Using the SketchUp Community Forum for third party add-ons.

Al Hart

I have an idea.

How about if we create a sub-forum for third party add-ons and let anyone who wants to request a sub-forum for their application.

This might create a whole lot of sub-forums. But it might also be a great value for SketchUp users who use third party applications.

If it creates too many sub forums, perhaps we could add categories of sub-forums (or sub-sub-forums) to organize it better.

Then someone looking for help for a particular application, for instance SpecifiCAD, could navigate to (and bookmark) the sub-forum.

JuanV.Soler

I suggest this :
Make two sub_foldersunder SketchUp´s Discussionsthat says
:Render Engines
:Third party add-ons.
Each new sub_folder contains then the several sub_folders for each specific case.
I think clarifies.

kwistenbiebel

Well,I can understand Coens decision to skip the subsections in the applications section,
but I sure do miss the Sketchyphysics section.
There was so much activity going on in that section that with 'exploding' all to the main section it is hard to retrieve info.

I want to respect Coens decision as he wants to keep SCF neutral to commercial influences(which I applause), but one could consider re-instating the subsections and let 'natural selection' do its work.
If there is a low response in a specific subsection after a while (or if the only posts are commercial 'spamming')just kill it. If a subsection has success (lots of active threads etc..), keep it.
That way we would have a 'neutral' forum cause each subsection will be evaluated on activity, and not on underlying commercial reasons.

Just a thought.
But I can live with how things are now. In the end we adapt.

Al Hart

The Render and other-apps selection would be good.

I think Coen can stay "neutral" if he simply creates any sub-forums which vendors request.
It would only be "non-neutral" if he refused to let some vendors have sub-forums.

I think we would all like a single place to search for, or discover, items relating to SketchUp without having to go to different forums every time we need something.

When Coen allowed a sub-forum for Render Plus applications, I immediately dropped the Render Plus forum. However, if I cannot "subscribe" to a sub-forum where users can make posts regarding Render Plus applications, then I will have to reinstate the Render Plus forums again. However, I would much rather keep them here.

remus

personally i dont really like the idea of creating a sub-forum every time it is requested. I have a nasty feeling that it would end up being cluttered with loads of forums with a few posts to their name. That situation isnt really beneficial to anyone, as you cant learn anything form it and its makes the forum (that part of it at least) feel cluttered.

kwistenbiebel

@al hart said:

When Coen allowed a sub-forum for Render Plus applications, I immediately dropped the Render Plus forum. However, if I cannot "subscribe" to a sub-forum where users can make posts regarding Render Plus applications, then I will have to reinstate the Render Plus forums again. However, I would much rather keep them here.

I think it is wise to have your own dedicated forum anyways, regardless of having a sub-section here on SCF forum.
The third party forum section is meant as a mean to share experiences and troubleshooting. It's not meant to promote a commercial business in the first place (but it can off course have promotional value as a side effect when people share positive experiences using the software).

kwistenbiebel

Indeed remus,
and it would probably give Coen a lot of work as he would have to deal with numerous requests.

But besides that reasoning, it is still a shame that a successful section like Sketchyphysics got killed in the process.

juju

[open_can_of_worms]

@unknownuser said:

@al hart said:

It would only be "non-neutral" if he refused to let some vendors have sub-forums.

Only SketchyPhysics will have its forum reinstated. And ONLY because this a a highly active and moreover free plug-in. Those are two factors that both play a major role in keeping it.

[/open_can_of_worms]

Granted there were forums that was stagnant and probably needed to be pruned, but there were also useful ones.

IIRC the Kerkythea sub-forum was also frequented a lot, it's free as well. So what gives?

kwistenbiebel

I am convinced. Thanks for explaining all that Coen.

Frederik

@unknownuser said:

IIRC the Kerkythea sub-forum was also frequented a lot, it's free as well. So what gives?

Like I've mentioned in another thread, I'd say that I fully understand why there's no specific KT sub-forum here at the SCF...
Personally I don't see any particular use of a KT sub-forum here at the SCF or anywhere else for that matter... We have our own Forum - the KT Forum - where users should post their questions...
We even have a SU section, where users can ask SU specific questions...

JuanV.Soler

Yes Coen, keeping it simple.
I think the trouble comes from calling the main forum , SketchUp´s Discussions.
I think that if it ever was called again just SketchUp it could then be made two new folders properly. The one attending to the Renders and the another one getting the add_ons, such as Sketchyphisics, etc...

just ideas ..

sepo

To be fair it is much easier for us at Podium to run troubleshooting at our own forum than at SCF.... Saying that it would be nice to have a bit more structure even if you bundled all rendering engines in one forum and all othe cool modeling plugins in the other. As it stands it is a bit confusing.

Al Hart

Although we have our own Forum for IRender nXt:

http://nxt.accurender.com/forums/146.aspx

I think many SketchUp users would prefer to post all their SketchUp related questions at a single forum. I was hoping that SCF wanted to be just that - a place for all questions relating to SketchUp - (SketchUp itself, 3D Warehouse, COntent providers, Ruby and other extensions, Renderers, other apps, etc.)

By making the add-ons section more flexible (i.e. a sub-forum for any add-on which requests it), we would make it easier for users to post their questions to the proper sub-forum, to read questions about the add-on, and to subscribe to questions about the add-on)