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dregenthal

dregenthal

Veteran
I know I'm going to get my ass handed to me for this, so let me apologize in advance to anyone whose feelings may be hurt. because no offense is intended.

This forum has been a blessing. I have learned a lot from those with far greater experience and wisdom than myself. It used to be a pleasure--just couldn't wait to log in and check the latest buzz.

Not really sure what's changed (possibly that there are just so many members)? I now find myself weeding through a lot of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation questions that are identical to the ones asked days, months (and in some cases) years before. I don't think people are reading the stickies...maybe searches are not being pursued because there is just too much information?

It's hard to criticize a website that has brought so much and cost us absolutely nothing. But maybe I could make a suggestion (or two), If it makes sense and does not create an additional burden for Jarred and the Mods:

1. What about moving ALL the stickies to one page. That way people could review one entire list? Also carries the benefit of NEW posts appearing at the top of each page.

2. Maybe (and this ought to be popular, ha), not permit posting until a period of time after people register? Hey, doing that would have prevented you from having to read a bunch of my dumbass questions early on (although I do still distinguish myself with the occasional, not so well thought out, comment).

One of the things I have always admired about this community is that people, for the most part, are fairly tolerant of one another--I wouldn't wish to see that change or become a less friendly environment.

It's just that in examining my own behavior I've come to realize there are sections I visit less and less because the ration of questions that could have been answered by reading the stickies (or the manual which is provided with the equipment) seems to overpower the more relevent stuff.

Anyhow, I just I'd bring it up in case anyone else felt the same way. If I have offended I apologize...my intentions are honorable (and I just want to see this community continue to grow as one of the premiere sites going).

Best.
 
Dont worry about offending anyone, i think in the least that you should not have to apologize for that. I just think that part of being 'tolerant' to new users is not having any restrictions.

I think maybe the mods could clean up a bit, but it would delete their posts and making them revert back to junior members. I think one thing that irks me about when a new user posts a question thats been answered before is the condecending responses and empty "search is your friend" answers with no links. Thats probably the single most thing i hate the most, next to blogging, which goes on on every board im a member on,

whuddyagonnado.
 
personally i find the "search" section of the forum difficult to use. But hey that could be just me.
 
what we don't have to forget is that the forum is very usefull especially for newbies. We know our way around here. `the more we get experiences the more we find newbe questions boring. I agree with you but don't forget, I think there are 15.000 users, who are not really known with all the "rules". I see it for myself. Last week I had to know some things about other camerastuff so I registered on another forum but never went in to deep in the forum because I knew I went there only for one question and probably never come back there.
These were my thoughts and by the way this is a great forum, unbelievelable great!
 
JitCam said:
personally i find the "search" section of the forum difficult to use. But hey that could be just me.
Click to expand...

I agree: you want to search for a word and the results don't satisfy you, but you are not allowed to search for another word for 1 minute....

And if THEN, after 1 minute of wasting time the new results aren't better either (because e.g. not all your requested words were involved in the search), then you'll have fun, waiting ANOTHER 60 seconds...

Or do you prefer opening a thread, because searching is too boring and probably getting insulted for not using the "search" function?

You'll have to do your searchings while you actually work on something different on your computer and so you skip the 1 minute(s) waiting time.

And that's way not all the difficulties with the searching engine (I'm talking about the advanced mode of course). Often you just find yourself between too many search results and "not specific enough" .... perhaps it's just the settings of the engine, but I don't know any other engine that works so unefficient. Is our search engine a noob? Or are we?
 
I go to the google search and include "dvxuser" with the query and always get great results? Someone suggested that to me on this forum. Chuck
 
I know what you're saying, and whenever the signal-to-noise ratio drops (meaning too much noise and not enough "signal" aka useful/valid/helpful posts) we do try to step in.

The google idea is a fantastic alternative. The search function on this site is extremely resource-intensive, hence why it has to be restricted; it'd be great if it didn't need to be but the site crawled to a halt when we had unrestricted searching. Google, on the other hand, searches its own cache so it doesn't place a load on our server. The google searches may not be the most accurate but hey, if you find what you're looking for then it'll be faster and easier and places no load on us. Whereas if you can't find what you're looking for there, try the site search here -- it'll be more thorough in searching the archive of posts, but takes longer and puts more strain on the system.

Now, referencing the "search is your friend" posts, and how some people don't like that and think it's "unfriendly" -- too bad. I mean, I know why you say things like that, but referring people to the vast archive of knowledge here is how this site stays so valuable and relevant! If we were to constantly just re-answer every question without ever referring to past posts, we'd end up with a massive flood of superficial posts that don't really do anyone any good, and we'd also have a scad of users who won't lift a finger to do any research for themselves. Who does that serve? In fact, when does "taking the easy way out" ever really help anyone?

Every question has been answered in-depth, our membership usually goes above and beyond the call of duty to explain things in a comprehensive, useful way, sometimes even creating tutorials and posting videos or pictorial examples just to help others understand. If users would search out for previously-discussed topics they'll find all these amazing gems of knowledge. If they just get a superficial answer they'll skim on by and miss out on all the depth that this site has to offer, and we lose out on so much by doing that.

Referring people to past threads is one of the most valuable things we can do here, to keep the site relevant and give people the most information.
 
Cynic821 said:
I think one thing that irks me about when a new user posts a question thats been answered before is the condecending responses and empty "search is your friend" answers with no links.
Click to expand...

I agree that we need to be more polite; at least I do.

However, sometimes a new user will post a question that already is being discussed in a thread on the first or second page of the forum.

A little resourcefulness is a good start.
 
Barry_Green said:
Referring people to past threads is one of the most valuable things we can do here, to keep the site relevant and give people the most information.
Click to expand...

That's so true - this kind of answer is not only an answer in 2 words, but often a whole discussion with controvers opinions and so you get with one link a bunch of different views. That's way better than just one sentence of one person.

As you know, I myself am moderator of the largest video editing forum of Germany and we have the same problems with "unnecessarily opened threads". But don't forget: they have sometimes a different title and so they will support the search function for other users with the same question. If you post the release of a new version of FCP in the thread called "NAB news", then some won't find it. And if those people then kindly ask for it and get relinked to that post, they'll title their post more specific "when will FCP ... " etc. etc. . Those threads are then super handy, as they only consist of a specific title and 2 posts.

I don't like to see in our forum if users post things like RTFM and co. for the search function. Because THAT is wasting place and time and space of the forum. If you don't like the question that appears the 101st time, then just don't answer. I am the kind of guy that answers as briefly as possible to such threads: I take the time to post one link and that's it. If I don't find it, then I write: "I remember this question from February - would anybody post a link here? I don't find it right now. The point was, that this camera can't record more than 4GB." - That's it. 2 rows - brief answer - mention that this question was discussed in ... (link or at least date or user or folder to make search easier).

Many people REALLY don't know how to search for something. They don't use andvanced modes nor do they know the commands as " " or site:.au etc. And THEN it's really not easy to find something that has perhaps been posted only 3 days ago..... in folder X .

If you are not patient, then just ignore unnecessary threads because - they WON'T stop. You can't teach human to change as you can't teach human beeing to drive carefully and kindly on the highways - there will always be some guys who just don't learn it or don't WANT to learn it. It's the guys as you find in the forum saying "Yes I know RTFM, but I don't have the time to read it" - That's the point where even I don't have the patience and I won't answer it, but think by myself: "Well, it's only ONE chapter that concerns your question and so you won't have the time either to read the answers / my answer in the forum....."
 
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I have got to say the one change since I signed up that bother me the most is that it used to be a DVX then HVX only site. Now it 's becoming an "any video cameras site" There is more and more talk about the latest Canon or Sony and less and less talk about the DVX and the HVX... Also it seems I see more and more people getting into really nasty argument with each other, the "APEFOS" Thread, a couple of weeks ago, is a good example of how bad some thread can go, I was literally shocked... It's okay to disagree or critic eachother's work, but turning it into bullying other members is just unaceptable.
 
Bullying and personal attacks are strictly prohibited here; if you see that type of stuff going on be sure to report it to the moderators by clicking on the "report this post" button.

As far as it opening up -- we're not a site specifically for a specific brand or a specific camcorder, we are a site of/for/about the membership. The users. We're about what we DO with those camcorders. We're a support site for people using them. But it's not about the product, it's about the person using the product.

We went through a phase where we kicked all the other cameras off the site, because there was almost universal griping/whining/complaining/fighting amongst those who idolized one brand or another. We're hoping that we're past that. That we can conduct ourselves professionally, understanding that it's okay if other manufacturers stay in business, so long as the product they're making serves a particular users' purpose best.

As a common group, the Panasonic products have for years been far and away the most suitable for our users' preferred uses (i.e., making film-like footage). For almost 4 years the DVX was unchallenged. So we were a rabid group of DVX fans, not so much because it was "the DVX" or "Panasonic", but because of what the product empowered us to do, better than any other. But it's a bit of a different world now -- now every major manufacturer has gotten on board, and even pushed the envelope in a different way (I'm talking about the HV20 here, which opened up 24P for a whole new class of users, those who can't afford more than $1000 for their camera). So we're focusing our efforts more and more on the users, and what they're accomplishing and how we can help them to accomplish more, and less on brand-specific chest-beating. When we talk about these tools, we want to focus on "what they do" and "what they don't do", not so much "who they're made by."
 
If users would search out for previously-discussed topics they'll find all these amazing gems of knowledge
Click to expand...


im still wondering why my camera makes a clicking noise when i tip it foreward..

LOL
 
Barry_Green said:
As far as it opening up -- we're not a site specifically for a specific brand or a specific camcorder, we are a site of/for/about the membership.
Click to expand...

What would have given anyone the idea, that DVXuser.com was a site for a specific brand of camera. That is beyond me:) :beer: :Drogar-Love(DBG):
 
ozduc said:
What would have given anyone the idea, that DVXuser.com was a site for a specific brand of camera. That is beyond me:) :beer: :Drogar-Love(DBG):
Click to expand...

and the whole discussion here in a folder that's called Cameras/Panasonic Cameras/HVX200/... !!!

All posts here should be deleted (or moved) exept the two posts about the clicking sound that really IS from the HVX

:)

(btw: the clicking sound is the "mojo" that makes e.g. the film-look.... if you shake any camera and there's no clicking sound, then stay away if you're looking for the mojo...)
 
I am not a flower... I am not opening up.

User then proceeds to hold HVX and rock back and forth uncontrollably.

To think that only yesterday I recommended an HV20 to a relative. Stop the pain :-)
--
Rob
 
I think opening up is great, but then it becomes something else, a different forum, a forum about digital video in general,more mainstream, more consumer based rather than prosumer based that focus on one single product, the DVX/HVX ( If one consider the HVX to be the HD version of the DVX). I am sure you have noticed that quite a few people that used to be regulars on this forum have stopped posting, which is too bad since a lot of them had a lot of experience in areas such as digital cinematography, lighting, sound design, etc...
 
we all know deep in our hearts that our beloved hvx's are the core of this section of the forum.. we just have to try to understand that there are other cameras out there also, and there's nothing wrong with that... oh my god ive got to go, my hvx heard me typing this and is entering the room at this moment!

aaarrgga click click, click..
lol
 
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