powerpc forums

[f/stop]

Due to the sheer amount of Intel macs, anyone posting in the laptop (especially) or desktop forums about a PowerPc Macintosh is often bound to have their question buried. Perhaps we should have one forum in the hardware section titled PowerPc and a laptop/desktop subforum. Just throwing the idea out there.

 

[bartelby]

Why not just title threads to mention PPC and post in the appropriate section?

 

[xUKHCx]

Due to the sheer amount of Intel macs, anyone posting in the laptop (especially) or desktop forums about a PowerPc Macintosh is often bound to have their question buried. Perhaps we should have one forum in the hardware section titled PowerPc and a laptop/desktop subforum. Just throwing the idea out there.

I think the issue here is that people generally post more when they get thier new computers or when a new computer is bought out. As such when the switch to Intel occured the whole focus of computer discussion and discussion about newley bought computers shifted away from PPC. Those forums in question still retain their predessors in the titles for example iMac, eMac, Mac mini, where the eMac ended sales 2 1/2 years ago.

We try to limit creating new forums because it leads to over crowding and also makes finding the appropriate subforum more difficult. I think as the months and years tick by the proposed PPC forum will quickly dwindle away as less and less people have/use them.

When reading the forums I still find many posts about PPC machines and feel they generally fit well within the current categories. Especially so for machines that retained form factors accross the intel switch and maintain similar ties to this day.

At this point I feel the best suggestion is the one proposed above, give a good thread title with the specific hardware (i.e. PPC).

We are always open for discussion and new ideas and these are just my thoughts on the subject so this is by no means the end of this disucssion.

 

[Sun Baked]

Yes a lot of people post via "My iMac G3/G4/G5 won't boot"

 

[mkrishnan]

We try to limit creating new forums because it leads to over crowding and also makes finding the appropriate subforum more difficult. I think as the months and years tick by the proposed PPC forum will quickly dwindle away as less and less people have/use them.

My feeling is that we might want to have a sort of vestigial PPC Mac forum at some point, as a sort of step between Apple Collectors (where the computer is not only old but is specifically being used/restored as a labor of love and not practicality) and the forums for relatively newer computers. A comparison would be, now, we have a small handful of users using things like Pismos, clamshell iBooks, and CRT iMacs for actual everyday computing. These computers and their issues, though, are generally so unrelated to what's going on with C2D Macs running Leopard or even G5s running Tiger that I think they do tend to make up a small minority that gets buried.

If they were in some sort of "Older Mac Hardware and Software" forum, then that forum would have very low volume, yes, but the questions these people have would remain more visible to people specifically looking there. It's a trade-off, though, as they may be ignored by some users who've moved on but who have the knowledgebase regarding these old computers and can help. I guess my point would be that, while the volume would be low, it might not be much lower than some of the special interests forums or the Apple Collectors forum.

I don't think today is the day for that, though, or at least, I would draw the line elsewhere. To me, anything regarding a G4 or G5 running Tiger or Leopard is still fairly relevant. I guess my personal guess line would fall around something like the G3 and/or Panther as being far enough off the 2009 mainstream to warrant giving it its own place.

Just a thought, though, half-formed and nascent. 🙂

 

[Dejavu]

I think there should be a separate intel subforum and separate powerpc subforum for both the desktop and portable lines. it would add two more 'forums' but would make it easier to ask for help and better organization.