Thinkpads Forum

wouldn't it make more sense to have a T500/W500 sub-forum since they are more identical to each other? they are basically almost the same laptop and they completely differ from the t400/t400s and w700/w700ds.

I believe that in having the T500 and W500 in 1 separate sub-forum will make it easier to share information about these models.

Note: Changed the word section to "sub-forum"

You have a good point there, but it´s probably not that easy to sort out all previous topics on W500 and T500 and put them together in another section... Other than that, I would say I am all for that
A side note: this thread is rather for the forum questions/suggestions section.

Spec/feature-wise, you are right - they are the same laptop. And not to far from the T400. The T400s, on the other hand is a totally different beast, as is the W700.

But as long as Lenovo gives names in a way that does not reflect the technical parameters, but more their marketing strategy, matching the forums to the naming scheme makes some ense.

Devote a whole forum to the W700? Seems wasteful. Same thing about the T400s. It's not quite like any other Lenovo laptop. X301 is the closest, but putting them together is bound to confuse people more.

dr_st wrote:Devote a whole forum to the W700? Seems wasteful. Same thing about the T400s.

Why wasteful? Both W700 and T400s are quite special models, hence why not worth dedicated subforums... I agree they would be most likely not as active as other subforums, still they will grow over time with including the successors of those lines.

IMaPC wrote:wouldn't it make more sense to have a T500/W500 section since they are more identical to each other?

No.

Lets say you have a problem with thinkpad, if you have a T500 or a W500, the smart thing to do would be to look in both forums.
HOWEVER, when you need to ask a question or start a thread, you're not allowed to start 2 threads in separate sub-forums. This makes finding an answer harder. And impedes on finding a solution by not efficiently being allowed to share information.
Also, i do not think just because some thinkpads share the same first letter, that it would be smart to put them in the same sub-forum. When i'm looking for information on the T500, information about the t400/t400s isn't going to help me out.

Note: I changed the word section to "sub-forum"

It doesn't really make a difference. You can start your question anywhere you want, and you can search both forums. People will look in both places anyways.

dr_st wrote:It doesn't really make a difference. You can start your question anywhere you want, and you can search both forums. People will look in both places anyways.

the bigger problem is this:
"Please be advised that forum rules do not allow cross posting of the same question in different areas of the forum."

what's your answer to that?

Don't post the same question in two forums. Post it only once, in whatever forum seems right to you.

dr_st wrote:Don't post the same question in two forums. Post it only once, in whatever forum seems right to you.

i see you don't understand that the T500 and the W500 are the same laptop.

IMaPC wrote:i see you don't understand that the T500 and the W500 are the same laptop.

It's not a question of whether the T500 and W500 are the same. These are the forum rules. No crossposting allowed.

IMaPC wrote:i see you don't understand that the T500 and the W500 are the same laptop.

I see you don't understand the simple things I am saying to you.

I am well aware that they are the same laptop. I agreed with you that from several points of view it makes sense to have the same subforum for both.

But what does it have to do with starting your thread only in one place?

Do you have a T500 or a W500? Whatever you have - post your thread in the forum that's "dedicated" to it. I really don't see the problem.

The point probably was that there may happen to be someone who knows the answer, but only visits the other (T500/W500) forum, so they will not get the chance of replying.

Zender wrote:The point probably was that there may happen to be someone who knows the answer, but only visits the other (T500/W500) forum, so they will not get the chance of replying.

Well... it may happen. But it's just one of the things that may prevent one from getting the help he seeks.

It may also happen that someone knows the answer, but doesn't visit the forums at all.

Or someone may know the answer but only visits the X300 forum. Because this is the laptop he has. He just happens to know the answer incidentally.

Or he may know the answer but choose not to reply, because he's just a meanie.

There is a number of things that may happen.

I'm just saying that the small number of cases where the rule against cross-posting might hinder objective help is a small price to pay for keeping order in the forums, and preventing two threads growing in parallel. Many, or most, message boards have such a rule.

And it doesn't have anything direct to do with whether W500 should be grouped with the T400/T500 or not. These are different topics.

I made the same suggestion the day these forums were created.

When I have a W500 problem, I never know where to post it. I probably will get a better answer in the Txxx forum where there are more participants - but that seems like the wrong place to post given the setup.

IMaPC wrote:This makes finding an answer harder.

Its very highly likely you'd still end up reading a similar number of messages, whether the T500 and W500 were in the same topic forum or in separate topic forums, so, no it doesn't make it materially harder.

Cheers,

Bill B.

Zender wrote:The point probably was that there may happen to be someone who knows the answer, but only visits the other (T500/W500) forum, so they will not get the chance of replying.

that is exactly my point.

awolfe63 wrote:I made the same suggestion the day these forums were created.

When I have a W500 problem, I never know where to post it. I probably will get a better answer in the Txxx forum where there are more participants - but that seems like the wrong place to post given the setup.

it looks like people who don't own a W500 won't understand how many fewer participants there are in the W500 forum there are to reply to topics vs the T500 forum.
I(and probably all W500 owners) should post their topics in the T500 forum in order to get quicker and more responses rather than asking the smaller population of "W500" owners.

IMaPC wrote:I(and probably all W500 owners) should post their topics in the T500 forum in order to get quicker and more responses rather than asking the smaller population of "W500" owners.

I would agree. However didn't you say before that:

IMaPC wrote:When i'm looking for information on the T500, information about the t400/t400s isn't going to help me out.

You should realize that most of the users in the T400/T500 forum are T400 users. The amount of posts dedicated to T500 in that forum probably isn't more than the amount of posts about the W500.

I would group T400/T500/W500 together, but no matter how you make the split, one can always find counterexamples where a different split would make more sense. For example, T61 and T400 are really similar in many ways, and different in others. T400 and R400 are also in many ways much close than R400 and R500, for instance.

I, for one, found a way to ignore the split at all. I just always press the "View new posts" button on the top right whenever I log on, then go by the thread titles to the topics I find interesting. I don't care or even notice in which subforum the thread is posted. Granted, not everyone does it, but it is one way.

One observation:
you seem to be expecting a lot of problems with your W500? (If so, then why did you buy it?).
Why not wait till you have a problem, and THEN see where to post/check?
The Forum Management (i.e. JaneL) already said No to the grouping, so why do you insist continuing this?

you're right. i shouldn't have bought a lenovo.

lesson learned.

close this thread. this conversation is going no where.

IMaPC wrote:you're right. i shouldn't have bought a lenovo.

lesson learned.

close this thread. this conversation is going no where.

I'm not sure what the management of this forum has to do with your decision to buy a W500, but I can definitely grant your wish about this thread.