How strange

[Jimdefruit]

As a mod who transferred over from SH, my initial feelings were 'do I really want this'.

I have actually found a lot more interests through the merger. I have always played with electronic circuits and communications and the extra info I have found here has opened new challenges.

I think the problems that are occuring in the forum are because of the mushrooming requests for Mac swaps and similar.

On SH there was no provision for emus and keys. There were download facilities for images and system tools. Any requests for keys etc were usually answered with a direction to somewhere else.

As Jimbo says the download site for Techwatch is actually separate from Techwatch forum and contrary to what Anal and Nano say, there is a lot of useful info there although the Satellite section is very run of the mill stuff.

Direct requests for illegal info should be banned but I think the Download link should be hidden from all members with a post count under say 10 and mention of the link should be banned. That will obviously mean a lot of cleaning up of posts will be needed including this one.

[barr6868]

Howdy,

I'm of the opinion that the merger hasn't really kicked off in terms of the family feel, and if the mods are debating points to the extreme of posting on the open forum, then there's obviously teething problems.

I think if there's going to be a download section then it should be open to every member, regardless of post count. If not then it should be removed.

I don't like the " zero posters" don't count opinion that I see on other boards, we are all after the same info really, and that was what attracted me to the SH site:

Friendly attitude, no matter what your experience was, no flaming , question answered even if it was asked before, other stuff worth talking about in "the pub".

Haven't posted much myself because I lost that feeling for a while.

It's still a decent site and many thanks to all involved but it's still not SH.

Regards

[zade]

Hi all back again nice to see the thread still going isn't it strange how people like to get things of there chest with a little push lol

only one point to raise with regards to this statment in nanochickin's earlier reply

"As with the legal implications of the download site it all depends on who owns it. If our illustrius leader Brian owns that aswell it will be construed by the authorities as the same thing as Techwatch "
The forum i was on about earlier who gave the warning "not to be used for doing stuff you shouldnt" statment is actualy sponsored by a well known sat shop and the forum heading is blah blah sponsored by blah blah

[Robbo]

Originally Posted by zade

Hi all back again nice to see the thread still going isn't it strange how people like to get things of there chest with a little push lol

Yes you have caused a stir amongst some of the mods as well.



I think it is time this thread was closed for a little while, to give us chance to decide if anything will be changed again ( if at all).

( If another mod wants it open again, please feel free)

[brian]

I'll just chime in a moment and make a few comments which will hopefully help clarify the situation...

I appreciate the private forum where people could link to downloads is pretty essential to the cable community, and I sincerely hoped we could get some decent downloads for the satellite members as well.

However, while we've ensured that we're not hosting any cracks or keys or similar outright illegal content, or even linking to it, there's a big grey area in terms of firmware.

This is a big problem, because I've been pushing to improve the visibility of the site, and I'm expecting we'll be accepted for news syndication this week as well.

So if the cable and satellite companies are not yet aware of TW, then they certainly will be soon enough. In which case, when they come to visit, the last thing we can afford is to be seen promoting illegal content.

What I'm going to do over the coming week is contact my solicitors and find out exactly what our legal position is, so that I know exactly what we can and cannot afford to do.

Some people here will have seen other sites closed down over related issues, and obviously we don't want TW to end up with the same fate.

After this week, I'll know for sure and act accordingly.

I suspect this means that the Private board will have a reduced post count - maybe even all members can access it, with no post limit - but with some degree of moderation so that certain types of files/information are strictly kept out.

As for the cable and satellite communities and friction - I've got to admit, I had never anticipated that, and am still pushing for TW to become an authoritative site on all things to do with cable, satellite, IPTV, HDTV, etc.

However, I think the difficulty is simply that we haven't reached that point yet, so on the one hand, we have teething pains of being a growing community - and on the other hand, the merger of two comparable communities means there's still a crisis in our sense of identity while the forum grows.

I still intend to push TW and hope to be able to cater to everyone's interests - so I'll ensure the legality question is addressed and answered sooner rather than later, even if it's going to cost me £150/hour to do so.

After that, we'll open access to the Private Downloads discussion area on a less limited basis under whatever new rules as required, and once we're syndicated by Google news, I'll be opening up some free draws to win fun stuff for satellite and cable users alike.

[Analoguesat]

Thanks Brian - that post is appreciated. hopefully it will clear up some areas of disatisfaction / misunderstanding on the forum..

I for one have seen several forums closed by the authorities - there was a big crackdown about a year or so back on sites hosting illegal satellite files and several big name forums were closed down. Im sure some of the other sat guys remember that as well. We do not want see that happen here!

[nanochickin]

Thread closed

[Analoguesat]

OOh you are a naughty boy nano

[Robbo]

The number of members with a post count above 50 is 200 odd, NOT 23.

http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/me...esc&sort=posts


There was a cock-up in the forum settings!

[Analoguesat]

Lol, I thought it had to be higher than that!