Having looked into the question posed by uzair regarding the suitability of forum names, see: http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=9005 - I am of the opinion the GEC should remain as a general discussion forum for electronics and the AAC e-book.

In light of that is there scope for a new forum dedicated to power electronics/EE, mechatronics, alternative energy, i.e. EE that isn't specifically electronics or circuits related?

If there is sufficient support for an idea I may look into implement it. Just trying to see what the members here think.

Thanks.

Dave

 

As a newcomer to this site, I hope my opinion on that question is not considered inappropriate. I think forum names should be clear, which they are, and mutually exclusive. As a goal, the latter might be pretty hard to attain. Take for example the "homework" forum. Despite the seeming clarity and exclusivity of that name, there continue to be many posts for homework help in the GEC and project forums.

From that perspective, a "power forum" would not seem to be sufficiently mutually exclusive to warrant its own forum. An "alternative energy" one probably would be exclusive. As an aside, you might even consider two types of alternative energy. One type that operates within the bounds of accepted physical principles, and the other that seems to believe adherence to such principles is a conspiracy of the oil producing states. You might call the latter sub-forum "over unity."

 

As a newcomer to this site, I hope my opinion on that question is not considered inappropriate. I think forum names should be clear, which they are, and mutually exclusive. As a goal, the latter might be pretty hard to attain. Take for example the "homework" forum. Despite the seeming clarity and exclusivity of that name, there continue to be many posts for homework help in the GEC and project forums.

From that perspective, a "power forum" would not seem to be sufficiently mutually exclusive to warrant its own forum. An "alternative energy" one probably would be exclusive. As an aside, you might even consider two types of alternative energy. One type that operates within the bounds of accepted physical principles, and the other that seems to believe adherence to such principles is a conspiracy of the oil producing states. You might call the latter sub-forum "over unity."

Thanks for the input, all input is valid.

I fully agree with the idea of clarity and exclusivity, hence why recently we have tried to make the forum descriptions more objective. Whether we have succeeded is a whole other thing. Homework Help is/should be textbook questions and understanding, Projects Forum should be for practical circuits problems. The GEC is a general forum for all things electronics, so I suppose it encourages all types of discussion.

The original question was about it being unclear where power EE and the "larger" stuff goes. This site tends to be geared towards electronic circuits and hence this is why the forums do not appear to obviously support the power/alt energy stuff (alt energy, free energy has been covered in the GEC and Physics forums). The e-book covers more than just electronics, and the GEC is more than capable of dealing with all queries, but in the interests of the people who use the site is there a need to go further by adding a dedicated power/alt. energy forum?

A final point is, there is a balance to be had between sufficiently clear forums which cater for all electrical and electronics queries, and having too many forums that members become overwhelmed.

Dave