Just here to say “Hi”.
To be brutally honest, I don’t think I’m ready to transition to another forum, not yet.
I spent a lot of time talking to the ProjectBoard people, by phone, e-mail, and participating on that forum to see if I could direct them toward a better product and interface. There was some effect, but only tweaks and added features to the same basic system. The underlying system was not going to change, and the targeted clientele were not expected to take themselves seriously. The developers of PB wanted it to be as welcoming as possible - even at the expense of its integrity for technical information. They simply assumed that experts would voluntarily enjoy coming and explaining basic physics and math to a horde of vaguely interested and uncommitted strangers.
If the developers won’t take ProjectBoard seriously, then I won’t either.
The transition of ET to the ProjectBoard format was under way earlier this year, then stopped indefinitely at David Murphy’s insistence. I believe David now has more resources at his disposal but not necessarily enough to ensure the continued availability of ET. Stalemate, not checkmate.
Hi SparWeb. When Ron, Doug, and I started down the path to create SE, we did not have a warm, fuzzy feeling on the sustainability of ET. We did not like ProjectBoard at all, and Ron and I really did try to help them. I don’t know what Dave would think of this. At the time, he seemed to have his hands full trying to prevent Frank from ruining ET, IMO. Anyway, we have new, open-source, state-of-the-art software that is kept evergreen by the vendor. We have organised the site in a way that is logical, intuitive and familiar. It’s a place where Engineers can get together and discuss and solve the world’s problems.
Howdy Latexman!
I was aware of your efforts in parallel with mine. Too bad we weren’t able to coordinate - although now that I say it, I’m not sure it would have helped. I will definitely keep on eye on SE, and hopefully can steer new users in your direction as opportunities arise.