Importance of the forum in your life.

How many people read this forum and how vital is it to you?

I heard a 'news' item on the radio earlier tonight about people complaining that the BBC message group for the Archers was being closed down owing to budget cuts. Apparently over 4 million people listen to the Archers but only 1000 use the message group . However for them it is an important social interaction centre on many subjects so they are rather unhappy. I dare say they will migrate to other forums.

So I just wondered if you would miss this if the plug got pulled? Quite a few forums in other hobbies have just been vaporised with all the info and pictures, detailed build threads etc gone forever. Terrible waste. That is one reason the printed versions of ME and MEW are so important - still available after 50, or even 100 years.

Note: lets not discuss Radio progs or even other forums on this - stay on topic.

Can't see how it can stay on topic without mentioning other forums.

You have already included them when you mention some have disappeared with all the info and pictures..

I for one would love to see this forum disappear and be replaced with some forum software that actually works.

John S.

As a relative newcomer, may I just say I would probably still be unaware of the clever work Graham Meek has done with screwthread cutting. I stumbled across it only from this forum.

There is perhaps much that could be improved in the software, my recent inept attempts to add pictures might have been only my fault, but the process was clanky and without any guidance; mis-step once and it all disappears without any hope of retrieval.

I think the forum does serve a purpose for information exchange and ideas, you can be selective in chosing items to look at, unlike the moderators who have to wade through everything. There are new converts to the hobby perhaps only because of these pages.

So on balance it would be a loss for it to go, following John's course would surely just wipe the slate clean by dumping all that has gone before and then finding different bugs in the new software just as irritating as the present ones. .

Brian

Edited By Brian Wood on 18/02/2013 09:31:53

In 1898 those who thought they knew better, told a certain Percival Marshall that his new magazine for model engineers, would fade out after a year or so. Maybe the web site will change over time, but as far as I,m concerned, it gives me a connection with a whole group of wonderfull people. Ian S C

To answer the original question, the forum is not important to me in the sense as my family is, but I do look at it several times a day (usually).

I agree with JS (once again he is 100% right) about this forum software. In the past I have whinged about it but now just tolerate it. To be fair, I once suggested an improvement which at the time seemed it would be an easy thing to get done. It was done so now we have topic titles in browser tab. I doubt anyone making a suggestion nowadays would be listened to, probably just branded as a trouble maker!

Being fair again, there is one other brilliant feature I really like compared to most other forums. I use the email notification a lot most of which I see first on my Android phone, the email contains the text of the new post which saves me having to log on to the website to follow the thread. If I log on using the phone I get logged out of the PC so the way the notifications operate ideal.

Ian

I log on usually on a daily basis but I would not say that this forum is "vital" to me, it's only my hobby after all. I also look at other forums where build logs are more prevalent and sometimes give me an idea of what I should be aspiring to and sometimes give me ideas for tools and set ups.

However I find the ME site invaluable for the breadth of the subjects discussed and the wide experience of it's contributing members. For all its software faults I would definitely miss it were it to disappear.

Jim

Like I.I., I would be sorry to see this disappear, because apart from the information contained in it, the links to various clever creations which one would not otherwise be aware of would be lost. As I.I. said, the breadth of experience and knowledge contained therein benefits many of us, not necessarily just the members who post.

Dennis

Hi Bazyle,

I would miss the forum if the owners "pulled the plug". There are other forums of course, but I like this one (mostly), and I agree with Dennis. As others have said, the software used could be better.

Thor

Software can be changed, how seamlessly depends on the people who operate the site.

I think I'm correct in saying that every forum I'm on is not using the same software as when I signed up.

They have upgraded as new software has come out.

One advantage of this forum is that the messages are compact and readable in the centre of the page without too much bloat-space.

Joey

I like this forum, and like Joey just above, I like the idea of the messages being sequential and in the centre.

Unlike some people, I do not appear to have had the problems (obscuring ads etc) that other people have had and so find it quite usable. Which I cannot say about other sites which I find extremely difficult to follow and hence seldom visit. I am referring to those sites which appear to use nesting levels of replies with each little offshoot forming one branch.

Would I miss it if it went? Possibly, but like anything else, I would learn to live without it so it is not essential.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

I look at this forum 2 or 3 times a day, I would miss it !

Richard.

I suppose that everyone replying to this thread must like the forum to some extent (software excepted for most folk, I suspect), or they wouldn't have seen the original question. So wholly negative responses are unlikely. But the questions were:

How many people read it ? I think you would need to ask the forum afministrators, who no doubt keep an eye on the hit rate.

Would it be missed if it closed down? I should be sad to see it go, though there are others I would miss more, and I'd soon cheer up.

How vital is it? No forum is vital to me, and I wouldn't go into mourning if any of them died. To be truthful, I do sometimes regret the hours and hours spent at the computer. They could have been devoted to things I enjoy more, or even to chores I dislike.

Andy

I agree with everything Andy said above. By the way Andy,are you going to Event city this year ???

Cheers Derek.

>self consciously looks at number of messages...<

I probably spend too much time on this forum! I have considered getting into other forums, but I like the tenor of (most of) the discussions in here, especially the openness to beginners. I suppose this is my 'virtual club' and I enjoy sharing thoughts with like minded folk around the world and the opportunity to use my brain (even if I engage typing fingers first sometimes!)

If the forum went, I would probably off to HMEM or similar, but with a degree of regret.

I think there ought to be closer links between magazine and website, perhaps threads desicated to certain articles and the posting of additional material, errata, comment, build diaries etc. This has to be one way in which ME can help make sure it reaches 200 years old!

Some of this we could do for ourselves, but greater range of file upload capability would help (I know mods can upload pdfs - but where would they put them and how do we link them from threads like this?)

Neil

This forum is an oasis of sanity and common sense compared to my day job which is increasingly bogged down by policies and procedures that make no sense whatsoever and seem designed to stop you from doing any useful work. I've only been a member for a year but would miss it greatly.

Gary

Vital - it is not.

Indispensable - very much so.

Forums may not necessarily be power-houses when it comes to media ratings and ad. sales....however as has been proved in other areas, a forum can be of use, to many it is of use...and to those that come across it in the future it will be of use...

It is the contributors thatmake up the quality of the forum - and as far as I can tell - thereis a lot of quality on this forum.

Hugs Anna

Like Neil says this is my "virtual club" being in a remote area this is pretty much my only source of help . As a complete novice this forum has helped me build several small engines and a boiler. I would miss it a lot .

Dunc

While I check this forum most days, it is the traction engine and steamboats sites that I would miss if they get pulled.

Mike

Although I have not been here for very long I value the clubby nature of the blokes hereabout. If I have a question, an answer is usually forthcoming within 48 hours and if I make a comment the responses are equally prompt. I would really miss it if this forum went belly up.

The sad thing is that the accumulated wisdom which generates the answers to inquirers such as myself are centered around just a small handful of generous individuals. You chaps carry the torch for what was once our great engineering heritage.

The engineering skills of a lifetime of workers in this country are now regarded as irrelevant and are perceived merely as history. But, up and down the country, in sheds and garages, outhouses and barns, blokes like us in our own small way fan the embers to flames and "do the business"!

Stuff the politicians - NIL CARBORUNDUM - and God save the Queen!

Happy days

Stuart