Discussing the usage of the TEA thread

[pcprogrammer]

Dave, is it an option to start a poll in the test equipment section, where the remaining members can vote for moving the entire TEA thread from the Test Equipment section to the new TEA section.

Some of the members seem to want this, so lets see what the rest wants.

Just a simple yee or nee vote, and express that it is basically just for the regulars posting in the old TEA thread.

Indicate that the whole playground is moved and that members that have posted in it will still see it in their list of what they have posted in.

[Specmaster]

so please give the 2 top people some breathing space and lets be friends at least.

Who would they be? Dave and bitseeker?

Correct.

[EEVblog]

Exactly the answer I expected. I'm done explaining. It's time to move forward, not in circles.

Ok, just so we are clear. Do you care what happens to the current TEA thread or not? i.e. maybe moving it as per pcprogammers poll request?
If you are no longer using it yourself then I'd say it then becomes a community decision. And by community I mean the remaining TEA community users here.

[tggzzz]

It's like having an email based list group, once it gets big enough volume then you can't have it as a single big list any more, you need to move to a thread based forum structure.

Any competent email client has something better: the web forum mechanism based on thread title, plus two distinct and useful ways of displaying threaded conversations.
Why better? You can:

• instantly see all the context and where the conversation started diverging (not in web forums)
• delete entire sub-threads easily, such that you never even have to skip over posts(not in web forums)
• also see the single thread inside the message (the web-forum mechanism)

Of course, if someone insists on using "sub-optimal" tools, then there's an expression for that: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

Example: partial screen shot showing threading

[Brumby]

... then I'd say it then becomes a community decision. And by community I mean the remaining TEA community users here.

Leave it as it is.  Please.

[tggzzz]

I think what happened is that this "TEA community" just got so used to using the one big thread that they didn't want to change anything, they just got used to it.

For my own part, I felt much of the stuff in the TEA thread should stay there and not "pollute" the rest of the forum with inconsequential chit chat. To that extent, arguably the content did not "sit well" in this forum.

Keeping it separate preserved the value of this overall forum by allowing (most?) people to ignore the chit chat. That was partially negated by marking the thread sticky, and publicising it widely.

For the cases where I thought the content might be useful to a wider audience and/or to a reader in the future, I suggested splitting that out into a separate thread. Sometimes that happened.

[Black Phoenix]

I think that what happened with the OrCAD is the ideal. People show their stuff, talk about it.

When then it goes into a more detailed subject as repair or in that case trying to decript the hardware dongle, a post is created in the respective subforum, a reminder is left in the TEA General thread and off we go to another subject.

I imagine like arriving in a Pub, meeting every day everyone and then you listen someone in a group in the corner having a conversation you get interested in detail, you pick up your beer and ask politely if you can join in.

While the rest of the Pub continues their on different subject. How about this idea.

[tggzzz]

Gentle observations...

In life in general, reorganisation rarely addresses (let alone solves) an underlying problem. Deckchairs on the Titanic and all that.

Don't try to be all things to all people. Better to do one thing well than several things poorly.

For me the strength of EEVBlog is that the mods involvement has been to stomp on the necessary guns/religion/politics/spam/etc posts. Otherwise they have lead a quiet unobtrusive life. The rest of us have had, and will continue to have, interesting conversations on technical matters.

Summary: don't fiddle, accept some of the TEA contributors have migrated - and that it is probably better for them and for this forum.

Let's get back to normal life.

[TERRA Operative]

I think that what happened with the OrCAD is the ideal. People show their stuff, talk about it.

When then it goes into a more detailed subject as repair or in that case trying to decript the hardware dongle, a post is created in the respective subforum, a reminder is left in the TEA General thread and off we go to another subject.

I imagine like arriving in a Pub, meeting every day everyone and then you listen someone in a group in the corner having a conversation you get interested in detail, you pick up your beer and ask politely if you can join in.

While the rest of the Pub continues their on different subject. How about this idea.

I like this, if people can stick to it, it would solve many of the off-topic issues.

re. the new TEA subforum, if the TEA thread moves to that new subforum, maybe we can keep it a sticky in there, along with a sticky with this new constitution thingo too.
Seeing as Bitseeker has made it clear he is not interested in continuing here, I view that as relinquishing of ownership, so the fate of the TEA thread it should up to all the current members.
So it could work that moving forward, any off-topic discussion that develops in the TEA thread, or discussion that starts to tangent too far can just go to its own thread in the new TEA section if it doesn't fit elsewhere in the existing forum.

Is this similar to what others people are thinking?
I also think those who do not wish to return to using this forum don't need to be considered in these decisions (but are always welcome back and will have a voice if they do so).

[tggzzz]

Is this similar to what others people are thinking?

Stop fiddling.
Don't continually be worried about sterile taxonomies.
Get on with life and let this forum return naturally to its normally happy state.

[PlainName]

Dave, why not rename the "other hobbies" section as "other communities?"
I know that cooking is hobby by the forum base model, but TEA was not at it's inception, it was as some users called a "Pub kinda experience“ so a community of liked minded uses.

Sure, done, unless people have objections.

Cooking isn't a community. It's either a hobby or calling, but it is no more a community than soldering is.

BTW, if you do a call for objections it'd be cool if you could wait a reasonable time for them - some of us live outside Australian time zone.

[PlainName]

so please give the 2 top people some breathing space and lets be friends at least.

Who would they be? Dave and bitseeker?

Correct.

So perhaps the one that Took One for the Team should give them some space too, no?

[sokoloff]

Cooking isn't a community. It's either a hobby or calling, but it is no more a community than soldering is.

In this context, I think that’s overly pedantic. If a sufficient subset of the EEVBlog forum membership was interested in lawncare and, for whatever reason, wanted to discuss the fineries of lawncare among EEVBlog forum users, that set of people is a community and could logically find their sub-forum in the “other communities” part of the board.

[pcprogrammer]

So perhaps the one that Took One for the Team should give them some space too, no?

Edit: misread dunkemhigh's post, but do stand by what I wrote below. Yes I agree, and that is why I opt for voting and let it run for maybe even a week.

Sorry, but have a look back at his post and tell me that is not childish behavior. Challenging the moderators in that way is nothing more then chest pounding and driving things up the wall.

To me the separate space seems a good solution to not bother the rest of the forum with possible off topic discussions, but let the "community" have its vote on it, and not just the few that post here to express their feelings.

Give it a couple of days to run and then do what the outcome tells us to do. Stay or move.

[RoGeorge]

Moving TEA to off-topic is, IMHO, somewhere between very-wrong to plain-stupid.

Same would be to enforce each post to be about electronics only.  Even if the subject drifts sometimes, it is mostly about TEA.  That thread had so far the most enthusiastic electronists posting there, lifetime faithful to their guild and passion.  TEA was always my fallback read thread, in periods with less activity in the other sections of the forum.  Always nice electronic pics, always friendly chat like posting.

WTF is wrong with everybody lately?  Use the "ignore user list"
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?area=lists;sa=ignore
for the less "disciplined" temperaments you don't like.

My two cents is leave TEA as it is, and where it is.

[EEVblog]

Moving TEA to off-topic is, IMHO, somewhere between very-wrong to plain-stupid.

I wouldn't say it's remotely close to wrong or stupid.
It's simply moving the thread, just like other threads on the forum gets moved all the time to a more appropriate place.
As I said, you can easily argue the appropriate place is exactly where it is in the test equipment board.
At the same time you can also argue (and it's what this whole thing it about) that it is a bit of a more tight-nit "mini-community" where tangents happen frequently. The more those tangents go away from actual test equipment then the better the argument to have it in it's own section becomes. It also helps beginners not going in there if that is a concern to people.

Personally I don't really care either way. i see both arguments being valid.

WTF is wrong with everybody lately?  Use the "ignore user list"
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?area=lists;sa=ignore
for the less "disciplined" temperaments you don't like.

There are Ignore User, Ignore Topic, and Ignore Board features!

[mnementh]

All I asked is that our TEAnonymous thread be moved to some OT section where it so obviously belongs. 
This would go a long way as a gesture of goodwill. It is something that could be done now.

That's what I offered days ago, yet no one seemed interested?
Ok, fine, I'll do it right now, give me a few minutes

All the talk of subforums and making additional threads is awesome... and we might even take advantage... if we had some reason to believe the whole thing wasn't going just happen again in a month or three with a whole new crop of complainers drawn in.

Putting the TEAnonymous thread in the OT section removes that argument.

Just to be clear, I can't just move the TEA thread to an "OT section". There is no "OT section" on the forum.
People have voted many times against having a completely OT section of the forum where "anything goes".
TEA has to be moved somewhere, so I will create new  section under the Other Hobbies section down the bottom, then you have your own section where you can post multiple threads.
Bitseeker as the thread owner can then move it there himself if he wants to.

This is at least some meaningful compromise. We generally agree that the 3rd rail topics are something that has to be kept out of this space; we have alternate channels for that now.

I will take a "Wait and see" attitude towards the "Enter at your own risk!" warning at the top of the space... if we can expect the complainers to take responsibility for coming there, even though they were warned... that's a compromise.

However, if things get as ridiculously overmoderated as this last skirmish, I can't promise there won't be a similar mass exodus of those who always came to TEAnonymous just to unwind. TEAnonymous is not a TE or Electronics thread; it's about dealing with our addictions, as in plural... and sharing those addictions is ON-TOPIC. And yes, that includes kitty kats, fat people, and even fixing up our homes and woodworking projects.

At the end of the day, just like the origins of the thread, this space has always been about sharing what is important to us at the moment with our friends. That is the "therapy" part of the therapy thread.

I will go ask Bitseeker to move the TEAnonymous thread to the new subforum. From there, whomever chooses to participate... that is up to them.

Thanks for your time,

mnem
*Namaste*

[Bicurico]

My opinion, for what is worth:

1) I have made the mistake of posting in the infamous TEA thread. Now, every time I open EEVBlog (I have the browser set to open my favorite pages, in this case "Show new replies to your posts."), I get the TEA thread listed. I would like to know how to unsubscribe - I have not found how to do it.
2) Why do I want to unsubscribe? Because the thread is far too big, with too many discussions going on and only very few that trigger my personal interest.
3) Threads should never get so big. Heck, even this one is on page 19! Did I read all of the pages, before posting this? No I did not and yes I should have. Why didn't I do that? No time, no interest! (*)
4) I am in favor of 1 topic = 1 thread. Instead of having the TEA and "Post your latest purchase" threads, these should be converted in respective sub-forums and every new test equipment or purchased item should get a thread on its own. This way, one could search and follow up that particular device, in case one ends up buying the same.

Cheers,
Vitor

(*) Take a look at the two Siglent SSA/SVA threads. They are huge, one is mainly about hacking the options, the other about using the device. Still both threads cover both subjects and, on top of it, they consider two completely different device lines (SSA3000X and SSA3000X-P/SVA1000). This should not have happend and now both threads are very confusing, with the result that most new entries are from people that did not fully read both threads and keep asking the same questions over and over...

[PlainName]

I would like to know how to unsubscribe - I have not found how to do it.

At the bottom of the page, just under the last post on that page, are the buttons "Reply" "Unnotify" "Mark unread" etc. Click the unnotify button and you won't be troubled any more by that thread.

[pcprogrammer]

I would like to know how to unsubscribe - I have not found how to do it.

At the bottom of the page, just under the last post on that page, are the buttons "Reply" "Unnotify" "Mark unread" etc. Click the unnotify button and you won't be troubled any more by that thread.

I think the unnotify is only for when you first used the notify functionality, not for just having posted in a thread.

I have posted in this one, and the options I see are "REPLY", "NOTIFY", "MARK UNREAD", "SEND THIS TOPIC", "PRINT" and "SEARCH"

Due to having posted in it, every time there is a new post in it, and I click the "Show new replies to your posts." link underneath the "Hello xxxx" message, I will see this thread popup.

The only way to suppress it would be to put it in your ignore list like mentioned by Dave and others.

[Black Phoenix]

(*) Take a look at the two Siglent SSA/SVA threads. They are huge, one is mainly about hacking the options, the other about using the device. Still both threads cover both subjects and, on top of it, they consider two completely different device lines (SSA3000X and SSA3000X-P/SVA1000). This should not have happend and now both threads are very confusing, with the result that most new entries are from people that did not fully read both threads and keep asking the same questions over and over...

Saudações Lusitanas, do outro lado do mundo.

This will always happen everywhere in every forum.

There are users, normally new ones who only register to post their question and as soon they have their reply, they simply ghost out.

Could they had read everything and saw if their questions were already answered? Yes they could.

People now just want to have their replies to their questions instantaneously without spending the time to search. Blame the Google generation, that gave the power to most questions being answered in less than 10 sec.

I also hate that mentality, same reason I try to search before I post a new topic just in case someone already started and the solution is inside.

But most don't care. Call it laziness, call it lack of time, call it self centered. But that's something that will not end easily.

[bsfeechannel]

Exactly the answer I expected. I'm done explaining. It's time to move forward, not in circles.

You guys are unbelievable. The aardvark wants secession, the dragon wants conciliation, and you think that TEA and EEVBlog are incompatible.

This only goes to show that all the TEA problems have an internal origin to what you called the "community", not the EEVBlog.

[bd139]

Out of respect for what we have contributed here over the space of half a decade, bitseeker should have final authority.


Now for something completely different, I'll chip in my opinion:

1. TEA thread should be locked and at the top and bottom a link placed to the TEA groups.io group.
2. There should be no TEA subforum.

EEVblog owner, moderators and patrons need to just let it go. You screwed it and the community moved on. As someone else elegantly said, this is trying to squeeze the toothpaste back into the tube. Don't dilute what is left because the majority of major contributors are gone and to retain it in name or concept is pretty much just plain old theft.

[Kosmic]

1. TEA thread should be locked and at the top and bottom a link placed to the TEA groups.io group.
2. There should be no TEA subforum.

+1, I have the same opinion.

[bsfeechannel]

We screwed it all up by finger-pointing each other to the moderators and what we called the community moved out, blaming the forum for our mistakes, because we do not have maturity to take responsibility for our actions.

TIFIFY