Articles vs. Forums

from JoeUser Forums
Can someone explain the whole article vs. forum thing going on here at the new WC site. Thanks :)
4,779 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would, but I have no idea.

I'm not sure if I like this forum setup.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The only real difference is that if you post it as an article, your site gains popularity when people make replies.

If you post in only forum, you gain nothing.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

When you post something you can either post it to your Site or to the Forums (or both).  If it's on your site it is an article, if its in the forums it is a post. 

We consider items that are on the forums to be more casual and items on your site to be more formal.  So when you are writing on your site most likely you are writing something informational.  But most people who write in the forums are either asking questions or writing something to get an informal discussion going.

So an article is  usually something that is more informational and we try to highlight those items  in a more formal article setting instead of a forum setting.

When you visit the Articles section, the articles that show up in the main list are items that we have featured because we felt that its subject would be of interest to the majority of people who visit the WinCustomize.  And in most cases, the articles are going to be from people who have a WinCustomize Personal Skinning Site or a JoeUser Blog.  On occasion a forum post could be featured and make it into the articles section but most of the time it will be an item that was posted on someones site.

Hopefully I didn't make that too confusing and helped explain it a bit better.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I guess it's much liek what the difference is between forums and news items.

The forum is for quick posts on a variety of topics. Articles are things people create related to their own site. Any registered user can create a forum post. Only users with personal pages (subscribers and elite users) can create articles.

A lot of it also has to do with how they are conveyed. The moderators can feature articles on the article panel. It's a more controlled setting for information. If you want to write an article about how to use WindowBlinds or a post comparing Talisman to Litestep then you would probably wnat to do that as an article and not a forum post.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I guess I wasn't paying attention when I posted this, or any other "forum" type post, but these show up as articles too. Is there something I should be doing so that something I want just as a forum post...is only a forum post?
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

When creating a new item there is a checkbox near the bottom that allows you turn post it to either your site or to the forums as well (depending form where you are posting it). 

So if you are on the  main WinCust site in the forums there should be a check box that reads "Display on my wincustomize.com personal site. "

By default it is checked which means that the item will be posted both as an Article and as a forum post.  Unchecking it would make it a forum post only. In theory anyways. :)

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Okay one last question about the articles vs. forum threads.

PG-13....we're pretty used to this in the old WC forums, but with the forums being tied into JoeUser, where language isn't always PG-13....how's that being handled?
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
PG-13....we're pretty used to this in the old WC forums, but with the forums being tied into JoeUser, where language isn't always PG-13....how's that being handled?


I doubt that we'll have to worry about "Adult Content" on WinC...usually the members or wizops catch on to bad material quite quickly anyway.
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
True Nick, but if you post an article over on joeuser, you can have adult content/language and put a checkmark next to it. Some of the forums there are tied to the ones here.....so I was wondering how it gets filtered out before it hits WC, when it seems acceptable over there.