Seriously, I see so many here, there should be a sub-forum or forum for these questions, and they really don’t belong in a General Questions forum IMHO. Why are they allowed? There are so many other places on the internet to ask techie type questions.
Since this is a question about this message board, I’ll move this thread to ATMB.
We don’t really encourage computer-related questions here. There really are better places on the Internet for such questions than the SDMB, but we don’t prohibit them here either. If it’s a factual question about computers, it can go in GQ. If it’s a sort of poll about computers, it can go in IMHO. There are no plans for a new computer forum.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
Operator to Computer: “Based on your projections, using the data on the growth and development of historically, will computers ever be able to think like human beings?”
Computer response: “That reminds me of a story I once heard…”
Nobody has ever presented a great case for separating out some questions with factual answers from the rest of the questions with factual answers.
Also, my observation of MBs on the 'net is that over fragmentation tends to sap their vitality.
I’m not arguing with you in principle, but I remember that the content for In My Humble Opinion drew from both MPSIMS and General Questions (particularly riddles, at the time). Then Cafe Society drew from all three of these. Nowadays, factual questions about arts and entertainment go in Cafe Society. So I don’t really think of them as having split off larger forums. Now, if a computer-related forum opened, I could see it drawing from General Questions, In My Humble Opinion, and MPSIMS.
OK, I’ll come clean. It’s the same reason we don’t have a separate forum for “biology questions” or for “chemstry questions” or for “astronomy questions” or for…
We don’t want questions to be categorized any more than they have to be. We’ve separated types of questions rather than topic for questions, with the exception of Cafe Society, sort of, although even there, it’s pretty broad. We just don’t want things pigeon-holed.
The reason for separating the Comments on Cecil’s Column from Comments on Staff Reports is that Cecil Himself occasionally takes a look at the Comments on Cecil’s Column, and he doesn’t want to be bothered with fripperies. What can I say? He’s an eccentric genius, he can do as he likes. Heck, he used to be such a technophobe, we’d make almost any compromise that would get him on the Boards from time to time.
In short, as far as I’m aware, we’re not about to open a new forum until/unless one of the current forums becomes to big to handle… then we may split it down further.
OK, I’ll come clean. It’s the same reason we don’t have a separate forum for “biology questions” or for “chemstry questions” or for “astronomy questions” or for…
We don’t want questions to be categorized any more than they have to be. We’ve separated types of questions rather than topic for questions, with the exception of Cafe Society, sort of, although even there, it’s pretty broad. We just don’t want things pigeon-holed.
The reason for separating the Comments on Cecil’s Column from Comments on Staff Reports is that Cecil Himself occasionally takes a look at the Comments on Cecil’s Column, and he doesn’t want to be bothered with fripperies. What can I say? He’s an eccentric genius, he can do as he likes. Heck, he used to be such a technophobe, we’d make almost any compromise that would get him on the Boards from time to time.
In short, as far as I’m aware, we’re not about to open a new forum until/unless one of the current forums becomes to big to handle… then we may split it down further.
You know what would be cool? If the OP got to pick which category the thread was, and then it would have a different icon based on if it was science, or computers, or literature, or medicine, but they’d all be in the same forum. And maybe, if you didn’t have time, you could have a filter that only showed you the science questions, or whatever.
That would be cool.
Or maybe you could just read the thread titles and filter it yourself.
Anthracite, the only problem with a forum that isn’t active is that the people interested in helping may get bored checking a forum every day that doesn’t update, and stop checking.
IrishTxLdy, I try to check those two forums daily, plus ATMB. Usually I have to alternate, because I can’t keep up with all the thread updates. But also I do visit another board (gasp! heretic!). YMMV.
By the way, I assume that’s Texas in your nick, and not Taxes. So, how you doin’? 
(I feel like I should know you.) And registered Mar '99, but only 8 posts?! Egads.
I know. And I do. I was mostly talking about the pictures. 
There are a bunch of other nerd boards out there to answer any computer ignorance you may have.
This board is for the “run of the mill” ignorance.
I guess it’s possible. But every time I come on any Board I see an indicator that there are new posts to read, and a lot of people use the “View New Posts” feature too.
One problem with PC Forums is the “urgency factor”. Most people, when they want or need PC help, want or need it NOW, and can’t wait even an hour to get a resolution. Which I feel is unfortunate, but the nature of the beast.
All things considered, I think that the SDMB Staff are correct in not having a PC Forum broken out from GQ. I probably don’t need one either, but then again I have the luxury of being in charge, so I can have a Forum on Teletubby Fanfic if I want. And you know, writing Teletubby Fanfic is so easy, you can code a program that does it for you. After all, it’s just a series of poorly-connected events punctuated by grunts, squeals, and other bodily noises - kinda like a Piers Anthony or Robert Jordan novel.
Rusalka, I asked this question about 12,000 posts ago & as you can see, it doesn’t appear forthcoming any time soon. The reason i wanted one was so people could keep their computer going to get on the Board.
It would be nice if there was just one computer, but there are zillions of computers & configurations. I can’t tell you how many times someone posts a question like say, ‘my computer light is off, what can I do?’. But don’t give any info on what kind of computer it is, operating system., Etc…
It appears to me that about 70% of the computer questions here are the same, 'my computer clock is slow, ’ ‘how do I put in a new HD’ ‘what is the best computer there is?’ & as such, are already answered well on the net or in the computer/HD manual.
I get the feeling that, no matter how many categories were set up, the one called “Misc.” would have more threads than all of the rest combined. This board is very difficult to pigeonhole. And that’s a good thing.