automation be considered 'Off Topic' on a Domotica Forum???
The Forum even has a separate section dedicated to one particular book (now 5 years old), so at least this book is considered good enough to warrant a proper Forum location

So, while thinking about it further, I came to the conclusion that some of the Forum sections could be due for a reshuffle

My 2-cents worth on Forum changes:

1. Chapter COMMON:
- is now confusing, 2 of the 3 discussion areas are Forum-Specific, while the 3rd (Downloads & Links Forum) is not.
- Suggestion: change Chapter name from COMMON to 'FORUM MATTERS' or 'FORUM BUSINESS'
- Suggestion: move 'Downloads & Links Forum' to Chapter 'OTHER'

2. Chapter OTHER:
- a lot of the current topics within 'Off Topic' are Home Automation related, but end up here for the lack of a better place
- Suggestion: create new area 'Announcements & News', just like you have within the Hardware and Software chapters. Definition should be: 'Home Automation News other than specific Hardware or Software'
- Suggestion: the section 'Download and Links' from COMMON could even be rolled up into this new 'Announcements & News' section
- Suggestion: change name of forum 'Domoticaboek Heino Peters' to something like 'DIY electronics for Home Automation' or so. Makes it fit better with the posted topics.
- Suggestion: 'Off Topic' should become really off topic. I.e. discussion completely nothing to do with Home Automation, such as last night's football match, or the price of beer or ...


Cheers,
Olof

[Bwired]

Agree can be discussed
Of topic does not mean that it has nothing to do with home automation, it only means not directly suited for certain forum.
and a book is not hardware but on other hand is talking about it.
I think is better in of topic and can be found much better also, lesser in size
but if you have problems i can easily put it back
rgards Pieter

[olof]

Pieter,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Based on your reply, I take it you don't see any need to make structure-changes along the lines of my suggestions?

Pity, it would IMHO improve the accessibility of DomoticaForum.EU to the beginner and casual visitor

Regards,
Olof

[Bwired]

no i will look in to that!
did not see your suggestions, i thought it where chapters of the book
get back on this
thanks!

[Bwired]

made some changes
Download an links are moved to other
Common is renamed to Forum Matters

We normally create a seperate forum if there is enough topics about it.
Other and off topic is still very much related to Domotics, it just can not be placed under other forums.

the book of heino is a dutch topic only about this book
diy projects can be placed under home automation projects, this need to be a real project where people can learn from, otherwise it goes elsewhere.

Thanks for the improvements for now!
Regards Pieter

[Digit]

To me, "Off topic" always sounds like it has absolutely nothing to do with what you're here for; stuff like the weather, earthquakes, fun stuff you want to share, and yes the price of beer
Maybe some other term for "Off topic" can be found, which makes it more clear that what you can find in Off Topic is not really "Off Topic", but, ehh, "Uncategorizable"?
And a "Chat" for the beer topics and other really off topic stuff?

[Bwired]

OK
who has a good name for all other domotica related topics, i will move the topics to that new forum.
Off topic becomes really of topic then

[olof]

Pieter,

Thanks for applying the changes.

If I may ...

1. placing 'Download and Links' below 'Test' is a bit unfair.. May I suggest to put in a bit higher in the pecking order within OTHER?
2. I agree with Digit to split 'Off-Topic' into 2:
2.1 'Other Home Automation topics' or something similar
2.2 'Off-Topic'. I need a place to talk about women, wine & songs....

thanks for listening
Olof

[Bwired]

OK
check now....

[Fantic]

What about Miscelanious ? as the anything not categorized in any other forum?

[Bwired]

even better i think, changed for now...
thanks

[olof]

The changes are much better!

One small spelling comment:

The spelling in "Miscelanious Home Automation topics" should be Miscellaneous

Olof

[Bwired]

agree!
and typo adjusted