Separating MD & HD Beginners Forum

[razyn]

you have to go through 15-20 MD-related posts in the "beginners" area to find one about HD...got kind of frustrating and I gave up on that thread...

Same might be said of the History section. The only interactive forum here that looks specific to the HD is "Playing." There are a couple of more commercial ones, in the Marketplace area. I think DPN is (and historically always has been) much more even-handed, in this regard -- but now that they are more or less under the same management, it might be a good time to reexamine the categories that have been set up. Of which "Beginners" is only one.

[tuneit]

If you separate things too much, it might be like there were TWO Ed's !!

I just worry that the 'old' beginner's forum will not be looked at if it's only in the menu drop-down, not right there in the forum alongside the other forums, and that beginners will just be looking in the new beginner forums.
There is 8 years' worth of amazing beginner's help in the beginner forum now.
I'm wondering if it might be less traumatic to just start an additional new "Hammered dulcimer beginner help" forum and leave the current general beginner forum in place? Not perfect, but just a thought.

With all due respect to the past writing efforts and time investments, as a new player, I have no intention of browsing 18,000 older posts that might or might not have an appropriate title or searchable keyword that is right on target. Those posts should be preserved by editing and organizing the substance with long term value, eliminating redundancy. Until then, you have to know that any question is likely to be posed anew. Having the burden of ferreting out past discussions without efficient indexing is too much to expect. A kinder, gentler approach is for the authors/mentors responding to freely draw from what they have written before, cut and paste for the most part, knowing where to find it. They might also be able to simply provide a link to their own organized repository (FAQ). Answers don't necessarily have to be personalized.

I suspect that the only reason there isn't a robust FAQ section now is because there is no agreement on what the right answers are or who the self-exalted luminary should be to run the thing. A good summary is a cross section of opinions and points of view expressed. Either that, or someone would have to carefully categorize every thread for a pretty granular list of topic titles and let the person seeking information sort through it more realistically.

Considering all that, I think the right answer in the short term is to do as Dan suggests and just stop posting to the old subforum, leaving it with a sticky and a link to go to the new beginner's area, either for HD or MD respectively. If someone wants to organize what's left behind, they should be able to do that as an ongoing project.

[Dusty Turtle]

The most compelling reason to separate the two would be, it seems, to make it easier for beginning HD players to find advice. For as mrchips and others have stated, they had to wade through a lot of MD commentary to find what they were looking for.

But getting technical advice on playing is only one purpose of the beginner discussion board. The other is just to make acquaintances with others who support a pretty rare (at least in my neck of the woods) passion. For that kind of social networking, it is nice to have an integrated discussion board.

Either way, I'm happy here.

D.T.

[tuneit]

The most compelling reason to separate the two would be, it seems, to make it easier for beginning HD players to find advice. <snip>

The other aspect is that one can subscribe to a forum, getting an email notice of new posting. Having a separate forum (to which to "subscribe") ensures that such notices apply to the right instrument, and only that one.

[Dan Landrum]

Lisa,

Just to clarify my earlier post - I intend to make it a permanent link at the top of the beginners forums, both of them. The link will be within the forum itself, not relegated to a menu.

I get and highly appreciate the value of the legacy material on Everything Dulcimer. I'm looking for ways to better show it off, and help new folks find helpful information, not hide it.

[tuneit]

With all due respect to the past writing efforts and time investments, as a new player, I have no intention of browsing 18,000 older posts that might or might not have an appropriate title or searchable keyword that is right on target.

Hmm...by the way, how will anyone ever benefit from your forum contributions if you keep deleting all the past posts you make?

That's a good question, but it's a red herring in this context. Let's stay on point, shall we?

[Alanrichie]

Mm . . . perhaps it's time to archive everything and start ag'in

I like reading the MD specific posts. I think beginner questions get posted in the playing MD/HD sections as well as the beginning sections.

While talking about tweaking and/or creating new sections, Dan, might a music theory section be helpful? Just a thought.

[Heidi]

I vote for one, all inclusive HD forum. A place for all HDers including beginners, kids, pros, hobbyists, etc.

The few HD related questions/topics that get posted outside of the HD forum get overlooked by the majority of HD members.

[marcy]

Logically, it would make sense for there to be the Jam Session for both dulcimers, and all other categories be divided.

Practically, I think Heidi's got it -- the numbers aren't balanced, and one HD-specific forum should be enough for us HD'ers. In which case, perhaps what's needed is subcategorizing the MD section in order to deal with its volume. I.e. the HD section would be undivided. The MD section would include subsections for building, beginners, etc.

[cboody]

It seems to me that as long as you lump things together like "Beginners Forum" where one has to search for items related to MD, HD or BD you run a very good chance of continuing to have this site dominated by MD players. Please don't misunderstand that statement. It is not intended to imply that MD players are in any way bad folks. It is just that this site "grew up" as a MD site...or at least appeared to in my eyes. I ignored it for years because that was my perception. And even now I'm sure the preponderance of postings are from player of MD and about MD.

I'd love to be helpful to HD players, but searching through all the posts to discover if there are any HD questions out there is a drag. And I suspect that a HD beginner looking at the postings currently here may well assume that s/he won't get any help here because of all the MD chatter. So...split them please. But, as someone suggested, be sure all the old posts are kept available for reference.

[Dan Landrum]

Chuck and all. The plan is to make the split tomorrow, Friday February 19.

[cboody]

Good luck on the changes.....