Page 1 of Westy`s Home Cinema Answer thread. Opinions please

Hello all,

I had an idea whilst perusing the threads the other day; there seem to be a lot of duplicate postings dotted around the hardware forum that could be easily pooled into one easy to locate thread.

Here`s my plan, (i`m hoping my fellow mods and site admins will back me up here :-)). If i were to create a standalone thread where newbies and general questions could be posted for myself to answer, (as well as anyone else who wanted to join in!), would evryone be in favour?

I don`t mind doing it at all, i get loads of emails from people asking for HT advice, so this wouldn`t be any different! Obviously i can`t be here all day, but plenty of people can join in, i`m just trying to get all the home cinema stuff in one thread, for example; set up problems, kit recommends etc, then all the more `general` queries like the dvd player and tv quessies can run in the threads.

If anyone objects to this, then i won`t do it - however i`m dead set on it, so if it gets the thumbs up, i`m all over it!

Thanks for your time

Westy
Moderator
Home Cinema Editor; Area 450

This item was edited on Thursday, 3rd October 2002, 10:57

I think it`s a good idea - it`s something that I think is needed quite often. It could probably do with either being a sticky, or a section in itself to be linked from in the Info section - eg: FAQ: home cinema hardware. From there there could be a thread/section for each subject, so:

1: Budget multiregion DVD players
2: My Region 1 films play in black and white - help!
3: Budget surround sound - using DVD`s decoder £60 - £200
4: All in one packages
5: Budget A/V amps
....etc

...or could they be set up like articles, so the overall advice remains at the top, with threads linked to them as per the news articles. That way the "core" advice stays at the top, and specific queries are answered in the associated threads. The article could then be updated as and when new gear comes out, with links to Westy`s (or anyone else`s) reviews of particular stuff.

Am I making sense?

....oh, and Dave, is it true I can plug my phone into my surround system and get 5.1 phone calls - someone in Currys told me I could....

Very good idea. You could have an entire seperate section called "Ask Westy". It will certainly save all those "Westy, help needed!" threads!

Can I post the first question - where did you get your Japanese DTS Terminator 2 from?

;-D

I agree an `ask westy` thread is a great idea!

The domain name http://www.askwesty.co.uk is available for registration!!!!

I agree, it`s an excellent idea.

Cracking idea - -sure if you needed a hand we would chip in as well......i wouldnt mind.

CS

I guess the question is, where does this end and the general Hardware forum start?
I think the aim should be to direct people to look in this section first if they have a query, before posting - i.e. make it an FAQ style thing.

Yeah, sounds good Westy. After all, when we mortals have a question, we first come looking for you and Clayts. Backed up by the other members of the forum who help add their knowledge and we usually go away contented.

I guess you must get fed up seeing the same old questions arise over and over again. Everyone is knew to HT at some point so ask questions you`ve answered a million times as we`ve seen. Problem is, it`s natural to be too lazy to trawl hundreds of threads so people just ask again.

If you can think of a clever way to organise it, it may cut down on your work if common questions are there and easy to spot?

Go for it matey.......

Am I the only one that`s not so sure?
I think the idea of `ask westy` (or whatever you wanna call it) is very good. However, I don`t think it would be best in a thread - a forum would be far better. Very soon the thread could become so long that trawling through it would be a chore... I personally often pick up quite a few bits of advice just by clicking on a thread title that interests me and following it through - don`t know about anyone else, and fell that would definitely be lost. If that all got swallowed up in one gigantic, growing thread (a la wasp!) then I don`t think people would be as inclined to a)read it b)chip in with a bit of advice (purely because there`d be less readers).
So, yes, a place for all `your` advice etc. but in a forum divided into threads.
I also think it`d be easier for you to help people too. Otherwise you`d say something followed by a reply then another answer then another answer then three posts etc..
Westy`s Place!!

Ste

Westy does already have a Home Cinema Forum at Area 450 which is seriously under-used : http://www.area450.co.uk/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=22

I`ve never really stated that the Area 450 Forum should be restricted to Sampo owners, but by the same token (1) I certainly don`t want to take visitors away from Reviewer and (2) as he`s such a popular guy our bandwidth traffic limits would be shot to hell every month.

Westy : my advice would be to go for the Ask Westy domain name definitely (try http://www.123-reg.co.uk) and you could knock up a website (eg transfer stuff from `450 over, such as DVD reviews and home cinema articles - they`ve never been Sampo-specific).

More than happy to give you a hand :-)

Failing that, see if you can twist Robert`s arm in to either having a column or specific section here at Reviewer - you`ve certainly got the support from all of us here, and your advice is second to none.

I do think the one thread thing is a no-no : as Ste says - you`d end up with a wasp-sized behemoth :-)