Modern Technology Forum

[mike_newcomb]

Hi,

please could consideration be given to allowing the Modern Technology forum to be available to non-members and members with <10 posts on a read-only basis.

For example, I advised a friend there was a thread in there, that was of particularly interest to him, but he could not access it as he is not a member, nor is ever likely to be.

Thanks - Mike.

[Paul Stenning]

No, because it is a peripheral area for discussion about occasional MT issues by people here primarily for the vintage tech. It is all off-topic for a vintage technology forum but we allow it in the specific section with limitations for established members to keep those discussions out of the other sections.

We do not want Google to spider that section, nor do we want to encourage people who are not interested in vintage technology to come here. There are other websites specifically for servicing modern technology and white goods etc for those who are just looking for that.

[Nickthedentist]

I suppose, Mike, you could always save the thread and e-mail it to your friend (or try Thread Tools -> E-mail page)

[Paul Stenning]

Print it to PDF (if you have something like PDF Creator installed) and email it. That's exactly what I did earlier this week with a thread from a work-related forum for a client who doesn't have a login there but needed some info from it.

[paulsherwin]

This forum has been around for a long time now and there are generally good reasons why things are arranged as they are. Members are very welcome to suggest changes but shouldn't be surprised or offended if these get the thumbs down. Please remember that the mods have to make any changes actually work, and none of us are being paid.

[turretslug]

There are all sorts of vested interest knock-ons with MT discussions, I've noticed that there's a tendency for thinly-veiled salesmen to appear on MT forums, offering their "advice". Also, there's the looming shadow of legal action- we can get away with slagging off makes of capacitor etc. from half a century ago but doing so with current stuff could get dodgy.

I think that the current situation is a good compromise- indeed, it's a welcome and handy feature that it exists.

[Station X]

As a moderator my fear has always been that if we opened up the modern technology section to everyone we'd be inundated with queries from people with zero technical knowledge asking how to fix their flat screen TVs.

Something similar happens when people buy "Dansette" type record layers because it's retro or trendy. On finding their player doesn't work they then post here in the Vintage Audio Section. Hopefully some of them then take up the repair and restoration hobby.

[Radio Wrangler]

There is a steady flow of new posters with recently bought Dansettes, and if a modest proportion of them discover and take up the restoration hobby, then there will be new people to keep things going as we sadly lose people eventually.

Being hit with even a tiny fraction of people with problems with brown and white goods would swamp everyone.

Of course, the sort of people who muck about with old radios and TVs aren't going to hesitate to get their hands dirty when their own TV/washing machine/welder dies. So the knife edge which is being trod is to have a section which works for the vintage hobbyists (carefully ambiguous!) but doesn't import every problem on the planet.

It seems to work.

David

[mike_newcomb]

Hi Guys, thanks for all your replies.

To overcome the problem, from the thread concerned, I copied each reply's text and pasted all together in an email for my friend.

Incidentally, the thread concerned, was the one regarding an aerial supplying poor Freeview signal strength. #6 was my contribution to it.

Regards - Mike