Forum Suggestion

[MichaelTheMaven]

Hi Monica & Canon Crew-

 I know we are still getting started, but Ive been thinking about how we can make this forum as awesome as possible, and this is something you probably already know, but ultimately, I think you will get the most traffic when there are individual boards for each and every specific product you have. "Camera" or "Printers" for example is a little too general. I think each customer will want to be able to go to the specific board for their specific gear. If there are Canon specialists/engineers, plus pros who are familiar on board with that specific piece of equipment, then it should become the premeire place to get answers. 

Just my 2 cents!

Best wishes

Michael

[Monica]

Thanks for the great suggestion, Michael!  Our plan is to eventually have specific topics within the "Camera," "Printer," "Cinema EOS," and "Camcorder" discussions.  Unfortunately before we can do that, we need more content!  Once there are more discussions about specific equipment or topics, we will then create new boards and move the threads to those boards.

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@MichaelTheMaven wrote:

Hi Monica & Canon Crew-

 I know we are still getting started, but Ive been thinking about how we can make this forum as awesome as possible, and this is something you probably already know, but ultimately, I think you will get the most traffic when there are individual boards for each and every specific product you have. "Camera" or "Printers" for example is a little too general. I think each customer will want to be able to go to the specific board for their specific gear. If there are Canon specialists/engineers, plus pros who are familiar on board with that specific piece of equipment, then it should become the premeire place to get answers. 

Just my 2 cents!

Best wishes

Michael

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[Chris]

I think that is a good approach Monica. I don't think you want to create too many categories and find that some are rarely used.

Can you tell us if these forums were intended for discussion of equipment only, or did you also have other things in mind, such as the technique, art, and philosophy of photography?

[CanonEOS600D]

I do hope sometime sooner or later there will be Powershot Specific and EOS Specific forum so things can be discussed based on the model line and I and others can jump right into the right boards to answer questions and discuss (based on our own knowledge).

[Monica]

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@Chris wrote:
I think that is a good approach Monica. I don't think you want to create too many categories and find that some are rarely used.

Can you tell us if these forums were intended for discussion of equipment only, or did you also have other things in mind, such as the technique, art, and philosophy of photography?

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Hi Chris,

This forum is intended to discuss equipment, as well as any other imaging topics such as technique, art, and philosophy of photography.  We wanted to get a feel of what the public wanted to discuss before creating these types of specific boards. If you have any suggestions that you would like to see, please let us know.  We're open to any suggestion!

[PUREBRAD]

Hello Canon!

Super idea in opening an online forum for your current and prospective customers!

Forum feedback...

Each of the main forum topics needs sub-categories.

For example, after clicking the "Camera" topic, 3 subcategories should pop-up; "EOS Film," "EOS Digital," and "Powershot."

As a DSLR owner (50D), I am looking for other threads related to DSLR's. Though the forum is new and traffic is light, very shortly as traffic increases, it is going to become very burdensome and exhaustive to filter through posts related to film and Powershot products, to find threads related to DSLRs.

Add a "Lens" subcategory and several subs to that... EF, EF-S, L, FD (and older), and M.

Same thing with printers. It is burdensome to skim through posts related to office printers when I'm looking for assistance with say, a new "Pixma Pro-1."

I wouldn't necessarily wait until traffic picks up to do such. As it is currently, It gives the forum an overall feeling of disorganization, and potential users may be diswayed by this.

Still, great job! Good luck in the future!

[PUREBRAD]

Also, please add the following to your spell-check dictionary.

Your spell checker didn't recognize the following terms and tried to replace them.

EOS                           EGOS

Powershot               Overshot

DSLR                        DSL

EF                              IF

Pixma                        Pixie

[jfo]

I had the EXACT same first thought upon visiting these forums! Also, a sub-forum for accessories, maybe (e.g. Speedlites/transmitters/remotes/intervalometers/etc).

[jfo]

Also, maybe some filtering of usernames.  e.g. This one might look official and cause problems for less-discerning users: http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/537

[jfo]

Hi Monica,

Excited to be involved with this community.

Another user and I echo Michael and Chris' thoughts in this thread here: http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Discussion/Forum-topics-need-sub-categories/m-p/747#M77

With the lack of more specific boards, this 'General' forum is already the catch-all for discussions on

• accessories: http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Discussion/Trigger-Question/m-p/409 (trigger) http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Discussion/Why-I-can-t-use-my-580-flash-on-AV-mode/m-p/443 (flash)
• lenses: http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Discussion/I-am-looking-at-purchasing-a-EOS-Rebel-Will-my-len...
• technique: http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/General-Discussion/Any-tips-for-night-photography-Not-infra-red/m-p/7...

Here's a "lens" thread is in the Cinema EOS forum, but as a general question and considering the smaller user-base of Cinema EOS compared to DSLR owners, its "home" would be better in a "lens" forum: http://forums.usa.canon.com/t5/Cinema-EOS/How-To-Clean-Your-Canon-Lenses/m-p/59#U59