Hmm…I’m not really sure whether this belongs in ATMB or the pit. Given the subject matter, that seems somewhat appropriate. Feel free to move this as appropriate.
I have noticed that the SDMB is not a good place to come for technical book recommendations. The problem results from the fact that all technical book recommendation threads end up in IMHO, but the people who would be most likely to have good recommendations tend to stay mainly in GQ. This is a shame, because part of the expertise of our members is going to waste.
I’m not sure what the ideal solution is. I don’t see the description for GQ altered, cause it’s likely to cause requests for other exceptions. Creating a new forum would be overkill, unless we created a forum specifically for technical questions of all types (this has been suggested before, mais oui?). Convincing our GQ people to surf over to IMHO is probably a fruitless task.
Nevertheless, it would be really nice if we could do something about this. Are there any other potential solutions that I haven’t thought of?
If I were running the boards, I’d go for the tech questions forum. I know the main problem with that is finding moderators, and that seems like a tough issue. I’d be willing to volunteer, for what that’s worth.
I guess there is no easy answer. Still, I wanted to point this out–please consider it as a genuine, if not life-threatening, problem.
I’m not convinced this issue is important enough that we need to create a new forum for it. Even if we do, how would you force the GQ users to go there?
If it were me, I’d create a link to the thread where I put my tech book question and put it in my sig- something like :
Can you recommend a book on underwater basketweaving?
Where that sentence links to your thread. That might get some attention.
Regarding forcing users to go to another forum, I have this whip that is fantastic for “convincing” people to do all sorts of things. You would be amazed!
Zette
Well, that might not be such a problem. People who are interested in technical issues would gravitate to a forum dedicated to technical issues.
Yeah, this in and of itself is not reason to create a new forum. But I know that other people have suggested the creation of a technical forum, and I thought I’d try and add one more justification. Thanks for the consideration.
Personally, I’m not likely to view the forum list for, say, IMHO, but if I see an interesting link elsewhere (in a sig, for instance, or in a relevant discussion), I’m apt to go read the individual thread. So Zette’s suggestion seems like it would work.
To get the broadest audience for such a question, I’d go to GQ – phrasing the question as “What is a highly recommended book on underwater basketweaving?” to avoid the opinion-poll style of discussion of IMHO.
But I wonder if it would not be inappropriate to have such questions in Cafe Society – which tends more towards the humanities, probably intentionally, at present, but the question of what book best deals with a given topic is certainly one suitable for criticism and review, and might lead to interesting discussions on the different criteria one might use in such an analysis, which would I think be of value to the person raising the question as well as of general interest.
Those are both interesting ideas. Mods, what do you think of the first? The second one would be really interesting if we could get the people who know out of GQ, but it might be worth a try.