Forum Suggestion for moderators & all of Us!

I brought this up to Karlos yesterday and I decided to post it on here now to get some feedback on this suggestion (I'm seriously asking for feedback from everyone).

I know it will be a little time consuming to set up, but I think the end result will result in a MUCH better forum experience, especially with interaction between NI personnel and the rest of us.

I would also state that this should be done in the Traktor Pro sub-forum only.

The first step that needs to happen is to move posts to the sections where they belong. Technical issues, Feature Requests, Controller Issues...all in their respective sub-forums. Questions about set up or which version to buy, etc, should go in the main forum.

Now, here's the tedious part...merge all posts on the same topic into one big post. If there are known tickets opened and posted, list them in the first post. Then maintain a 'sticky' post with brief descriptions of each problem and links to the posts (almost like a FAQ style).

Once it's all streamlined like this our community can better understand what problems people are facing, how many people are affected, and it allows engineers (or whoever) to view one post with all relevant information. Problem Trending...huge positives here.

Even if only one person is actively working on a problem that multiple people are having, the post can be updated for all to see. No more needing to search every perceivable phrasing instance of your issue to see what's been done, how many people are having the issue, and what's been tried in the past.

Everything is contained in one post. Streamlined, efficient, and most of all, user-and-engineer friendly.

This doesn't have to stop with just Technical Issues (although that's what I'm focused on). Feature requests can be merged, controller topics (how many "Where can I find a .tks file for my xxxx" topics should REALLY be allowed?), etc can be easier to find.

It's not going to be easy, nor quick. I would volunteer some time to help with organization effort...and I think you might find others on here who would as well. But the rewards associated with accomplishing this far outweigh the effort involved in setting it up.

I welcome everyone's feedback and constructive criticism on this suggestion. I'm sure there are ways to make it better. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 

That's a good idea and really should have been done from the start. Pooling all the requests, complaints, positive feedback, and questions into respective threads or forums will clean up the board, help people with searches, and overall (IMO) lift the mood of this community so people are actually willing to help others and/or listen to suggestions and comments. +1 for chilly! We need to get a rep system up in here to recognize the helpful users like this man here.

 

Thanks for your feedback Telly...

 

Hey, it's very rare either of us posts something useful, I feel you should be credited when you do.

 

Agreed. Let's say 5 people report basicly the same problem the mods put up a sticky under Technical Issues.

For example "Do you have keylock problems? Post here"

Something like that
---
and "Epic rant sticky"

 

It is a good idea. The Forum is under review and all suggestions are welcome. Can i say 'realistic' suggestions without being accused of being negative or unambitious ?
Chillys suggestions are also reflections on how the forum is currently working. The Forum gets in a right mess from time to time Moderators spend a lot of time simply moving stuff around into the correct place so i see Members participation in this being crucial.

I cannot for the life of me understand why a "Heres My VCI tsi" thread gets posted in the Main Forum when there is a clearly marked Controller Sub Forum.

The idea of incorporating threads about one issue together would work great but its often the case on forums that people like to have their own effect on proceedings rather than contribute to one overall thread.
We all know that some peoples ego is greater than their ability to work together. I encourage the working together ethos.

I completely agree that certain topics should be grouped and collated so that people dont have to dig thru 100s of threads/posts to get one definitive answer. This would not be easy. I currently spend a HUGE part of my day working on the Forum. But thats no reason not to be ambitious .

One problem i see is the filtering of what some may consider 'BS' and what chilly refers to as the "where can i find xxx" posts.
This is where members have a duty to use and understand the forum better. Search the forum , look for the answers. Dont just post your problem, try to resolve it, then post it and give us the info we need to help you.

I have personally answered 4 threads this week just concerning "which Upgrade to buy". All the info is out there and has been answered a 100 times.
Ive got no problems answering these, i know every aspect of the DJ pricing structures off by heart. But there is a Sales thread and hardly any DJs use it (although other NI product users do) so maybe a dedicated DJ Sales thread is the answer.

This forum can be run really well. I see areas where there can be much improvement made but any improvements will only work it they are used correctly. Otherwise ill just spend my time deleting QUADRUPLE posts like i did yesterday and removing links to mixes and editing saucy pictures (actually the pictures, post more).

Credit to chilly for starting a positive forward thinking thread.

[edit i was on the phone when i wrote that so it may not make total sense]

 

May I throw in another suggestion? For FAQs or similar stuff a WIKI is most suitable IMHO. I've experienced a few occasions where this worked out really well. This should, of course, be an additional site to the forum. I think if this would be the case the moderators could handle the forum a bit stricter by deleting more of the senseless postings and redirect people to the Wiki and keeping the forum clean for special cases and questions that are not already covered within the Wiki.

 

hi,

some time ago i posted a similar purpose concerning a kind of ticket follow up, with the same intention: keep track of what's being adressed/investigated and already answered issues reference for users.

it was intended to be likely a quick and dirty knowledge base but...

the post was up for just a few minutes before it was deleted...

:S

anyway I think it's a good idea to do what chilly describes, the wiki dj sko foresees and even make the feature requests as sticky polls.

i think it'd be nice if, before a new release, NI could make a forum survey on the items they found feasible to implement, so we could express ourselves in terms of what we consider highest priority based on our usage. and feel participative, of course.

 

Then that's the moderator's duty to make sure the post moves into the correct topic.



And again, thank you everyone for you replies.

 

I'm trying my best to move as many posts as I can.

It's tedious but it has to be done or the forum gets really messy.

 

+X

Added this: The forum would certainly be less of a free-for-all ... and there would be certain heavy degree of "responsability" on the moderators. Morality would be questioned. Polatics would become more relevant.

And... I think there should be a live Chat window re-in-stated -- one-on-one help would be more relevant and less tedious ... group chat would cause and release the gravity that is characteristic of the BS sessions.

There would also be a greater degree of responsability with Chat because the dialogue is not out in the open. And results are not visible once things get resolved. If something important was resolved in chat it would be the users responsability to search the forum for a relevant thread to add to or post up a new thread with the important information.

I am a big fan of chat myself. I spend a big part of every day on the computer working, listening to music, and using audio software. The chat window is a constant source of input and output for ideas with other people. It is instantaneous ... and can provide quick results for an issue.

Having groups of forum users that are checked out and available for chat might keep such a utility legitimate. .. and reason for our forum handles to be listed when the browser sits on a forum page for long periods of time. Logged in ie: signaturex < and thereafter.

 

I'm up for it. I think it's a great idea.

It's becoming harder and harder to get to the info that you need and could do with some consolidation. Having to wade through the endless which laptop/hard drive/soundcard is getting tedious in the extreme. Funnily enough I posted yesterday about sub dividing the Controllers Section for exactly the same reason http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81037.

There was a wiki for Traktor 3 but it's not available any more, I don't know what happened to it but know that Big Phil was in some way involved, I have a feeling that it was just too much work and not enough play.

I'd be happy to try and help in any way and am already planning on doing a Xone 4D mega-thread.

 

Hey Chilly, I appreciate your input and your concern for the forum to be a much more concise and organized information resource, which I totally share.

Your suggestion is worthwhile but I am sure that the moderation effort involved would drive everyone insane (unless you indeed volunteer to take care of it

Another possibility along those lines that I have actually considered, and that would be even more consequential, would be to let every new thread go into a moderation queue first. Moderators could then decide to either approve the thread (if it's a new and worthwile topic), or merge it into an existing thread, or to delete it if it's basically a double post or otherwise irrelevant.

I don't think that we could introduce such drastic changes on short notice but let's keep the discussion going here anyway.

 

I don't think a moderation approval queue would be too beneficial. Firstly, (and I don't mean to sound negative here) I feel those users who post up an urgent issue like "Why doesn't Traktor look like Serato, I hate you Thomas" would get even more peeved at waiting for approval. Secondly I think this approach would occupy just as much of the mods' time as manually going through the day's posts over the course of a day; at least if you're a mod living on the forums all day like some of us peons, you can catch the posts as they come up and deal with them immediately, instead of, say, waiting to get home from work and instead of posting any useful info you spend your whole night moving and approving posts and threads.

Perhaps mods can be assigned to specific subforums and will be in charge of maintaining each, ruling with an iron fist and a bowl of jello. A mod with specific experience relating to that aspect of the Traktor family can be assigned to it. For example, I'm a bit of a nerd with my timecode and mixers, so if I were a mod (and this post does NOT mean I'm volunteering....unless you send me a Maschine to play with) I would want to administer that group, leaving Karlos to address the rants and raves, because he's so damn good at public relations.

Keep the mods accountable for what's going on in their specific subforums and they will stay clean and organized.

 

collating info and issues from threads has been recieved both negatively and posatively especially recently. .. Its apparant that no matter how anyone goes about it .. there is somewhat of a motivational friction that can cause a few ruffled eyebrows. WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT!:angry:

anyway. Those that would like to benefit the forum by creating info-centered and collated posts that are very helpful .. should do it anyway despite the approval of NI, the Mods, or Users in general. Cyberspace is a free country, hhahaaa....

Ideally good info based posts would link users with off-site resources like wiki, how to videos, or well produced utilities like DJ Smex's tks viewer.

If people have to wait around for the Mods to say go or NI to say "yes we endorse this" then things just VIBE all beurocratic and unefficient and stupid. Its just the nature of the beast. Those of you who have worked in government are certainly aware of it.

Some big posts that I see coming on as collated masterpieces are:


traktor 3.4.1 final fix list< do it or I shoot the cat.

Hercules RMX fixes and configuration

allen and heath xone 4d info base

Rewire/soundflower/VAC/Jack-osx/Bomes etc.

NATIVE MIX RECORDER DEVELOPMENT < do it or I shoot the dog

TAG Editing and Library managment for a healthy T-pro

Latest OSX optimization

Latest Windows optimization

Scratch-pro or Serato < Help ... mommy!

Stanton Scratch amp 2 final scratch 2 and traktor 3.2085 mac osx

etc.

 

Thomas, thanks for the reply.

I would definitely hold my word and volunteer to help with any changes. And if you are sending a Maschine to TeLLy you might as well send one to me too. Just an FYI.

But seriously, one of the biggest gripes out in the DJ community (not only here, but on many other forums as well...including direct competitors) is the lack of involvement and information from Support. There might be 50 topics on pops and clicks in Traktor 3 (as an example), but unless you type in exactly what could be searched on, you might not ever know that this has been worked on with ticket #xxxxxxxx and input from Support was posted, and there is relevant information for you to solve your issue.

I know with my 'Unknown Medium Calibration Failed' error message there were a number of people who posted after me that had no clue what to try to do to find the source of the problem, next steps to take, and ultimate resolution. Imagine being able to group all those into one post and have everyone's input there for you to read. Not only read what I did, but read from Mods or Developers or other users and their experiences.

This goes a LONG way into changing the image that NI is unresponsive. People like me who have been here a while realize that not every post can have the same level of interaction from NI...mostly because it's been answered before! And then you have me being me, telling people to search the forums before posting...but not even that guarantees that they will see what they're searching for.

...Well after that extended response I am excited to read more of what everyone has to say!

 

My idea:

When you enter the TRAKTOR PRO / TRAKTOR SCRATCH PRO forum the "general" forum should be a part of the sub forums so that people don't just come in and do the easiest thing which is hit instantly hit "new thread".

See my awsome photoshop

Under Technical Issues there should be sub forums for time code or internal playback with common issues threads like Keylock f.ex.

DJ Controllers should have sub forums for all the different controllers.

And how about an "open letters from users" sub forum where you can post anything you would like NI to read and other users to comment on. One-liners would not be allowed.

 

sounds like a well housed album collection.

please define a one liner.

 

My 100k+ bedroom users comment would classify as a one liner HEH

 

Are you saying that im a company yes man.

Im more than prepared to keep answering the mundane posts about 'why my crossfader doesnt work' and 'can i use Scratch with my Maya soundcard' but Mods already do have certain areas that they tend to be involved in its maybe just not so clear.
Im the guy that answers all the (and by all i means 100s) of noob questions a week and certainly dont have the tech knowledge of say PhilL or the dj skills and know-how of djquartz but as a team stuff just gets done (not forgetting the inspiration to all Mods, native_girl).

Moderation is only part of a well run forum. Members must prepared to follow forum rules, post in the correct sub-forums and adopt an ethos of co-operation. Ive been on forums were there have been so many moderators the place turns into a war zone which is something that thankfully this place rarely becomes apart from the odd scuffle but even those are few and far between compared to even last summer.

As for Pre-Approval etc , man that would take an army of mods to achieve. We all know what helps and what doesnt and we are all capable of posting both. NI bashing has been an epidemic on the forum and as Thomas pointed out once , we would have no faith in the forum if there wasnt some crap thrown at the company but when a perfectly rational thread about 'Xone 4D' turns into "thats great but keylock is sh*t and NI suck" what is the best course of action because i can tell you one thing as soon as a Mod steps in you are accused of being an apologist or Fanboy of NI. Is that fair, no clearly not. Can we handle it, 99 times out of 100 yes, it goes with the territory but it doesnt make it cool. Sometimes its like biting the hand that feeds you because even if some guy has had pointless rant and the mod has listened to a bunch of crap when the member eventually explains his issue the Moderator always forwards the problem to support and trys to get it resolved.
Someone in another thread said they worked in Support somewhere and claimed that they just ditch ranting callers. Not here, not me. Choose to believe it or not.

I say no to pre-approval, its hard enough when you try to turn a rant into a balanced argument nevermind having to approve the rant in the first place then try to have a balanced discussion .