Land Surveyor Forum

HOW-TO: KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BLOGS, GROUPS AND FORUMS on Land Surveyors United

Generally, each of the following areas of the site is to be used for the purposes stated below:

BLOGS (aka Articles):

 A blog post (which on LSU is considered an Article) is insight or information that you would like to share with the community related to some aspect of land surveying. A blog post isn't really the right place event announcements nor is it appropriate to post just  two short sentences and a link off the site. Also note that newer blogs bump down the older ones. Now that we have so many active users, if you post two or three blogs quickly in succession you are probably going to knock someone's content off the front page without others having the opportunity to read and comment. Please be courteous and post only one per day.  Blogs/Articles are for press releases, in depth tutorials, state or the industry or product announcements with rich details and photos.  Never post an article without an included image, proper titles, tags and a thorough explanation of what it is you are describing.

FORUMS:

 The forum posts work quite differently than the blogs. Every time there is a new answer, it brings the question back to the top of the front page. That means that before you create a new forum post, it's a good idea to see if someone already has created a related topic that you can jump in on and add on. At this point, chance is they have! This keeps discussions building and growing instead of fragmenting.  Also note that Groups (explained below) have within them an integrated forum as well.  If you think that the topic you are wanting to discuss might be connected to a larger topical discussion (ex. Sokkia related questions or Oklahoma Land Surveying) it is more appropriate on our network to join the related group and post the discussion within the respective forum.

GROUPS:

 Our groups on LSU each have two over arching characteristics- they are based on the idea of support and theme. We have dedicated support groups for just about any topic related to land surveying.  If you search the groups and do not find a related topic, you can simply start your own group surrounding a topic.  If starting a new group, please make sure your topic is broad enough to be explored from many angles. As mentioned above, every group has its own integrated forum for discussing virtually any aspect of surveying related to the topic the group is based around.  Due to the fact that surveying laws and regulations vary according to geolocation, there are support groups for practically every location on earth.  The groups are a great place for niche questions that you think only a small subset of the Land Surveyors United population would be interested in, or to work on specific problems with a targeted group instead of the crowd. Like forums, the groups pop to the top of the front page list whenever there is new activity. Like forums, someone has probably already created a group for your interest - it's a lot better to jump into an active group and start a discussion than start a new one and not have the people and content to support it.

Best Practices for Those New to Land Surveyors United:

Search through groups and join those groups which are based around your location on earth, topics you are familiar or involved and your surveying related interests. No two members will have the same configuration of groups which they are involved.  If you have topics or questions which you hope to discuss or find support, ask them in the forum within the group surrounding the topic.

Enjoy the open communication between surveyors on your network.  Take it to work with you on your mobile phone and get real time support from your fellow collegues.