Special Interest Group(s) SIGs

sarabande

sarabande

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(a copy post from PBO -please excuse !)

I've run an idea past Dan F to use the Forum Groups facility to set up ad hoc Special Interest Group(s). (SIG)

It comes about from the thread on red cockpit lights, but could equally well apply to Knots for Dyneema, Underwater Grease, Spinnaker Release Clips, Prop Antifoul, or any narrow subject which from time to time, and sometimes repeatedly, arouses the forum's focus and interest.

The aim would be that, once a techy subject arises, someone with specialist or enthusiastic knowledge might be motivated to set up a SIG to explore the topic in full outwith the hotbed and temptations of the forum, and in due course place a "best practice" or "best kit" report back to the forum.

The SIG could then ferret calmly around for a few days or weeks, and experiment with devices, procedures, or investigate theoretical or practical issues. The practice will be familiar to many of you through its use in professional organisations or technical groups. For instance, wearing another hat, I am minor participant in the HSE Explosives Group, and a Pandemic SIG.

I'd like to set up a Chart Lighting/Night Vision SIG as an experiment. The aim would be to chat to UKHO, MCA, marine and aircraft lighting manufacturers, to establish how raggies and mobos can best use lights for efficient charts and screen illumination, and to preserve night vision.

What think you ? Too much like real life / you use the forum to get away from this / sounds too official....
 
Imho, not a good idea. Things should just be discussed on the forum (and it would help if OPers would use informative thread titles rather than "advice needed" or similar). Salami slicing discussions into lots of separate distant discussions loses lots of potential input. I think red cockpit lights, Knots for Dyneema, Underwater Grease, Spinnaker Release Clips, Prop Antifoul, etc should just have their own thread with a suitable thread title
 
forum groups are just an extension of the forums, advantage is you can discuss things over weeks, rather than have a thread disappear within hours on the forum, where unless there is constant activity, it gets lost. So yes, it makes sense if people want to discuss one topic (their choice) over an extended period, and everyone can access it if they wish, as they aren't closed groups.
 
I'll amplify slightly what I said on PBO. I think the idea is good, but needs a way of providing a meaningful distillation of the wisdom for those who want the net advice and not the debate. The recent Perkins 6354 thread is a good case in point, some sage advice but you need to wade through the thread to get it.

A fecetious example maybe, but the question "can I wear my blazer and whites while flying a blue ensign and anchored up with a CQR to see the Cowes fireworks" SIG might run to a few pages with a lot of reading to discover "only if you stand all forumites present a dink in the Guinness tent" is the received wisdom.

Issue to resolve: if you provide a distillation/FAQ someone has to make this, and then someone else might challenge their authority etc. I offer no solution, its a real issue on many fora.
 
BrendanS said:
Explain why? I can't see what the issue is, if open debate happens over weeks or months, rather than days
Click to expand...

Because if the debate is not right here on the forum, and is instead several clicks down in a SIG, then many folks wont see it. Folks are very busy and dont have the time or inclination to dig deep into websites. They just want to click their favourites button and chip in right there. Even moreso when on Blackberries. If you make the thing hard to access (and hardness is in the eye of the beholder) you wont get all the expert input into the debate that would enlighten it. You would have debates where only a subset of contributors, namely those with the time/inclination to dig into the website, make a contribution. Everyone else wouldn't even know the debate was happening

I don't get the weeks/months thing. Such debates can be had on here. If folks have the inclination to follow a SIG debate they can equally find a thread that has dropped to page 5 or whatever and refresh it with their contribution
 
jfm said:
Because if the debate is not right here on the forum, and is instead several clicks down in a SIG, then many folks wont see it. Folks are very busy and dont have the time or inclination to dig deep into websites. They just want to click their favourites button and chip in right there. Even moreso when on Blackberries. If you make the thing hard to access (and hardness is in the eye of the beholder) you wont get all the expert input into the debate that would enlighten it. You would have debates where only a subset of contributors, namely those with the time/inclination to dig into the website, make a contribution. Everyone else wouldn't even know the debate was happening

I don't get the weeks/months thing. Such debates can be had on here. If folks have the inclination to follow a SIG debate they can equally find a thread that has dropped to page 5 or whatever and refresh it with their contribution
Click to expand...

I agree with this.
 
I think we have risked this before on the forums where in effect you remove something from one forum and weaken that forum.
Perhaps engineering topics are less subjective, but in the majority of topics it is surely the diversity of responses, serious or not, that adds value.
How to polish my boat, or which antifoul questions dont have any single solution, and somewhere price usually comes in. If the best night vision red light comes from NASA and costs £5k, so what? Its probably too late in JFMs build to incude it anyway ;)
 
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