Forum restructuring: Device sections

[KindleDude]

Originally Posted by wayspooled

Don't forget to reserve a place for the Plastic Logic reader that's coming in 2009. Pretty sure it's going to be a big thing.

http://www.plasticlogic.com/product.html

I second. I was about to make the same comment. with an 81/2 x 11 form factor, it will be able to publish newspapers and magazines in their original format; it's supposed to have wireless connectivity like the Kindle; handle .pdf and other popular formats; and it's extremely thin. If its price is reasonable, it could be a game-changer (although it's always hard to predict these things).

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

While it is not specific to the eBook Devices section...

Please let's focus on e-book devices in this discussion. We have other parts that will need to be reorganized, but I intend to do it step by step.

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by KindleDude

I second. I was about to make the same comment. with an 81/2 x 11 form factor, it will be able to publish newspapers and magazines in their original format; it's supposed to have wireless connectivity like the Kindle; handle .pdf and other popular formats; and it's extremely thin. If its price is reasonable, it could be a game-changer (although it's always hard to predict these things).

Let's count the chickens after they hatch. So far there's no indication that we'll see Plastic Logic device released any time soon.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Let's count the chickens after they hatch. So far there's no indication that we'll see Plastic Logic device released any time soon.

sorry igorsk, this thread is about the device forums. chicken reorganisation will come later.

[lexico]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

In anticipation of new e-book readers emerging in 2009 (*fingers crossed*), we're considering reorganizing the forum structure for the e-book devices. The suggestion is that we move "out" of the "E-Book Devices" section and sort the device sections by vendor. Before we do so, I would like get as much feedback as possible. Thank you.

A restructuring sounds a good idea ... but is reorganizing 'by vendor' the right thing to do? Surely this will simply encourage people to separate out into groups that use some device from some particular vendor and they will then ignore what's going on in the rest of the world.

Mobileread's great attraction and 'brand' is that it is vendor-independent, giving honest opinions and comparisons across the spectrum of mobile readers. Encouraging the separation of all those great contributors into 'tribes' based on what devices they currently use is surely not going to improve this site -- or the industry.

I'd suggest some other split ... it could be 'by screen resolution', or 'devices with WiFi', or 'those with GSM access' ... etc. That way, discussions would be based on the features that people care about, not on who makes [designs, outsources, markets] a particular brand or machine.

lex

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by lexico

A restructuring sounds a good idea ... but is reorganizing 'by vendor' the right thing to do? Surely this will simply encourage people to separate out into groups that use some device from some particular vendor and they will then ignore what's going on in the rest of the world.

Interesting thought. Do others agree? Because the vendor distinction only applies to the "hardware" area of MR, I thought the risk of separating our members by sorting by vendor would be rather small. Essentially we are doing this already, only that currently all devices are sorted in the same parent forum section.

Sorting by feature could work if we assume that e-book devices do and will essentially differ from each other.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Please let's focus on e-book devices in this discussion. We have other parts that will need to be reorganized, but I intend to do it step by step.

Sorry, but I sometimes get lost in the trees if I don't know about the forest. It helps to have a big picture sometimes.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Interesting thought. Do others agree? Because the vendor distinction only applies to the "hardware" area of MR, I thought the risk of separating our members by sorting by vendor would be rather small. Essentially we are doing this already, only that currently all devices are sorted in the same parent forum section.

Sorting by feature could work if we assume that e-book devices do and will essentially differ from each other.

I personally think we have forums available for generalized discussion and we need to continue to do that but when someone needs help they need to turn to a group of experts on their product not a message from someone saying you should have bought a different brand.

Dale

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Interesting thought. Do others agree? Because the vendor distinction only applies to the "hardware" area of MR, I thought the risk of separating our members by sorting by vendor would be rather small. Essentially we are doing this already, only that currently all devices are sorted in the same parent forum section.

Sorting by feature could work if we assume that e-book devices do and will essentially differ from each other.

I think the device area should be divided by vendor. The exception would be the PDA forum, which will include Palm, PocketPC, WinCE.

[Gaurnim]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Interesting thought. Do others agree? Because the vendor distinction only applies to the "hardware" area of MR, I thought the risk of separating our members by sorting by vendor would be rather small.

I think that we should keep the division by device.
It really helps the people that are only interested in one device (and I think they are the silent majority) find out where to look for info and where to ask for help.
Separating by feature is an interesting way of looking at this question, but I fear that it would confuse the users and increase the workload for the moderators, that would have to sort the incorrectly placed threads in the correct sub-forums.

[bill_mchale]

Just a few thoughts...

1. I Like the grouping by vendor. Even if the Iliad and the Digital Reader are very different devices, it will ultimately make it easier to find them if they are grouped together. Likewise for Sony.

2. To a certain extent though, I think a device needs to reach a certain threshold of activity before it gets separated into its own category and maybe even forum. In terms of threads, only 4 of the 11 current device specific forums (12 if you include the Apple iPod Touch/iPhone) exceed 500 threads, likewise, these are also the only device specific forums that have exceeded 10,000 posts (None of the others have come even close) ; to my mind, it just makes sense to separate out those into their own category simply because they have so much activity.

As for the rest, I don't think it will be that hard for users to find the ebookwise, or the Hanlin, or the Jetbook, by having forums dedicated to them under other devices.

My personal thought would be to have a Sony Category, a Kindle Category, an Irex Category,. a Bookeen Category, and other devices category and keep the "Which one should I buy forum" as a separate category. In addition, it might be use to include links to format conversions that might be relevant to the device (if possible in the forum software)... So in the Sony Category, include a link to the ePub and the LRF forums.


--
Bill

[cjp]

Your proposed restructure looks very good - user friendly!

[nrapallo]

Food for thought.

I'm not proposing this be the way to re-organize the forum, but, in case this "strikes" a chord with a lot of people, I put this out there to think about.

How about collapsing the E-Books Formats and E-Book Uploads forums into each respective E-Book Devices parent forum, as follows:

Sony E-Book Devices

* Sony PRS-700
* Sony PRS-505/500 ( merge "Troubleshooting" )
* Accessories
* Developer Corner
* E-Book Formats  (merge "Content" )
. * ePub
. * PDF
. * LRF
* E-Book Uploads  
. * ePub
. * PDF
. * LRF

iRex E-Book Devices

* iRex Digital Reader
* iRex iLiad ( merge "Troubleshooting" )
* Accessories
* Software Releases
* Developer Corner
* E-Book Formats  (merge "Content" )
. * Mobi/PRC
* E-Book Uploads  
. * Mobi/PRC

Amazon E-Book Devices

* Amazon Kindle ( merge "Troubleshooting" )
* Accessories
* Developer Corner
* E-Book Formats  (merge "Content" )
. * Mobi/PRC
* E-Book Uploads  
. * Mobi/PRC

Bookeen E-Book Devices

* Bookeen Cybook Gen 3 ( merge "Troubleshooting" )
* Accessories
* Developer Corner
* E-Book Formats  (merge "Content" )
. * Mobi/PRC
* E-Book Uploads  
. * Mobi/PRC

eBookwise E-Book Devices

* eBookwise 1150/REB 1200
* Accessories
* Developer Corner
* E-Book Formats
. * IMP
* E-Book Uploads  
. * IMP

Jinke E-Book Devices

* OEM/HanLin eBook/BeBook ereaderV3/Walkbook/EZReader
* Accessories
* Developer Corner
* E-Book Formats
. * Mobi/PRC
* E-Book Uploads  
. * Mobi/PRC

Other E-Book Devices

* Which one should I buy?
* Apple iPhone
* PDA/PPC Devices
* eREAD STAReBOOK
* Polymer Vision Readius
* Legacy Devices
* Others
* E-Book Formats
. * Other Formats
* E-Book Uploads  
. * Other Books


Then collapse the Formats/Uploads remaining subforums into the E-Book General and E-Book Software like:
E-Book General

* E-Book Formats - General/Help
* E-Book Uploads - General/Help

E-Book Software

* E-Book Formats - Workshop

The reasoning here is that most will come to mobileread.com with a Vendor's device specific need, so each major device should have it's own parent forum. Then should that device's ebooks be sought, in that device's forum would be the E-Books Upload forum as well as the major E-Book Formats it supports.

Obviously, the Mobi/PRC Uploads section would be the same for the iRex/Amazon/Bookeen Devices and just be links to the same sub-forum.


In the end, there would be only these main top-level forums (obviously with their subforums):

 E-Book General  
 E-Book Software  
 Sony E-Book Devices
 iRex E-Book Devices
 Amazon E-Book Devices
 Bookeen E-Book Devices
 eBookwise E-Book Devices
 Jinke E-Book Devices
 Other E-Book Devices
 Non-English Discussions  
 Miscellaneous

A different view of what's needed or heresy

[TadW]

Nick, wouldn't your suggestion - which includes even separating format discussions - lead to the "danger" described by lexico? To lure away community members by sticking them to their respective device sections?

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by TadW

Nick, wouldn't your suggestion - which includes even separating format discussions - lead to the "danger" described by lexico? To lure away community members by sticking them to their respective device sections?

I, for one, would not want to be "segregationalist", but rather point out that users come here for *their* device (and not for the greater good of unity amongst devices).

I do promote and will continue to support the idea of cross-platform unity/development, but don't necessarily think the forum structure (in its current or proposed form) needs to mirror that.

I'm just trying to think "out of the box" here so please don't take my idea or replies as trying to win support for this (radical) idea.

Just shaking the tree to see what falls out...