What direction should this forum be taking?

What has been happening of late?

Everywhere I see comments being dropped into threads complaining about the mix of content.

These are almost always on the same lines 'I like X, why do we have to put up with Y?'

Whatever happened to live and let live?

There's no practical limit on the number of topics or threads on this forums, and whether or not they continue is solely down to the interest shown in them by forum members.

Most importantly, there is absolutely nothing forcing people to read topics or threads they aren't interested in.

If anyone is lily livered enough that accidentally viewing a thread about a topic that doesn't fall into their own area of interest offends them, then I suggest they may find it safer HERE instead.

Please can we be sensible and polite? I'm sure no-one here would go to a club meeting, and then but into someone else's conversation to complain that they were discussing the football results.

Yet that is effectively what is being done when people decry topics that don't fit their vision of what the forum should be covering.

Model engineering is a broad church. Anyone who has read a few issues from the days of Percival Marshall would realise he would be horrified by the narrowness of our discussions! Where is photography? Where are discussions of great engineering projects? The achievements of great engineers? Tall tales from the railways or merchant marine? Ghost stories? Or even speculation on the design of Noah's Ark?

Just as when you read a magazine and skip an article content that there is plenty of content to interest you, if a thread or topic is of no interest to you, skip over it! What possible benefit does it bring to criticise those who do find it engaging?

Please can we all accept that though we are brought together by a common interest in practical engineering, each one of us has many other related interests and where they do overlap, there will be discussion.

Setting build threads against bee-keepers is making people feel uncomfortable and creating friction. Why? there's room for all here.

The diversity of this hobby is its greatest strength; we should embrace anything that encourages people of all ages to build their talents and keep their minds and bodies active through participating in practical,constructive hobbies.

Lets be inclusive, tolerant and welcoming; which of us gains when someone leaves this forum because they feel unwelcome?

Live and let live.

Neil

Editor of MEW and Forum Administrator

Well, I only registered for the forum less than a week ago. My reasons for joining where influenced by the variety of home workshop topics and I really enjoyed reading about Clive's trials and tribulations making his little engine. Even after 50 years in engineering we all have something still to learn. As you say Neil, we only need to read what holds our interest. I will stick around and may be able to pass on some of my experience .

A big help would be able to customise the latest forum posts to only see what you want to see.

The structure of the forums topics is way to large to be easy to steer around.

Forum mods need to be on the ball to stop users from attacking others opinions.

Remember this is a showcase and extension for your magazines. Would you put the items on the forums in the magazines? If not, then maybe they dont need to be here.

Well said and about time.

Neil,

can i respectfully suggest you first discuss this matter with your fellow moderators.

your arguement that model engineering should cover all 'engineering' related (and in some cases non engineering related) subjects is a bit disingenuous when one of your 'pet' non engineering related interests fills up one of the threads regularly. Astronomy is not model engineering however much you try and self justify your own posts!

there are lots of things that we all have a common interest in. but i dont expect on here to read about the rugby or football scores, or the price of petrol, or the price of fish!

the darkest days of Model Engineer magazine was in the late 1950's early 1960's under Vic Smeed when it became far too general and half the magazine was about model boat building. sales plummeted. there is a lesson here i think.

there must be a good reason why the other specialised forums are flourishing, are full of build threads, and are far friendlier. again there is a lesson here i think.

i dont expect anyone to agree with me, but as moderator you must accept some responsibility if excellent forum members decide to leave and go elsewhere, and your reply today on Gary's 'My Little Engine' thread was IMHO way off the mark.

cheers,

julian

Well said ASF - that's my point exactly.

It's all very well to keep saying astronomical equipment involves a lot of engineering - no one doubts that. If I made a tripod mount or adapter for my telescope I think I'd be justified in calling that engineering and perhaps showing my work here.

On the other hand a photo of the Andromeda galaxy isn't engineering no matter how you get round it.

Would you expect to sell your magazine if I continually had photos of galaxies and eclipses ?

I very much enjoy reading the various topic's discussed on the forum, what I find annoying is when someone adds a thread which is completely off topic to the current topic.

It then has to be dragged back to the original topic, as has already been stated you do not have to read thread's you are not interested in.

Also very disappointed that Gary's My Little Engine thread will no longer be added to because of negative comments made by other's.

Chris

As long as the thread title states exactly what it is about there should not be a problem. It is when you can't tell what a thread is about except by reading it that it is frustrating.

Neil Wyatt:

I wonder if it would help if thread starters tried to make their titles as informative as possible so that those who are definitely not interested in the main topic can readily choose to ignore them.

I am not going to give examples as I have no wish to appear to criticise individual members but there have been some very vague and unhelpful titles (and some models of clarity).

Agree entirely with Julian Atkins.

I'm with David Clark on this, I don't care what a thread is about as long as the title describes it correctly.

What does annoy me is when people drag a thread off course, instead of starting a new one.

I do think that members should support those brave enough to post their efforts online. It's easy to knock others work and those who do generally don't do anything worth posting.

Bert

David Clark 1:

Great minds think alike - and greater ones are quicker to express themselves!

I agree entirely with Neil's comments and also with the request from David & ega that perhaps posters give more careful consideration to the titles of their threads. One of the big benefits of a forum like this is the huge data bank of knowledge that accumulates over time. The big problem is finding it if it's not within the top few current threads. In this respect the thread title can be very important when using the search tool to locate previous items of interest.

Regarding the role of forum Moderators, they are not there to censor opinion, merely to ensure that discussions remain reasonably PC within the boundaries of decency and legality. It would be a pretty poor forum if nobody was allowed to challenge opinion & would soon fill up with egocentrics & soapbox dictators!

As to your final comment, agreed the forum is an extension of the magazines, but the magazines have to be entirely ME focussed because readers are paying for the content and would rightly be annoyed if they were full of articles on bee keeping, astronomy and fuel emissions. The forum doesn't have the constraints imposed by a paying audience so within reason can be universally diverse and in my opinion is all the better for it.

Just my tuppence worth, Martin.

I've given up on several other engineering forums due to Americans mouthing off. I hope it doesn't get like that here but so far I've seen little sign of it thankfully. There are one or two who know it all and belittle those of us with only modest home workshops but I just ignore them. All in all I agree with what Neil says.

utube has an option where comments are disabled, the Original Poster is the only person allowed to comment

Might be a handy option for some peoples' build threads

Abso-bloomin'-lutely !

I thought this was settled a few weeks ago with the change to the 'what did you do today thread' to add an off model engineering section. That seemed to be the only thing missing from this forum. I have mostly reduced my forum reading to this and one American as being the best 2 out there. hence disagree with Julian.

Also do agree with David. Can't moderators change poor titles? Some engineers aren't that good at expressing themselves clearly so just need a little nudge in the right direction.

I think part of the problem may be the format of the forum website, namely the way the "latest forum posts" highlights the last 10 or so posts no matter what they relate to (near the top right of every forum page). It tends to inadvertently encourage new posts to focus on those subjects. If you are browsing or posting on a thread, the obvious next action is to move on the the other posts in the panel in front of you. Going back to the main forum page is not automatic nor even convenient.

It seems to me that most forums would require you to return back to this page between threads and it would be helpful if the ME site did so too. I think that might encourage more use of categorised posts and less "hijacking" of focussed threads. Once a thread has been left unposted for a couple of days, it sinks out of sight to many browsing members (it's no longer visible in the little "latest forum post" window) and attracts little attention.

How about showing the latest posts - but not as clickable links until you actually land at the forum home page?

I understand the frustration about threads being hijacked but I also value the breadth of subject matter. The magazine itself is nicely focussed and there are areas of the forum that could be kept more focussed (like build threads) without needing to prevent other content being posted. I love technology and that includes stuff like bikes, cars, engines, electronics, astronomy, bees(!), welding etc, so why try to inhibit it?

Perhaps if the forum were more effectively ordered it would reduce the levels of frustration and negativity. Nobody likes that and it must be frustrating and disappointing for the moderators who devote their time to keep it running for our benefit.

Like it or not, the Model Engineer magazine has never been purely about model making - it's also traditionally catered for amateur workshop users like myself who will never make a model as such. Although I am currently confined to my armchair workshop, I've been a workshop user for the last 40 years or more and ME has been a constant reference for me.

The good news for me personally is that we are finally in the process of buying a house (and workshop). Money laundering and credit checks pretty much prevent you getting any kind of mortgage until you have been back in the UK for 12 months. Being without a workshop feels like being in an open prison - this is the longest period I've been without a workshop ever.

Murray

So Murray, can you give me some tips on the money laundering scheme that you use for buying your workshop please?

Mark

neil, i think you are missing the point of the complaints completely, members are not so much complaining what the threads are about but when there favourite thread like bodgerslodge goes off topic, and you are one off the worst offenders, it is your right to reply to all posts [if you feel the need } but please keep on thread i also agree with julian.

0