Proposal for new Parallels Forum Topics

T

tgrogan

Pro
I would like to propose a new set of forum topics for Parallels to implement to better serve all of the various users of Parallels. It is becoming clear that Parallels has forked its development and this proposed organization would serve users by isolating their issues to a distinct forum. The list I propose is as follows:

1. Announcements - no change
2. Plans - A read-only discussion by Parallels on per-release plans.
3. General Questions - Topics which are cross host and guest applicable.

4. Mac Host - Installation and Configuration Problems
5. Mac Host - Wish List
6. Mac Host - How To (Solutions to common problems on Mac hosts.)
7. Mac Host - Networking
8. Mac Host - Windows Guest Problems
9. Mac Host - Linux Guest Problems
10. Mac Host - Other Guest OS Problems

11. Windows Host - Installation and Configuration Problems
12. Windows Host - Wish List
13. Windows Host - How To (Solutions to common problems on Windows hosts.)
14. Windows Host - Networking
15. Windows Host - Windows Guest Problems
16. Windows Host - Linux Guest Problems
17. Windows Host - Other Guest Problems

18. Linux Host - Installation and Configuration Problems
19. Linux Host - Wish List
20. Linux Host - How To (Solutions to common problems on Linux hosts.)
21. Linux Host - Networking
22. Linux Host - Windows Guest Problems
23. Linux Host - Other Guest Problems

24. Compressor
 
Shouldn't this have been posted in "Wish lists"? :) (ducks!)

Seriously though, very good suggestion in principle - although I'd have fewer, broader sub-groups within each host OS. Expecting people to choose correctly between that many fine distinctions seems optimistic - less technical users won't necessarily be able to distinguish between them even if they try.

I think there are two problems with the current structure:

1. The distinction between "General Discussions" and "Technical Discussions" is completely arbitary and a matter of personal perspective. The proposal partly addresses this - I'd go further and call the propsed section 3 something like "Crossplatform issues".

2. Although the senior members clearly regard the "howto" sections as a place for contributed documentation/FAQs, the current forum description does not say this (yes, it can be interpreted as saying that - but that is not the same thing) and needs clarification. ("Please do not post questions here" would do nicely, then you could flame miscreants with impunity). This seems to be causing a lot of the current tension. I suspect, though, that these sections would have to be moderated in order to work as intended.

I would say, though, that this is a web forum in 2006, not 1990s-era Usenet where each off-topic post had to be replicated on thousands of nodes around the world, stored on hard drives that cost $10-per-megabyte provided as an indulgence by university departments and downloaded via 9600 baud modems. Although the current situation could be improved, a certain amount of tolerance would not go amiss.
 
itsdapead said:
I would say, though, that this is a web forum in 2006, not 1990s-era Usenet where each off-topic post had to be replicated on thousands of nodes around the world, stored on hard drives that cost $10-per-megabyte provided as an indulgence by university departments and downloaded via 9600 baud modems. Although the current situation could be improved, a certain amount of tolerance would not go amiss.
Click to expand...
While it's true that the technology has improved in speed and capacity, the bottleneck is really the human (me, for example). I won't read clutter because there are only 36 hours in my day (or so it seems) and that isn't enough. If I were getting paid to wade through off topic posts, I'd happily do it, but since this is a volunteer effort, if something else in life becomes more attractive, that's where my attention goes.

I think a light moderation after the fact works well, and I think changing the descriptions to make the purpose of the forums clear is a good idea, as well as moving questions to the appropriate forum when they are posted in the wrong place.

Another useful addition would be a sticky "How To" instructions for using the forums to advantage. Guidelines such as always post to the appropriate forum, always include your configuration including processor type, Parallels build number, memory installed, memory assigned, etc. and pointing out that most of the help will come from the community of volunteers, not Parallels staff, so being nice and polite will get you a better result.

Oh wait... being nice and polite gets better results no matter who you are talking to -- what was I thinking? :)
 
I'm in agreement!! I think a good forum to copy is www.blackberryforums.com, the way it's laid out, their moderation and rules. It's a very succesful website which I'm sure many of you already know about. I'm feeling a little nicer today, sorry to whoever I might have offended. I had the worst of a cold the last couple days and some things I read and interpreted didn't sit well.
 
itsdapead said:
1. The distinction between "General Discussions" and "Technical Discussions" is completely arbitary and a matter of personal perspective. The proposal partly addresses this - I'd go further and call the propsed section 3 something like "Crossplatform issues". .
Click to expand...

Agreed. Anything to clarify that it is not for posting OS/Guest specific QUESTIONS. Emphisize 'Discussion'!

itsdapead said:
2. Although the senior members clearly regard the "howto" sections as a place for contributed documentation/FAQs, the current forum description does not say this (yes, it can be interpreted as saying that - but that is not the same thing) and needs clarification. ("Please do not post questions here" would do nicely, then you could flame miscreants with impunity). This seems to be causing a lot of the current tension. I suspect, though, that these sections would have to be moderated in order to work as intended..
Click to expand...

Yes! The moderators do remove some of the identified off-posts - but I would rather they spent their time programming/supporting. I think it would be good to move the Mac forums to the top below the general ones so that they appear obviously.

I don't agree that "Discuss and share useful tips and ideas that help you use Parallels software." is ambiguous. Any reading of this does not imply 'post my question here" - it's just human laziness. This topic exists all over the support forums in the Linux world at least, and is not mis-interpreted. This is partially why I proposed individual host-based How-Tos so that at least the users of any host would moderate (or not) the forums that are significant to themselves.

itsdapead said:
I would say, though, that this is a web forum in 2006, not 1990s-era Usenet where each off-topic post had to be replicated on thousands of nodes around the world, stored on hard drives that cost $10-per-megabyte provided as an indulgence by university departments and downloaded via 9600 baud modems. Although the current situation could be improved, a certain amount of tolerance would not go amiss.
Click to expand...

When tolerance results in forum uselessness, this observation is not on target. When you go to a vendor's forum you expect not to waste your time filtering/searching thru a lot of posts that are not related to the forum topic. It is difficult enough dealing with people who are too lazy to take the time to post a reasonable subject instead of "Help!", "WTF!","xxx Sucks", and the rest of the drivel that is often used in subjects. On the ouside chance that they actually do post to the correct forum, at least then only the people with a forum-specific problem have to put up with their trite use of Subject.
 
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