Sorry, but this board sucks big time.

[The Monk]

Apart from a few (very few) regulars, it's basically kids playing with vb6.

The majority attitude to .net is 'I'll never use it'.

Look at the number of .net posts that have a zero reply rate.

(Yes, I know there are a few of you out there doing your best, Mr. Penguin avatar. I don't mean you. I mean the rest of them.)

Unless things change, this board will die as vb6 dies.

There are a lot of better resources and boards for .net, like:

http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/messageboard/Home.aspx

You will find a lot of the regulars who vanished from this board over there.

Don't bother flaming me. That would just be shooting the messenger. I don't want this board to die. But I think it's already happening.

[Cander]

For someone with only 3 posts, I dont see how you can say this forum is dying. In order for something to die, it has to live first. The .NET board is busier than it ever has lately as it has been being viewed by more and more.

[Bananafish]

thats a rather negative view monk. Why bother to dis this site anyway? surely there is room for many discussion forums.

I have just looked at the GotDotNet forum - and to be honest it seemed to have fewer posts than here - also it doesn't handle code tags (as far as I could tell) which makes giving examples a bit messier.

If you don't want to use this forum - then no one will force you.

[Dillinger4]

I think as people slowly make the transition to VB .net this forum will fill out a little. .net has not even come out yet and most people that are interested in running .net have yet to get their systems up to the requirements to run it. Like me.

Not every site is going to be the best at everything. This sites Java forum is slow but we make due with what we have and if i need additional help i just go to sun's site or tektips.com

[Serge]

I think after a short while (wheh it would be commonly used) .NET forum could be combined with General VB :)

[The Monk]

I'm glad I stirred things up, which was my intention. This board needs a wakeup call.

Cander, it's not nice to bag somebody for a small post count. Post count mania is one of the failings of this board. How many people do you see posting meaningless drivel, just to get their post counts up? Bill Gates might join tomorrow and have a post count of 1. Does that make his opinion worthless? Actually I have been a regular on this board for a long time and have a post count in the high 4 digits. I created a new identity when I crashed my hard drive and couldn't remember my old password. I guess I could have mailed a moderator and got my old account back, but I don't really care about post counts. I rate your reply 1/10.

Bananafish, pretty good reply. At least you looked at the other board. (see any familiar names?) Yes, it could use some code tags - but that's cosmetic. The users there are actually talking about .net and although there may fewer posts, there is more quality information about .net than here. Anyway, it was just an example. There are lots of other boards with more .net than this one. I rate your reply 8/10.

Dilenger4, very good reply. Yes, you could be right. However the focus of this site has always been mainly on the amateur/ self-employed / part-time programmer. There are a few hard-core professionals here, but they seem to answer questions rather than ask them. The kind of problems they have are not answered here. Maybe that's okay, as there is room for all kinds of boards as you say - but this is really a vb newbies board and I don;t think many vb newbies will convert to .net - which is really a pro language, in the same way that C++ is a pro language - so I think the board will tail off. I rate your reply 10/10.

Serge, your reply it too short to mark, but you get the special merit award because I think you are right.

No, I don't hate this board. I have had a lot of fun out of it over the years and I will probably pop in now and then. I could just have gone away and said nothing, but I think it's worth trying to save. It will be what the users make it - and that means more of an emphasis on .net, before the other boards steal all the experienced users away and leave the vb6 newbies.

[beachbum]

I had better make my reply very eloquent as I fear the rigorous marking process :p I think it is a bit unfair to criticize the forum for lack of experience in .NET programming. Most everything gets answered on the general VB forum and while some people do like to have a bit of a laugh there is always a serious answer given where required.

It is very early days yet to expect a broad range of experience in .NET . I doubt that u would find many forums with a great deal of expertise in such a new concept. I am always disappointed about the lack of assistance on hydrogen powered hovering scooters but i live with it :p

And re this being a VB newbies board... I would rather say that there is a broad range of skill and experience levels. I am sure that quite a few people on here would be able to program your socks off and still have time for supper.

Bah rant over... gives self 2/10 to save marking time :rolleyes:

[The Monk]

A sensible and polite reply, Stuart. You get a 10/10.

I see from the reference to hydrogen powered hovering scooters that you have guessed my former identity.

Of course the main problem here has always been the high hydrogen burn rate in hover mode and the corrosion from the combustion byproducts - although I admit the fuel consumption is not too bad at high speed where there is some aerodynamic lift.

Watch out for those blue-rings.

[Serge]

I didn't know that this thread was a contest of some sort. :)

[Cander]

Well if you want to rate reples..here is yours Monk..you get a 0 since you obviously missed the point by a long margin. Your post count of 3 and an account start of only Dec 01 says clearly you have not been here long enough to determine that a forum is dying.

Now explain to me how through what magical power I was supposed to determine that you have been around, but on a different account?!

The point still remains that this board has not been at a high point to be considered dying.

[Scott Penner]

:confused: :confused:

What's the big deal Cander? The Monk made some valid points...

I still like this board a lot, but I think the Admins would be wise to start opening up the forums a little bit to .net, if for nothing else than the expectation of more traffic in the coming months.

This board really has no choice but to start adopting .net as VB6 will be a distant memory by this time next year. (Don't argue, just wait a year and then you can tell me I'm wrong, if I am.)

Maybe we should change the board to csharpforums? :D I think many of the serious VB programmers who have gone to .net have chosen csharp over VB.net (I could be wrong).

I give my post a 5/10 for meaningless drivel. Yes! I'm almost to 200!!! :p

[Scott Penner]

I have to say though, that the gotodotnet site has way more 0 replies than replies. So, I will throw my chips in with beachbum and say that the expertise just isn't anywhere...yet. And that site is a little clunky to boot! Noone ever said Microsoft had good web designers...

[Cander]

Arrgghh.... Is no one reading anything past my first sentence? Jesus...

I simply stated that based on the facts pointing to how long he had been here, that he could not make a valid reference for stating that it was dying.

There is no big deal. I was stating fact as well defending a pointless attack on my reply from someone that read WAY more into what I wrote.

The point is this forum is not dying!!! So his point of it dying was invalid as the forum has grown lately.

Dear lord give me strength....

[Dillinger4]

Sweeeeeeet 10/10. And to think after all these years i finally feel useful. :p

[kleptos]

There are a lot of better resources and boards for .net, like:

http://www.gotdotnet.com/community/...board/Home.aspx

You will find a lot of the regulars who vanished from this board over there

To be honest, there are more posts with 0 replies there then there is here.

[kleptos]

Looks like i should have read ALL the other posts before submitting my 2 cents.... Sorry about that.

[Dillinger4]

Due to the rigorous marking process that beachbum pointed out :D kleptos only gets a 5/10 :( ;)

[kleptos]

i would have been happy with .5/10 but 3/10 i will take.

[Scott Penner]

:D

[The Monk]

Light fuse.:)

Stand back.:)

Watch.:D

At least we are talking about .net, which was my intention.

.net is going to be big. No question. We need to be ready for it on this board. I don't know why the apathy about .net. You can get the Beta FREE for heaven's sake.

[kleptos]

I have been using .NET and it kicks a$$, i wish and hope i find a board active in .NET as much as this place is with VB6. Nothing worse then having this great language and development studio and no forums, tutorials, etc....

[The Monk]

Yo Bro!

(For you non-native-english speakers, that means "I agree with you".)

[kovan]

Originally posted by kleptos
I have been using .NET and it kicks a$$, i wish and hope i find a board active in .NET as much as this place is with VB6. Nothing worse then having this great language and development studio and no forums, tutorials, etc....

www.c-sharpcorner.com

[Cander]

Well from what I have been able to tell Monk, most of the apathy for .NET comes from a lack of information and FUD(Fear, uncertainty, and doubt) spread by MS haters.

A couple of the myths include:
-Apps only run over the internet
-Passport is required for programming or using .NET

It will take time, but .NET will rule.

[kleptos]

I am pretty sure that all the people who put down the whole .NET idea will someday realize that they can do so much more with .NET then with VB 6, so i say let them get behind, and when it comes time to play ball with the big boys and they wanna use VB 6 or whatever, they wont be able to keep up.

Screw it all, .NET is awsome, New, And a whole lot better then VB6, screw the MS Haters, let them go somewhere else.

[Cander]

Nah..the MS haters have entertainment value. It is fun lsitening to them wiggle around the facts, then wiggle some more when they are called on a complete lie. Its pretty funny. Nothing more hypocritical and full of you know what than MS haters. :D

[Jethro]

Originally posted by Serge
I think after a short while (wheh it would be commonly used) .NET forum could be combined with General VB :)

Say it ain't so Serge:eek: Apparently we are going vb.net with full realease for new projects, but will maintain vb5 & 6 programs out in the market place already.

It appears that vb.net is a total rethink about how to do things, therefore l don't think this forum should be merged into VB General.

[Cander]

I agree, keep .NET seperate..but what about seperate into C# VB .NET and other language boards? Good idea...bad idea?

[kleptos]

I like the idea of seperating up the languages, because as a VB programmer, i hate going to look for VB stuff and find nothing buy C# stuff. Granted, C# is alot like VB, but that doesnt mean VB programmers needs to see it.

[aliddle]

You are correct to a degree!! I have noticed that any really difficult problems are not easily answered by the average VB programmer. I have been using VB.Net for a couple of months and found it extremely powerful. It will take some time for a lot of other professional programmers to wake up to this. With persistence I manage to work my way around the problems. For my company, there is no going back.

If you have really difficult problems, post them in one of the other forums sites that supports c#.Net discussions. As .Net is basically the same for c# and VB, getting an answer there will still apply in VB.Net

Alan :D

[venerable bede]

I have been forced by my employers to learn VB.net and to produce results despite the fact I havent got a clue.

I rely and probably will for the next few months on this board.

After this initial learning curve then I will be able to answer some of the posts myself. This is what the community is all about.

It takes time to grow but rest assured in a few months when people like myself have advanced a little the forum will be the bees knees.

And besides:

Who is going to answer the posts of winging people like yourself?

[white_as_snow]

personally, i think this whole debate is a waste of time. whether new or experienced, young or old, vb6 or .net, does it really matter that Monk has a low post rate? does it matter that vb6 is discussed here?

want both of those shot down?

1) monk has a post # in the single digits, im double. he's probably been doing this longer than i have. maybe he's a recluse ( hence the name?), or just hasn't joined a board. maybe, like he said, his hd crashed. would u go to the trouble to get the account back, cander? or would u just come back to answer and/or ask questions?

2) does it really matter right now whether its 6 or .net? quite a bit of it's the same.

at any rate, what's the point of forums? to ask and answer questions. any questions with .net have probably come here, and been answered where possible. as for the low reply rate, a lot of people will shun a .net forum because they 'haven't learned it yet', and won't trust themselves to answer what they think they don't know.

so i really have 2 points:

cander, lay off (please) of monk for the low count. it DOES NOT MATTER

monk, just give it some time. it took years for people to trust computers when they were first made. .net has some very large changes. give them time to learn them.

whew. that was more than ive typed (in paragraphs) in a long time. peace out;)