So what are the chances of having a new forum?

Curiosityx

Curiosityx

Curiosityx

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Normally id say not good but there does appear to be an ever growing market for an extension to the SOHO based forums at OcUk for IT professionals.

I like a lot of the users work within the IT industry would like to see and listen to discussion regarding business orientated topics such as new server based technologies, networking environments and business targeted solutions, examples being the new C-Class HP Blade System, Administration tips and tricks for Windows Server, Configuration of the Cisco IOS command set and many more.

What is provided at present it excellent, the wealth of knowledge available to users is un-questionable but at times lacks the complexity needed to solve advanced issues rarely seen in the home, such topics often get overwhelmed with more basic questions and never answered by the people who could help.

I realise that topics such as this fall outside what is currently available on these forums but extending the knowledge base cannot hurt.

Whatever your decision may be i hope you can consider the points raised above but alas the service is provided as a gesture of good will which is much appreciated and isn’t always liable to change.

Regards

:)
 
The trouble is that a lot of the enterprise-level knowledge is rather specilaized. I might know a bit about the C-Class HP Blade System but I don't know anything about the Cisco IOS command set. The number of users who could help with your problems are limited in number so I thin that a lot of questions would go unanswered.

Add to that OcUK (the shop that pays the bills) largely targets enthusiast consumers rather than enterprise customers.
 
True, i do agree with your points. I wouldnt have suggested this a couple of years ago but i do feel that as the user base grows to what is now over 26,000 users there is a lot more knowledge avaliable than the earlier days of the forums, aswell as many more experiences within IT.

If there was oppotunity for discussion on such matters id be confident of people avalible to provide an answer, personally where i work provides these for me and through my own studies but i know there are many people either un-aware of such technologies or need help in perfection the use of them.
 
I'd certainly join in here.

Despite my enthusiast approach to home computing, I do actually work tech support at the Enterprise level.

So bring on ya Server 2K3 and exchange related questions and discussions! :D
 
i to think this is a good idear

i come to these forums for the wealth of knowlage it holds

i am 20 and just starting my carrea in ICT (IT techy in a school) i enjoy reading the informaton contained in this forum and think then sections like the ones above would help people like me learn a lot about the more technical and complicated issues.
 
Ok, I do think that it would be a useful subforum. Let us look at the prospect from the point of view of a comissario or Spie. What potential rule-breaking problems exist? Might there be a problem with competitors?
 
yep, not a bad idea.

The "Networks & Internet Connectivity" forum is full of ("wireless won't connect" or "spec me a router")
and the "Windows & Other Software" forum is full of ("spec me a firewall/AV" and ""got virus/spyware")

anything else more interesting is churned off the front page in a day or so.

It is kinda useful seeing other peoples approach to solving problems, and how they like to run their department.
(The IT mailing lists tend to be more "ta-da!...the answer is XYZ")

Hopefully it won't get swamped with IOS questions though :-)

.
 
bitslice said:
yep, not a bad idea.

The "Networks & Internet Connectivity" forum is full of ("wireless won't connect" or "spec me a router")
and the "Windows & Other Software" forum is full of ("spec me a firewall/AV" and ""got virus/spyware")

anything else more interesting is churned off the front page in a day or so.

It is kinda useful seeing other peoples approach to solving problems, and how they like to run their department.
(The IT mailing lists tend to be more "ta-da!...the answer is XYZ")

Hopefully it won't get swamped with IOS questions though :-)

.
Click to expand...

Very much my thoughts, on a seperate note i can invision an entensive range of subjects due to the shear number of people avaliable to comment, of course Cisco is one such topic but there are many variations of server hardware, centric software and dedicated applicances avaliable to discuss.

:)
 
This sounds like an excellent idea. I assume that like me there must be rather a few IT systems analysts and engineers present on the boards, we all love to tinker at home with enthusiast gear.

From OCUK's point of view you have a problem in that some very common names in enterprise IT hardware and software might be considered competitors (Dell, HP etc as they all sell things that OCUK sell).

However if the community were to be a more seperate offering to the standard forums we might have a base on which OCUK could offer a business enterprise orientated section to their hardware site. I don't know how successful this might or the cost implications but with the shiny new website interface I assume it would be relatively simple to knock up a new section of the site. The only problem is overcoming the name as many business customers would shy from something so orientated to unstable computing rather than solid reliability.
 
Dureth said:
From OCUK's point of view you have a problem in that some very common names in enterprise IT hardware and software might be considered competitors (Dell, HP etc as they all sell things that OCUK sell).
Click to expand...

Companies such as HP and Dell would be considered competitors but in the context of enterprise IT they are not as OcUk arnt in direct competition for the business sector.

:)
 
This is great idea, a soon to be graduate like myself can learn a lot from forums such as these as I have from being a member on the forums so far.

Kiz
 
It does sound like a great idea. There is nothing wrong with the forums at present and they provide great service to people of lesser ability/knowledge, however it can be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find some of the more technical serious computer related posts. Therefore the idea of there being a more highbrow IT subforum is excellent.

I would think of it like:
General Discussion and Speakers Corner, ie
General Hardware and IT professionals (or the like)
 
Where would the new forum be attached, Hardware or Software? I imagine that an IT forum would deal significantly with both, perhaps leaning towards software.
 
If anything it will just be another small section to see how things go.

The trouble with adding sections is you do not want every section to be like Optical Storage and Writing! :p

Was talked about briefly but other things have since happened so it may take a while to get a final answer.

Going to be pestering an admin as I think it would be a very good idea and there is certainly enough traffic to warrant one, the one question is if the sections losing the traffic can afford to do so.
 
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