I have some issues with the changes.
1. It will be Year Zero in each new forum for products that have been extensively discussed before under the previous regime. Now, when people do a search on some portable amp, for example, they are going to narrow the search (logically) to the new Portable Amp section which will only be populated by threads started since the split. He then misses out on all the great info, accumulated wisdom, and threads from the old general Amps section. It's like rolling back the clock to 2001 when Head-Fi opened. Every valuable (or worthless) contribution folks have made on the topics of any product that now finds itself classed in a new forum are lost to searchers (unless they somehow know to look for info on portable amps in the full-size amp section, which I assume is where all the old threads will reside). This will devalue the worth of Head-Fi in the short-term as a source of information, until we've got a few years worth of comments built up in the new forums. however, it effectively erases a lot of valuable thoughts/comparisons, etc. To be frank, for old-timers like me, for example, it means that a lot of the contributions/reviews/comments we've made over the years will get buried. Me no likey.
2. I don't understand the "High End" forum. No one here agrees on what "high-end" is. To some people, it's a $200 set of Grados, for others, if we're not talking about the L3000, R10, Stax or Orpheus, it ain't "high end". And "high-end" what? Headphones? Amps? Cables? Sources? Soundcards? It seems redundant to me. Now we've created a little information worm-hole where again valuable info gets sucked into a place some people won't think to look. Valuable stuff that should appear in this forum ends up somewhere else, and valaubale stuff will be posted in this forum that will be missed by people looking elsewhere for info. Again, if Head-Fi's function is to make finding info on headphones easy, I think this forum just unnecessarily complicates that. I expect this forum's chief topic of discussion will be what belongs in here and what doesn't. Some will be accused of being "snobs" for rejecting certain gear from being discussed here, etc. It could get ugly. Is it about performance of just sticker price?
3. Dividing the Amps section into 3 parts almost seems like a solution in search of a problem to me. Were there issues with people finding info in the existing section? Again by slicing it up, we segregate a lot of valuable info into a place people won't think to look for it.
4. I, Objectivist can't come soon enough.
However, now that objectivists have a forum and platform, I expect this means mods will be a lot more rigorous in enforcing the boundaries between what they can and can't say in the rest of the forums. I expect (perhaps naively) that drive-by thread craps in the Cables section will stop, snide remarks will stop, new threads talking about this or that new study on how stupid audiophiles are will stop, etc. In other words, we get our old Cables section back with no interference. Right? Right?
