PPC Thoughts doesn't seem as active as it used to be...

[dickiedove]

Is it me or is the homepage of Pocket PC thoughts slowing down..... There just seems to be less happening here when you compare it to places like Palm Addict which has sometimes as many as forty posts a day.

I know that the news here in journalistic terms is probably higher quality in a lot of cases but it seems to me that if you recruited some more associate writers and perhaps drew more on the cream of the forums the tempo might pick up, leading to an even better site.

I'm not being critical, I think you guys do an awesome job it would just be great to get even more news each day!!!

[Janak Parekh]

Is it me or is the homepage of Pocket PC thoughts slowing down..... There just seems to be less happening here when you compare it to places like Palm Addict which has sometimes as many as forty posts a day.
Well, we've never had forty posts a day. 8O News has indeed been a bit slower as of late, but that's primarily because less has been coming in. We also set a pretty high threshold for news posts. We could certainly post on everything and anything, but it's a mixed bag: while some people appreciate the Engadget rate of posting, many others find it way too fast. We try to strike a balance so that the casual visitor doesn't feel too lost, yet the regulars feel like there's enough. :)

I know that the news here in journalistic terms is probably higher quality in a lot of cases but it seems to me that if you recruited some more associate writers and perhaps drew more on the cream of the forums the tempo might pick up, leading to an even better site.
We're working on an overhaul of the forums/site, which I think will help in some aspects. As to hiring more people, it's possible, but Jason's always emphasized a small, high-quality team.

But thanks for the feedback -- we're always trying to improve the experience, and I'll watch the posting distribution a bit more closely.

--janak

[CTSLICK]

40 a day, 2 a day...as long as they are relevant to the Windows Mobile platform and to the trends in the segment in general then I'm happy. One wonders, based on the direction towards converged devices, if PPCThoughts and SmartPhoneThoughts might merge to produce a love child.

[disconnected]

I think the problem is more that there isn't enough new stuff out there. If you don't want a small converged device there's not much to drool over.

[Kowalski]

I think the problem is more that there isn't enough new stuff out there. If you don't want a small converged device there's not much to drool over.

totally agree with you. i remember the days when windows mobile 2003 hit the shelves. axim x5, ipaq 2215, 4150, toshiba e800 were revolutionary devices.

afew years passed and things have changed. sure new devices come out every now and then but they are all the same to me now

[buzzard]

We're working on an overhaul of the forums/site, which I think will help in some aspects.

Please add something like a link to Today's Posts along with the usual new posts link. Virtually everytime I visit this site and press "new posts", if I spend more than 3 minutes reading a thread and then go back to read another thread, I get a "no posts available" (or words to that effect). There used to be a way where you could put an * in the author search field and ask for the last day, but that doesn't seem to work anymore.

[Jason Dunn]

Is it me or is the homepage of Pocket PC thoughts slowing down..... There just seems to be less happening here when you compare it to places like Palm Addict which has sometimes as many as forty posts a day.

Well, we've been at this since October 2000, so I can tell you from experience that everything moves in cycles. There are slow periods and there are periods of high activity.

Regarding Palm addict, I assume you don't mean this one that hasn't been updated since 2005:
http://www.palmaddict.com/

Are you referring to this one perhaps?
http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/

If so, all I'll say is that they have a very different approach to news than we do. We try to focus on the best, more important news that we can find...which is not what every other site does. That's all I'll say about that. ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

I think the problem is more that there isn't enough new stuff out there. If you don't want a small converged device there's not much to drool over.

Indeed, the market is definitely undergoing a shift - the era of the big-screen, disconnected Pocket PC is over.

[Jason Dunn]

One wonders, based on the direction towards converged devices, if PPCThoughts and SmartPhoneThoughts might merge to produce a love child.

Yes, that's part of our long-term planning. Domains have already been purchased. ;-) That day isn't here yet though, so no one worry.

[Jason Dunn]

Virtually everytime I visit this site and press "new posts", if I spend more than 3 minutes reading a thread and then go back to read another thread, I get a "no posts available" (or words to that effect).

Well, how about a real forum solution that isn't all buggy-as-hell and is supported with patches and fixes on a regular basis? Stay tuned...phpBB is not long of this earth 'round these parts. 8)

[buzzard]

Well, how about a real forum solution that isn't all buggy-as-hell and is supported with patches and fixes on a regular basis? Stay tuned...phpBB is not long of this earth 'round these parts. 8)

Thank you...thank you, life will be good again soon. :mrgreen:

[Patrick Y.]

I would really like to see PocketPCThoughts forum to be more active like the ones on Aximsite and Firstloox. There seems to be less and less people posting everyday. :( :(

[Jason Dunn]

I would really like to see PocketPCThoughts forum to be more active like the ones on Aximsite and Firstloox. There seems to be less and less people posting everyday. :( :(

I'd like to see that as well. Unfortunately while I can work hard on the front page to get people talking, there's not a lot I can do in the main forums - people need to make the decision to ask questions and help others inside this forum rather than going someplace else. ;-)

[Patrick Y.]

Don't get me wrong, I love PocketPCThoughts and I think it's the best PPC news site available. In fact, this site is the first PocketPC site that I visited daily. Now, I've already set PPCT as my homepage. :wink:

Well, I'm just wondering how Aximsite and FirstLoox got so many people in their forum. Is it because of vBulletin? To be honest, I like the interface and fuctions of vBulletin a lot better than phpBB. After all, the PPCT is still the BEST site for news and reviews.

[Jason Dunn]

Well, I'm just wondering how Aximsite and FirstLoox got so many people in their forum. Is it because of vBulletin? To be honest, I like the interface and fuctions of vBulletin a lot better than phpBB. After all, the PPCT is still the BEST site for news and reviews.

I doubt it's the forum software, it's probably more that those sites are devoted to a specific type of device, so by being more focused, they attact more users. We have generic forums for each device manufacturer, rather than one forum for each device type, so that further hurts us. But that will change in a bit...stay tuned.

[Patrick Y.]

Whooo!! I love changes!!! Can you give me a preview of what's coming up?? :D 8)

[dh]

Yes, it might be time for a bit of a shake up here. I'd like to see some kind of merger between this site and Smartphone Thoughts, having one site for WM devices with a touchscreen and one for those without might not be a great idea.

It also seems that a lot of the people who used to be very active here have gone onto new things. Part of this might be that nothing much seems to have changed in the WM world over the last few years. I've been using a C860 as my PDA (best form factor ever!) for a couple of years and just gotten back to MS with an SP5 Smartphone. I really don't see much difference between my new WM5 device and my old PPC2002 Axim.

As far as I'm concerned, PPCT is still the best mobile devices site around, I read it nearly everyday, although I don't post here a lot these days.

[Duncan]

Well, I'm just wondering how Aximsite and FirstLoox got so many people in their forum. Is it because of vBulletin? To be honest, I like the interface and fuctions of vBulletin a lot better than phpBB. After all, the PPCT is still the BEST site for news and reviews.

I doubt it's the forum software, it's probably more that those sites are devoted to a specific type of device, so by being more focused, they attact more users. We have generic forums for each device manufacturer, rather than one forum for each device type, so that further hurts us. But that will change in a bit...stay tuned.

It's interesting to note that there don't seem to any dedicated iPAQ sites anymore. I wonder why that has happened?

Perhaps the days of the 'dedicated to one manufacturer' site are numbered?

[pocketpcadmirer]

I would really like to see PocketPCThoughts forum to be more active like the ones on Aximsite and Firstloox. There seems to be less and less people posting everyday. :( :(

Patrick, I have something to say. I have been to those sites many times. Many of the people there just post 'balder****', IMHO. You will have to go through lots of pages to find someone is actually writing something appropriate. Few days ago, I just saw 4-5 threads having just "hurrays" and "yaaay" as posts. Those posts went over 10 pages. :lol: I was just turning pages and pages :(

I, on the other part of the coin, would like to thank the contributors, news editors and the executive editor of this site to keep the things clean and always to the point :D

**edit:except firstloox

Sunny

[Duncan]

I would really like to see PocketPCThoughts forum to be more active like the ones on Aximsite and Firstloox. There seems to be less and less people posting everyday. :( :(

Patrick, I have something to say. I have been to those sites many times. Many of the people there just post 'balder****', IMHO. You will have to go through lots of pages to find someone is actually writing something appropriate. Few days ago, I just saw 4-5 threads having just "hurrays" and "yaaay" as posts. Those posts went over 10 pages. :lol: I was just turning pages and pages :(

I, on the other part of the coin, would like to thank the contributors, news editors and the executive editor of this site to keep the things clean and always to the point :D

That is hardly a fair description of the state of affairs at FirstLoox - and I'm sure it is not fair about Aximsite either. It is possible to support PPCT and point out what a good and well run place this is without making unnecessary attacks on other sites. I for one am proud to be a part of the PPCT and FirstLoox communities - both of which are supportive, well behaved and helpful.

[Janak Parekh]

It's interesting to note that there don't seem to any dedicated iPAQ sites anymore. I wonder why that has happened? Perhaps the days of the 'dedicated to one manufacturer' site are numbered?
That's one possibility; the other one is that HP has simply gone incompetent and there is far less appeal covering only iPAQs. Witness the fact that some of the other device-specific sites are still doing okay...

That is hardly a fair description of the state of affairs at FirstLoox - and I'm sure it is not fair about Aximsite either. It is possible to support PPCT and point out what a good and well run place this is without making unnecessary attacks on other sites. I for one am proud to be a part of the PPCT and FirstLoox communities - both of which are supportive, well behaved and helpful.
Agreed. There is a place for the FirstLooxes, Aximsites, etc. of the world, and there's been some genuinely interesting discussion there that we don't usually cover.

--janak

[Patrick Y.]

I would really like to see PocketPCThoughts forum to be more active like the ones on Aximsite and Firstloox. There seems to be less and less people posting everyday. :( :(

Patrick, I have something to say. I have been to those sites many times. Many of the people there just post 'balder****', IMHO. You will have to go through lots of pages to find someone is actually writing something appropriate. Few days ago, I just saw 4-5 threads having just "hurrays" and "yaaay" as posts. Those posts went over 10 pages. :lol: I was just turning pages and pages :(

I, on the other part of the coin, would like to thank the contributors, news editors and the executive editor of this site to keep the things clean and always to the point :D

**edit:except firstloox

Sunny

As a frequent visitor of Aximsite, I have to disagree. I rarely saw ANYTHING inappropriate that's posted in the forum. The "yays" and "hurrays" are usually properly posted in Water Fountain or just as comments. Most post are on topic and certainly a lot of interesting information are posted. You can find tons of valuable information there as on PPCT. I have to say the same about FirstLoox too.

[buzzard]

Virtually everytime I visit this site and press "new posts", if I spend more than 3 minutes reading a thread and then go back to read another thread, I get a "no posts available" (or words to that effect).

Well, how about a real forum solution that isn't all buggy-as-hell and is supported with patches and fixes on a regular basis? Stay tuned...phpBB is not long of this earth 'round these parts. 8)

Is this going to happen anytime soon ? I was reminded of this thread today. When I opened PPCT I had 3 pages of posts to read...I stopped to read the fourth post on page 1. It had about 4 pages of posts to read , so I read them. I hit the back button to get back to the first page list of posts and instead of getting the remaining three pages I got ONE FRIGGIN' POST to read. All of the others had disappeared in "phpBB heaven (or the other place which is more likely).

When ?

[Jason Dunn]

Is this going to happen anytime soon?

We're looking at around 60-90 days, if things stay on schedule. I wish it could happen faster (boy, do I ever!) but unfortunately moving from phpBB to another forum solution requires us to re-code basically our ENTIRE content management system, because it's all based on the forums of course. This is something that we've been working on for, no joke, almost a year. It's just so huge and complex, with so many pieces. And because I don't have the funds to hire a team of 10 developers, I have to be patient. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now though, which is exciting.

So...patience is all I can advise at this point. :|

[applejosh]

I'm looking forward to it.

Are you willing to disclose the new forum software you hope to be running?

[Jason Dunn]

Are you willing to disclose the new forum software you hope to be running?

At this stage, no. I don't want people to make any assumptions about how it will look/work until they see in action. We're working hard to make sure the templates are light and fast. I will say that I'm confident 99.999% of our regular readers will be pleased. ;-)

[Patrick Y.]

Is this going to happen anytime soon?

This is something that we've been working on for, no joke, almost a year. It's just so huge and complex, with so many pieces. And because I don't have the funds to hire a team of 10 developers, I have to be patient. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel now though, which is exciting.

So...patience is all I can advise at this point. :|


A YEAR??? 8O 8O Oh my!! I'm thinking twice about becoming a computer geek now. :wink:

[Darius Wey]

A YEAR??? 8O 8O Oh my!! I'm thinking twice about becoming a computer geek now. :wink:

"Becoming"? I think by posting here, you're already a certified geek. Welcome to the club. ;)

[buzzard]

Seeing that you're 3-4 months away from changing from phpBB is it possible in the meantime to fix the search by "*" so that we can at least put the asterisk in the author search and ask for the last day. This way we won't miss posts through our own stupidity, or mine to be more precise.

Today I was having trouble with the PPCT website opening on my IE and all I saw was the progress bar at the bottom of the IE page stuck about halfway. Finally I just closed IE and re-opened it, went back to the site and it said I had "one" new post to read. Normally since my last login I would have expected to see 20-30 posts so even though my IE wasn't completely connected to PPCT, it must have been enough to put me in that hopeless category of "you already read everything and if you didn't, tough"

[Janak Parekh]

Seeing that you're 3-4 months away from changing from phpBB is it possible in the meantime to fix the search by "*" so that we can at least put the asterisk in the author search and ask for the last day. This way we won't miss posts through our own stupidity, or mine to be more precise.
Unfortunately, we don't know what exactly made it work in the first place. :( It almost seems like the feature comes and goes with successive versions of phpBB. Trust me, I'm as irritated about it as you are. I've switched to watching any replied threads by default to mitigate this behavior.

--janak

[Patrick Y.]

Just curious, is there any plan on switching to other forum software?

[Darius Wey]

Just curious, is there any plan on switching to other forum software?

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=392636#392636

The last post on the page says all. ;)