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Cristian Arezzini · 12-24-2013, 02:05 PM

Hello all, I'd like to know what you think about an idea of mine...
It's about this new forum. I really like it, it's much clearer and should hopefully stop all the complaints from people who are uninterested in some topics.
Anyway, I like that it's very neatly divided in subcategories. Currently I'm not very interested in older calculators - my collection is sort of complete up to the point where I could bring it, so I'm mostly using the Prime, so that's the section I spend most of my time in.
But I'm also interested in general mathematics - discussions, puzzles, physics, and so on. Right now, these topics go into the "General forum" section, which also includes discussions about older calculators. What do you think about moving all the "general math" discussions to their own section, and keeping discussions about old calculators (collecting, hardware, programming, fixing, everything) in another section? That way I could read the two sections I'm interested in (Prime and "theoretical stuff") more easily.
I talked to Dave about this, he says it would be very easy to do, and it would be fine with him, but he said better check what most people want... Smile

Cristian

Michael de Estrada · 12-24-2013, 03:46 PM

Fine by me. I'm not interested in math particularly, but am definitely interested in older vintage calculators.

**Katie Wasserman** · 12-24-2013, 03:50 PM

Other than splitting off the Prime threads (and earlier the WP34s ones) I like the mix of everything in one place. I didn't even mind the Prime/WP34S stuff there too but there were so many threads about them everything else was getting lost. For me, I'd only like to see separate forums for topics that overwhelm the General Forum -- I've never seen a math discussion do that.

Eric Rechlin · 12-24-2013, 04:04 PM

No, we have too many forums as it is. One would be great, 2 is OK, but the number we have now is excessive. It's too much work to keep looking at all the forums when instead I could just click my toolbar shortcut to bring up one, see all the new posts, and move on.

Thomas Klemm · 12-24-2013, 04:05 PM

This forum is not about math. There are other forums for that.
Usually mathematical questions arise in the context of some calculator.
Thus it doesn't make much sense to open up a specific section for that.
And then we don't have that many math related questions.
IMHO: keep it as it is.

Cheers
Thomas

Don Shepherd · 12-24-2013, 04:05 PM

Well, I agree with Katie that I rather like seeing everything of interest in one place, and the math discussions are not currently overwhelming, nor have they ever been. I am as interested in math as I am in vintage HP calculators, perhaps more so because I teach it.

But perhaps a separate math section--that might include math-based programming "challenges"--might be useful. In the recent challenge I posted, I encouraged entries for all programmable calculators, realizing that some of them have their own separate forum.

I'd vote to try it for awhile and see if it catches on.

Cristian Arezzini · (This post was last modified: 12-24-2013 05:15 PM by Cristian Arezzini.)

OK people, I understand your points.
But just to be clear: my proposal was not meant to remove some other "overwhelming" topics from the general forum, rather on the contrary... to make really "general" topics more easy to find by people like me who don't want to browse a section we're not interested in.

And it's not entirely accurate that there aren't many "general" math posts here. I remember many general math or physics challenges / puzzles; I remember discussions about mathematical language, units of measure, pure physics, and so on... As it is now, I don't ever open the "general forum" because I'm not interested in older calculators, so I'll likely miss all those interesting discussions.

Anyway, it was just an idea, I accept that I'm in a minority, that's not a problem! Smile

Cristian

Massimo Gnerucci · 12-24-2013, 07:51 PM

I don't see why someone not interested in older calculators should browse a "museum" site... Wink

David Hayden · 12-24-2013, 09:41 PM

(12-24-2013 04:04 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote: No, we have too many forums as it is. One would be great, 2 is OK, but the number we have now is excessive. It's too much work to keep looking at all the forums when instead I could just click my toolbar shortcut to bring up one, see all the new posts, and move on.

Note that you can view new posts only. See the "View New Posts" link at the top left of the page.

walter b · 12-24-2013, 09:43 PM

I vote for keeping math in the general forum - for the reasons mentioned above.

d:-)

Cristian Arezzini · 12-24-2013, 10:00 PM

(12-24-2013 07:51 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote: I don't see why someone not interested in older calculators should browse a "museum" site...

Are you saying I should leave? Smile

At the moment, I don't have the time to follow every single "topic"... So I've left classic calcs behind a little, since at the moment other things (like the Prime) interest me more. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy this forum, or most of the "general" posts! And another section would just make it easier for me.

Cristian

RMollov · 12-25-2013, 01:31 AM

I'm against. Math related threads were never objected here and always interesting for not-mathematicians like me. I actually learned a lot from them.
Leave it as it is.

Massimo Gnerucci · 12-25-2013, 07:11 AM

(12-24-2013 10:00 PM)Cristian Arezzini Wrote:
(12-24-2013 07:51 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote: I don't see why someone not interested in older calculators should browse a "museum" site...

Are you saying I should leave? At the moment, I don't have the time to follow every single "topic"... So I've left classic calcs behind a little, since at the moment other things (like the Prime) interest me more. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy this forum, or most of the "general" posts! And another section would just make it easier for me.

Cristian

Leave? Of course not! Smile

And I am not interested in the Prime (at least for now, let's wait a couple of years...) but was overwhelmed by posts on it, and still now I am not able to completely filter it out from my forum daily view (sections and posts stand out in bold when updated) but, hey, we can't have it all.

I'd leave the things as they are, at least for some time, until we settle.

Merry Xmas!

Ángel Martin · 12-25-2013, 07:43 AM

+1, Math subjects covered in the forum are intrinsically linked to the Calculator world and IMHO entirely appropriate in the common forum.

Best,
'AM

Jeff O. · 12-26-2013, 01:11 AM

Nice avatar!

On topic - I vote to keep math discussion in the general forum.

Les Bell · 12-26-2013, 02:28 AM

(12-24-2013 04:05 PM)Thomas Klemm Wrote: Usually mathematical questions arise in the context of some calculator.
Thus it doesn't make much sense to open up a specific section for that.
[...]
IMHO: keep it as it is.

This expresses my view exactly.

HAL9000 · 12-26-2013, 02:43 AM

(12-26-2013 01:11 AM)Jeff O. Wrote: Nice avatar!

On topic - I vote to keep math discussion in the general forum.

Mine is the real one!

walter b · 12-26-2013, 05:58 AM

(12-26-2013 02:43 AM)HAL9000 Wrote:
(12-26-2013 01:11 AM)Jeff O. Wrote: Nice avatar!

On topic - I vote to keep math discussion in the general forum.

Mine is the real one!

Why are you nervous, HAL? Wink

Les_Koller · 12-26-2013, 11:29 PM

To be brutally honest, I prefer the way it was before, this new forum idea. I agree it makes it harder to keep up this way than it did before.

Mark Hardman · 12-27-2013, 12:09 AM

(12-26-2013 02:43 AM)HAL9000 Wrote:
(12-26-2013 01:11 AM)Jeff O. Wrote: Nice avatar!
Mine is the real one!

As much as I love the avatar, I would love it more if it were not animated.

Mark Hardman