Blender.org forums needs a users forum

[luckybreak]

At the very top ABOVE "General forums" preferably .


Understandably everyone gets a bit peeved at offtopic posts for help flaring up in every forum and it comes through in peoples responces. But the first place new users find themselves is here not at elYsiun.
Noobs are going to continue to be offended, & put off blender at being sent to a completely different site just to answer little questions.

Give the noobies a place here at .org. Maybe it'll help keep the other forums ontopic

LB

oh and also these new users are strolling in and not realising the forums are for developement and the titles "General forums" and "Blender functionality forums" don't make it clear enough to people. I'd suggest something more blatant like "General software developement forums" and "Blender programing functionality forums" OK sounds dicky but it would get the point across, particularly with a "Users Q&A" forum all on its own at the top.

Ah sorry am ranting now.

[modron]

I think this is a good idea,...I was thinking the same thing myself,...clear designations within the forum according to knowledge level and experience. Perhaps a subforum specifically designated for off topic posts, or posts that don't fit into any exsisting catagory. Possibly another devoted to tutorial URLs, where people could leave their favorite URLs according to catagory. I'm not sure exactly how that would be done though, without it becoming simply a jumble. I think I'm really starting to figure this interface out btw...is there anything it can't do? I am hoping there is a button somewhere labelled "make coffee". Oh and hey,...here's a thought: how about a 'leave a tutorial' section...perhaps catagorized by version, or general? My website is broken, and my computer is making funny noises, but when I get it all straightened out, i shall post some wire frames, or a download of my face model or something. I feel compelled to make a contribution of some kind. I am moved by the generosity of Ton and the others who have made blender possible. And, on behalf of newbies, Blender is like being given a trunk containing a variety of precious gems and coin, but, alas, the key to the trunk is in the form of a colosal rubiks cube that needs to be put in order before opening. The search for answers can be frustrating. But only because Blender has so much to offer is it so frustrating to learn. WELL WORTH THE PAIN!

[ton]

thanks for the feedback.

I will look at making a better description for forums/categories, to make sure people can find their way.

Adding new forums now? Uhh... we just reduced 14 forums back to 8. Let's see a while how it works now!

The most confusing part remains that we don't offer user feedback, Blender support, etc. That's still the purpose of user sites like elysiun.com.
Something to look at, maybe by adding a few 'fake' forum links that shows a listing of all well-visited support forums.

[luckybreak]

I agree, even if Blender.org had a user forum, id still post my questions at ElYsiun Q&A. for responce time and view counts.

LB

[nuance9]

My two cents:

Cent 1: I'm not sure, but do many other projects / products (OSS or otherwise) have a public site and a developer site? Perhaps that is part of the confusion. Personally it would make more sense to utilize one domain for the product - with easily navigable sections for either area.

Cent 2: Elysiun is great, but it really doesn't make sense being a seperate site - at least not too me.

If Elysiun is essentially the "official" blender user forum, which it seems to be (and doesn't appear to really have any other purpose currently) - it would be less confusing if it was part of the official Blender site (blender3d.org), right?

If it isn't the "official" forum, shouldn't there be one?

I know this would be a hassle and stuff, but IMO it would seem like the best thing to do for the long term.

Maybe Ton's suggestion to have a fake forum that links to Elysiun would be a good enough hack. But I still don't think it would feel right.