Can an Electronics & Radio Forum be introduced?

Dear Mike,


You make very good points and also answered my question about the difference between top-level forums and those within Communities.


I hadn't appreciated the implications of needing to log-in, since I rarely visit the website - let alone log-in.  I can understand why some community forums require logged-in access*, but it obviously causes problems.

I can only agree that the activity on community forums is practically non-existent and so not worth looking at too often. (I was going to say the activity is beneath the noise floor, but that would wrongly suggest that I objected to existing posts.)


I am not involved with wiring and regulations so I don't 'need' to look at the wiring & regs forum -  but I usually do whenever I visit the IET website.

Wiring & Regulations is obviously the most active forum, it's obviously very useful and its open access is obviously a good thing that must be a big reason for its success, along with the widespread usefulness of its subject matter.


The privacy of some community forums does hide information.  So does the fact that you have to navigate to them from the IET homepage(s) indirectly via a couple of links.  I think that confidentiality and privacy are very important. However, I also think that if the forums are about the non-commercial sharing of information, then the unintended hiding of information is unhelpful .  I suppose that it must be hard to balance the matters of privacy and openness of information.

I see that at least one Community (RF & microwave) is also on LinkedIn, which will of course also need a LinkedIn membership to log-in. Whilst I suppose that most people probably are on LinkedIn, I also understand that some people avoid social media - even LinkedIn.


Best Regards

(*e.g. the previous problems with the metaphorical interference and noise of  'false users' apparently taking advantage of the forums to place spoof posts carrying links to unrelated commercial adverts for (e.g). radio-controlled model aircraft. )

Dear Mike,


You make very good points and also answered my question about the difference between top-level forums and those within Communities.


I hadn't appreciated the implications of needing to log-in, since I rarely visit the website - let alone log-in.  I can understand why some community forums require logged-in access*, but it obviously causes problems.

I can only agree that the activity on community forums is practically non-existent and so not worth looking at too often. (I was going to say the activity is beneath the noise floor, but that would wrongly suggest that I objected to existing posts.)


I am not involved with wiring and regulations so I don't 'need' to look at the wiring & regs forum -  but I usually do whenever I visit the IET website.

Wiring & Regulations is obviously the most active forum, it's obviously very useful and its open access is obviously a good thing that must be a big reason for its success, along with the widespread usefulness of its subject matter.


The privacy of some community forums does hide information.  So does the fact that you have to navigate to them from the IET homepage(s) indirectly via a couple of links.  I think that confidentiality and privacy are very important. However, I also think that if the forums are about the non-commercial sharing of information, then the unintended hiding of information is unhelpful .  I suppose that it must be hard to balance the matters of privacy and openness of information.

I see that at least one Community (RF & microwave) is also on LinkedIn, which will of course also need a LinkedIn membership to log-in. Whilst I suppose that most people probably are on LinkedIn, I also understand that some people avoid social media - even LinkedIn.


Best Regards

(*e.g. the previous problems with the metaphorical interference and noise of  'false users' apparently taking advantage of the forums to place spoof posts carrying links to unrelated commercial adverts for (e.g). radio-controlled model aircraft. )