Do we need an Emergency Room on ehMac?

ehMax · Apr 26th, 2003, 09:06 PM

Kind of wondering.. do we need a specific Emergency Room on ehMac? Wondering because:

1. Category could fit under Anything Mac
2. Emergency room is used but not that popular
3. Many Emergency Room type questions are posted under Anything Mac and vice-versa.
4. I could make a post icon that indicates "Emergency, I need help" Something like this one

but more clearly indicates you need help.
5. The tagline on Anything Mac would indicate its the spot to post help questions.

I think this would ad simplicity, especially as I am going to be adding a new (surprise) forum on Monday morning that I hope everyone will like.

Thoughts, opinions?

MacDoc · Apr 26th, 2003, 09:15 PM

Not a bad idea what I suggest is an icon available for the post title that indicates an emergency type request. - Something eye catching maybe even animated if possible so somebody in need can catch attention.
Can you make a bigger one than the standard little guy to be used for emergency posts??

MACSPECTRUM · Apr 26th, 2003, 09:20 PM

Not knowing of said surprise until Monday my comments are:

keep the Emergency room. let's try and teach people to post their emergencies there

i find it useful when in "doctor" mode to go there and peruse the problems and offer what help i can

I also think that those looking for answers to their problems would find it easier as well

move the emergency room to the top of the 4 discussion "rooms" list. it could be people post there by default and not read further down

replace the red maple leaf of the Emergency Mac Help with a flashing red cross (as long as it's legal) or some or unique symbol to indicate this is where you go for help when you are stuck - something to get peoples's attention, especially when they are looking for help. Mac SOS another possible title with a life preserver icon next to it

rename "Anything Mac" to something less all inclusive. something like "Mac announcements and discussion" striclty a working title.

perhaps moving the Emergency Mac Help with a flashing gif to the top will be less intrusive into the personal time of his Honour.

as always, these are only suggestions to an already very busy mayor

Faithfully sumitted,
this day,

MacDoc · Apr 26th, 2003, 10:24 PM

I think ehMax is correct - people are doubling posting and Anything Mac covers it all - the more eyes the quicker the solution IMHO of course.
I'm always for fewer forums that are more active than multiple "dead zones".

I STILL would like to see a single line in the forum thread listing instead of the double spacing so more thread topics stay visible. HINT HINT your honur

You'll need this if you collapse Emergency Room into Anything Mac.

since84 · Apr 26th, 2003, 10:58 PM

I agree with Hizzoner and MacDoc -- it makes more sense to combine the Emergency and Anything Mac because many of the postings could equally fit into either of the existing forums.
I bet that most ehMacers don't read the Emergency room because they don't consider themselves "doctors" and don't realize how much they can learn from other people's problems. Put the forums together and there'll be more eyes on the emergencies, both to help and learn from.
But please create an Emergency icon that will make the "help needed" posts stand out. A flashing red light perhaps?

Chealion · Apr 26th, 2003, 11:17 PM

I prefer the Emergency Room seperate, but if it gets collapsed, its alright. Looks like Monday night I have to do a little recoding with my widget, so all of you who are using the ehMac Konfabulator widget created by jfpoole, expect it to not work on Monday, although if ehMax is just going to be adding another forum, it should simply be a case of minor code tweaking meaning, the fixed widget should be up Monday night! Also, anyone for me adding the old ehMac character into my adaptation of the widget? I found out I had an old cached version of the ehMac icon

gordguide · Apr 27th, 2003, 01:39 AM

I prefer the emergency room as is; sometimes when I don't have much time it's the only place I look to see if there is some obvious thing I can help with quickly.

As for people posting in other forums, it's not that big a deal with me but my guess is if the eRoom had a more obvious name, that would be reduced for some of our newer users.

jlcinc · Apr 27th, 2003, 08:15 AM

I also prefer the emergency room, I always look at the topics to see if I can help and when I had a question it was answered immediately and was very helpful. I think in the Anything Mac forum it might get lost.

John

MacDoc · Apr 27th, 2003, 08:43 AM

Hmmmm seems we are being out voted here EhMax. I certainly don't mind having the Emergency Room and t'would appear the populace demands it

pras · Apr 27th, 2003, 09:39 AM

I prefer that they stay separate; to me they seem distinctly different, and I enjoy both because of the different focus in each.

Also, I only display 25 msgs per page so, if they're both together, new msgs would probably overflow my page and I'd have to check the next page(s), etc. in order not to miss any. With the increasing popularity of ehMac, the volume of msgs would probably force a separation eventually anyway.