Brief update on the forums
Hello all.
To try and keep users updated here, as mentioned before there has been work towards updating the forums on the back end of things and I figured to give you an update.
The work continues on it as far as working with different internal teams, seeing what can work and what can not, what stays and what might need to be retired. One thing to keep in mind that this forum is fairly on the large size when you consider the forums offer 6 different languages and sections in the forums going all the way back to the MK1 series of printers and a few other topics.
We have had multiple meetings and sit downs as far as what can be done, what to use, and submitted various feedback that the community has provided previously.
I dont want to say which software will be used just in case I say we are going to use platform A, and then something might arise and we have to change it to a different platform and then just confuse myself along with the community 🙂
This is a high priority internally, and while I hate giving this answer as it would drive myself crazy, as far as when the changes go into effect, the only answer is "soon". Why? Because there are multiple things that have to fall into place and play nice with one another. The forum will play a major part in that for the backbone of a few different related projects, so it has to be done in a way to make sure everything works together well enough.
I know there is little new info here, but I wanted to write and let the users know that the forum update program is still active, still being worked on and has not been forgotten 🙂
Shane (AKA FromPrusa)
RE: Brief update on the forums
Ok, I’ve reread Shane’s post a few times. If you read between the lines it sounds like they might need to make the old forum smaller.
I don’t know about anyone else but I would be ok with a new forum and archiving this old one. I wouldnt have a problem with starting all over again as long as we could still read and link to the old forum.
What do you guys think? Like the idea or hate the idea? I have a feeling the people who have been on this forum 5 or more years are going to hate this idea.
RE: Brief update on the forums
I just want to be able to use Chrome again and type something in the search bar and get something back sensible. Another improvement would be having the software automatically do a search when you start a new topic. Also have not only "like" but "dislike" and not make it anonymous.
RE: Brief update on the forums
I would not read quite that far into it just yet 🙂
There have been a lot of discussions around what stays, what goes, and what can realistically be migrated, but no final decisions have been made on those kinds of details. I only mentioned it to give an idea of the work that is being done behind the scenes.
That said, I do understand the concern. There is a lot of history, troubleshooting information, guides, and community knowledge here that goes back many years. Ideally, whatever direction things go, we want to preserve as much useful information as possible and avoid creating unnecessary headaches for users trying to find older content.
For right now, I would not take my post as a hint that everyone will be waking up to a brand new empty forum one morning (but I can certainly daydream about it.... or would it be a night terror?). We are still working through options and figuring out what makes the most sense for both the community and the projects tied into it and build a sustainable foundation moving forward so things can be corrected, fixed or added to without previous issues.
As I have more concrete information that I can share, I will do so.
Now to grab some popcorn, sit back and watch.... 🙂
Shane (AKA FromPrusa)
RE: Brief update on the forums
I’m a little surprised that this thread has been so quiet?? I’m all for a New forum!!
Would it be possible to have both forums up and running at the same time for say a month or 2?
RE: Brief update on the forums
I just want to be able to use Chrome again and type something in the search bar and get something back sensible. Another improvement would be having the software automatically do a search when you start a new topic. Also have not only "like" but "dislike" and not make it anonymous.
I’m not a fan of the “Dislike” button. It just creates way too many problems.
RE: Brief update on the forums
Yeah, I dislike the dislike button because I'd only use it in anger, when I shouldn't be pushing any buttons at all!
RE: Brief update on the forums
A disklike button is for me a tool that people can use to grief. Dislike button is just a bad idea. If yu like something you can press a button.
If you dont agree just ignore the post and move on.
RE: Brief update on the forums
Yeah, I dislike the dislike button because I'd only use it in anger, when I shouldn't be pushing any buttons at all!
I agree, pushing a button when someone is pushing your buttons never ends well.
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On the Bambu Forums it been known to chasten certain individuals that are overtly aggressive. But I guess that's not needed here. But then pretty much every forum or comment section I'm a member of has a "dislike"
RE: Brief update on the forums
One issue with a dislike button is that a lot of less discerning users will hit dislike on a post, when they are upset over the situation the post is describing, even if they are in agreement with the person who posted it. If the dislikes actually go into some sort of user rating, it can have an unintended negative impact on a user. And if the dislike doesn't have any effect, then what is the point anyway? One forum I am a member of, has the like function where you can express different sentiments ranging from from shock, to anger, or simply like or dislike etc. And we still see a lot of people hitting dislike where they should really have selected angry or shocked. I.E. the messenger ends up getting blamed a lot.
RE: Brief update on the forums
OK, I'll hit "like" on not having a "dislike" button. Makes sense.
What would be nice is getting some sort of reward like Prusameter points for helping others. Example, getting points if your advice was tagged as the accepted answer or getting a certain number of likes (for example). That could certainly motivate people to help more.
RE: Brief update on the forums
I’m a little surprised that this thread has been so quiet?? I’m all for a New forum!!
Would it be possible to have both forums up and running at the same time for say a month or 2?
Honestly, hard to say. For a short time, I possibly, but also have to keep in mind that would double the work load, resources and everything else and after the update the main focus would be on the newer set up / system.
On the Bambu Forums it been known to chasten certain individuals that are overtly aggressive. But I guess that's not needed here. But then pretty much every forum or comment section I'm a member of has a "dislike"
What about a upvote type of thing? I can understand the negative ways a dislike or downvote can be abused, but on the flip side, for youtube, I find it a bit helpful as it tells me if the general mass of viewers agree or disagree with the content. I'm open for a community solution or compromise on this one.
OK, I'll hit "like" on not having a "dislike" button. Makes sense.
What would be nice is getting some sort of reward like Prusameter points for helping others. Example, getting points if your advice was tagged as the accepted answer or getting a certain number of likes (for example). That could certainly motivate people to help more.
I made a somewhat related suggestion for several options in the forums like contests and other things and I got the vibe from the forum community not to gamify the forums. I'm still open to that discussion if the community wants something like that
Shane (AKA FromPrusa)
RE: Brief update on the forums
I am not sure a dislike would add much to the forum. Maybe a richer flora of reactions that are useful to the readers would be good but not that easy to come up with. In my mind likes and dislikes evolved mainly to trick people into guiding algorithms so that the algorithm can easily channel content to your screen that engages and sells more adverts. In lack of the algorithm that is less useful. Then we users have started to associate reactions with other semantics which may still be useful to the community but in my view dislike is to blunt on a forum that aims to be helpful and informative.
/Anders
RE: Brief update on the forums
OK, I'll hit "like" on not having a "dislike" button. Makes sense.
What would be nice is getting some sort of reward like Prusameter points for helping others. Example, getting points if your advice was tagged as the accepted answer or getting a certain number of likes (for example). That could certainly motivate people to help more.
I like the idea of rewarding people who are helping other people. I think this is a good idea, we should do this.
RE: Brief update on the forums
I believe that was in response to people on Printables uploading frivolous models or contest entries that are engineered to game the system.
I would think from Prusa's point-of-view throwing us some swag for helping others is cheaper than staffing a full-time support person. And a lot harder to "farm".
RE: Brief update on the forums
I’m a little surprised that this thread has been so quiet?? I’m all for a New forum!!
Would it be possible to have both forums up and running at the same time for say a month or 2?
Honestly, hard to say. For a short time, I possibly, but also have to keep in mind that would double the work load, resources and everything else and after the update the main focus would be on the newer set up / system.
The reason I ask is if we had both up at the same time you could bring people from the old forum to the new one in groups. Say group one is 10 or 20 people. Try that for a day or 2. Group 2 could be 25 or 50. So on and so on. If you try and do it all at once you could get 500 or more people all trying to get in within a few days. My 500 number might be high but it also might be low. There are over 83,000 members in this forum not sure how many are active.
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There are over 83,000 members in this forum not sure how many are active.
My estimate is something around 20-30 people who are active. And by active I mean not the people who login, post and then disappear until the next problem.
Hmmm... You gave me an interesting project. These forums are completely open (you don't need an active login to view stuff). And the forums are busiest during my morning and late evening (I'm on West Coast time). Maybe this afternoon I'll point Claude at well, everything... and create a report on active users. I just need to be clear on what "active" means.
RE: Brief update on the forums
Your 20-30 number sounds a little low but your right it all depends on how you define active. I’ve been watching the “Members” number for the last few weeks. It seems like this forum adds about 100 new members every week or so. I have no idea if these new members are people or bots?? I know if you do a little digging there are pages and pages and pages of people with 2 or less posts.
The “Online” number always seems to be around 15 or so.
RE: Brief update on the forums
Prusament rewarding would introduce some issues:
- prusameteres translate to different value in specific regions - 100 prusament in EU is way lower than the same amount in non developed countries
- you still need to pay for the package and customs etc, and sometimes this would menan people would have to rake a lot of points to make it useable
- free points = more people exploiting the system, there would be a lot more new fake accounts to gamify it, so the new accounts would bump only specific account bu creating nrw threads and posts. Additional burden to admins.
In some other forums you got something like reddit karma, that just provides details if your answers are valuable or not - and nothing else.
The last thing the forums needs are gamifiication systems.
See my GitHub and printables.com for some 3d stuff that you may like.