A welcome to Woody

[HansV]

Welcome to Eileen's Lounge, Woody!

[Woody]

Thanks, Hans! (Wow, is it really you?) Took a while for me to find y'all... ;-)

I'm thinking about starting a forum at AskWoody. Figured I'd take a look around and see how you folks are doing - if there's some way I can get some synergy going.

[Rudi]

Welcome from me too :)

[stuck]

...I'm thinking about starting a forum at AskWoody...

I saw that comment you made over there, it made me isn't that how the original Woody's Lounge started all those years ago?

Ken

[HansV]

Thanks, Hans! (Wow, is it really you?) Took a while for me to find y'all... ;-)

Yes, it's me
You'll find many familiar faces here; some are active both here and in the Windows Secrets Lounge.

[Woody]

...I'm thinking about starting a forum at AskWoody...

I saw that comment you made over there, it made me isn't that how the original Woody's Lounge started all those years ago?

Ken

Yep. Maybe lightning will strike twice... Man, it's been... what? 20 years?

So much has changed. So much has stayed the same.

Let me get things set up -- it'll take at least a month -- and then we'll see what happens.

[StuartR]

Welcome to the Lounge, Woody. You'll find lots of old familiar faces here.

[Woody]

StuartR! Rudi! OMG. How's it going? (Sorry, off topic, I know...)

[Rudi]

StuartR! Rudi! OMG. How's it going? (Sorry, off topic, I know...)

I'm going like a boeing, TX ; even though I have no Windows 10 devices yet!

[Leif]

Welcome to the Lounge, Woody. You'll find lots of old familiar faces here.

StuartR! Rudi! OMG. How's it going? (Sorry, off topic, I know...)

And I'm still around, albeit just a shadow of my former self...

[DaveA]

Yes, Woody there are a few of us still hanging there helping those that we can.
Welcome to Eileen's.

Another good site that has been set up nicely is the NEW Tech Guy's at https://forums.techguy.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Woody]

Hey, DaveA!

Tech Guy looks interesting. There's a lot of people trying to solve the same tech support problem these days - something that isn't Microsoft Party Line, but still authoritative. I wonder if it's worthwhile tackling the same problem (the one I tried to take on 20 years ago) with a new angle. And I wonder what the angle should be....

[HansV]

The above sequence of posts has been split off from Windows 10 devices event. The discussion with Woody fits better here in Lounge Matters.

[Claude]

And a belated welcome from me too Woody. It's been a while, as they say, time flies...

[Woody]

Claude! Leif! Good to see y'all....

Yeah, I'm living outside Nashville now. Add (my wife) and I decided it's better to raise Andy (5 yo) in the US. We're here for the schools.

[DaveA]

Hey, DaveA!

Tech Guy looks interesting. There's a lot of people trying to solve the same tech support problem these days - something that isn't Microsoft Party Line, but still authoritative. I wonder if it's worthwhile tackling the same problem (the one I tried to take on 20 years ago) with a new angle. And I wonder what the angle should be....

Woody,
The biggest problem I see with MOST of these so called Help sites is they spend more area pushing their products or others than they do help. Even the site that use to be yours is a big product pusher. I think that the product pushing will drive most people away. Yes, Tech Guy has ads but they are not that much in your face. True some how the site needs to have funds to pay for it but there are those like here Eileen's that is ad free and seem do to a very good job.

Eileen's and Tech Guy's are my main source of computing help and I do give back when I can. The angle needs to be none of the product pushing in one face. And the Admins and MODs need to very family friendly and know the site rules and enforce them equally.

One area to start would be Office 365 and it tips and tricks that are there but not known to most users. Comparing the differences of using 365 and a local copy and the cost differences needs to addressed. I have 365 on my Win7 32 bit machine, but I had to dig to find out how to upgrade to the 2016 version.

Another area, would be OneNote, as it is free and is multi platform, but the platforms are not really listed any place as to which it will work on or not.

I am sure that I will come up with other thoughts as will as other here at Eileen's will also.

[viking33]

DaveA,
I followed your lead and signed up at TechGuy, just to look around. Seems like a good site, so I 'll stay on there for a while. ( saw you on there )
It certainly won't replace Eileen's where my allegiance stays, of course.

[DaveA]

Bob,
Yes it is a good site, but I still like Eileen's the best!

[Woody]

Good point, DaveA.

right now it looks like I'll have a section of the forum that links to my articles in InfoWorld. (I hate InfoWorld's commenting software.) Just like AskWoody, anybody can post but, just like AskWoody, every single post (except those from VIPs and above) will be moderated. That's a hell of a lot of work. I know, it's what I've been doing.

I will have advertising on the forum, I think, but it's going to be carefully chosen. I'm working with an advertising aggregator who promises to deliver good stuff -- not the Google shovelstuff that I had for years. (If I see one more ad for a registry cleaner I'm gonna scream.) Operating costs on the AskWoody site have gone way up - but then, I'm hitting half a million views a month, so it's no longer just a hobby.

My hope is to find a core group of great people who would like to pitch in. If I generate enough money to cover expenses, I'd like to pay the admins and moderators. I know that "all volunteer" is a great calling, but it's also hard to justify asking for all that work, if somebody else is making all the money.

Which brings me to the topic of Windows Secrets Lounge and the new owner, Penton Media. But I'll stop there. '-)

[Woody]

Oh... and about site rules... I only have one. The moderators moderate everything, and if they don't like a post, it doesn't get posted. I want a genteel, cooperative forum that can be read by a typical 10-year-old. The minute we look like Reddit, I'm shutting down.