Professional IT Forum

[Evadman]

If a post is made on a SAN in the 'Storage' subforum and gets no responses, why should the expectation be that more responses would be received if the same post is made in a 'professional IT --> storage' subforum?

The user base of AT is identical in either case. Why is the expectation that the results would be different if broken out to a subforum? That assumption, without tests to back it up, makes no sense. Wait, it was actually tested. AT used to have an entire professional IT forum a few years ago. Since it doesn't exist any more, I would say it didn't work out too well.

Keep in mind that I am in professional IT.

 

[Jeff7181]

If a post is made on a SAN in the 'Storage' subforum and gets no responses, why should the expectation be that more responses would be received if the same post is made in a 'professional IT --> storage' subforum?

The user base of AT is identical in either case. Why is the expectation that the results would be different if broken out to a subforum? That assumption, without tests to back it up, makes no sense. Wait, it was actually tested. AT used to have an entire professional IT forum a few years ago. Since it doesn't exist any more, I would say it didn't work out too well.

Keep in mind that I am in professional IT.

Because it requires sorting through BS about flash drives and overclocking memory. Posts that don't show up on the first page of posts are less likely to ever be read again. The dedicated forum failed because it was segregated. It was not the same community and only a portion of the community even knew it existed. And we don't need an entire category with subcategories. Just one subforum where discussions about enterprise level hardware and software can take place without being drowned out by consumer level discussion.

 

[Evadman]

Because it requires sorting through BS about flash drives and overclocking memory. Posts that don't show up on the first page of posts are less likely to ever be read again.

:hmm: OK, I think I understand. You believe segregating the professional IT posts from the consumer level posts will drive professional IT traffic to the new forum.

The dedicated forum failed because it was segregated.

OK, I think I understand. You believe the old professional IT forum failed because it was segregated from the consumer level.

So you want to segregate the posts to drive traffic, but you agree segregating the professional posts caused the failure of the previous attempt at a professional IT forum. I am having an aneurysm trying to follow your logic on wanting to create a forum that you believe will fail.

 

[Brovane]

:hmm: OK, I think I understand. You believe segregating the professional IT posts from the consumer level posts will drive professional IT traffic to the new forum.



OK, I think I understand. You believe the old professional IT forum failed because it was segregated from the consumer level.

So you want to segregate the posts to drive traffic, but you agree segregating the professional posts caused the failure of the previous attempt at a professional IT forum. I am having an aneurysm trying to follow your logic on wanting to create a forum that you believe will fail.

The old IT Enterprise forum required creating a brand new account and wasn't even listed with the other forum categories, it was a seperate website. Most people didn't even know it existed. The request is to have a new forum sub category probably created under Hardware and technology that would say something like IT/Enterprise. It would be segregated that way but not segrated to level that it is on its own website with separate login accounts to post. I don't understand why you are having a aneurysm trying to follow this logic?

 

[Brovane]

Because it requires sorting through BS about flash drives and overclocking memory. Posts that don't show up on the first page of posts are less likely to ever be read again. The dedicated forum failed because it was segregated. It was not the same community and only a portion of the community even knew it existed. And we don't need an entire category with subcategories. Just one subforum where discussions about enterprise level hardware and software can take place without being drowned out by consumer level discussion.

Great point. Just a couple of days ago I made a post about if anyone has any experience with Compellent storage solutions in Memory and Storage and it has already been pushed to the second page because of discussions about consumer level gear.

 

[dac7nco]

Great point. Just a couple of days ago I made a post about if anyone has any experience with Compellent storage solutions in Memory and Storage and it has already been pushed to the second page because of discussions about consumer level gear.

Indeed, I didn't see this post; I support an IT forum, seperate from the "I dropped my hard drive in the sink...help!" dren.

Daimon

 

[Evadman]

The old IT Enterprise forum required creating a brand new account and wasn't even listed with the other forum categories, it was a seperate website. Most people didn't even know it existed.

Let me explain what I see in plain English since my subtility is getting lost.

Pro (for new forum) argument 1:The posters saying that 'hey, this forum would be good' are stating they don't want the forum to be bogged down with consumer level IT posts.

Rebuttal: When the consumer level posts are removed, and a forum created specifically for those types of posts, it had no traffic and was dropped.

Pro (for new forum) argument 2: The separate forum had no traffic; possibly because no one knew it was there, and/or because it required a separate login.

Rebuttal: So far, it sounds like 2 out of 2 posters who wanted a separate professional IT forum knew that a separate professional IT forum existed, but did not use it. Why would those same 2 posters assume that they (and others) would use a subforum if it was made, when anandtech already gave them the chance on having a professional forum, but they chose not to use it?

The attempt already failed at anandtech. See Gillbot's response; move on with life.

 

[Lifted]

Because it requires sorting through BS about flash drives and overclocking memory. Posts that don't show up on the first page of posts are less likely to ever be read again. The dedicated forum failed because it was segregated. It was not the same community and only a portion of the community even knew it existed. And we don't need an entire category with subcategories. Just one subforum where discussions about enterprise level hardware and software can take place without being drowned out by consumer level discussion.

This.

 

[Lifted]

:hmm: OK, I think I understand. You believe segregating the professional IT posts from the consumer level posts will drive professional IT traffic to the new forum.

I believe that is where the disconnect is happening here.

The AT powers-that-be are only concerned with driving more traffic to the forums/site, while us members are looking for a place to communicate wihtin our current social network of the AT forums.

This might never draw any more traffic to your site, but it would go a long way to please a large chunk of the user base here who are IT professionals. I find it a real shame that a website with articles about virtualization, enterprise servers, and other enterprise level gear can't make space for a single subforum for it's readers/members to discuss such things without being drowned out by the "will this SSD load WOW faster than ..." posts, but there are forums for Health and Fitness and Car talk.

<shrug>

EDIT: FYI, after a quick perusal of the IT/Datacenter articles, they have on average just as many comments as the other articles.

 

[Jeff7181]

Let me explain what I see in plain English since my subtility is getting lost.

Pro (for new forum) argument 1:The posters saying that 'hey, this forum would be good' are stating they don't want the forum to be bogged down with consumer level IT posts.

Rebuttal: When the consumer level posts are removed, and a forum created specifically for those types of posts, it had no traffic and was dropped.

Pro (for new forum) argument 2: The separate forum had no traffic; possibly because no one knew it was there, and/or because it required a separate login.

Rebuttal: So far, it sounds like 2 out of 2 posters who wanted a separate professional IT forum knew that a separate professional IT forum existed, but did not use it. Why would those same 2 posters assume that they (and others) would use a subforum if it was made, when anandtech already gave them the chance on having a professional forum, but they chose not to use it?

The attempt already failed at anandtech. See Gillbot's response; move on with life.

You're missing an important component. This community. Yes, the majority of the community is geared toward consumer level products. I came to AnandTech years ago due to my interest in consumer level products. If you look below my avatar, you'll see that was around 9 years ago. Back then I was in my early 20's and messing around with custom rigs and overclocking and playing Counter Strike. I'm now a Data Center Administrator and while I'm still interested in consumer level products, I have knowledge regarding enterprise level products and also have questions and curiosities and seek advice about enterprise level products. I imagine I'm not the only one in this exact situation.

Anand has an interest in enterprise level products too. Hence the series of articles he's doing on virtualization with "guests" from VMWare and Intel. Hence the IT/Data Center tab on the home page.

A separate, "AnandTech branded" forum for enterprise type products which is only indirectly related to this community isn't what I'm asking for. Obviously, it didn't work. What I am asking for is a single section within this community for such topics. There is a Home Theater section here - one could argue that there are other more dedicated forums/communities for this, yet it exists here too. There's a Highly Technical section here, which is a catch all for topics that are very technical and require specific knowledge to discuss intelligently, many of which have dedicated forums elsewhere, yet it exists here too. We have a Love and Relationships section here... do you see my point? The common factor in these very different topics is the community. The AT IT Forums failed because they tried to create a new community or duplicate this community. I could have told you that would happen before it was ever created.

If the admins can maintain low traffic sections like Highly Technical, Contests and Sweepstakes and has an entire section devoted to something as specific as Power Supplies, why can't a section for IT/Enterprise discussions be created and maintained? How difficult would it be to create? How difficult would it be to maintain? What would the harm be? Even if it doesn't become as high traffic as Off Topic, if it added any value to these forums at all, wouldn't it be worth the time to maintain along with the others? This is a topic only loosely related to the main focus of the site, but so are a half dozen other sections here.

Look at the responses... there are people here that agree with me. I bet there are more that don't visit this Suggestion Box section. In fact, I know there are:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2156670

By the way, AnandTech's competitors, (Tom's Hardware) has such a section on their forums. Granted it's the lowest traffic forum on their site, but it's only been in existence for 6 months. ArsTechnica also has such a section on their forums.

 

[phoenix79]

Let me explain what I see in plain English since my subtility is getting lost.

Pro (for new forum) argument 1:The posters saying that 'hey, this forum would be good' are stating they don't want the forum to be bogged down with consumer level IT posts.

Rebuttal: When the consumer level posts are removed, and a forum created specifically for those types of posts, it had no traffic and was dropped.

Pro (for new forum) argument 2: The separate forum had no traffic; possibly because no one knew it was there, and/or because it required a separate login.

Rebuttal: So far, it sounds like 2 out of 2 posters who wanted a separate professional IT forum knew that a separate professional IT forum existed, but did not use it. Why would those same 2 posters assume that they (and others) would use a subforum if it was made, when anandtech already gave them the chance on having a professional forum, but they chose not to use it?

The attempt already failed at anandtech. See Gillbot's response; move on with life.

I'm not sure where you're getting that only 2 people want it, I count 11 in this thread alone. What's happened is that AT's readership has grown up. We used to be overclockers, modders, and tinkerers. Now we're sysadmins, datacenter admins, network admins, etc. but there is still a majority of consumer level traffic here. What we're saying is that we would like a place to ask a question about a SAN, or new server config, or brag about our new VMware host where it doesn't get dropped off the first page by a ton of OMG I JUST GO 4 MORE Mb/S FROM MY SD!!!!!!!11111ONEONEONE type posts and then summarily ignored

 

[Brovane]

Let me explain what I see in plain English since my subtility is getting lost.

Pro (for new forum) argument 1:The posters saying that 'hey, this forum would be good' are stating they don't want the forum to be bogged down with consumer level IT posts.

Rebuttal: When the consumer level posts are removed, and a forum created specifically for those types of posts, it had no traffic and was dropped.

Pro (for new forum) argument 2: The separate forum had no traffic; possibly because no one knew it was there, and/or because it required a separate login.

Rebuttal: So far, it sounds like 2 out of 2 posters who wanted a separate professional IT forum knew that a separate professional IT forum existed, but did not use it. Why would those same 2 posters assume that they (and others) would use a subforum if it was made, when anandtech already gave them the chance on having a professional forum, but they chose not to use it?

The attempt already failed at anandtech. See Gillbot's response; move on with life.

Let me explain in plain English since there appears to a lack of understanding on your part. I tried to use the entirely separate IT Forum. However since it was entirely separated from the forums and most people didn't even know it existed it generated very little traffic. You even had to go through the motions of creating a new account. Did you consult with the IT user community on the Anandtech forum before this separate forum was created? Did you even create a link under the present IT Forum category's that linked to this new area? What we are asking for is a Sub Category under Hardware and Technology devoted to IT issues. Someplace that we can use already created accounts with there current history and access easily as we read and post on the current forum. We don't want a entirelly separate site. When you mention 2 out of 2 posters are you not reading this thread? Are you missing the rest of the posters that have posted in favor of giving IT is on category under Hardware and Technology?

 

[Zargon]

here is one more that thinks the forum is a good idea

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2157027

 

[Evadman]

Did you consult with the IT user community on the Anandtech forum before this separate forum was created? Did you even create a link under the present IT Forum category's that linked to this new area? What we are asking for is a Sub Category under Hardware and Technology devoted to IT issues. Someplace that we can use already created accounts with there current history and access easily as we read and post on the current forum. We don't want a entirelly separate site. When you mention 2 out of 2 posters are you not reading this thread? Are you missing the rest of the posters that have posted in favor of giving IT is on category under Hardware and Technology?

Remember, the mods don't run the site as a whole, only keep order on the forum itself. So by 'you', you don't mean me, the mods or admins, you mean Anand. Just wanted to point that out, but that needs to be kept in mind when talking about stuff like this. It isn't a mod decision.

As for the 2 out of 2, I was referring to posts made in this thread.

 

[ultimatebob]

Jeff is right... A lot of the Anandtech "regulars" started around 2001-2004 when they were in high school or college, and wanted advice on how to build PC gaming systems.

Now it's 2011. the PC gaming industry isn't as big deal as it used to be, and now those high school and college kids who joined a few years ago now have full time IT jobs and want advice on how to build SAN's and VMWare servers.

 

[Jeff7181]

If only this forum existed, I might have had a better place to post this... http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2165881

Maybe one of the mods would be so kind as to move it to the *nix forum and see if I get any responses there so I don't crosspost?

 

[DivideBYZero]

I've been working in Enterprise IT for BMC Software for 11 years, almost as long as I have been on here and only a handful of times have my services been required on this forum. 9 times out of 10 the people of the level I usually deal with are just not here, or are not interested in talking strategy or architecture at AT. This place is 60&#37; nef, 40% content and I'm being generous with those numbers.

If implemented this sub forum would be a wasteland and even if used the subject is so diverse that you would require further separate ITSM platform questions from NetApp filer issues from monitoring platforms from Finjan network switches and encrypted dark fiber deployment, ad infinitum.