Content thread - for electricity post

Plantwiz

Original:
http://www.techexams.net/forums/off-topic/58822-anyone-twitter.html

reply:

electricity wrote: »

Here's another one of those threads that will go on and on for pages without any useful info. I dont post on here regularly but am a lurker, but I cant help but notice that nowadays the TE forums are turning into mere discussion boards. A year to a couple of years ago, or even some months ago, there used to be a fair bit of useful info. Now it's just quite full of people discussing high school-level stuff.

The Microsoft forums used to have a lot of threads with people asking questions, such as how DNS works, how certificates work in AD, you know, techie stuff. These days people just post whether they passed/failed and little else.

I had hoped that the TE forums wouldnt turn into what most other forums are - just message boards - or Twitter boards. But sadly, that's where this is heading. No wonder, we have been steadily losing valuable members, HeroPsycho is probably the most notable one, royal is another.

Ah well...

Electricity, I find your 12th post to the forums interesting.

On one hand, I think you may have made a good case regarding some of the more discussion based threads (that really pertain to every-day-forum chatter) vs. the technical forum that many are/were drawn toward.

I see you registered in May 2009. And since that time have made 12 posts (as of this message). You also noted some of our long-term friends no longer post.

Each member choses to post or not. We have many talented members in their respective fields. I won't name them, because there are far too many and as a whole, our active long-timers as well as several newer people have contributed very good converstation.

If you'd like to see more technical discussion, please feel free to begin a thread regarding some of your interests just select the appropriate forum and post away!

Off-Topic is very broad, I suspect for a reason. We (mods/admin) try to contain the cert talk to the correct cert forum, leaving "off topic" to pick-up the remaining topics.

It is completely 'ok' to refrain from posting in the "How big's your 'x'" threads. Many times, I skim through only to review the discussion to eliminate the spam or clean-up what doesn't belong. To your point, those threads just don't draw my interests either.

I cannot speak for others, but to mention a couple points for you to consider, is that maybe when 'techinical' topics are not being posted it could mean that some folks have utilized the search feature and found their answer, right? For myself, I have a lot pulling me in other directions, so I'm not posting as much...this may be true for others too, correct? And just maybe, the downsized IT market has forced some people completely out of the market? OR they have had to accelerate their learning path and have grown-out/or away from the MS forums and into something more specific? Just a thought. I don't really know what all the thousands of our members think.

Take a topic such as Active Directory. AD is interesting, can be fun, but really after many years and all the 'extra' add-ons once you have a working successfull directory...what else does one do with it?

It could just be that there isn't something to talk about ALL the time on a particular subject?


Bringing me to the other hand...with 12 posts since May 2009, what topcis/conversations have you begun or helped newer members? Or started topics to interest the old dinos here to discuss further?

I'm not picking on you, but I think you made a very interesting comment in a tread you didn't like, bothered to post you didn't like the thread, and then make mention that 'many others' have left. Some have left. We've found some new members and over the years on this board and others, it's sort of the nature of boards.

I do find this board has been one of the best to be a member of. There is quite a mix of intelligent people (young and old). And I'd be curious how your comment of (lack of activity in cert forums) matches with a decline or increase to exams completed by the exam vendors? Considering MS just offered a very interesting package a couple months back...I'd suspect they have seen a decline in tests being scheduled and are looking to draw folks back into the exam mode. I really don't know, but 2nd shot has run a bit, and now with the new offering...looks to me like they are trying to encourage people to take action and schedule exams.

So feel free to post more yourself!
Share your knowledge! Start a topic...Which exam(s) are you preparing for and how are your studies progressing?

Devilsbane

As nightshade said in the other post

NightShade03 wrote: »

I think that each member here gets back exactly what they put into the site.

and I added

Devilsbane wrote: »

Don't complain that not enough questions are being asked or questions are being answered if you aren't asking and answering them as well.

za3bour

If you'd like to see more technical discussion, please feel free to begin a thread regarding some of your interests just select the appropriate forum and post away!

Exactly, you can't just complain about the lack of useful info while you're not posting yourself. I'm a new member and I don't know who's old and who's not but I do know that TE has a major role in me passing my exams and learnning something new every single day. I'm trying to contribute in the area I knows, I love to discuss technical and non technical stuff

Today there was an amazing topic about Interviews which I think every one is concern about, even "I passed or failed exam" can be very helpful for every one who is preparing for a test so I don't really see something bad about them and if not useful at least it's a way to hear some good stuff that will make you feel better and in return make you work/study better.

I do disagree that certs forum are not active, at least the Windows 2008 is full of activity and a lot of talk about R2 and the new transition in certs.

I think it's every one responsibility to make this forum a better place by posting some useful stuff in all fields because reading only will not help.

It's easy to say this is wrong but it's harder to say how to fix it and to be part of it.

tpatt100

I think only some forums are more active because of the demographic of people on this board. There are a lot of newcomers to IT so they come here for assistance/advice etc. I know speaking for myself as you climb up the ladder certs become less important so those who might have more advice to give might not post as much.

I come here to read up on what is upcoming from the people starting out or mid to higher level because I got sort of lax on certs/progressing.

Paul Boz

Come hang out in the Security forum if you want content-driven posts. It's slower than many of the other forums but you'll be entertained for weeks if you read back several pages worth of posts.

Slowhand

Plantwiz wrote: »

I cannot speak for others, but to mention a couple points for you to consider, is that maybe when 'techinical' topics are not being posted it could mean that some folks have utilized the search feature and found their answer, right?

I can't give this enough +1's. I've seen both mods and regular members pulling their hair out trying to convince people to check if a topic exists first before creating a new threat. And, it's worth mentioning that there have been plenty of other members over the years who'd complain in a. . . "less than constructive way" over duplicate technical threads. As a site like TechExams grows, it builds up a repository of information that we don't necessarily need to repeat each time someone has a familiar problem. Like Plantwiz, I often times search the forums and find an answer to what's stumping me that day.

Plantwiz wrote: »

It is completely 'ok' to refrain from posting in the "How big's your 'x'" threads. Many times, I skim through only to review the discussion to eliminate the spam or clean-up what doesn't belong. To your point, those threads just don't draw my interests either.

Indeed, it is. There are plenty of things to read here, and probably even more to ignore. I could care less about database-related discussions, and ITIL doesn't exactly thrill me, so I don't really post on those topics when others might be actively discussing them. The same goes for non-technical stuff I'm not really interested in, (like sports or cars,) it's far less effort to simply not post than it is to complain about the thread. (And it causes fewer negative reactions, too.)

Every site like this one is going to go through good times and bad. Each persons "glory days" may be different. For me, a high point was this thread that could have so easily gotten egos flaring, but stayed professional and courteous. This low point, one that I'm glad I missed during my time away, was certainly painful to read through as I came across it last night. That doesn't mean that TE has "lost its magic", or somehow is dying. It just means that these things happen in phases, people come and go, and change is inevitable.

Webmaster wrote: »

As I posted before, if anyone has such a big problem with another member then simply send me a PM and/or report the offensive post(s). We expect everyone here to treat each other with at minimum level of professional respect as we 'are' a forum for professionals and those who want to become one. When that doesn't happen we want to give the community a chance to correct them before we step in, which if needed we do and always will. If that's not going fast enough for some... we got 149,999 other monthly visitors to serve and as stable as Linux is, TE doesn't run out of itself.

. . .

The same rules still apply and are still enforced as I've done for almost 8 years now. I care about TE more than anything in the world and would never let it turn into a 'flamebait-forum' so needless to say I wholeheartedly disagree with you. If there are any particular post you took offense to or anything report them and we'll deal with them.

All the moderators can really do is enforce the rules, it's up to the contributing members of the forum to dictate what kind of climate we're living in. We all need to strive to be constructive, be professional, and do our best not to inject negativity into things that will only become volatile for it. As a pretty smart guy once said, "be the change you want to see in the world".

On TE, the name of the game is, "start the discussions you want to see on the board".