Not sure I should be posting this, as I'm about to cancel my (delayed again) pre-order. so I really shouldn't care what happens here. But I do, and I've been reflecting.

Even in the short time I've been here, I've noticed a change in the ethos of the forum. There's a higher proportion of posts I understand - and one or two of them are less than contributory.

I fear this is inevitable. Some of you might wish that t.m.o could go on just being a quiet corner for developers only, where everyone speaks the same language. There were disagreements, sure, but they tended to be technical or about specifications and the like. Or the karma system.

Now the reality is that a whole bunch of us non-techs have shown up, and we've changed the place. Some of us have (hopefully) brought something useful if not technical to the forum. Others have brought things that seem to fit less well.

I don't think t.m.o. was expecting this - or at least, I don't get the impression you were prepared. The fact that you are the first place that shows up on google may be great, but it means you will also attract less desirable posters. Even eventually, dare I whisper it, trolls who have no interest in maemo.

Right now, what we have is a whole bunch of people who're interested in the subject, but very frustrated at the repeated delays and date changes. They want to talk maemo, but they don't have a device to play with. Which probably increases the tendency to talk off topic.

The question is, how to respond. I don't think the 'fun stuff' is a problem (and I doubt you can make it go away completely even if you wanted) but I do think it needs to be kept in its place.

Fluff threads belong in Off Topic. A bit more rigor in moving or merging them wouldn't hurt. Less serious threads which become serious also may need moving: though that's been pretty efficient, I think.

Non-fluff threads need to be kept non-fluff, at least until they've fulfilled their purpose. A bit more nudging onto topic by all concerned would also help. (Once a serious question has been asked and answered, it matter less if the thread attracts spam). It is also possible in vBulletin to extract posts from one thread and put them into another. That can be useful for pulling unhelpful stuff out of a serious thread and into a fluff dump. Somehow, we need to make sure that those of us who are not developers have somewhere we can operate, share, ask questions and contribute without causing nuisance to those who are.

Finally, a word about karma and thanks: is it possible to rescind someone's ability to thank? Because that might be a useful abilty. With 'thanks' actually counting for something, you might also look at your tools for ensuring no-one is registering several accounts and going round thanking themselves. (Yes, I know the limitations of I.P. blocking.... but you could rule 'no giving thanks from a proxy', for example)

I suspect that the suggestion of removing the Off Topic threads from the sidebar was related to this concern about the 'noise', though it might also have come from the removal (since my arrival) of the 'profanity filter', resulting in profanity in the side bar, where it can't be avoided and doesn't look good to newcomers. Other places I have worked/played have ruled simply "No profanity in thread titles" and admins have edited accordingly. VBulletin also has an extremely complex infraction system, should you choose to use it.

Not sure what else to suggest. I should probably start a 'brainstorm' about this - but to be honest I still lack confidence in that facility!