@Sophia1
Hello Sophia1
I am sorry that situations arise, sometimes, that cause us to feel excluded, as you may well have had justifiable reason to feel, as a result of not being able to access and join a particular discussion event.
Warning
This post may seem to be contentious, but it states my concerns about some aspects of accessibility and use of this forum.
I am aware, as a result of joining the discussion mentioned above by Sophia1, only as a guest, that quite a number of people did access the discussion. However, presumably, due to my inability to negotiate the entry portal, I also could not access that discussion as a participating and involved member. As a guest, I remained a non-participating observer.
Now, with some guidance, I might have gained access. However, I am committed to the role, purpose and benefits to be given and received by using this forum, and would, very likely, have persisted in any case. But, “The Forum” has, at the gate, so to speak, already lost potential participants, not just to the discussion(s), but as users of the forum. The reason some may not persist is because they are disillusioned by the complexity of the format, and may consequently feel that they are “not up to whatever standard, that they may percieve, is presumably required”
for participation as a forum member.
One example of the format, that can be confusing to new members, to my way of thinking, is the use of drop-down banners over other function headings.
One, apparently well qualified person, who would appear, as a result of their stated professional qualification, to have been active in fairly recent study and work roles, requiring competency in the use of computers, asked me how to post a message under a new thread heading. People can relatively easily use other forum formats that do not require substantial knowledge in computer applications. Automotive forums, are one example among many. Now the argument, in response to that statement, might be that this forum offers a far more complex number of functions. Then that is, in itself, a reason for
“de-complexifying” the format for everyone.
As may have been gathered, inclusiveness in, and the potential benefits to be derived from membership of the forum, and the forum activities, is important to me, even though I am a relatively new member. Because of that point of view, I am concerned that people understand how the forum works in its present format. Even now, I feel that many people, both new and longer term members, may find the forum format to be difficult to negotiate, particularly for inexperienced computer users, but also, very often, those who have somewhat more experience and knowledge, elsewhere, as well as on this forum.
That is the reason that I often make the comment, that:
“I initially had problems negotiating the forum format and structure”,
in order that newer members may be less inclined to feel that same sense of unease and exclusion, and consequently, be inclined to think
“that they are just not up to the task”,
when, in fact, at least a portion (Size?) of the “fault” is in the presentation and structure of the forum format.
For example, not everyone, who would benefit from access to the forum, has any, or even recent, university, school, social or work developed familiarity with computer systems, format and structure. Consequently, people who are not acquainted with those systems, formats and structures may, by default, be excluded from use of the forum. This is, to my way of thinking, a great pity, and constitutes a failure to provide an accessible format for potential users.
I have also added, to many of my posts, guides and descriptions of how or why different aspects of the forum work. This is because I would prefer newer members of the forum, and at times, some longer established forum members, not have to go through the trial and error process of finding things out, that I did. Or, receive a message that in no way conveys any meaning about the problem that they are faced with, in negotiating the forum path. And, during that process, I do believe that we must lose a large number of potential and recent users, who, as a result, do not gain access to a resource that may be very useful to them. And what is useful to individuals, is, by extension, of use and benefit to the wider community.
At the present time, the forum serves a relatively small number of people, when compared to the number of people throughout Australia, who may gain benefit from participation on the forum. I believe, that part of the reason for the relatively small number of users is that the forum is complex to negotiate, not user friendly or anywhere close to what may be referred to as intuitive, for use by the wider Australian population.
Indeed, it may well have been for similar reasons, that I did not become an active member, after initially joining the forum in 2015, which is recorded as my joining date. I simply do not remember.
Some, in Australia, claim that we are at the forefront of computer program and application design, and yet we are using a computer system, format and structure, from overseas, that offers only one spelling option, that of English (USA), is difficult to understand and negotiate, and is, I believe definitely not intuitive or user friendly. As such, the resources and user benefits are thus accessible and available to a limited few. In any other context, and by the measures discussed on this forum, that could be considered, to amount to a form of discrimination. I offer this perspective because I, naturally, do not think that this is the intention, wish or awareness at any level of membership or involvement on the forum, however, it leaves open the possibility of that being a possible perception, from outside, being framed in those terms.
Most Sincerely,
HenryX
