Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic
If he were a good PR guy, he'd know how important it is to clearly differentiate professional, open and ethical communications from weasely propagandizing. I have the feeling that Robertb is blundering into this community, desperate to get a piece of the action, without really understanding what he is doing. I wish he would take the time to understand how this community works to be fully welcomed by the audiences he is trying to reach.
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I have a certain sympathy with both sides of this argument. I find the constant prominence of multiple threads about one relatively small distributor of clones a little irritating. I sometimes find the presentation (and seeming acceptance) of Astak hype as if it were unbiased information mildly distasteful. But hey, the guy is trying to make a living.
The real problem, it seems to me, is not with Robert but with the failure of the structure of Mobileread to adapt quickly enough to changing needs. That is NOT meant as a criticism of the powers that be – I deeply appreciate the work that is done to maintain this invaluable community.
It would appear that the present forum structure is cumbersome to maintain – Alexander has implied as much in response to the understandable griping over the absence of a Jetbook forum. I have no way of knowing what changes are planned but I wonder if sometimes it would be better to respond quickly with second-best solutions rather than counsel patience while perfect solutions are implemented.
If nothing else the original Astak thread, with its thousands of posts, has demonstrated that a thread can act very effectively as a mini-forum. So why not forums with much broader topics, containing larger threads with greater use of coloured labels – as in the Lounge – to distinguish different themes. Would the utility of Mobileread really be diminished if there were, for instance, one Irex forum, using coloured labelling for subject areas and different devices rather than multiple sub-forums. Such a strategy would allow instant response to the launch of new devices and everyone would know where to go to find discussion on a new device.
I am not saying that this would be a better structure than the carefully-constructed framework of threads within forums within forums that exists at the moment – provided that elegant structure can actually be maintained, which it seems that it can’t. A less structured approach, with broader forum themes, could respond more quickly and even find space – such as a manufacturer’s contact forum – for the Robertb’s of this world to peddle their wares without irritating the hell out of people like Alexander.