I don’t think I’ve seen any other software forum that segregates by platform like this. It’s not like there’s a whole lot of difference between the Mac and PC versions of the program, other than the basic Alt=Option, Ctrl=Command stuff, and the lack of a right mouse button on the Mac. I’d think that the typical Photoshop (or Illustrator, or any other program) question would be equally applicable to Mac or PC users, and having both in the same forum means that many more people who can respond to your issues…
Sorry, for the X-post, but I just thought this question was equally applicable to both groups… Hence my curiosity as to why there are two seperate groups to begin with?
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I don’t think I’ve seen any other software forum that segregates by platform like this. It’s not like there’s a whole lot of difference between the Mac and PC versions of the program, other than the basic Alt=Option, Ctrl=Command stuff, and the lack of a right mouse button on the Mac. I’d think that the typical Photoshop (or Illustrator, or any other program) question would be equally applicable to Mac or PC users, and having both in the same forum means that many more people who can respond to your issues…
Sorry, for the X-post, but I just thought this question was equally applicable to both groups… Hence my curiosity as to why there are two seperate groups to begin with?
Many other Adobe applications have separate Windows and Mac forums, not just Photoshop.
A lot of the posts here turn out to be related to the OS as well, as are many questions on the Windows forum. It would be unacceptable to clutter the forums that way.
becase these forums deal with a lot of people with problems, i think adobe did it so that the platform specific stuff wouldn’t bore the users of the opposite systems. that said, i often read both forums because as you say, the program itself is pretty much the same and there’s great pros in both forums. lots to learn!
The Forum would self-destruct if you combined the two platforms.
That is exactly what happened to the old AOL SIG. About 8 weeks after they forcibly combined the two groups, the place died! Everyone migrated to the better party down the street — the Adobe Forums.
[Mac-users get extremely irritated with Windows-users problems — and probably vice versa?]
Many other Adobe applications have separate Windows and Mac forums,
not just Photoshop.
Yeah, I mean, why does Adobe seperate the forums for all its applications, but not, say, Macromedia, Discreet, or anybody else I’ve seen?
A lot of the posts here turn out to be related to the OS as well, as
are many questions on the Windows forum. It would be unacceptable to clutter the forums that way.
Well, seeing the non-Adobe forums for Photoshop (alt.graphics.photoshop, comp.graphics.apps.photoshop), they usually handle it by just mentionning the OS in the post if it’s relevant, like "Problem activating CS in XP", or something like that. But usually, almost any question anybody would ever have with this program deals with use of the program itself, which is essentially the same on both platforms. I think a better solution would be to have one forum just dealing with installation, which would handle all platform-specific issues, Mac or PC, (because generally any platform specific question is related to installation.) and then another forum for actual program questions, which are pretty much the same on both platforms. The other advantage is that this gives a solid place to post a question like "Why does this font look different on the Mac than it does on PC?" That’s a question which refers to both platforms, and there’s really no "correct" place to put it right now. I think this would serve both to eliminate the clutter, and to have a wider group of people to help with any questions people might have, which are more than likely not related in any way to the OS they’re using.
<< "Why does this font look different on the Mac than it does on PC?" That’s a question which refers to both platforms, and there’s really no "correct" place to put it right now. >>
So post in both Forums — or in the Lounge which IS cross-platform.
I assure you that trying to change the way that THIS Forum is organized will make you less than popular among its regular denizens.
I see you posted this in the Photoshop Windows forum first, so I’m assuming you’re a Windozer. I use the term on purpose to remind you of the flame wars that inevitably arise. Another reason why I think your idea is a very bad one.
I also note that these seem to be your first posts ever, so you may be unaware of past experiences in this regard.
think a better solution would be to have one forum just dealing with installation, which would handle all platform-specific issues, Mac or PC, (because generally any platform specific question is related to installation.) and then another forum for actual program questions
Still two different forums. Isn’t that what you’re seeing as the problem here?
I agree that the software is the same but there are certain issues
that
can be system specific.
Keeping the forums separated helps with those issues and tends to
avoid
platform wars that can get started on occassion.
Does it really get that ugly? I’ve participated in the non-Adobe forums on Photoshop (alt.graphics.photoshop and comp.graphics.apps.photoshop, both of which are platform-neutral) for years, and never once seen a cross-platform flame war of any significance. To me, it seems that splitting the forums in this way serves only to decrease the number of people that can help with a problem, which is far more likely to be program-specific than have anything to do with the OS. I think the only questions that would ever be specific to the OS would be installation issues. So why not have one forum just for installation issues, and one for program issues, regardless of platform? Plus, where would I post a (hypothetical) question like "Why does this font look different on the Mac than on the PC?"? Right now, there’s no "correct" place to put a question like that. Adobe is the only software company I’ve seen that does this. Macromedia, Discreet, Corel, everybody else seems to leave the OS out of the equation…
I see you posted this in the Photoshop Windows forum first, so I’m
assuming you’re a Windozer. I use the term on purposes to remind you of the flame wars that inevitably arise. Another reason why I think your idea is a very bad one.
Actually, I attempted to post in both at the same time, but apparently X-posts don’t work in this forum. Yes I am currently using a Windows machine, but I’ve worked in both, and have no preference for either. I really doubt that the flames would be as bad as you seem to think. I’ve participated in several cross-platform forums for years, and never once seen a Mac/PC flamewar of any significance. Has it ever really gotten that ugly in here? I’m just saying, the program is the same program (compare to Macromedia products, or Quark, and you’ll see that Adobe is much better and maintaining consistancy across platforms than most other companies, and yet they’re the only one that seperates the forums by platform…), and it really shouldn’t matter what OS somebody is using…
the Mac platform is the best and the windows clones just have trouble accepting this. So the best way to handle is to give them their own forum. This way they won’t be exposed to how much better the Mac Platform is everyday.
Still two different forums. Isn’t that what you’re seeing as the
problem here?
Not at all. This would be two forums which deal with *essentially different issues*. If you have an installation issue, go to the installation forum. Program issues go to the program forum. Most questions about the program have nothing whatsoever to do with the OS, and thus seperating them only serves to limit the number of people who can respond to your post…
Adobe tried it about 2 years ago with the GoLive forums and it was unpleasant to say the least — for the above already posted reasons. (A disaster is only slightly overstating it.)
The speed in which topics descend to the bottom of the list in Windows forums would trample Mac issues before they’re ever seen. Is it because there’s more Windows users or just more problems with that platform? 😉
I like venturing to the dark side and catching some of Chris Cox’s more indepth discussions I’ve come across concerning the unique issues on that platform. Mac system specific discussions tend to seem too simplified even for OS X, except maybe when the mention of cron scripts arises, then my eyes begin to glaze over.
About 80% of the questions here are about hardware problems or asking for hardware recommendations, and only 20% or so on ‘techniques’.
In fact, there was an attempt to merge the Go-Live Mac and Windows forums. IIRC it lasted around a month! There was a huge volume of complaints from both camps, and the forums were then split again, and harmony restored. I’m sure the same would happen if the Photoshop forums were ever merged.
Additionally, the combined daily volume of messages from Photoshop_Mac and Photoshop_Win would make a single forum utterly unmanageable.
Also, please learn to spell separate and separately correctly already! There’s a spelling checker here, have you noticed?
(Just giving you an idea how this kind of thing escalates.) As Ann said, if you don’t like this forum, go find another one.
Well, then. Now I understand. Other forums I’ve been in, people are generally polite and any flames are usually quickly extinguished, but apparently that’s not the case here. I made one friendly suggestion, which I think that I gave pretty logical valid arguments for, and you people (on both sides) have been nothing but hostile to me. Sorry to have be-fouled your forum. I think I’ll go post somewhere more civilized.
The problem, Darrel, is that any discussion involving PCs and Macs WILL degenerate into a flame war unless all participants are friends. Although there is nothing desperately wrong with your theory, in practice it would be doomed from the start.
Also, it doesn’t help when a total newcomer’s very first post criticizes the forums. It seems wise to get a feel of what a forum is like and to make a few contributions to solving other user’s problems before attempting to re-invent the wheel. That’s bound to antagonize other forum users right off the bat.
A little research would have alerted Darrel to the fact that his idea was not as good as he thought. Even scanning the titles of the threads would have made him realize how many topics are indeed platform specific, on both forums.
You’ve gotten some excellent responses to your question — all politically correct. If you read carefully between the lines, you’d glean…
What? Share the same forum space with Macheads? What are you #*&%@^~ nuts?
(Just kidding.)
In all seriousness, cross-platform questions are posted at both fora and responded to competently on an almost daily basis. There are plenty of bi-platform people here, and it often helps to have one point of view or the other, depending on which OS happens to be your workspace du jour.
Just to show it can work, in the Elements forum, Windows and Mac users get along very nicely. But they have nothing like the number of posts that you get in the full photoshop forums, and quite a high percentage of Mac users, so Mac issues don’t get lost.
It is worth while for Mac users to read the Windows PS forum though (and I would imagine vice versa) , although a lot of issues do tend to be system related. What doesn’t make much sense to me is to have separate RAW links in Windows and Mac as that is strictly program related and neither forum is particularly high volume.
The alternatives to ACR in the Windows world are growing more rapidly (surprise) in the Windows word (see C1 LE for instance which is not available for the Mac). For that reason, it does make sense to segregate the ACR sections.
Not only do users want answers from the ACR team about stuff they perceive to be achieved more efficiently in some other Windows program.
Then (some) users ask about "importing" their image into Photoshop and want comparisons with other applications in this regard, etc.
I don’t think I’ve seen any other software forum that segregates by platform like this. It’s not like there’s a whole lot of difference between the Mac and PC versions of the program, other than the basic Alt=Option, Ctrl=Command stuff, and the lack of a right mouse button on the Mac. I’d think that the typical Photoshop (or Illustrator, or any other program) question would be equally applicable to Mac or PC users, and having both in the same forum means that many more people who can respond to your issues…
I agree. I hate to think I’m missing out on the expertise of people using Mac’s just because of platform wars. How childish. The same thing goes for the seperate Premier and Premier Pro groups. I used to read ’em both but saw a couple of snippy remarks in the non-Pro group when someone referenced something that was only available in the Pro version, something about "… that’s why there are _seperate_ groups.".
OTOH, I’m accessing this group through Usenet so I’m not sure what the forum hierarchy is so maybe there’s a reason for it. Just discovered these ngs in the last month or so. If I’m accessing the Adobe forum on their website, I’ll be ecstatic. Great forum, terrible web based interface.
I think Darrel has got a point. Nevertheless pc-users don’t understand
maclovers and maclovers sometimes hate or feel pitty for pc-users.
So taken this information, it’s maybe a good idea to read both forums.
Then you get all there is and the best of both.
Well it’s good to see that there is some sanity in this forum. When I got nothing but "It won’t work, you should be ashamed for even asking" I was beginning to get discouraged. And seeing people’s responses to the "Why Mac over Windows?" thread, I can see that there is quite alot of negative feeling over this issue, but really, people. We’re not Mac users or PC users here. We’re Photoshop users. Windows isn’t the enemy. Apple isn’t the enemy. We all know that. Can’t we just get along peacefully and leave our OS preferences at the door?
Of course, Corel and Jasc are the enemy. Let’s all make fun of Corel and Jasc. *sarcasm alert*
Please do not change anything! I changed my PS platform from Windows to Mac in january, primarily because of severe and numerous problems with XP. I have gotten a great deal of help from this forum and the people who regularly post to it. Because I am new to Mac I am very interested in the interaction of PS and OSX. If i need help with Windows I will go to a Win forum.
"Our OS preferences" are the core of our software use.
And any mention of how something works (does it ever?) in Windoze is enough to induce a violent allergic reaction in this individual.
And no, I don’t usually spend any time in the Windoze forums — and when I have looked in, I have found little that proffers any information which is of the slightest use to me.
Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.
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