Macrumors out of touch

[MacDawg]

The problem is, they're drawing in the wrong type of people, and it's hurting the quality of our forums.

The wrong type of people?
What is the right kind of people and who gets to make the checklist to decide if they meet the criteria before they post on a public forum?

MR and the Forums are very diverse and appeal to a wide range of people
Everyone has different needs and opinions
They come here for a variety of different reasons

Perhaps what you are saying is MR no longer meets your needs
And that is OK, because it may not meet the needs of everyone
But it apparently meets the needs of a lot of folks

Everything evolves
MR isn't the same place it was years ago before the emergence of iOS and its devices
But nothings stays static, and to do so means you die
MR is changing with the times, and rightfully so
You can argue it isn't for the better, but many who come here for iOS issues would disagree

Like anything else there is a bell curve
A small group who are huge fans of the site
A small group who are very critical of the site
The vast majority who just enjoy it and ignore/avoid the drama

 

[mikeo007]

The wrong type of people?
What is the right kind of people and who gets to make the checklist to decide if they meet the criteria before they post on a public forum?

MR and the Forums are very diverse and appeal to a wide range of people
Everyone has different needs and opinions
They come here for a variety of different reasons

Perhaps what you are saying is MR no longer meets your needs
And that is OK, because it may not meet the needs of everyone
But it apparently meets the needs of a lot of folks

Everything evolves
MR isn't the same place it was years ago before the emergence of iOS and its devices
But nothings stays static, and to do so means you die
MR is changing with the times, and rightfully so
You can argue it isn't for the better, but many who come here for iOS issues would disagree

Like anything else there is a bell curve
A small group who are huge fans of the site
A small group who are very critical of the site
The vast majority who just enjoy it and ignore/avoid the drama

Don't make a mountain out of an ant hill. I'm simply saying it's harder to sift through the increasing number of poor posts on this forum while looking for useful information. It could be a reflection of the internet as a whole, but I'm finding it especially prevalent here.

Agreed that to stay stagnant is to become irrelevant, but change for the worse is also a quick road to death. Not saying MR is anywhere near this point yet, but I'd hate to see it continue to move in that direction.

 

[snberk103]

...I'm simply saying it's harder to sift through the increasing number of poor posts on this forum while looking for useful information. It could be a reflection of the internet as a whole, but I'm finding it especially prevalent here.

Agreed that to stay stagnant is to become irrelevant, but change for the worse is also a quick road to death. Not saying MR is anywhere near this point yet, but I'd hate to see it continue to move in that direction.

Not saying you're wrong.... just giving a alternate view. I find the opposite to be true. I scan the front page. Mostly it's stuff I don't really care about... earnings calls and iOS devices, but over the course of several days there is always something interesting there. However I find the Forums very relevant and sometimes thought provoking. However, I only read a select few - none to do with iOS devices. The digital photography section I find is very well behaved and populated with generally nice people. But then again, we photographers tend to be nice people so it's not surprising, eh?

I've been part of a few discussions that started in "Other News" and got moved into PRSI. Politeness is little thin on the ground there, but I find if I am relentless with making my argument and relentlessly polite I can at a minimum get an "agree to disagree". It's all in the tone...

 

[BigPrince]

Before the iOS era, right? I can't believe that additional efforts from Arn have diminished the quality of this site. Or am I misinformed?

Sometimes you can try too hard.

However, I was more just pointing out the correlation which does not imply causation.

 

[mikeo007]

Not saying you're wrong.... just giving a alternate view. I find the opposite to be true. I scan the front page. Mostly it's stuff I don't really care about... earnings calls and iOS devices, but over the course of several days there is always something interesting there. However I find the Forums very relevant and sometimes thought provoking. However, I only read a select few - none to do with iOS devices. The digital photography section I find is very well behaved and populated with generally nice people. But then again, we photographers tend to be nice people so it's not surprising, eh?

I've been part of a few discussions that started in "Other News" and got moved into PRSI. Politeness is little thin on the ground there, but I find if I am relentless with making my argument and relentlessly polite I can at a minimum get an "agree to disagree". It's all in the tone...

I think it must really be isolated to certain forums then. The Notebook and iPhone forums are some of the busiest on the site, and as a result the effect is most pronounced there. We've got some great members around here, so most threads end up having some useful information in them, but almost all of them eventually break down into nonsense.

 

[SkyBell]

Ironically the site was better when this was Arn's side project and he still worked as doctor.

Just look at the user demographic we have in the forums. That will at least partially explain the quality of front page stories. They're meant to draw people in, not inform people. The problem is, they're drawing in the wrong type of people, and it's hurting the quality of our forums.

This is pretty much how I feel about the forums as well. As MR has grown, the quality of the content has declined correspondingly. It's still the best Mac forum on the web, but it's not near the wonderful place it used to be.

In the two and a half years I've been here I haven't noticed any decline in news quality...

You haven't been here long enough. Basically, (And this is just my personal opinion mind you) when iPhone became a big deal, the forums took a nosedive. When the iPad came out, a drop even further. For one, I like my MacRumors to be about Macs. However, that's not even the point. The problem isn't the iDevices, it's the people that they attract. I really wouldn't have an issue with the iDevices, even though I'm not interested in them, if the level of discussion from years past was the same. These days, it's hard to find good, thoughtful and researched threads in the forums. I refuse to visit the iPhone/iPad forums, I would imagine it's near impossible in there.

Every once in a while, newer members join that are genuinely helpful and fun to talk to, but I don't think I'm alone in saying that that is generally not the case...

 

[WillEH]

I feel all the droid responses by users (not naming people) doesn't help the forum, it brings no real discussion and most the time it's telling them to refer to another thread that never helps.

 

[mikeo007]

I feel all the droid responses by users (not naming people) doesn't help the forum, it brings no real discussion and most the time it's telling them to refer to another thread that never helps.

It's the same in other sections too. I dare you to hit up the iMac or Macbook sections and ask a question about dual booting OSX Lion and Windows 7. If you give it a day and return to your thread, you will (if you're lucky) have 1-2 helpful responses, and then a huge flamefest. You'll have the Windows trolls and the OSX trolls battling it out, while the sane people just ignore your topic.

 

[416049]

I think the first time i stumbled on macrumors was through a question that was answered in the forum. Since than I have visited various guides and the forums frequently. However, in the last 2 years of my membership I have never visited the front-page... ever.