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I have been quite busy lately, but I always try to make time to read a bit in Spiceworks.

Lately I get the feeling that it has grown too much.

I have stopped visiting Facebook because it is overwhelming the amount of updates, and that is considering I tried hard to keep my people to <100. Sometimes I feel disconnected, but I don’t really care anymore. I have better things to do anyhow, and my son throws a die cast cart at my head if he sees me on the phone :0

Is Spiceworks going the same way? I keep getting this feeling, more and more. With discussion with lots of pages, but with a lot of responses that are “I do this because”

The last one was a pros and cons of Static vs DHCP (reservation), and it got me thinking that very few people answered in Pros and Cons, but a lot answered I do X because of Y. And while every setup has its specifics, most arguments I find them flawed because they were in the just because category.

This is not new. I got the same feeling with Windows 8. People would post “Windows 8 is horrible” but they had never tried it. Sure, it has its problems, but honestly I like the Star Screen better than the Start Menu. I have a ton of applications, and being able to arrange them how I like it is a big plus. And I setup a lot of desktops for specific use, and the Start Screen is great for that as well, because I can set the icons that we need, and only those.

Not to mention that Windows 8 runs lighter, and has better memory management than Windows 7.

I know that if you like 7, you will not change, but what I wonder is why people cannot give good reasons. Beyond the “Users have problems with it” I fail to find most of the reasons as valid.

What totally amazes me, is that Spiceworks is an IT professional community, and by nature it is an environment that is constantly changing, but it is me, or it looks like a lot of spiceheads are against changes, or they repeat things that they hear/read (like the Windows comments).

I have 15+ years working in IT. It just baffles me, when someone with 6 years, argues with me that “Clutter” in Office365 is junk and needs to be disabled for all users. What kind of admin can you be, if you disable something because you don’t like it? I don’t like OSX, but I still support them, and I have one so I can get better at them. As for Clutter, I have 39 messages in Junk (and most likely they are junk, so I don’t check). I have 1183 unread emails in my inbox (from the last 7 years), and 688 in my clutter. Most of the emails in clutter actually belong there (Spiceworks emails go there, but not the network monitor for example)

Now that I write this, it makes me wonder.

Is Facebook making people more instant and short (responding to something for responding not actually reading or understanding the post and discussion), or is Facebook a symptom of society.

Maybe, we have always been stupid from the get go, and Facebook just lets us express it faster. I know it sounds like a rant, and most likely it is.

I will always need SW, because I need a place to bounce ideas. It just feels like now it takes a lot longer because I need to analyze useless posts.

I have been trying to use the SAM posting method, where you answer to just one specific part of someone post, and keep it short and sweet, but when I try that people dismiss it, so I end up back writing a long post (like this one).

I am done for now, no more ranting. Thank you for reading. I am going home now for the weekend, I will open Steam in the Big TV, and play RE6 for a while before my wife gets back home, and kill some zombies (are they still zombies in RE6, anyhow)

So, what do you think about my analogy?

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I’m in the same boat: I like Windows 8. It is far smoother in terms of operating than Windows 7. My issue with it is the “learning curve”. The things I relied on the start menu for is no longer applicable. But, that’s where the brilliance of Classic Shell comes in.

There’s this blatant hate for Windows 8 that I don’t feel is completely warranted.

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I have noticed a larger influx of people coming here just to ask a question, most of the time not providing good information and frequently not replying or posting again. These people have no interest in being part of the community. Those can make it seem like it has grown too much.

However, I think the community is a far cry from Facebook. There are vendors here who don’t spam you, no game requests (Unless someone specifically posts it) and a LOT of the information here, while it usually doesn’t ALL apply to EVERYONE, is likely to be helpful to someone at some point.

Spiceworks results during searches are coming up more and more, higher and higher in the results and more often then not they are exactly what I (and others) need.

It will continue to grow. However I think as long as the community management keeps their head on straight it will be, overall, a good experience for all.

Now, will you please send me a life for my farm heros, a cow for farmville, and whatever other mindless stuff comes to mind? I keed I keed…

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That’s gonna be a tall order given that most of us never had them on straight in the first place.

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I guess it depends on which area of Spiceworks you spend the most time on, but for me I see a lot of good information and discussions here.

I’m not a FB person because overall it seems useless too me. I could care less how your dog did at the park or what party you are going to attend for the 4th this year. I don’t want to know what’s going on in your life, I’ve got my own life to deal with.

Spiceworks on the other hand allows me to learn useful information about products and services. It allows me to find real support from vendors and advice from other IT people. All without the site wanting to hack my contacts and spam my friends, without an app spying on my location, etc.

As for the other topics, I don’t use O365, I don’t have a use for it. I’ve given up on Microsoft Office with the introduction of the ribbon that reduces productivity, I’ve gone Open Source myself.

As for Windows 8, it’s an unwanted learning curve that serves zero purpose. The search results aren’t even as good as the Windows 7 Start Menu Results. The system overall is still unfinished and it’s more difficult to fix and work with than 7.

If you are curious what I mean by unfinished, unless every single application in Windows like the calculator, file explorer, notepad and everything else come with a touch version than the interface is unfinished. What’s the point of a touch interface for starting application if all the applications are not touch friendly.

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Ok Ok Ok as straight as POSSIBLE considering who we are talking about :wink:

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Well said Dataless. I suppose the watercooler could be compared to FB, but even that tends to lean towards technical gibber gabber. I could not agree more about Windows 8, just another operating system to me, rearranged stuff and called new. As far as touch screens are concerned, the industry has been trying to ram them down our throats for years.

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I can’t believe people are still discussing static vs dhcp to be honest. Pros and cons should take less than a minute to discuss verbally and then you pick static for your critical stuff. :wink:

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Spiceworks is exactly like Facebook. And exactly like Excel. And email. And every other tool that exists.

The tool itself isn’t good or bad. It how you use it. Spiceworks (like facebook) can be an incredible time waster filled with meaningless interaction with vapid people. Or, it can be a great place to get a quick answer to a question from people with more knowledge or experience than you have.

More importantly (speaking only for myself) it should be a place where IT professionals can think out loud without having to worry about their fitness being questioned. So, if someone has a thought about static vs DHCP, for example, they should be able to bounce it off the community.They shouldn’t feel pressured to conform to the most common answer or loudest voice.

If I get to the point where I feel bothered by this, spiceworks has this cool function to reduce frustration: the off switch.

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I spend more time on here than I ever did or do on Facebook. I get more of my information here. On FB, I check in with family and friends from all around and see what people ate or did or whatever “new” meme has shown up (usually one I’ve already seen here).

Here, I come for learning, camaraderie, hell even entertainment and cooking stuff. It’s an all in one place for me.

Plus I’ve come to know some great folks on here and it’s been great.

Do I think it’s grown in the time I’ve been here? Yes. Undoubtedly. However, it’s been well-managed. Sure there are a lot more folks in the community, but there are a lot more people participating too.

I will say that sometimes it is a good thing to take a break for a little bit. I did for a couple of weeks last summer. It was great. It was different, but then when I came back I was refreshed.

Maybe a break is what you need.

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What I meant with Facebook like is the part were people post, but not fully understanding like if they want to be part of something that they cannot. It is kind of difficult to explain. I barely use FB, but I have to use it because most of my family is overseas and spread around the world so I don’t have much of a choice but I see people posting for example on pictures of my son like if they knew me or my son. Or when people repost something but they don’t know what it is.

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Not all discussion are bad, and not all post are bad either. It seems though that the more popular a post is, the worse it gets. And sometimes the post seems like it will have good information, but too many post to wade thru so in the end it is likely I won’t read it, or I might miss a useful response.

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That is true ,the vendor community is pretty good

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I’m going to side with Bud her you may need a vacation. There is no such thing as too much growth in an online community. Kind of the point of an online community. It’s world wide and the more feedback we can ingest the better we can make decisions.

That’s good because Facebook is one of the worlds largest time wasters(next to cat videos and porn), however if you are going to be part of an online community you should think about the power of networking and the positive effect it has personal growth.

Again I think a vacation would do you good, and I’m not going to get into a debate about how to raise kids.

I don’t feel like this is this is the case.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. One of the reasons for any online community is to share your thoughts, experiences, facts, opinions, ect…, with a group of your peers.

I can’t argue with you here, their does seem to be an influx of opinions and a dwindling of facts. I don’t want to blame it on the point system, but I have a firm belief that more and more people are trying to get credit for joining a conversation instead of genuinely trying to be helpful to a post. I’m guilty of it sometimes, and some times I’m just being lazy. Sometimes I think people just like to share their opinion to see what others may have to say about it.

And this is why I try to only validate facts, and not bother with reading too many opinions(unless I’m looking for feedback on other professionals opinons of course). The two are usually pretty easy to differentiate.

Not only do I agree with you but here’s an interesting article I’ve read about it. Disclaimer: this is mostly opinion or rather not supported by facts. How Windows 8’s memory management modifications make for a better user experience | Ars Technica

I disagree with your first statement, people will change when it benefits them. I think the most probable cause for this behavior is 1. Lack of understanding. 2. A sense to support users and not force them into your beliefs(even if they are correct). 3. The fact that with most any MS OS there are going to be a substantial amount of bugs. That you would rather test than have the users ‘beta’ for you. 4. Most people are lazy to a disturbing degree. I’m lazy from time to time, but I usually do my research and become lazy after discovering that there isn’t a giant upside to conformity. Lot’s of companies run either legacy applications, or generally don’t want to spend the money on upgrades. I will not disagree the point that there are not enough valid reasons to not at least try to get users into at least the 90’s.

IT changes, most business needs rarely do. Or at least not enough to justify the cost of progress.

An opinionated one.

It is most certainly a rant. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Just like Facebook doesn’t make people any shorter or instant than they already are. It does give a medium for people to express their thoughts while letting those thoughts be known to a larger audience. Now are those thoughts useful(rhetorical)? I wouldn’t say it a symptom of society rather a product of society which can be useful in the right context. Same as Spiceworks in that aspect.
Also I don’t know who this “we” is. Possibly you have a pet mouse in your pocket? I personally find it rather rude you would try to include me in this rant. I’m not stupid, maybe dumb from time to time. But not stupid. LOL.

Again it is usually pretty easy to spot BS, and therefore not waste your valuable time reading it. I don’t disagree with you when it comes to a lot of younger members not contributing enough. At least that’s what I’m taking away from your rant.

Damn I guess I should read the entire post before wasting my time responding. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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No offense but this a perfect example of what the OP is trying to convey. The question was is Spiceworks like Facebook? Not is Windows x better than x. Also the classic shell is a cop-out for closed minded, usually uneducated, and blatantly stubborn end users. I do however think that the search feature in 8 should have been more modeled after the 7 search, but if you never try you can never succeed. Microsoft tried and I’ve noticed in 10 the search is more like 7 in the fact that it doesn’t separate files from settings. I haven’t had much time to play with it but it seemed like it searched the internet before the local PC which bothered me a little.

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Personally agree. What if your DHCP server goes down? Which is usually a DNS server as well especially in smaller environments. So now not only do you not know where it is logically, but your going to have to do more work to find it as most scans won’t pickup the name anymore.
EDIT: I do understand the concept of failover, and in most small businesses it’s not an option. Also what if your remote? Not an option to go to the node and physically set the IP.

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Spiceworks has more members now than ever before. This naturally suggests that we should expect more posts from a more diverse group of people.

It’s expected that there is also a higher number of less experienced members, so more posts may be as you describe. This is why we have the SP and rumour has it the SSP groups.

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Yes spiceworks is like Facebook but for IT pros. As far as information gathering is concerned when I post a question or try to answer one; I welcome the “I did it this way” answer style. I consider it the flavor or soul of the post. If you want a dry answer well I could just post a hyperlink to an official support page and say there ya go and sometimes I have. People often post here because they need an answer that is fast, concise and riddled with real life best practice. As opposed to “academic” best practices which you’ll find in books and official support most of the time.

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What’s Facebook?

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What is “I do X because of Y” is valueless not addressing pro’s and con’s to one reader, but valuable real world experience to another.

If someone asks for opinions, one post just listing pro’s and con’s does not fit the bill. People giving their opinion, backed up by experience is what they are after.

No post can satisfy all readers. We are a large and diverse community, and that is our strength. It is a weakness as well, of course, as many people are lacking in experience, and many are just points chasers, but I think the strength outweighs the weakness, which is why I am on here, and why I take the trouble to share my experience, where appropriate. By that I mean where I feel it is appropriate, I can do nothing else. You may disagree. You may think what I post is unnecessary and inappropriate - that is your prerogative, and you do not have to read my (or anyone else’s) posts, if you don’t want to.

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