Announcement of forum closure (revoked)

[TGMX]

Additional background information on the subject

Of course there might be alternatives to closure - so if you can think of something, you can still voice so.

Michelle,

I cannot believe that there is anyone around this forum-- or for that matter, any other openBVE/trainsim related forum -- that has not the highest degree of respect and gratitude for your work. I do hope that the demise of the forum may not mark the end of your openBVE development work!

I believe, thought, that this forum has a lot of very useful information and resources, and I wonder if, at least for a time, you would be willing to leave the forum open, however, without member's postings... Or is it in anyway possible to save all the postings and be made available as "archive" material?

But anyway, you are #1! Thank you, very, very much!

Thomas

PS: But please, keep hacking away towards openBVE 2... openBVE3...

[milepost326]

I check this forum as often as I can…which means daily were possible.

I like to keep up with developments and follow the problem solving processes in which more knowledgeable members have helped those who are having problems.
A true forum idiom, wouldn’t you say….!?

As far as I see it…it may often be a slow forum, but nonetheless a very helpful and informative one, as stated above.

This forum may have taken a different direction than the one Michelle had intended for it, but I, and I’m sure a lot more people than have expressed an opinion, possibly feel it’s a positive direction. The unfortunate reality of forums is that…and we’ve all done it…we don’t read the FAQ before posting a problem. It’s annoying but it’s human nature… It's so much easier to post your problem without trying to see if anyone else has suffered the same problem.

If Michelle decides to close the forum, then so be it. But I can’t help but feel that the forum closure will be followed by a lot of uncertainty over the future of OpenBVE’s development…

I would suggest that the possible issue of the Forum Closure be put to a vote!

PB

[michelle]

I think I have made a bad example regarding votes in the past. It's an issue of quantity vs. quality. Votes vs. discussion. The former is unproductive, the latter is productive.

It's not as easy as that anyway. Unless you want the forum to end up in anarchy, someone still has to care about it. And as I am finding myself to be more and more uncapable of handling it any longer on my own, the only way of keeping this forum would not only be to rethink its nature, but also to have at least one, better two others who can assist with moderation. Unfortunately, all of those who I would entrust with this job have either declined, not responded, or not finally decided yet.

[blyndy]

An official forum is crucial, it's an important source of knowledge and discussion, not fragmented among multiple forums that may or may not be focused on openBVE and that may or may not have the same experienced users.

If you want to get better feedback maybe use a moderation system, like http://slashdot.org/ for the comments in poll questions. Or you can do something like http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/ to find out what the users want.