rec.autos.simulators

I thought that a new forum what take us (Car Physics / Sim Writers) "out
of the hair" of everyone else in R.A.S.  I feel a little more awkward
asking off topic physics questions in here than I would in a purpose
built forum.  Although I like the idea of google archiving it forever.

All the best,
Ash

Yadda, yadda, yadda.... show me a clearly arranged one and I might.

Rules are rules, I didn't make them and I don't particularly object to
them... they keep things uncluttered.

Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.

As does a good moderator at a forum Jan...

Ian
www.simbin.com

Don't change the subject on me Ian... It's not renegade posters which "ruin"
forums for me.

I just went down to your site and read your F1 2001 review on the forum.
Nice, nothing that couldn't have been acclomplished by really putting it up
as a web page and linking to it from a message, of course, but nice. At the
bottom it says "8 replies since dec 18th, but if I click on "next newest" I
get taken to another topic (your comment on the West's garden fence) instead
of replies to your review. Which is convenient for me as it shows what
drives me up the wall concerning forums... All the content is displayed up
front WITHOUT ORDER. It is left up to the reader to figure out at what level
in the thread or to whom the poster is responding. Cluttered. If that's your
idea of order, I don't want to see your clutter.

This one is just about passable... note the structure to the posts.

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/15004

Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.

Ian
www.simbin.com

   < Snip >

   I'm also anti web-foums.  

   For me it's not an issue of where they are, the point is
that they are, in my view, an inferior tool for the exchange
of ideas.  

   I posted this in The Pits TPTCC forum, I'm editing it for
this discussion.  

   This is why I dislike web forums:

   1. Thread organization: In a newsgroup, like
      RAS, each thread is a single line, until you
      expand it. This makes it easy to scan large
      amounts of topics.  When expanded, each posting
      is positioned, and has indentation, to show who
      is responding to which post.

      How do I organize threads in a web forum like  
      this?

   2. Expression: I've indented these points because
      that's how I want to present these issues. If
      you read this in a web forum, the indentation
      will be gone.

      How do I present my points in the format I want
      in a web forum?

   3. Spelling: I'm the world's worst speller. Is
      there a spelling facility on a button I'm not
      seeing?

      How do I spell check in a web forum?

   4. Searching: I can search for a word in the
      subject line, or for the name of a sender
      when reading newsgroups with netscape.

      How do I perform these kind of searches in a
      web forum?

   There is an alternative that webmasters who care
to give their users the best tools can use:

       The InterNetNews package (INN) is a complete
       Usenet system. It includes innd, an NNTP
       server, and nnrpd, a newsreading server.

   This can drop in where an inferior web-forum is
used.  

   A web master can configure this to collect posts
forever, it doesn't need to be used in conjunction  
with a news feed, it's just better.  

   What does a web forum offer that makes it superior
to a news server like INN?

                                               Larry

The main thing is not to miss anything interesting ofcourse. :)

Ruud van Gaal
Free car sim  : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/racer/
Pencil art    : http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery/

I have been reading various usenet groups since the early
eighties, and it still seems very much alive and kicking as
far as I can see.

Usenet may seem primitive compared to the fancy graphics in web
forums, but anyone trying to follow more than a few web forums
regularly should be able to figure out why usenet is superior.

      _
Mats Lofkvist        GPLrank -25   (and proud of it, Tom)

--
Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/
Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E)
Ever wondered what's wrong with the world?      http://bnetwork.com/
PGP Fingerprint:  2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F  67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

I'm now using Unix at work and happily doing file management
on the command line; when I replace this PC and install Linux,
I'll most likely go back to Pine for my mail and news.

I'm waiting for the next PC so that I've got a second one to
download stuff while I configuring Linux... ;-)

Jonny

I'm a devoted Windows user, but if they ever remove the command line (aka
DOS window) I will find another OS. Some things are just faster in a command
prompt. Try deleting all files with the extension .TMP from an Explorer
window and then from a DOS prompt.

One of the things I always hated about the Mac (way back when I used one)
was the absence of a command line.

On the contrary Ashley. What could be more on topic than car physics and sim
writing? It's educational as well as fasinating to learn a bit about what
actually makes the games we play work. I'd consider it a big loss if that stuff
wasn't here.

--
Don Scurlock
Vancouver,B.C.

GPLRank     -15.39
MonsterRank  89.11

Come see how you rank, at the GPLRank site
http://newgplrank.schuerkamp.de/

...

Or not, it's SO much easier to just buy somebody else's work.

Anyway, I'd really hate for this newsgroup to be reduced completely to a
"Nascar sucks!" "No it doesn't!" forum.

You're right: at the ripe age of 31, I'm a grumpy old fart... a
traditionalist, completely behind the times and ridiculed by the Windows
generation.<g>

Seriously, the flow of the conversation is more evident there as when all
messages are presented on the same level with alternating background
colours. If it ain't broke, why smash it?

Because it was the only thing I could click which might take me to more
content.

I dislike scroll button mouses perhaps even more than I dislike forums. This
stems from using a PCB design program which has short cuts mapped to certain
mousebutton combinations (3-button mouse)... it's a nightmare on anything
other than a Logitech Pilot (old model) as with a scroll button mouse the
middle button sticks up.

Scrollbars are included in every browser and I find 'm easy enough to use.

It's easy to cut through the noise on RAS (noise being a relative term), but
it takes a little getting used to, I'll give you that. I have no trouble
finding interesting stuff on forums either... if it's really good someone
will post a link here. ;-)

Because I can't, at a glance, tell if anyone knowledgable/worth reading has
replied to a certain topic. Furthermore, as of the 3rd or 4th reply to a
topic it's anyone's guess which level of the thread a poster is responding
too. Also, when I go to read a topic I lose my oversight on the forum. In a
newsreader messages pop up and, should I need to refer to another, I can
just minimize it and find the headers/thread hierarchy are still there
"behind" it.

Add to this the various filtering and search facilities offered through the
newsreader and I much prefer usenet to Forums for general news. I do see the
benifit for Leagues and to specific groups of people (e.g. GPLEA editors
forum), but that's about it.

Fair enough. Call me what you like but these features leave me utterly
indifferent.

I've, to date, not missed anything about the C64, or the Amiga for that
matter.

Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.