New Forum Idea-Boards

[black_angus1]

Alright, heres a new idea for a forum-Boards.
My last idea for a new forum (internals) was shot down for impracticality reasons, because internals can vary radically from marker to marker. But all boards in all electronic markers serve on general main purpose: To activate the firing mechanism, whether it be the solenoid of a Spyder, or the pneumatics of an Autococker.
Sure, boards will vary slightly from marker to marker, but they are still a board, they still do the same thing, and for the most part they look the same. Just because an Autococker barrel has different threads than a Spyder barrel, doesn't mean it's not a barrel.
Yeah, they can go to the Kingman forum, or the Smart Parts forum, to ask about a new board. But you can also ask about a new barrel in those forums too!
Why don't we give boards the respect they deserve, the same respect as barrels, air systems, and loaders? Why shouldn't they have their own forum?

[OWNAGE]

But you can also ask about a new barrel in those forums too!
No they can't. Every "what barrel" thread I see either gets closed or moved to the Barrels/Paint forum.

[black_angus1]

"Can" not "may." Sorry if that was kind of confusing.
If there was no barrels forum, wouldn't people be forced to ask about barrels in the forum of the kind of marker they have? Just like people who have questions about boards, they have to ask in the marker for what kind of marker they have. When you ask a questions soley about a board, just like if you were to ask a question soley about a barrel or loader, does that really belong in the marker forums? Maybe, but if we had a forum for just boards, then we wouldn't croud the marker forums as much.

This proposed forum would include boards for loaders as well.

One more incentive to get this forum up and running is that PBNation has this forum, but we don't. That's one more reason for people to go to the Nation instead of here. We wan't as many people here as we can, right? The more the merrier!

[Lopez17]

You can have a discussion about a particular marker's board just as easily in the marker forum. Individual accessories do not need their own forum (hoppers and barrels notwithstanding).

[black_angus1]

Yes, you can talk about boards in the marker forums. But if we didn't have a masks forum, we would talk about masks in the marker forums too!

This site is so great, why don't we make it greater?

[Lopez17]

Because masks aren't individual to a specific marker. An Ion owner is going to care a little bit less about why a 2K2 Tadao board is better than an Entropy board. Kind of like an Intimidator Owner isn't going to have much use for discussion on T-Boards vs. Blackheart Boards. These are individualized upgrade discussions specific to a marker or marker type. Barrels, masks, tanks, etc. aren't going to change greatly from marker to marker and have their own issues and discussions.

I guarantee if we have a boards thread the first 5 posts are going to be "Which board for my Ion", "Which board for my Rail", etc. And these discussions should be in the appropriate marker forum so you get an answer that's in context. Much like asking for an "internals" forum, this one isn't going to happen for the same reason.

[Uziel Gal]

^^^
:nod:

Angus, I can see where you are coming from, because there are a lot of boards out there that are generic - in coding at least, if not in structure. The Virtue boards all use the same features and same coding, as do most Predator boards. Tadao boards of any given firmware version are pretty much the same as well.

So, can a Tadao THump board owner (DM 4/5/C) talk to an Tadao Ion board owner about the features of their board? Yes, because they both have the same firmware (M7) and the same features. But if the Ion owner wants some suggestions for settings, can the DM owner help? Not really. The Ion owner really needs to talk to other Ion owners who own the same board, and the place they are most likely to find them is in the Ion forum. I'm pretty sure that "best settings" questions would be almost as numerous as "which board" threads, and again, they're going to end up being marker specific rather than generic questions (the fact that every marker is a little different, and so needs slightly different settings to get the best out of it, not withstanding - I know people would ask anyway).

Obviously, when you go passed the generic boards to the more unique boards, not everyone in a general discussion forum will have knowledge of that particular board, so again you need to speak to people with that board, and you're more likely to find them in the forum for the marker for which the board is made than in a specialist equipment forum - after all, not everyone visits every forum, and those who do can't know all the answers, so you have to go where you'll find the most people who are likely to know the answer.

Another consideration is questions about stock boards - you'd be surprised how many people lose, don't understand, or just don't read their manuals. There are any number of questions asked in different marker forums about the stock boards. Pretty much all stock boards are marker specific, so the people who know most about them are the people who own those markers, and again, you'll get more of them in the forum specific to that marker than you would in a specialist equipment forum.

Add in the review section, which normally includes a feature list of the board in question, and that the marker forums often have threads and articles in relation to the boards available for that marker, and a forum covering the same topics would just add up to repetition (not to mention that people would no doubt still post questions in the marker specific forums anyway - we'd just end up with the same post in two locations rather than one).

I think this idea was much closer to the mark than a forum dedicated to marker internals, but while all the threads in such a forum might relate to boards, a lot of them would end up being marker specific - it's almost inevitable - so the majority of people visiting the forum wouldn't be able to give relevant answers. If the people with the knowledge weren't visiting that forum, then the question may never get answered.

[black_angus1]

I really should have made a poll with this thread...Pez, would you mind if I made a thread just for a poll on this subject?

[Lopez17]

You can make 10 polls but they're useless if I'm not adding it.

[black_angus1]

Alright, I just thought that this was a bit more of a democracy...but I see it's an oligarchy!

[Tabris17]

Chill out man. You just have to find a practical idea for the site, think about it, refine the ideas, then present it. The boards was a good idea, but not practical because it can be discussed in specific marker forums because they apply to the function of that marker.

[Lopez17]

And as I look at the forum PBN has created, the first posts I see clearly illustrate my point:

"What board for my Impulse" - Which would go into an Impulse forum.
"Tadao or Vibe" - Which just as easily fits into the Intimidator Forum.
"Not happy with my Virtue eTek" - Eclipse forum
"Cheetah board v10.0" - Hoppers/Loaders
"What board" - Intimidator Forum.

The only useful thing is a board sticky of one stop shopping. The questions are better addressed in other forums.