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?
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?
