Experts Round Table Network

Ok people, I've got two weeks to get this forum setup for discussions in all the areas that are needed.  Please post any ideas, concerns or demands in this thread so I can get to work moving everything out of public view and creating all the new catagories to be used.

When I next update the announcements I will include a link to this thread.  If I forget YELL at me. :-s

Just a general thought: I think we should set up several different topic areas for the forum, but be careful to not set up any where there is no expertise here (yet!). If we offer too much and are unable to deliver, it will be too easy for people to think this site is just another fraud. I think for every topic area we set up, there should be at least one current Mentor who feels she or he can field pretty much any question that comes up, and for now, direct everything else to very general topic areas that may encompass the more specific ones. For example, to my knowledge, we don't have too many ASP people here yet, and although my Perl is good, I certainly couldn't compete with many of the experts on TOS (especially recently). So, while PHP should probably have its own topic area, ASP and Perl questions might be better directed to 'Serverside scripting' (of which PHP might be considered a 'subtopic') until we get some better expertise here for those areas (if I've mised some ASP or Perl gurus, forgive me -- I'm using this just as an illustration). That way, we will not have empty topics that stagnate, and people will more likely get better help, since lots of people here know a little about many different things that might all fall under one broad category.

OK, I know that's somewhat useless. I suggest the following categories, which may need some additional trimming, addition, or rearrangement:

Serverside technology
  PHP
  Webservers
     Apache

Clientside technology
  HTML
  Javascript
  CSS
  Flash

Hardware (coral help me out  :wink:)

Graphics
   Photoshop

I'm kinda busy and also braindead at the moment, but that should at least be a start.

BTW, my spacing got mangled cause I didnt use code tags. Apache should be a sub-topic of webservers.....

ME?!?!

Actually, your idea of minimal forums is a good one. Until we get a better idea of is needed, one general forum should work for now. With a notice that it will be subdivided later.

If she wants to set up a few to start with, something like:

General
Video
Storage
Motherboards

should be safe enough.

I'm just hoping someone can help cover my backend on the "bleedingedge" stuff, while I play catch up.     :-$

coral, pulling his head out of a computer case: "ME?!?! Hardware?!"

 :D

I know we are in trouble when a hardware geek (me) has to add a close slash to a coders post.

 :sad3:

Im not a coder. I just flail at the keyboard and programs come out.  :D

BTW, one to add to the list:
Networking
>LAN
>Internet

I thought about it, but the hardware part of networking is the easy part of it.
It can start in Hardware, but it might need it own forum if it gets busy.

Here's what I've got so far after adding a few of my own.  All main catagories are in bold with subs underneath.

Serverside Technology
PHP

Webservers
Apache

Clienteside Technology
HTML
Javascript
CSS
Flash

Databases
MySQL

Graphics
Photoshop
Paintshop Pro
Animation

Hardware
General
Video
Storage
Sound
Motherboards
Gamers (Advanced including overclocking)

Networking
Home
Office
Internet

I think that's a good start.

Nice  :thumbup:

Thanks Matt.  I'd like to start building on that base later today.  All Cats are going to the top of the list so I can easily hide the builders subjects at the bottom.  This way we've got time if anyone wants something added or changed.  Plus we can get used to seeing them.

Sounds good to me. Keep up the good work  =D>

Ok.  Preliminary forums have been setup and permissions granted to registered users for posting and anyone can read or view the discussions.

Now all we have to do is decide which Mentor will mod what forum.

Looks great Sandi. Just a couple suggestions for the captions:

     CSS
Discussions on style sheets in CSS.

I would change it to just Discussions on style sheets, since (as far as I know) CSS (cascading style sheets) is the only standard that exists and it's therefore redundant


   Javascript
Discussions on javascripts.

I would make it just "javascript"


      Flash
Discussions on Flash animation.

I'd add "and ActionScript programming" (flash's scripting language)

It's nice to finally see some topic areas up. I guess that means the site really is going to go live  :D

Changes made...



That's the idea!   :sign5:

A couple of thoughts here.  

• Tere are a few threads where we have gotten good discussion going solved dome problems in the tech questions forum, but also in the building forums as well.  We should preserve those in the forums as seed.  
• Once we have the forums up, the mentors in them might want to start a couple of topics with current issues, and others can comment in them as well so we have some activity already showing as we come up.
• breaking up the web as serverside and clientside might mis-direct.  Client/server covers a broader spectrum than web development. It migh tbe better to call it Web Development of Web Development Tools for the languages (both client and server side) and Web Infrastructure for the things like web/app servers and browsers.  
• We can add browser in the infrastructure part; I can handle that and we have additional support.
• We will need to have a category for programming as well.  It can start with COBOL.  I'm not sure enough of myself in Java to include that unless we see some additional support.  I certainly can't handle alone; but COBOL I can do in my sleep.
• After you do an initial set up, you might need to PM or email some o the members who earlier indicated tht they would support various technologies.  When we lost notifs there for a while; we seemed to get a drop off in participation and some of the members have not been back for a while becasue we told them we would let them know when we were ready to set up their topics.  That is especially true of members who have an interest in technologies we did not during the building like ASP, .NET, Windows, etc.
• We can also drop a word in at SE, and do a little underground recruiting at "other sites" where there are experts who have indicated they will be interested when we get the site up.
• I Absolutely agree that we do not want to set up any forum that we cannot support.  If thre is no Mentor commited to a forum then let's not set it up.  It is easy enough to add new forums and even categories as we need them; but we do not want to end up with any dead zones.
• There is nothing wrong with setting up more than we need and then re-arranging and trimming right now.  It is probably a good way to actually see and feel a setup; and actually putting them up, will help to motivate the Mentors pitch in and help define their areas. Let's play, experiment, and see how different arrangements look and interact. It is a chance to involve some members who may have felt left out of the action up to now because we were not using the technologies they can help with.

Precisely why I wanted to get started on this now instead of waiting.  If you want to make the changes to the categories, be my guest.  I'm going to work on drafting a mass mailer to haul everyone's proverbial asses back in here and find out who wants to mod and where.

I hope that mass mailer is still working.  I don't think we have tried it since I fixed the notifs problem.  :?

I will get round to looking at the setup later.  I will try out a couple of things.  It does look good to see real forums starting to go up.  



Did you ever doubt it?   :^)

About the mass mailer......it's bwoke.   :-s   Check your PMs.

Yeh I did a workaround that should solve the anti-spamming limit.  I PMed the instructions.

Woohoo!  That worked!!!  Subjectline=Forum Restructuring/Mentors Needed

:cheers:

Hah! got it in one try.  :^)

And now I'm off to post in every single freaking forum that I created this morning to search for volunteers.  A woman's work is never done!

Are we a web development experts' round table? Or do we have scope to discuss programming subjects/languages and topics like algorithm design etc.? :scratch:

The whole point of the format is to put no limits on discussion.  If something goes way off topic or ends us multi-streamed we can just split it into multiple discussion.  If we get a discussion that would be better in a different forum we will just move it.

A discussion simple starts with the presentation of a problem or a query, and where is goes does not matter if there is an intelligent discussion.  Somewhere along the line a solution or multiple solutions may be found; but for some things there is no solution so alternative might be explored.  

We don't want to keep thing in boxes.  Knowledge should be fluid and available.  You do that by not restricting the range of discussion with a lot of petty procedural rules.

If we find there is a lot of discussion on a subject we are not covering then we will create a new forum for it, as long as tehre is a Mentor to support that forum.

So I think the only real restriction is that the discussion are of a technical nature.  We are not going to do politics, religion, or recipes, unless the Governing Council decides they want to do that.

I'll create any forum discussion areas that a Mentor wishes to take.  If you'd like to take on one or three.  I've added the Mentor title to your username btw, if there's no objections from anyone.

Oh, and I've added an Operating System category too.

No no. I'm all in favor of discretion being exercised. We need to know why we are doing what we are. There's no justification for creating 100 odd subforums having no discussions in them.

That being said, we do still need to ensure we have a system that is open to future expansion as and when required. We ofcourse have an excellent system already in place.  :notworthy: @ cd& and the rest of the core team

You left out ASP.

Also, Server Side, Client Side, HTML and CSS all have to work together to have a complete discussion re: Web Development.

Might be good to have a parent category.

A "Web Development " parent would also give an opportunity to discuss best practices and technology which isn't specific to one server side script, etc.

....and SQL.

Why can't I edit or correct my own post?  :sad3:

If you are willing to take it I'll create it.  Tell me where to put it and that's it.

BTW, you shouldn't have any problems editing your post.  You have the permission to do it.

That's me, jack of all trades (except Flash - yeck  [-( )

I'll do Web Dev and ASP.

Java + .NET ?

I'll take Java under my wing if no one objects  :wink:

And, eh, my .NET isn't too bad either ...  :coffee2:

Rod, you've got ASP.  As far as Web Dev goes...pick an area, or should I just create an area for web dev?  Web Apps?  Under Serverside?

Rob...Java or javascript?  I haven't created Java yet because I wasn't sure how many Mentors I had that were well versed in programming languages besides Cd&.  But now that you mention it.... :D
And while you're thinking about it I'll create .NET and you can have it.

Rod,

We are just getting an idea of what we can support based on what people will take on.  How we end up organizing the categories will depend of who we have starting out and how they want to organize their forums.  

I expect that each category will have a general forum plus the more detail forums.  Web dev and it's children will have a strong team. So we will probably have a morgranualr stucture than O/S where we may not be as strong initially.

The net result is that we will have forums for the Mentors who are here; we will add additional forums when we have someone to support them, and we will spawn more children for forums that get loaded up.  What we are going to try and avoid are dead zones because we either do not have support; or there is no demand.

Today I can't tell you what the final line up will be on the 18th, but if you ask me on the 17th, I will probably be close to having it nailed down.  It is 100% Mentor driven.  We are prepared to set up forums for any Mentor willing to support it.  

Darkins that's beautiful.  I can do a little Java, but not enough to commit to a Java topic on my own.  :thumbup:   Plus .net is good.  I think we will have a few  in that forum.  Now we jus thave to get Rod to go learn Flash. :-s

Just its own topic. It isn't logical to put it under another area.

Why don't we start it out this way:

A category of "Web Technologies"  With "Web Development General" a forum within it. Then we can conslidate it with a few others like Browser issues, Web Security, etc.  We might even end up with Web servers in there.

Done.   :wink:

Over the coming two weeks I'll be changing and moving topics as the need arises and Mentors start coming forward.  This is a work in progress people so nothing is set in stone.  Keep the ideas coming but I'd prefer you only suggest topics that you yourself can support.

Yeah it would be great if we could do 200 forums, but we have to scale things to what we have to work with and then grow the site, as we add improvments.

The latest improvment being <drumroll> live news feeds into the howm page: http://www.expertsrt.com/home.php

The reader I built on the server will be a utility we can use all over the place including the editor tools to manipulate our own forum feeds...sweet.


(you had the wrong URL dear)

 :sign5:

i can take MySQL if noone else is interested and as long as todd_farmer is not around.i aint claiming to be an expert but i can act as a standby.
and if u r planning to include IIS under Webservers i might be able to help you.

Saju,

Adding IIS would be great. We have a really sound base for most web related technology, and it will get stronger.  IIS was a hole; and now you have filled it.  Beautiful!  :thumbup:

Sandi has been working her butt off all day getting the new forums set, so she will get IIS up when she see this.

Done, done, and done.   :D

I raise my hand up for PHP. :cheers:

Good.  Now go post in that area where I've already started a thread.  I'm waiting on RQuadling to respond also since he's our resident ZEN master but with php I'm sure it will be better to have more than one Mentor.

:oops: who is Srirangan ?? :scratch:
've i been away for so long  [-(  / ??

Srirangan - Formerly known as lexxwern.  :-$

Huntress, done.

And just to let everyone here know...Srirangan is also known as Lexxwern.  I changed his username for him for the purposes of this forum.

Lexxwern now that clear things up.  :D

His handle on EE was lexxwern.  He is a talented young man from your country who has just finished his schooling; and he is going to be a super star on ERT some day... if he does not bug me too much :wink:

Gee I'm getting really slow posting.  I need more coffee.

 :coffee2:  :coffee2:  :coffee2:  :coffee2:  :coffee2:  :coffee2:  :coffee2:

 ** makes mental note "don't bug Cd& .. too much" **

Hi sajuks, I'm Srirangan from New Delhi. Freezing my balls out here in the cold while you're enjoying the good tropical Mumbai weather.  :sad3: Just finished my Uni and now deciding betw MBA, Journalism and Civil Services, while going ahead with my web dev/programming thing side by side.

PS: Use the "lexxwern" handle on EE. Signed up with that handle when I was 16, don't ask me why.  [-(

currently its at 15 and i know i know u ( and the rest :wink:  ) must be at half of that,if not lower, but for us used to better climate this is as cold as u get.

Looking good.  :thumbup:

Off to take a better look at the new playground.   :wink:

BTW: Huntress, I see you are still listed as online. Don't burn yourself out just yet.   :glasses7:

Srirangan, welcome Superhero! I didn't get a chance to welcome you back in the EE thread.. so hello and welcome!

Nice job Huntress.. and all!

Yes I'm still online.  I took a nap earlier and I've got some personal things I'm taking care of at the moment but I've got my admin panel open so I can make immediate changes when needed.  I won't be burning out any time soon dear.  Oh, and by the way, you will be sharing the hardware general topic with JohnnyCanuck for the time being.  But I also need to know what other hardware topics you want to take?

Hi Daydreams! :thumbup:

Sounds good.


I will probably be tracking all of them anyway, so give it a few days, and then stick me in anything that's still open.

And hope somebody with more experence in that subject, will show up and take the lead.   :-$

Done.  I took the advanced topic though.   :wink:

Whoa! That was a fast few days. I guess time DOES fly, when you are having fun.   :wink:


Thank you.  :notworthy:  :notworthy:  :notworthy:

I'll be there to back you up on all the hardware topics so never fear.   :glasses7:

Java please


Sounds good :D

>> Darkins that's beautiful. I can do a little Java, but not enough to commit to a Java topic on my own.

ditto.  :coffee2:

I can do some of the Operating Systems stuff.  Or if its broken down more, XP and server 2003.

I've put you in NT Based Jasper...good to have you back onboard!   =D>

Good to be back.  Just wish I could have helped more in the building process, but thats not my cup of tea.  Figured i should leave that to the pros.  I've been tryin to check in.  Can't wait till it goes live.

Here's where we stand....All bases are covered except, Apache, Access and My SQL Server.  Those are the only three that have no one to watch over them.  I seem to remember someone saying they'd take Access but my befuddled brain can't remember who???

http://www.expertsrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=296

Flavo for Access.

I think in that same thread Kevin said he could do SQL server

Got it.  Thanks guys.   :D

That just leaves the last one.  So who's going to take Apache?

Can we have a Online Marketing/Web Promotions/Search Engine Optimization topic area under Web Dev? Ever since the advent of Google and smarter Search Engines this has become a field of its own. Just a suggestion.

Suggestions for Programming:
1) C*
2) C++*
3) VB
4) Delphi
5) Algorithm design*

* I can volunteer to be the standby editor

Finally, someone willing to take on C++ :D

I can help ya out with that one :)

:notworthy:  :thumbup:

Alwyas a great chance to learn more!

lol Yeah. I look forward to it :D

By the way, I think your idea of Online Marketing/Web Promotions/Search Engine Optimization is another good idea. That sort of TA is a must for web dev nowadays :)

Bye bye.

Yes I think we can cover the three as Website promotion under Web Dev.  C++ is good (The topic not the language).

Don't know if we have enough support fotr the rest.

:D

Nice one :)

By the way, a tiny typo in the description for the Algorithm Design TA:



Other than that... sweeeeeeeeeet!! :D

We were taught the American spelling  :-#

Fixed.  Thanks guys!

Soooo, my poor, overworked goddess (and god), are you done with this one yet???    :glasses7:

Leave it until the 17th please?  I'll move it at that time.  Thanks!

:thumbup: