New forum sections - suggestions? (1 Viewer)

Jon

Access World Site Owner
Staff member
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Sep 28, 1999
Messages
7,305
Just having a think today about if we need to consolidate or create some new forum sections. They don't have to be Access related, but just something useful to members here. For example, is it worth having a Security and Privacy Issues forum? What about Networking? Just interested in some ideas.
 

Uncle Gizmo

Nifty Access Guy
Staff member
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
16,245
Rename the site:-

Access World Programming Forums, keep the AWF URL.

Add Forums for:-

JavaScript
Java
Python
C etc
Go
Dart
Flutter
Google Apps Script

Any I missed?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jon

The_Doc_Man

Immoderate Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 16:19
Joined
Feb 28, 2001
Messages
27,001
As I recall, a Z80 wasn't the most robust of chips when it came to instructions. I actually looked at this because a company I worked for was surveying chips to upgrade their remote data collection unit. We considered the Z-80 and immediately said "NO." Our other choices were the Motorola 6800 family and the TI 6500 family. We went with the M68 series, stepping through the 6800, 6801, 6809, and eventually getting up to the M68000 - which was one helluva chip. I liked it for assembly code because it was instruction-rich. But as for as the Z-80 was concerned,... thank you but no, thank you.
 

NauticalGent

Ignore List Poster Boy
Local time
Today, 17:19
Joined
Apr 27, 2015
Messages
6,286
I know the Main screen on the old Forum had a link to where you could reach out to developers if you wanted to commission their services...it was almost like Freelancer.

Have you considered this as well? Of courese you would have to put a sort of disclaimer that if the Dev really screwds things up, AWF was independent of that effort...

...or....

That area would only be available to those here that have been properly vetted and are trusted to do AWF proud...
 

Isaac

Lifelong Learner
Local time
Today, 14:19
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
8,738
I second @Uncle Gizmo suggestion to rebrand the site, I've thought this for a while. Whatever helps it branch out a little and stay as relevant as it can be. I for one would like a Sharepoint forum.

The big 'catch' to all this is, adding forums is only as good as driving traffic will be. Always been a bit disappointed that the sql server forum is as dead as it is, which makes me wonder should you only add the forums you can really drive up. Because there is no use in tons of forums with no traffic, what will happen there is the few people that do post will go not only unanswered but not even seen because heavy-usage-members will mostly only subscribe to the forums that get the traffic they are interested in.

So maybe I ought to take back my Sharepoint forum suggestion now that I think. I've asked a few questions and got no real answers. Maybe we should inventory how often members ask questions partly related to other thing - then start a forum for the 'other things'. Other back end RDBMS might qualify. Somehow there needs to be askers and answerers.

If there is one thing in the past that has made me actually stop using sites, it's asking a question that nobody can answer. It's the opposite that tends to be addicting. :)
 
Last edited:

The_Doc_Man

Immoderate Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 16:19
Joined
Feb 28, 2001
Messages
27,001
@The_Doc_Man - No stamina Doc, I remember programming it to play chess in 1k of memory!

The chip review was for the company's potential product and the stated chips were compared for various reasons including availability of the kind of development tools we wanted. Boston Systems Office (BSO) used to be VERY big in the field of cross-assemblers and cross-compilers - develop on one machine but run the code on another. The M68 decision included tool availability and the Z-80 just wasn't quite there. Hell, I assembly-programmed an IBM 1620 Mod II once or twice. THAT was primitive. I had the stamina - but the company wanted specifics that the Z-80 didn't have.
 

Minty

AWF VIP
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Jul 26, 2013
Messages
10,355
@The_Doc_Man In seriousness, as a young apprentice I worked on a mega-expensive HP Emulator System ( HP 64000 ) with both 6800+ and Intel 8086 + others, they were light years ahead of the other things I had done.
 

Gasman

Enthusiastic Amateur
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Sep 21, 2011
Messages
14,047
Rename the site:-

Access World Programming Forums, keep the AWF URL.

Add Forums for:-

JavaScript
Java
Python
C etc
Go
Dart
Flutter
Google Apps Script

Any I missed?
Not an expert as you know, but what we do here, especially for Access we do well, I believe?
If you were to add such forums, who is is able to respond?
I do not think the forum would look that great with a lot of unanswered queries. There will be responses, yes, but answers?

Bit like asking a Brain Surgeon to be a tyre mechanic?
No doubt he can do the job, but as well as the dedicated tyre ,mechanic?, and not with the skill he brings to Brain Surgery?
Then you could also reverse the positions? :D
 

Jon

Access World Site Owner
Staff member
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Sep 28, 1999
Messages
7,305
Some interesting commentary in this thread. It is hard to know what to do. If you rebrand to a generic site, then you might lose the reason why people come to this site, which is the best forum on the interweb for Microsoft Access.

But I do like the idea of adding some other sections if they have good relevance or utility. For example, Security applies to everybody. Maybe there are some other things that have a close affinity. Perhaps a bit of idea generation followed by polling might be useful.
 

Gasman

Enthusiastic Amateur
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Sep 21, 2011
Messages
14,047
I would look at the usage of the 'other' forums now.?
Are they actually holding their own?
If so other like forums might as well?, if not, then.......?

Not quite Jack of All Trades/Master of None, but if I have an Excel problem, I would try another site first, as that site to me is dedicated to Excel and whilst there very good Excel members here, I like to share the love. :D
 

Jon

Access World Site Owner
Staff member
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Sep 28, 1999
Messages
7,305
Yes, good idea to look at the usage of different aspects. Perhaps some reordering should take place.

Some ideas:
- moving sample databases and code repository up into the Microsoft Access Discussion section
- reorder some of the forums in the Microsoft Access Discussion section by use, rather than by how they appear in Access. e.g. move Tables below Reports. I have some resistance to this because the forums mimic the order that you see them in the Access interface, but maybe this is the wrong approach.
- merge Word, Windows and Other software into Software
- rename Web design and development to Web Development, plus add things like JavaScript as a subforum
- rename Hardware Questions and Answers to Hardware
- add Tablets and Mobile Devices forum

I welcome hearing your opinions on my ideas and some of your own ideas. :)
 
Last edited:

Isaac

Lifelong Learner
Local time
Today, 14:19
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
8,738
FWIW, I tend to find higher quality Excel content on sites purportedly devoted to Access, because they are accompanied by more serious minded developers. Interestingly perhaps? Some of the best Excel principles I learned early on were from UtterAccess--NOT the more popular "Excel" sites, which are chock-full of what I call Crap-Code, bad habits, and terrible programming generally speaking.

But I can't disagree with Gasman. If we can't drive traffic to the other forums, what's the use. If we could ... then I think it's great to expand
 

Isaac

Lifelong Learner
Local time
Today, 14:19
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
8,738
I can now confirm that, if a PowerApps forum section was instituted, I myself would be active in it. How soon I will get to the point where I can answer questions, that I'm not sure, but I'll try my level best!

And @Jon .... if I had to make a guess, I'd say that in 5 years we look back and PowerApps has gone from "novelty" to "overwhelming usage". That's just a guess..
 

Steve R.

Retired
Local time
Today, 17:19
Joined
Jul 5, 2006
Messages
4,617
This is an Access forum, so the focus has been on providing assistance with Access. I noticed, but have not followed, "Checking the AWF hit Count thread". As a quick look, it shows a recent decline in people visiting. I'm not going to speculate on why that may be happening other that to say that times change and people may be looking to use other database systems such as MariaDB, which is the one that I moved to. I also moved from Windows to Linux.

AWF does have a sub-forum: PHP & MySQL. But the focus there appears to be on webpage development as the sub-forum is under "Web Design and Development". I would like to suggest that the MySQL sub-forum be raised in prominence as a discrete section and to "ditch" the web theme to focus on database management issues. As with the AWF structure, there would be sub-forums on tables, forms, queries, etc. AWF has a sub-forum on "Visual Basic". Along those lines there could be sub-forums for PHP, and Python. Some sections, like "Theory and practice of database design", are essentially database independent, so they don't have to be under the MS Access umbrella.

The type of revision that I'm suggesting would detract from focusing on MS Access, but it may also attract a new audience and serve a larger database community.
 

Isaac

Lifelong Learner
Local time
Today, 14:19
Joined
Mar 14, 2017
Messages
8,738
Not a big deal, really, but:
Given that I've been posting "already-solved" issues into Power Automate, it might be slick if we could turn on the "Post as a Question" (similar to the vba modules forum), so that I could result my post as SOLVED, thus helping other members avoid any potential frustration of thinking the question is yet to be answered (if indeed this causes any frustration). Just trying to be helpful, as I'm hoping to drive traffic to the new forum, and thinking this just might work. Jon if this is undesirable, just let me know at any time. Thanks.
 

Jon

Access World Site Owner
Staff member
Local time
Today, 21:19
Joined
Sep 28, 1999
Messages
7,305
I've just enabled that for you, together with polling. Would you prefer the default to be Post as a Question?
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom