Official Pros and Cons of a TheGreenButton.TV Thread

[epete]

Pros

TheBreenButton Branding rather than just another Windows function
Easy to use
May attract some members that gave up on TheGreenButton.com

Cons

Splits the community
All the old material is over there
Need to search in two forums
Posts will be duplicated on two sites
Will never pick up the entire community

(I am sure there are other pros and cons, but these are what immediately come to mind)

[holidayboy]

Hi epete.

Hopefully the Pros will eventually outweigh the Cons!

[makryger]

Pros:
- Mature forum software
- Fast
- No old outdated material to search through
- Forum moderators who are not pessimistic about Media Center's future
- Forum moderators who make changes to the website in minutes, not weeks.
- Puts Media Center in focus, and not just another thing in Windows like Media Player
- Branding makes it easier to identify the right site for new users

Cons:
- No badges and lose your post history
- No Microsoft employee involvement

[newfiend]

To me the forum software is great. There are pros and cons to every change.. The biggest con to me was losing the community we had and it seems to me this site has the potential to bring that back.. And to me that's biggest PRO!

[StumpyBloke]

To me the forum software is great. There are pros and cons to every change.. The biggest con to me was losing the community we had and it seems to me this site has the potential to bring that back.. And to me that's biggest PRO!

Couldn't have said it better myself!! With the way things are going on here I have no doubt that slowly but surely this site will become the new REAL tgb!!

[newfiend]

To me you guys brought TGB back to life. I just hope we can pull more of the community here over time. This site has such great potential. I'm in for the long haul. Thanks so much for all you have done to make this a reality!
newfiend

[StumpyBloke]

I think what would really be the icing on the cake (and I'm sure Rob and Mike will agree) is getting some Microsoft bods on here (even in an unofficial capacity)... and you never know, it might just happen too!

[Fleadh]

It would strengthen the site to have microsoft bods log in here but It wouldnt bother me either way. The new "upgrade" was unforgivably terrible to the point where its unuseable and this is juts like the old TGB where actual microsoft folk hardly ever stopped by anyways.

[newfiend]

My biggest worry at this point is Micorsoft seeing this as a threat of some sort and sending out a Cease and Desist letter and shutting this down..now that would suck..hopefully they are accepting of what has been created.
If anything, I think it shows that not all their ideas re: moving the forum (Original TGB) were good ideas..
The forums are for users and the format they used just wasn't user friendly. This is much easier to use and navigate.
I understand they have/had to move a lot of content and that they want to make changes to the site to make it easier/better but in all that they have lost a large amount of the community that used to frequent daily (including me) and that's not good for Media Center, Microsoft or the Community as a whole.
Hopefully things contine to go smooth for us here ...
newfiend~

[StumpyBloke]

Dont worry newfiend... there is no way MS could enforce this site to shutdown - even if they wanted to which I highly doubt because they would then have to shut down all the other media center sites worldwide!

[cw-kid]

Pros:

I've only been on a few hours and its starting to feel like the old Green Button already!
Simple forum software that is easy to navigate and feels comfortable to use (I've not tried the search yet however)
Independence again with a CON: But who is hosting paying for this? What happens if it does take off and becomes a massive site with big hosting and running costs? What then Advertising?
Start a fresh - everything is up to date and relevant.


Cons:

Splits the community, who will stay who will go?
Loss of a massive back catalogue of knowledge - Means going back to Windows Experts site to find old gems.
Loss of post ranking - nearly 3000 posts ain't as easy as you might think.
No badges
Loss of Pete Brown the Media Center community lead at Microsoft (He's not signed up as he?)
Lower profile than the official Microsoft "Media Center" site?
Possible problems with the name and branding what's the trade mark situation?

Anything else ?

[STC]

I think you get the prize for the most informative posts in one day c-dubya Corking!

[newfiend]

Pros:

I've only been on a few hours and its starting to feel like the old Green Button already!
Simple forum software that is easy to navigate and feels comfortable to use (I've not tried the search yet however)
Independence again with a CON: But who is hosting paying for this? What happens if it does take off and becomes a massive site with big hosting and running costs? What then Advertising?
Start a fresh - everything is up to date and relevant.


Cons:

Splits the community, who will stay who will go?
Loss of a massive back catalogue of knowledge - Means going back to Windows Experts site to find old gems.
Loss of post ranking - nearly 3000 posts ain't as easy as you might think.
No badges
Loss of Pete Brown the Media Center community lead at Microsoft (He's not signed up as he?)
Lower profile than the official Microsoft "Media Center" site?
Possible problems with the name and branding what's the trade mark situation?

Anything else ?

The biggest CON to me was loosing our community we had.. The community is what made that site! Even Microsoft was amazed by the participation from all the users to help one another. I'm sorry to say that that was totally LOST in the move to WE. I stopped dropping in because the site is a mess and a pain to navigate and just clostophobic feeling.
Here we have the beginning of something great...The community is slowly coming on board again.. I think it's going to take time but I have a good feeling that we are on the brink of having what we used too have at the old site.
It's people like you that have lots of experience with MC that really help out people like me that don't..that really makes this place and the old GB as great as it is. As long as we can keep that here and continue to bring in old members.. This place is going to be awesome.
Your CONS are relevent.. I guess time will tell what happens here. I am hoping for the best though and am glad to see this is gaining more and more members daily.
newfiend~

[mrphil]

Im not sure the loss of old threads is particularly a problem. Apart from the fact that the search on the old TGB was really poor, any posts about versions earlier than Vista when TV pack was released are going to be largely outdated or irrelevent now. If the old community members come here the past will become increasingly insignificant.

And there is the massive pro that the threads are actually readable on this site!

[STC]

Like apples and oranges.

[milli260876]

Its really taking off on here now isn't it? hardly ever visit the wec site now....
keeping things simple is sometimes the best way.

[StumpyBloke]

Yeah you are right, it is!! I am amazed at how quickly and well it's taken off! I've said it before and I'll say it again...I believe this site will become the definitive MC forum...and sooner rather than later.

[mrphil]

As this site is now taking off, is there the potential of Microsoft coming in and buying thegreenbutton.tv then merging it in with WEC? How many times can we repeat the same pattern?

[StumpyBloke]

As this site is now taking off, is there the potential of Microsoft coming in and buying thegreenbutton.tv then merging it in with WEC? How many times can we repeat the same pattern?

HELL NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!

So in essence, nope!!!

[STC]

Wait until we have 170,000 members then we can answer that question [jk]