Database Users

Why Are Threads Being Trashed?

I was looking for a couple of threads that I had recently bookmarked to go back to later on only to find that they weren't bookmarked anymore. I spent almost an hour searching for them only to find the one specific thread in the trash. No warning or reason was given. Why was this done? I can understand if it's a thread with only a single post or perhaps even one that has become outdated (like a Cupcake release date thread) but why a thread that has 4 pages of information for a topic that doesn't have any reference for it already? Isn't this going to just create more new threads? More e-mails? More questions? Isn't this defeating the purpose of posting a new thread about a topic that hasn't been posted or stickied, if it is just going to be deleted?
If you look in the trash you will find SEVERAL Dream threads. In fact... just on the first page HALF (TEN out of TWENTY) are from the Dream thread! So just to clearify... of the dozens of different threads for different phones half of all trash is for the G1??? Isn't the trash supposed to be for SPAM?
How are these spam (just from the first page)???
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=525564
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=524956
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=519591
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=525034
There are a few more of course but I can understand because most of the questions have been answerered and it would be faster and easier if these people used the search feature. But some haven't been. (example)
Instead of deleting the threads... merge them. But of course you get stuck with a 500+ page thread that MOST people will not read all the way through to see if the question they are about to ask has been asked/answered already. Which is of course why they post a new thread but guess what? It gets deleted and so another thread gets posted. It's never ending and I realize that this must be hard work for the mods.
So what to do?
I propose that instead of deleting these threads without reason or warning, to PM the original poster of the thread to ask of the significance of it and to provide a legitimate reason and purpose for it. Otherwise give warning or notice of the possible deletion. Of course this does not exempt the threads that are posting warez, copyright infringements and other obvious violations of memberships.
This is only my opinion and I hope that I have made an interesting point or two about this matter.

Look at the Sticky "Tough Love Moderation Alert". Basically the admins will lock/delete threads they think duplicate or off topic. I can't say as I agree with their method (no explanation) but there is a need to keep the threads under control. The development forum is the worst of the problem area but all the Dream forums have some abusers.
On the other hand it is leading to silly thread titles "[ONLY] something [ONLY]" (which is silly since people who would have posted off topic before still will) and confusion as well as "What happened to my last post" threads. Time will tell if their methods achieve their goal.

JanetPanic said:
Look at the Sticky "Tough Love Moderation Alert". Basically the admins will lock/delete threads they think duplicate or off topic. I can't say as I agree with their method (no explanation) but there is a need to keep the threads under control. The development forum is the worst of the problem area but all the Dream forums have some abusers.
On the other hand it is leading to silly thread titles "[ONLY] something [ONLY]" (which is silly since people who would have posted off topic before still will) and confusion as well as "What happened to my last post" threads. Time will tell if their methods achieve their goal.
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Yeah... okay. I agree that some of the most annoying problems with the dream thread is that people do post in the ROM Development thread. But is deleting so much easier then moving to the "Dream" thread? If so, does it out weight the inconvenience of the possiblity of the same question being reposted because it was unable to be found by the search feature?
Say this post gets deleted... and it likely will be... and someone else notices the same issue... and they search to see if this has been posted. Will they find it? No. Because hardly anyone looks in the trash. So what do they do? They post it as a new thread. So what happens? A mod goes in and deletes that post. And it repeats over and over again until the mods stop deleting the posts. Then what? Nothing. The post stays and maybe even grows. Is it really a bother that a thread is over a month old and hasn't had any recent posts? Does it really bother anyone? Of course not! They just ignore it, right? So why go through all the trouble to delete it? Some of the threads in the trash are still useful and there is absolutely no harm in keeping it in the proper catagories (ie Dream, Applications, Themes, etc).
Any mod that simply deletes a useful and recently commented thread because it was mistakenly posted under the wrong catgory instead of simply moving it, is just lazy in my own personal opinion and is doing more harm then good. Again... just my opinion.

Binary100100 said:
Say this post gets deleted... and it likely will be... and someone else notices the same issue... and they search to see if this has been posted. Will they find it? No. Because hardly anyone looks in the trash. So what do they do? They post it as a new thread. So what happens? A mod goes in and deletes that post. And it repeats over and over again until the mods stop deleting the posts. Then what? Nothing. The post stays and maybe even grows.
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That doesn't indicate that what the mods are doing is necessarily wrong, it means that new members continue to disregard the rules (posting already answered questions, posting in wrong forum, etc).
That said, I think the mods need to reevaluate how and when they do thread merges. The form of discussion in forums like these tend to be "conversation" centric. However, the threads are presented in a flat format (by default). That means that merging two threads of identical or similar topics will cause their conversations to intermix, with disastrous results. People already have piss-poor reading skills as it is.

What do you expect the moderators to do? We didn't give them a choice. The Dream forums are out of control and it would take the 3 or 4 moderators for these forums 8 hours a day not being paid to police it. You want someone to blame? Blame your fellow XDA members because there are only 2 solutions for this problem:
Get more moderators to baby sit the forums or increase the quality of posting within the Dream forums. The later is what we need here and what the moderators are hoping for.
Edit: And honestly, I think this is the best method. Do we have the potential for losing good information? Yes. This is how you teach the multitudes of Dream posters that there are consequences for being ignorant. Being stupid is not an excuse.

It is pretty annoying how the Dream thread has exploded and that the same questions just keep on cropping up. When I reply I do try to either re-direct them to my signature (which has the basic links to Dude's ROM, SPL, Apps2SD, Radio etc), teach them how to search with the actual result or just point them to the right direction.
However with 500+ pages or whatever, it can become a chore for newbies to read though, even if 70% of the info is in the first page.
I did recommend to the mods that the Dream section needs cleaning up, with a dedicated sub forum purely for the established (or popular) cooked ROMs. So underneath the Dream Dev sub-forum is another just for JF, Dude, Cyanogen, Haykuro etc. That should remove quite a lot of traffic and usual questions then from what is supposed to be a general development thread for other matters.
Then I would suggest a much more organised and up to date FAQ in such a sub-forum which covers all of the same questions that get asked daily. Any such questions that get asked in any of the ROM forums would then be re-directed to the FAQ.
Most of us I'm sure have come from large forums (lik-sang, avsfoums, etc) and know how to search, read etc but many newer members don't, be it due to lack of effort etc. However I'm sure there are many genuine new members who are willing to learn that only need a nudge in the right direction. Simply blocking them off by trashing, linking them only to the search page etc isn't helpful and won't generate a positive community.
I would put myself forward to help moderate the Dream section but I know that zero mod positions are available at the moment, but I do agree with the OP that trashing isn't always the solution.

NeoBlade said:
linking them only to the search page etc isn't helpful and won't generate a positive community.
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The main problem is that for the veterans who have been here since Sept/Oct 2008, everything more or less makes sense because they have seen it evolve to its current state. It's a lot like a guy who lives in a very very messy room who can still find the book buried under a pile of empty ramen cups and dirty laundry. Thus its easy to say "use the search!" in response to any newbie query. That said, from the first-timer newbie perspective, there are a few problems: 1) A lot of information crammed into two poorly organized subforums. 2) A lot of information is outdated and is superseded or contradicts newer information. 3) Some of the sticky threads have very poorly written or maintained first posts.
Sticky threads are not a very good way to store information for general consumption, unless the original poster is a very good communicator and also vigilantly updates the first post with concise information from the entire thread, no matter how long it is. Of the former sticky posts, few actually meet that standard. The ideal format for information conveyance is wiki, but then there is the disconnection between the wiki and active development. In other words, people don't like to move back and forth between the wiki and the forum.

I know what you mean jashu, I love my "organised mess" at home ^_^
It does take effort alright in keeping threads on topic and up to date, I remember when administrating the TokyoToys forum (I since had to close it, joint decision by myself and the owner) and also organising events for fans and people alike to meet up and have fun, took effort and more often enough without any recognition as well which can get discouraging.
Certainly if the OP kept his or her first post updated often enough with information it will keep questions down to a minimum however I still approve of a well made FAQ which is stickied. It then becomes a focal point as any FAQ should. I'm actually in the middle of writing one myself and once its done and the people concerned are happy with it, I would be happy to post it here too.
Ideally a wiki would be best because its user editable however I had a look at the XDA wiki and it does need a bit of TLC.

I will qualify my statement in that I come from the standpoint as an administrator in a prominent Linux forum that gets more posts in an hour in than the Dream forums get in a day. I firmly believe that draconian administration is not the answer and makes the forum far less pleasant to use. I think of administration as keeping things civil and posts in the right forum more than controlling creation of threads. Forcing the organization into a few mammoth threads is not any better than letting users create new threads without rules.
The developers forum is a bit of a mess and completely left to its own it would be worse than it is. The Development forum is not really about development anymore though. It more of a "custom ROM" forum. It is rare that I see an actual post on development on the android platform. Since the primary topic on the forum is custom ROMs the support questions for said ROMs get put in the development forum and generates a mess. Creating a ROM forum would just shift the mess, so I am not sure that would be better.
I think eventually the newbies who are flooding the forum with threads that could be answered by searching will either go away or learn to search. The current choice of administration is not educating the newbies though, it is just forcing them to learn. Regardless of how any of us users feel about the subject though the administrators have made their choice on how to deal with the Dream sub-forums. We are just along for the ride.
The thought that scares me more than any other is that the flood of newbies up to this stage could be just the tip of the iceburg. XDA-Dev before the last year or so was a forum for a fairly small group of people who generally know how to deal with their own problems. Lately the number of users with limited technical ability and desire have been increasing. This is partly due to the ease of having the Android platform, partly due to the fact that smart phones in general (including iPhone) are becoming much more mainstream. If android truly takes off on HTC phones then either the users will have to be forceful to new users to get them into line fast or the philosophy of the XDA-dev forums itself will need to change. Linux forums have a reputation for rude users, this is largely due to the veterans being unforgiving to repeated questions. Harsh but it does work over time.

JanetPanic said:
The thought that scares me more than any other is that the flood of newbies up to this stage could be just the tip of the iceburg. XDA-Dev before the last year or so was a forum for a fairly small group of people who generally know how to deal with their own problems. Lately the number of users with limited technical ability and desire have been increasing. This is partly due to the ease of having the Android platform, partly due to the fact that smart phones in general (including iPhone) are becoming much more mainstream. If android truly takes off on HTC phones then either the users will have to be forceful to new users to get them into line fast or the philosophy of the XDA-dev forums itself will need to change.
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This and the fact that it's brand spanking new. Give it time and the kids will find something new to play with and move on while the people that give a rats arse (us) will be left behind. I've seen it time and time again on car forums. This isn't any different. The first 6 months is bliss. The following 1-2 years is absolute hell. Then comes the volume drop off and the true development. I've all for tough love but it's not like the tide is ever going to stop. We are just going to have to wait it out.

There's always methods in dealing with issues and I do agree that its more of a ROM section than Development thesedays... Hence in my opinion it would be better off having a ROM section for such people to post on, which will clear up for people actually developling or helping to improve the android platform - Most notibly the Bluetooth OBEX support.
This isn't the fastest forum I've seen or been involved in in terms of volumes of posts, however it is getting to the point where re-structuring and possibly more moderators are needed to help ease the burden. When a large number of people register and start being active, it is often the best time to set an example and indeed set and establish a community where people help people - Be it to simple things as pointing them to the right direction to much more techinical issues.
Without the ethos to help each other, where would open source be?
Granted I know nothing about Linux myself and couldn't code to save my life but I do enjoy the technical discussions that take place. A lot of this is lost with the usual questions that get asked, hence the need for a more up to date FAQ. Tough love is needed but I believe with the right organisation, it shouldn't have to be the only answer.

uberingram said:
This and the fact that it's brand spanking new. Give it time and the kids will find something new to play with and move on while the people that give a rats arse (us) will be left behind. I've seen it time and time again on car forums. This isn't any different. The first 6 months is bliss. The following 1-2 years is absolute hell. Then comes the volume drop off and the true development. I've all for tough love but it's not like the tide is ever going to stop. We are just going to have to wait it out.
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the G1 is the new sidekick. and the sidekick was such a fad and trend for kids to use as a phone. the hip hop and celebrity community did well in terms of marketing the sidekick to the mainstream public as being a "your not cool if you don't have one of these" items. also the emo/scene kids are all about what the "in" things and fads are, so that highly popularized the sidekick as well.
and now since the G1 came out, most of the people that got a sidekick for those particular reasons mentioned above, are now "upgrading" to the next newer cooler big thing.... the G1.
young people love to follow trends, fads, and what's cool at the moment.
right now, the G1 is just that.
it's a double edge for Android and the G1. the popularity is one of the key things needed to make Android and the G1 a success. but with popularity comes a lot riff raff and criticism that is not welcomed so well. but i digress lol
i just hope the sidekick comes out with a touchscreen version or something, so the kids have something new shiny to play with haha

Not owned a sidekick before but then I presume its more popular in the USA than it is in the UK? I moved to the G1 after my Nokia N95. Got impatient waiting for the N97 so made the jump and thanks to the incomplete stock OS, I was tempted to move back to my N95 until JF released his research, Haykuro and Dude. Now it feels more complete with only a few things missing.
Back on topic though, the place isn't as bad as it could be but since this is more a development forum to begin with and not a social based one, just a few tweaks here and there would help newbies a little.

NeoBlade said:
Not owned a sidekick before but then I presume its more popular in the USA than it is in the UK? I moved to the G1 after my Nokia N95. Got impatient waiting for the N97 so made the jump and thanks to the incomplete stock OS, I was tempted to move back to my N95 until JF released his research, Haykuro and Dude. Now it feels more complete with only a few things missing.
Back on topic though, the place isn't as bad as it could be but since this is more a development forum to begin with and not a social based one, just a few tweaks here and there would help newbies a little.
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ohhh i have an idea...
like when you sign up you pick the phone and platform you use then instantly redirects the new member to a FAQ or pertinent threads associated to their liking of phone and platform and at the same time directly email them a link to those FAQ and whatnot.

NeoBlade said:
Not owned a sidekick before but then I presume its more popular in the USA than it is in the UK?.
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Yeah, it's just how mrcrs described it. The Sidekick became quite the fashion accessory model when celebrities started picking them up. They are pictured all over the tabloids and mentioned a lot of times in up-start musician's songs. I doubt very much that it would have panned out this way if T-Mobile released the SideKick 3G before the G1 but then again, T-Mobile needed a victory and a halo phone really fast.

That would take a fair amount of modification to the forum files to do (I've done my fair share of phpBB, phpBB Plus, IPB etc) and also is on the pretence that every single mobile has a suitable FAQ to begin with.
And easier way and modification to the forum could be to send a general stock welcoming PM along with a reminder to search and any additional helpful links within. That is, if XDA wants to go down that route.

NeoBlade said:
That would take a fair amount of modification to the forum files to do (I've done my fair share of phpBB, phpBB Plus, IPB etc) and also is on the pretence that every single mobile has a suitable FAQ to begin with.
And easier way and modification to the forum could be to send a general stock welcoming PM along with a reminder to search and any additional helpful links within. That is, if XDA wants to go down that route.
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whenever i join forums and in my inbox i get a message automatically, which is usually from the forum itself, i usually disregard it because all it is a "welcome to xyz forums... yada yada yada... enjoy your time here"
i usually don't open and read it, delete it then... go wreck havoc on finding out the information i want to know or read about. but that's just me

JanetPanic said:
This is partly due to the ease of having the Android platform, partly due to the fact that smart phones in general (including iPhone) are becoming much more mainstream. If android truly takes off on HTC phones then either the users will have to be forceful to new users to get them into line fast or the philosophy of the XDA-dev forums itself will need to change.
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To get a glimpse of where Dream/Magic forum is headed, just look at the xda Winmo forums. "Development" in this case basically just means rom customization. It's already pretty much at that state here too. Of course if Android fulfills its promise of being a mainstream smartphone OS, there will be many more newbies here than there ever were on the Winmo forums (you don't see many kids rocking Touch Diamonds).
Linux forums have a reputation for rude users, this is largely due to the veterans being unforgiving to repeated questions. Harsh but it does work over time.
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IMO there's nothing wrong with being a bit curt, especially in the "development" forum. This isn't an interactive tutorial, a hand-holding journey. Too many people seem to get the idea that the unsupported hacks enabled by rooting can be generalized and simplified for mass-market consumption. That kind of thinking is faulty and the resulting bad publicity may jeopardize the Android hacking community on the whole.
The problem is that in most cases, being rude only keeps away users who had initial reservations and cautions to rooting-- precisely the kind of user who actually might take the time to indepedently and/or responsibly learn how to do things properly.

jashsu said:
To get a glimpse of where Dream/Magic forum is headed, just look at the xda Winmo forums. "Development" in this case basically just means rom customization. It's already pretty much at that state here too. Of course if Android fulfills its promise of being a mainstream smartphone OS, there will be many more newbies here than there ever were on the Winmo forums (you don't see many kids rocking Touch Diamonds).
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I have been here since 2005 with the Blue Angel (then the Wizard, Jam, Magician, and the Artemis). Eventually XDA started dedicating a subforum to ROMs with the general development thread up top for WinMo development. The Dream right now just has the one combined forum. Another difference is that the ROM threads in Dream seem to grow faster than I remember on the WinMo threads. I am not sure what the difference is, maybe that usually there are a couple debug threads that die out which in the Dream forum is discouraged. Regardless the rapid posting makes it harder to keep up with more than one ROM.
jashsu said:
IMO there's nothing wrong with being a bit curt, especially in the "development" forum. This isn't an interactive tutorial, a hand-holding journey. Too many people seem to get the idea that the unsupported hacks enabled by rooting can be generalized and simplified for mass-market consumption. That kind of thinking is faulty and the resulting bad publicity may jeopardize the Android hacking community on the whole.
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I agree, well put.
jashsu said:
The problem is that in most cases, being rude only keeps away users who had initial reservations and cautions to rooting-- precisely the kind of user who actually might take the time to indepedently and/or responsibly learn how to do things properly.
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Good point as well.

Requesting New "Accessories" Section

LatinSilEighty said:
Well since there's no Accessories section i figured Ide post this here...
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I agree. I've tons of questions and opinions about the availabilty of (or lack of) accessories for this phone.
How do we go about requesting a new "T-Mobile USA HD2 Accessories" child added to the "T-Mobile USA HTC HD2" parent thread?
I realize there may be a section for this over at the Leo side, but this is where I come for my 1024, since there are too many ways to go wrong back over at the Euro side...

I'll second that motion, because there are some clear differences in the two models which makes buying proper accessories difficult. It'd help a lot to have a T-MobileUS specific section.
Two things need to be made clear to new users:
"Don't flash a ...51... series Radio to your TMOUS HD2, or it'll be bricked!"
"Don't buy a European HD2 case for your TMOUS HD2, because it won't fit!"

+1
I'm dying to find a good USB cradle.

+1 for this

me too! +1

Bump
I'm bumping this post because:
It got buried over the weekend to page 2.
I'm hoping the mods missed it due to the OP and plus-ones being written over the weekend.
I like to see my threads on the first page
Here's hoping...

even though this would be nice, I think we should be grateful to have a different section for ROM and General info. I really don't see the need for the different ROM section because I don't really look in the TMOUS section for ROM's personally because I know what to look for to make sure the ROM will work on my device, I know that this maybe for all the noobs around here (not calling you a noob) or people who need it in one space and don't want to search. I just kinda think that it is just making the site better then needed and I personal could deal without a driffrent section just for TMUS HD2's. I don't remember ever seeing different sections for GSM and CDMA version of different devices. I don't personally see this happing. Everyone is entitled to there own opinions though.

RKnight1983 said:
even though this would be nice, I think we should be grateful to have a different section for ROM and General info.
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Hence the "Request" and not the "Demand" Seriously though, I would be grateful if it were just a single root and 2,000 pages. This site is tremendous and I have been blown away from Day One with the assistance from other users that is given away freely here every day.
That being said, I don't think I'm being ungrateful in asking for one more section. If that is the way it seemed, please accept my humble apologies.
RKnight1983 said:
I really don't see the need for the different ROM section because I don't really look in the TMOUS section for ROM's personally because I know what to look for to make sure the ROM will work on my device, I know that this maybe for all the noobs around here (not calling you a noob) or people who need it in one space and don't want to search.
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Unfortunately, I did not originally know there was a difference. I had even picked out a (incompatible) ROM before looking for a Hard SPL. It was then that I stumbled upon the difference between the 512 and the 1024. It was also where I stumbled upon the "T-Mobile USA HTC HD2" root. Had it not been for the mistakes of others, who unfortunately bricked their phones learning the difference, I would have made the same rookie mistake.
As far as I can tell, this is the first time that a device difference this big has been released by HTC under the same general name (HD2, not Leo). This is the true source of the confusion, at least it was for me.
RKnight1983 said:
I just kinda think that it is just making the site better then needed and I personal could deal without a driffrent section just for TMUS HD2's. I don't remember ever seeing different sections for GSM and CDMA version of different devices. I don't personally see this happing. Everyone is entitled to there own opinions though.
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I haven't seen different sections for GSM and CDMA either, but then we are dealing with an entirely fresh set of eyes with this phone. If you read my "What Did You Go Through For The HD2?" thread, you'll see that a good portion of the posters there are professing to have switched from other Operating Systems from iPhone to Android to Blackberry.
That being said, I don't think that too many of the so-called "n00bs" are really that, just misinformed and new to HTC or even Windows Mobile. I am sure that it takes a certain mindset and tempermant to take your brand-new, roughly-obtained $500 gadget and attempt a maneuver that could possibly turn it into a big fat paper-weight. Thus, we are seeing a lot of new faces, but not necessarily naive ones.
---EDIT---
My PC keyboard died so I had to finish this with my phone
With the influx of new users, xda-developers will benefit by listening to the new users and adapting to increase the usability and manageability of the website.
The US version of this phone is slightly larger than the Euro version, making many of the existing accessories simply do not fit this device. This necessitates a definitive section that is clearly deliniated from the existing sections.
you certainly have the right too disagree and the mods have the right to ignore the request, but I also feel that it doesn't hurt to ask

Last bump.
If this doesn't get action, I'll drop it and start spamming the General board...

RKnight1983 said:
I don't remember ever seeing different sections for GSM and CDMA version of different devices. I don't personally see this happing. Everyone is entitled to there own opinions though.
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http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=479

[Q] Proposal to merge all Galaxy S family into 1 neat and big sub forum

original topic at
[Q] Proposal to merge all Galaxy S family into 1 neat and big sub forum
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764084

That is brilliant. Can't believe I did not post it first, it is a peeve of mine, big time.

I would like to see this as well.

I support this!

It was like that at first, but I think they did this so that people wouldnt start flashing things on their phones without knowing which one it's for.
I wouldnt mind a general "Galaxy S General" forum though.

yes, this would be a definite plus. and give us an off topic section for us sgs users as well.

+1 .....10 char

^bump^
as i don't have any Mod power to make it a sticky, much less make the original topic cross posted across the 5 SGS forums

115 Yes
7 No
Wow...

I didn't at first, but I found my self looking at the other forums today because its really obvious that there is tons of cross over. Of course I'd agree that development should be seperate, but cases and other things should totally be combined.

I just hope my sticky stays a sticky

jz9833 said:
It was like that at first, but I think they did this so that people wouldnt start flashing things on their phones without knowing which one it's for.
I wouldnt mind a general "Galaxy S General" forum though.
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It wasn't exactly like that at first I think..more precisely only the i9000 forum existed as it was the only device out at the time..
Right now we got almost the devices out the door and most of the stuff are compatible..if not minor tweaks make it compatible...
But yes thats exactly what the proposal will do..it will separate out the development with some room for cross development and keep the other categories like general the same

As long as the development sections are separate I think this its a good idea..
Especially if we have enough mods to watch over us...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

and also take out the Galaxy Spica subsection which no one seems to use.

I do like the idea though the only thing I'm worried about is people getting confused in the development section. And I'm assuming since the software is basically the same for all the phones then themes would work across all phones.

yeah that might be an issue. if we do merge, I think it's best if people start id'ing their thread with something like
[CAPT] dadada
[VIBR] dadada
[EPIC] dadada

Let me clear things up a bit....the Development thread will have sub-forums for each device...so anything that is unique or only for 1 device will be in the sub-forum...things that work on all devices or multiple devices will go into the main Development forum where we will tag it something like this "[V][C][F]" which would mean works for Vibrant, Captivate, Fascinate only.

I agree, checking all the other SGS forums is a litle annoying.

kizer said:
I didn't at first, but I found my self looking at the other forums today because its really obvious that there is tons of cross over. Of course I'd agree that development should be seperate, but cases and other things should totally be combined.
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I was under the impression that the Vibrant and Captivate don't use the same cases (Captivate has lines vs curves), so already there is an instance where this idea falls apart.
Theres going to be a SGS with a keyboard soon, that case won't be compatible with cases for the other phones.
So....we could mix the Vibrant and i9000 forums because they're basically the same form factor, but why bother.
There is enough different about all these phones that it's probably better keeping them separated.
-----
EDIT:
With that said, when there is an issue with one phone, it does seem to carry over to the others and it is freaking annoying having to delve the forums of the other phones to find a solution.
Unfortunately, what is the "better" solution? Either one is going to be somewhat confusing for somebody.

Bump.
To the people that still doesn't know about this idea, please go vote if you would like to see the big Galaxy S family forum merged.
Thanks.

Please separate the forums CDMA,GSM.

I believe this forum right not can confuse the new people and make the others pissed off. The tags are all random right now. Why wasn't it asked to the community if this is a good idea? Instead it was "I". Come on now.

lphillips80 said:
I believe this forum right not can confuse the new people and make the others pissed off. The tags are all random right now. Why wasn't it asked to the community if this is a good idea? Instead it was "I". Come on now.
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I agree The Dev forums are now more difficult to read. I'm not new to the community(not that you can tell that by my posts), but even I am getting a bit confused reading through the posts.

Dude, you should only be posting dev projects in here not your general discussions.
The forums were previously split and have now been rejoined as it did more harm then good. I just cant see how its "confusing" to anybody with common sense.
If you have a CDMA device you only need the CDMA roms, and if you have a GSM device then you want the GSM roms, simple.
Reporting post as its in wrong place.
PS. rating your own thread 5 starts is sad.

TheATHEiST said:
Dude, you should only be posting dev projects in here not your general discussions.
The forums were previously split and have now been rejoined as it did more harm then good. I just cant see how its "confusing" to anybody with common sense.
If you have a CDMA device you only need the CDMA roms, and if you have a GSM device then you want the GSM roms, simple.
Reporting post as its in wrong place.
PS. rating your own thread 5 starts is sad.
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^^^^
this guy cracks me up....hes all like, im telling mom. why so damn anal? the topic had nothing to do with dev, you didnt even need to waste your time posting trying to correct someone.
im with the op, it WAS easier to navigate gsm/cdma split up. the ONLY reason it got brought back was because of this honeycomb crap...which looky there, it's primary devs are all cdma anyways. people complained after a cdma link ended up in a gsm thread...then they cry, oh WHYYYYY do i have to click another button?!? its the end of the world and my tablet wont survive unless its all cluttered in one place.
i agree with a couple posts saying the OP should just put the info in [brackets] and call it a day.
i still think they should be split up again.
as for reporting this thread, its a legit req to the devs, def not in the wrong section...there are other ways of telling them what you think but this way everyone can put in their 2 cents (myself included)

Yup, there should be 2. With most of the dev threads being non-indicative its much harder to find anything, let alone whether or not the thread is for your device or not. Recombining the 2 SGT type threads was a bad idea. We're all gonna get carpal tunnel anyways, what's one more click?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

It was split into 2, now its back to 1?! Our mod is confusing.
Sent from inside a whale.

suprajztwenty said:
^^^^
this guy cracks me up....hes all like, im telling mom. why so damn anal? the topic had nothing to do with dev, you didnt even need to waste your time posting trying to correct someone.
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Nothing to do with been anal, Its to do with wanting the forum to be organized and posting crap in wrong places hinders that.
Back on topic, Splitting of the forums just isnt needed, If you want CDMA topics do a title search for CDMA using search option or just browse section as normal, its not hard to differentiate the topics.
A good vB forum mod to install to make it easier for you would be the prefix mod that enables posters to choose set prefix's, these are color coded so would be immediate more distinguishable.
If they were to re-split the forums it would be good to have some sort of third forum as a middle ground, maybe something like..
Galaxy Tab GSM Android Development
Galaxy Tab CDMA Android Development
Galaxy Tab MISC Android Development
That way we could have a non specific section for adding stuff that relates to both device types.

I believe most of the devs ACTUALLY make it clear which device their ROMs and kernels are for. People just don't read properly.
For me, it's more of actually being of help to the guys who don't read properly and complain about broken tabs rather than being able to be more organized. After making mistakes so many times they'll finally learn to do proper reading.

TheATHEiST said:
Dude, you should only be posting dev projects in here not your general discussions.
The forums were previously split and have now been rejoined as it did more harm then good. I just cant see how its "confusing" to anybody with common sense.
PS. rating your own thread 5 starts is sad.
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codewisp said:
I believe most of the devs ACTUALLY make it clear which device their ROMs and kernels are for. People just don't read properly.
For me, it's more of actually being of help to the guys who don't read properly and complain about broken tabs rather than being able to be more organized. After making mistakes so many times they'll finally learn to do proper reading.
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I'm smart enough to look at the title, and I liked it the way it was before.
At 3am, tired, doped up on my meds, feeling frisky to flash a new rom, brain fried, it was easier to go to the CDMA section, now I have to be even more careful. Not that it matters if I flash a GSM on my CDMA as I can always restore, but that's not the point.
Yes there are way to many kiddies that wont read for a week before they flash a kernel or rom and get stuck on a normal samsung boot loop, and it is normal for someone like me to ask if putting a gsm on a cdma tab will completely break it, or if it would work, and there are the lurkers who just want to install stuff.
So separating was a better idea, I could have gone to the forum for the device I wanted to read about, knowing i was in gsm or cdma, now I have to decipher what is what, or the more popular GSM threads might push an important cdma thread to page 2, where it would have been at the top for a week, and don't get me started on the HC ports for both GSM and CDMA, that alone could really screw someone who doesn't have 3 tablets and can afford to be without a daily use tab for an entire weekend.
A good mod/admin looks beyond what they feel the more established crowd might like, and makes adjustments for the new people that could provide help for projects like the HC port once they have been able to read in an organized forum. Also what exact proof is there that the former setup did more damage? what, and extra click or 2 to go back and forth between cdma and GSM? ****, put a direct link in your FF BM tab,
Like this............

It was split into two, and then people started complaining to svetius so it was put back. We're never gonna make everyone happy here, but we're trying.

My gripe about the split was that there was no middle ground. For example there was no section to post stuff that wasnt device specific.
IMO it should either be left as it is now, not split or split and a third section added for misc or "non device specific".

Why does the ROM get it's own forum unlike others?

This question has been asked here (http://www.xda-developers.com/android/from-the-bbq-omnirom/) but seems didn't get a reply from mods.
what makes it so special compared to other ROMs like AOKP/PA which are just threads in the device forums. Pulser_g2 has mentioned transparency in another post in the past but this forum section seems to go above forum rules. thanks

You know i've been wondering that myself...not that i care really. I'm more excited about wanting to port it lol ...will still be nice to know

Could Be Anyone said:
As far as I know it doesn't. The main Omni sub forum is only here for better communication between the devs and its community otherwise as far as I know the ROMs itself will be in their own respected device forums.
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then why not just create the relevant threads on the supported devices?
I never saw a dev/maintainer having problems communicating with its users on the device threads.

honestly does it really matter? this is how it should be for cynogen/aokp/paranoid as well since they are the most popular. will make communication and guides a whole lot easier.
perhaps this is xda way of going down that isle

It has a cooler wizard crew and a better wizard beats mix tape
Sent from my HTC One

My guess (purely a guess) is because there is meant to be more community discussion around new features. CM seems to just be lead devs in private discussions about upcoming stuff, the rest of us know about it when the commits start to roll.
This sort of "upcoming feature" talk is more appropriate in a central forum, rather than spread across x amount of individual device threads that noone will ever read. The "Feature Development" sub also sort of confirms this a bit.
M.

mrjayviper said:
then why not just create the relevant threads on the supported devices?
I never saw a dev/maintainer having problems communicating with its users on the device threads.
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The plan is for these forums to be for coordination between developers on device-independent stuff. I also hope to have, eventually, a "neutral ground" where the leads of various projects can communicate. There are always going to be things (usually differences in UI/UX direction) that drive the existence of multiple projects - but there are a lot of areas where the work done is common and I think that the various projects can do better communicating.
I would not have any problem with other firmware projects having coordination forums for "core" work here on XDA.
As I've said in other posts - this is the very earliest stages of things, and there are still a lot of details to work out. There's a possibility that the current "omni" forums could change drastically in structure as things get fleshed out better.

Thanks Entropy. clear and concise. couldn't ask for more. all power to the new team/ROM. Competition is ALWAYS good.

mrjayviper said:
Thanks Entropy. clear and concise. couldn't ask for more. all power to the new team/ROM. Competition is ALWAYS good.
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It is an experiment - while we can sit around at XDA Towers and come up with wonderful ideas of how to improve things for developers, it's important to see how they work.
In this case we can see how the concept of having a centralised area for non device specific discussions works. It's easier to try it out on something that can be undone if needed, which is starting off slowly.
If that works out, I don't think it takes a genius to imagine the direction that we would look towards in the future.

It's worth noting that Rootzwiki sort of has a similar structure for AOKP and a few others under the "Team Forums" section. Definitely seems like a good structure to experiment with. I know a lot of ROMs tried running their own forums but the problem is that everyone is here and no one wants to make a bunch of new accounts, so this makes more sense in the long run.

Sveke said:
It has a cooler wizard crew and a better wizard beats mix tape
Sent from my HTC One
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I think what you mean to say its the bonnie wizzer and the king grux grew crew!
I can't believe you actually said mix tape. I have a pair of Converse that say mix tape.
From the VERY little I've seen about this rom it's reminding me of SalvageMod, which I really really liked.

interloper said:
I think what you mean to say its the bonnie wizzer and the king grux grew crew!
I can't believe you actually said mix tape. I have a pair of Converse that say mix tape.
From the VERY little I've seen about this rom it's reminding me of SalvageMod, which I really really liked.
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It was a workaholics reference, obviously you didn't get it.
Sent from my HTC One

Don't want to date myself, but we had a similar forum back in the Motorola heyday.
Back than seem editing and various other methods of modding
various Motorola phones, starting with the Motorola v3 were discussed.
It worked very well than and should now. Motorola released different phones,
but they all basically had the same but updated firmware.
I am the Administrator of one of the forums that still survives, but not much activity these days.
SEE HERE