no device specific forums anymore?

[ocnbrze]

just noticed this........so no more device specific forums? i only see one for hardware where you can select the manufacturers. just curious if i am missing something.

 

[nickdalzell]

From what I remember and see here, most of the device forums haven't been updated to reflect much after the Galaxy S4 or HTC One M8. Tons of them are very outdated and haven't had many new posts for years, save for a few that are from folks like me who love their old stuff. I don't post to them though as they're essentially dead. I would bank on it being a bit tedious to constantly add new forums as each new device launches/releases, only to have tons of redundant, dead sub-forums after they're outdated.

 

[markdoc]

From what I remember and see here, most of the device forums haven't been updated to reflect much after the Galaxy S4 or HTC One M8. Tons of them are very outdated and haven't had many new posts for years, save for a few that are from folks like me who love their old stuff. I don't post to them though as they're essentially dead. I would bank on it being a bit tedious to constantly add new forums as each new device launches/releases, only to have tons of redundant, dead sub-forums after they're outdated.

I have posted to the Google Pixel 6 Pro forum at the beginning of this month. I just noticed that the the forum disappeared but the posts are still around somewhere. I just can't find where they are.

 

[ocnbrze]

I have posted to the Google Pixel 6 Pro forum at the beginning of this month. I just noticed that the the forum disappeared but the posts are still around somewhere. I just can't find where they are.

hmmmmm maybe check your posts. it might just have a different url now that the forums have been re-organized. its there...... just the links you may have are broken due to the re-structuring.

and i was going to post a z fold 4 thread, but there was no option for a specific device forum, just only samsung as the manufacturer.

 

[nickdalzell]

use the search. the index no longer displays them but searching a post from one would bring it up.

Some of the rather old forum descriptions being visible is both funny and make for some great nostalgia. According to the TV/Video area, the Nexus Player is where it's at!

 

[markdoc]

use the search. the index no longer displays them but searching a post from one would bring it up.

Some of the rather old forum descriptions being visible is both funny and make for some great nostalgia. According to the TV/Video area, the Nexus Player is where it's at!

I can find my previous posts, but once I have that thread open, I can't get to the specific forum it's in. Am I missing something?

 

[nickdalzell]

There should be a listing at the bottom. For example, where the 'theme' option is, there's a directory of, for this thread, "Featured Forums > AF community > Suggestions & Feedback".

Check the directory when you're in those old posts.

 

[markdoc]

There should be a listing at the bottom. For example, where the 'theme' option is, there's a directory of, for this thread, "Featured Forums > AF community > Suggestions & Feedback".

Check the directory when you're in those old posts.

I'll give it a shot. Thanks

 

[markdoc]

I just tried. At the bottom, where the listing of the phone used to be, it just says "Android Devices". Tapping on that brings me to that general page. Tapping on "Suggestions & Feedback" opens an complaint window. I think the specific forums on gone. If that's the case, there should have been an email to the members explaining what's going on.

 

[nickdalzell]

I'm just glad I found out about the possible name change to the 'Daily.net' before I typed in 'www.androidforums.com' one day to get a 404 error and not knowing where it got redirected to and no way to personally contact individual members!

 

[Fox Mulder]

Rob has tabled the name change due to the overwhelming negative reaction.
Also he stated that even if a rename to something other than AF does happen at some point, there will be a permanent redirect so androidforums.com will always bring you here whatever it's called.

 

[ocnbrze]

Let's keep this thread on point.

I guess it comes down to would anybody like a device specific forum back as it was?

 

[markdoc]

Rob has tabled the name change due to the overwhelming negative reaction.
Also he stated that even if a rename to something other than AF does happen at some point, there will be a permanent redirect so androidforums.com will always bring you here whatever it's called.

But what about the device specific forums? Are they gone? If they are, IMO, a big mistake. And it would have been nice if there was an email to the general membership explaining what was about to happen instead of letting everyone flounder through this confusing mess.

 

[Milo Williamson]

Yeah.. I just noticed that as well. There is no specific group for any older cells though, in that same fashion I think we can created other grous as well too, but to be honest itis a better look to it, less of a cluster to scroll though, least you can do scroll up and find your threads there as well as watched ones.

 

[nickdalzell]

I think maintaining device-specific forums and dealing with their obsolescence would be daunting, given new Android-devices and models launch every year or so. To say nothing of the mess known as the A-series Samsung line.

I would still like a 'retro' sub-forum, and the older phone discussions and such can just be placed there. I doubt a specific sub-forum for, say, the 6 people stil using an HTC Thunderbolt would get much activity.

 

[ocnbrze]

I think maintaining device-specific forums and dealing with their obsolescence would be daunting, given new Android-devices and models launch every year or so. To say nothing of the mess known as the A-series Samsung line.

I would still like a 'retro' sub-forum, and the older phone discussions and such can just be placed there. I doubt a specific sub-forum for, say, the 6 people stil using an HTC Thunderbolt would get much activity.

this is true, overseeing these additional forums would be a very large task.....so i don't know.

 

[Fox Mulder]

One of the reasons for the individual device forums was rooting, as that info was device-specific. With rooting really no longer a thing for 99% of people there is no longer a need for that.

 

[nickdalzell]

Most of the reasons you'd root are built-in today (well, not CPU overclocking, but I digress) and then there's the whole SafetyNet and Secure Boot issues, plus the fact most still want to use their banking apps which break with root.

There are still custom ROMs that don't depend on being rooted though. I think you can use ADB today to flash a custom recovery.

 

[PitCarver]

Seems kind of ridiculous not to be able to find information on specific devices. As long as I've been here I have always followed specific forums for each of my as well as my wife's phones.

Looks like a big step in the wrong direction.

 

[nickdalzell]

Heck most of the device-specific forums I would have posted to were long dead. It's a lot of work to keep up with the various devices coming out while maintaining forums for older devices that eventually die and just clutter the site up.

There ain't much to differentiate Android devices these days anyway (seems everyone has settled on an oversized tablet with three/four cameras and no buttons and stupid USB-C) so the Android Lounge or Manufacturer forums make far more sense.

Maybe one day the rapid pace of innovation will return and there will be a reason to do device-specific forums, but who am I kidding? Everyone seems to be just happy with boring, bland, and limited.

Even the list of manufacturers needs cleaning up. There hasn't been any Archos devices in years, Sony Ericsson no longer exists, and LG stopped doing phones a year or two back.

 

[Windroid]

Why delete the device-specific forms? Why not just archive them and make them read-only? Anyway: Device-specific tags may be the better way to go.

 

[nickdalzell]

Why delete the device-specific forms? Why not just archive them and make them read-only? Anyway: Device-specific tags may be the better way to go.

See above ^^

Takes too much effort to maintain forums for every device launch and deal with the clutter after they're outdated. Even the manufacturer section is full of no-longer-producing-phones companies such as Archos, Sony Ericsson, and LG.

 

[Windroid]

@nickdalzell I think there's been a misunderstanding: I'm not suggesting maintaining the device-specific forums.

 

[Rob]

The loss of the Device Forums was a casualty of the XF 1.5 > 2.2 upgrade.

HOWEVER... the plan was to reincarnate the Device Forums in another form, most likely by using either "Tags" or "Custom Thread Fields". I was hoping to explore these options much more quickly, but Morgan has been unavailable, so still trying to figure out the best path forward.

 

[Unforgiven]

For those that didn't know, the old device forums weren't actually forums, they just looked like forums via custom code.