I had a couple. The emergency pizza button post was memorable.

There is far too much news posted in TMP as it is, news should go in the news section be it news of a flood somewhere or news that Apple has just done X.

The "I bagged a switcher" thread is a bit of fun, I've seen similar threads on Linux boards and one occasion on the old OpenSolaris board. The majority of computer users use Windows so there is no need for a similar thread, though I wouldn't mind betting if one of the PC lot managed to convince a long time Mac fan friend to buy a Windows machine they might create a similar thread to mention it.

I agree 100% that we should have an iOS section, iPad/iPod/iPhone should not be put in the Mac hardware or Mac software.

Few, not all, Mac users are truly biased, many use Windows and a number of Mac users here have come via Linux or at least use it semi-regularly.

At the end of the day, the forums aren't moderated tightly enough (IMO of course).

There are a lot of news threads, photography threads, and yes Apple related threads, in TMP. There are even stickies in TMP which are dedicated to photgraphy - WTF??

Anyway, the thing is-we don't have a dedicated "Apple" forum - I think we should, and tbh there aren't enough posts to support a Mac Hardware and Mac Software forum. They should be replaced with a more general "All things Apple" forum IMO where OS X, iOS and Apple hardware threads can go.

There may not be many posts but you still need to separate them out into different headings.

I disagree - the headings are barely observed anyway, as has been mentioned.

It's primarily a lack of moderation, but having more general headings (and subsequently less individual forums) would help IMO.

I don’t think the number of posts in the Mac forums are a problem - it’s not impacting the server, and it maintains parity with the other OS forums. I do miss a RISC OS Hardware/Software forum though. I think we need those as matter of urgency.

The only problem with having an iOS board would require similar treatment for Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile and any other mobile platform that happens to be around. I do think we need to have a separate SmartPhone section at the very least, and if this is subdivided into the popular platforms, then so be it. What I do understand is that owning an iPhone does not dictate ownership of a Mac. Nor does ownership of as Mac influence the owner to buy an iPhone (despite wishes of the CEO).

Now I seem to do most of my browsing on tapatalk, the concept of separate forums has kind of gone out of the window, when I'm on my computer, I only ever check out the meeting place anyway.

This again?

The best solution IMO would be to

• amalgamate the Network and Internet(work) Sections because there's no real difference between the two and
• use the remaining section to make a Mobile Phone/MP3 Player/Gadget Section - iOS, Android, RIM, Meego, etc.
• Rewrite the Section Subtitles to make them more than boring help sections i.e. change from "Post XXX questions here" to "Talk about XXX here"

And then people just need to use a bit of judgement about where to put things - haha. Nonetheless it seems perfectly obvious to me that, as far as is sensible, most technical matters should really be in the technical section.

Speaking from using the Open Source section, it's a hell of a lot easier to find old threads and avoid repetition if a common subject is bound together and kept separate. Also one can make easily-found threads e.g. FAQs, Howtos etc. in a much more efficient manner and when you've screwed something up it's oh so nice to be able to bounce back to a section where you can find answers rapidly.

I'm not of the mind that having iOS/Android-type threads in TMP is a bad thing - in fact I've gone from hating them to rather liking them. However I'm confident that something much more productive and beneficial could be created by moving them to a separate place. Hell it could even be exciting - nicely organised iPhone news / Android FAQs / Push-email Howto threads to read in an area that they can call their own. Jeez I don't even have a smartphone and I'd like to hang out there.

An iOS section wouldn't work, what about Android, Windows Phone 7, WebOS etc.? A mobile section would be okay, but if we had iOS, we'd need the others and we'd clutter up the place even more.

I really don't see what the problem is, though.

Me too. I might check the Mac side out if it were all in one place. A single "Mac Help" board would suit me. If I have a problem I often would not know which board to post on anyway.

The problem with having too many boards is that you get the feeling that nobody will bother to read what you post.

Windows Phone 7 system 7 phones side by side with iPhones? What is the world coming to?

Seriously though "Phones and similar tech" could make for a useful board if you really really think it should not be in the Meeting place. At the moment there is so little though I think that News board and Meeting Place can cope well enough with the extra bit of traffic that such devices generate.

CC

1 page about how to get rid of people asking for IT help and thanks to he-who-hates-macs-and-must-not-be-named 3 pages on where posts should be posted! Life's too short!

*TMP fan*

Well, a thread on e-readers would pretty much have to go in TMP at the moment, and how many people would honestly remember to visit a gadgets thread once they'd read TMP and maybe In The News (ha, ITN)?

*dons helmet, calls in covering fire and makes a dash across the flank towards the original post*


I have a simple method - start charging people!

It's best to start by looking at the PC and sucking air in through your teeth.

"Well, guv, there's dust clogging up the CPU fan, so we're gonna need a new one, could be a hundred quid or so..." (yes I know in reality an airduster would work here)

Then do what all builders do and say "That will cost a bit, and I cant start for three weeks"