jjx, i agree and i take those concerns - it might be that members logged in may be forced to view entire threads by default, or some such
maybe not allowing giving thanks when in this moderated mode or something
the people who are involved and discussing things in the thread know more than people who arrive later.

Hmmm I posted a thread a couple of days ago querying whether the n900 forum needed splitting into some sub-fora. To be honest, I think the whole 'restructuring' idea might help.

It's a bit of a mad-house down there, in a forum under a heading 'hardware' you have a lot of threads about shipping/customer services/Nokia in amongst threads on tips and tricks and first impressions and genuine hardware threads about microphones and batteries. How many of those threads actually belong in the 'Fremantle' forum? How many should be 'off topic'? But there's no point in moving them: the new folks are seeing "n900 forum" and not really going anywhere else. They'd just start more.

Add to that the fact that a high proportion of these posters are new arrivals - some bringing high levels of skill and knowledge, some bringing nothing more than a sense of excitment, and a few carrying a sense of entitlement - it makes the forum a little crazy, and I get the impression that some of the longer-standing members are... avoiding it. Which is a shame, as we could use more wise heads and great knowledge in there. A HUGE THANKS to the people who have waded through to find the posts about real issues and responded. Believe me, it is appreciated.

I've heard the stuff about restructuring, and I wondered whether something as simple as vBulletin's 'sub forum' system would help. I would also suggest that all threads in apps/media/games should carry a title which includes maemo version.

There have been a few fights (the maemo.org = competition thread was one such - you know the one I mean ) but on the whole we're still afloat.

In a way I'd like to turn it back to the community: how do the long-standing members feel? How do the n800, n810 users feel? How is the 'noise to signal' ratio for them? I suspect the restructuing thread is the answer to that.

The developer's discount thread is a good example of even "wise, long-standing, knowledgeable" members going a bit off-kilter as the weeks go by and there's no news of their N900s...

Please, Nokia, get those phones out the door! I want to go back to the days when you could tell a troll thread by the use of "goodbye," "garbage," "useless," ("sucks", "blows", etc) and/or "iPhone" in the title.

You forgot "sucks".

Ahhh. I've missed that one. (Seeing at it has no application to me and I'm barely keeping up!). I have an old Mod Stick of Thwacking from another board you could borrow?

I personally would like to see a seperation of Thanks into Thanks (for thanks for the info) and a seperate 'I Agree' or similar. That might also reduce the number of 'me too' posts.

Am I loosing the plot or does that make sense to anyone else?

Just my tuppence worth...

There is a very high signal to noise ratio that in some ways is worse now that 'some' people have got their devices. I joined this forum the day I put my pre-order in and have been very noisy in the various shipping threads
In my defense, I have tried to help some people with some generic advice when I feel I can help
I think that over the next month or so, it will calm down as people finally get their devices and actually get down to the technical nity grity so to speak.
At the moment, there is alot of venting, its hard at the moment guys, both the waiting and the desire to help, which is not that easy when you don't have a device and have no experience in maemo.
Being a forum member is about a community spirit, and at the moment, I share two things with other members, a desire to own a n900 and frustration at not having a n900. this will change once I have one to a desire to see what the device can do and how hard it can be pushed...

I think it might be a better idea to hold off any restructure until the noise over the release dies dies down a bit and then see what is needed for a better experience???

Some ideas that could improve the s/n:

1) sticky "how to post to this forum" notes on top of EVERY subforum.

This is clearly our #1 problem - nobody knows the rules.

Having a sticky post explaining clearly what is acceptable to post, like do not go personal, no swearing, no piracy, etc. Also any sub-forum specific rules like "howto title threads in this subforum, what to include in bug/testreports etc.".

2) more active moving of threads.

For example the "Openness: Maemo vs Android" to "competitors", lots of the n900/maemo5 forum threads belong under "applications" etc, and lots threads should go straight to "offtopic".

3) active removal of one-liner non-contributional comments.

Eg. people replying to comments with "what is this sh*t" "whatever" etc. These don't really help anyone.

4) more moderators

Surely with this amount of users there are coolheaded people who could help offloading the volume?