I don’t want to ask for this to be created - yet! I just want to make my case and see what others think. If enough support is seen, then I’ll make it a formal request.
Whereas
The people who contribute to this forum bring expertise beyond SketchUp, Layout, and other Trimble products and Whereas
This expertise extends to operating system details, use of other products frequently combined with Trimble products in common work flows, and more! And Whereas
Many of us have learned to trust the advice given in this forum. And Whereas
Some of us have better things to do with our time than search for obscure details in other forums when someone on this forum likely already knows the answer. And Whereas
If a forum member doesn’t know the answer, they often offer pointers to other forums likely to hold the required information. And Whereas
The Corner Bar category, while created for this purpose, has not be used for this purpose (or, at least, has a high percentage of posts that aren’t on topic even for Corner Bar!)
Be It Hereby Resolved That:
The administrators of this forum create a new category: Off Topic to serve as a place to ask questions of this community that the poster knows is Not related to the primary purposes of this forum.
When I started to compose my post, I’d forgotten about ‘Corner Bar’. I was about to post it when I remembered it. So I checked it’s purpose, found it to be (nearly) equivalent to my proposal, but populated by any number of posts that didn’t really belong! So I continued with my post and added the “Whereas” that addresses the failings of ‘Corner Bar’ for my purpose.
I had a particular problem in mind, which I have subsequently posted in ‘Corner Bar’ (there being no more appropriate place for it) which you can see at:
It also serves, I think, as an example of the sort of post I envision in ‘Off Topic.’
I do not like the name “Off Topic” for a category. To me it is an adjective that describes a post’s relevance. It is synonymous with “careless disregard for the current discussion” .
What is the impetus for this request Steve? Would you like to have some more “targeted” sub-categories beneath “Corner Bar” ?
If so, what would they be ?
“General Windows Discussions” ?
“General Mac Discussions” ?
I’m certainly not wedded to the name, it was just the first thing that came to mind!
Impetus is that it never occurred to me to consider “Corner Bar” for my recent post about Windows’ inconsistent treatment of capitalization. I knew it wasn’t an issue with any Trimble product, and I suspected that I’d get an answer faster from this group than groping around for an answer on the web (turns out I was right!).
I don’t think subcategories of ‘Corner Bar’ would be right in this case. No matter what the official description/purpose may be, I’ll always think of the ‘Corner Bar’ as a place to pass the time with friends, not a place specifically for answers.
IHMO the forum does not need more but less. It has de-generated to the point it is easier for folks to ask a question ( This proposed change re-enforces that) vs. using some effort to educate themselves. So now letting someone spoon feed them leading to the long post and seems to be new norm. I remember back a number of years that was usually not accepted.
Just today, I got a solution to a Windows problem quickly and easily. Should I have spent who knows how many hours searching various Windows forums/help pages? Or (as I did) simply present my problem to a group of people I already know, one of whom is likely to have the answer?
I vote for the latter.
Now if you’re referring to the large number of recent posters who seem to have spent no time familiarizing themselves with the core functions of SketchUp and/or Layout, I agree that it’s a problem, but I don’t think any additions/subtractions/reorganization of Categories in this form will solve that problem! But that’s another topic and, complying with the Forum Guidelines, should be discussed in it’s own topic.
