This forum has gotten real slow. Perhaps it’s breadth of topic should be expanded to include any object oriented question. This would relieve the main PHP forum of about 1/4 of its traffic making it a bit easier to use as well. The added traffic won’t in my opinion disrupt any of the conversation currently going on in here. Informal non-binding straw poll to be attached.
What kind of questions would you propose moving into here that are currently in the other forum? Why don’t they currently suit this one?
I dont think it’s so much a question of “Why don’t they currently suit this one”, so much as “People dont look at this forum and think ‘OOP questions should go there’.” (And yes, i know it’s in the subtitle, but those really dont grab the attention. Not to mention that it isnt capitalized or acronymn…ed.)
I can see where you’re coming from. Perhaps it should be something like:
“Object Oriented and Advanced PHP”
Hi,
- Maybe it is partially due to segmentation on sitepoint Web, Mobile, DesignFestival, are dividing the readership so less people travel on this forum
- Maybe because very few ‘New’ ideas have be floated here, opposed to past years so it has got complacent.
- We have lost many of the core group who’s posts were intresting enough to draw people to come back to hear what had be shown/discussed/debated
- Originally this forum was developed to discuss advanced concepts that would help further skills and to colaborate on ideas but the reality is more that it has become a place for junior developers to learn about advanced concepts, which inheriently is a good thing but does not meet the original objectives of this sub-forum, and drove many away that have been disappointed in what it has become. To keep perspective I learned much of what I know from this forum so I was one of those junior developers.
Regards,
Steve
I’m not convinced changing the forum’s name would make a big difference, but then I know what it “means”. I’m open to ideas about how to make things better for members.
PHP Application Design
Discuss object oriented programming concepts, design patterns, and software development techniques related to PHP. Note: This is not a general PHP help forum. Please read “Where should I post my thread?” before starting a new thread in this forum.
Discounting the “please read” line that needs to be removed, I think it’s a good description.
As for PHP OOP threads cluttering the PHP forum, I move them (and MVC threads) here when I find them. A lot of times, but probably not mostly, members post there because it’s a busy forum and they think they’ll get a quicker response there. But it doesn’t help if someone does a Search in the wrong forum.
That said, I do like the idea of naming it “Advanced”, though if it were to include other languages I think “Advanced Programming” would be better than “Advanced PHP”
When one of two forums is getting too much traffic perhaps one has become too specific. This is the crux of my suggestion - I’m not married to any specific name idea. But I think it would be healthier to rebalance the two’s volume. That might involve renaming both forums, with the main forum perhaps being
‘PHP - Beginner & Novice Discussion’ This forum is for when you are just starting out.
And then this forum being
‘PHP - Advanced Discussion’ This forum is for when you’ve moved to building your own pages from scratch or using major frameworks such as Joomla, CakePHP, etc.
There is the danger of over balancing though and causing this forum to become the busy one. Also, that is a grayer line. The problem with a line that is too fine is people will post in both forums.
Off Topic:
BTW, I still think a Javascript/PHP interface forum would be good. Both the JS and the PHP forum get quite a few questions that are largely about cross talk between the languages, enough to support a forum.
Actually, from what I remember quite a few years ago, the “General Application Design and Theory” forum was created to house a lot of the non-PHP, yet “advanced” threads on this forum. That said, I think that TomB’s suggestion is good. Advanced PHP is not analogous with OOP and this would alienate other suitable topics for this forum.
IIRC one of the reasons given that a similar proposal to this failed previously was the belief that OOP discussion removed from the ordinary PHP forum would be a disservice to novices and improvers alike in that they would not be exposed to OOP discussions.
Given the current status quo, I still agree with that sentiment.
Edit:
Not saying that this forum does not need renaming. Maybe “Enterprise Level PHP”?