My thoughts: As a general rule of thumb (but not really a concrete rule), ~comp will typically cover a lot of software-level subjects, whereas ~tech will typically cover a lot of hardware-related...
My thoughts:
As a general rule of thumb (but not really a concrete rule), ~comp will typically cover a lot of software-level subjects, whereas ~tech will typically cover a lot of hardware-related subjects, but software and hardware are often tightly coupled together and a discussion of one will often necessitate a discussion of the other.
Additionally, there are plenty of areas of research and events in the news that have practical considerations for both, so you can't really say "this belongs in one of these groups, but not the other".
The problem is that they're just similar enough to have quite a bit of overlap, but they're also just different enough that they don't fit any neat hierarchical structure and will attract very different people. ~comp isn't really a subset of ~tech, and ~tech isn't really a subset of ~comp, so they really need to be viewed as separate communities. I know that for myself, at least, I'm only somewhat interest in ~tech and prefer to remain primarily in ~comp where programming-related subjects are more appropriately located.
So you're right, they are indeed very similar, but they're fundamentally different as well. It's a tad tricky :)
The fact that it's not immediately clear is a problem. As discussed in the linked thread, I think aliases are a good way to access subgroups. Maybe they could have a different prefix which would...
The fact that it's not immediately clear is a problem.
As discussed in the linked thread, I think aliases are a good way to access subgroups. Maybe they could have a different prefix which would help avoid some of the potential name collisions.
True, but in the future it's entirely possible cross-posts will be truly cross-posts on ~ ... as in a single submission mirrored across both groups so they can share the comment section and...
True, but in the future it's entirely possible cross-posts will be truly cross-posts on ~ ... as in a single submission mirrored across both groups so they can share the comment section and interact with each other. So I don't really see the problem with any slight overlap in top-level groups.
~comp also has the potential to have a pretty deep subgroup structure under it (e.g. ~comp.lang.python.sqlalchemy) and if it was placed under ~tech then that is just one more extra layer getting in the way of navigation. If you're curious about the hierarchy and why certain choices like that were made, I talked about it at length not that long ago on /r/tildes:
This. I go to ~comp to talk shop and brush up on my coding. I go to ~tech to see what new things have tilders excited and talk about the potential ramifications / applications.
This. I go to ~comp to talk shop and brush up on my coding. I go to ~tech to see what new things have tilders excited and talk about the potential ramifications / applications.
Because ~comp focus on the design and software aspects of computing, while ~tech covers hardware and scientific advancements in thing that can compute, but also topics in things that don't have to...
Because ~comp focus on the design and software aspects of computing, while ~tech covers hardware and scientific advancements in thing that can compute, but also topics in things that don't have to - for example, a discussion on electric vs gasoline cars, or a breakthrough in pacemakers, are topics I could conceivably see under ~tech. It's sort of like having a discussion for people who really like cars, to engineers who design cars (but also other things). Just because you're engineering a car doesn't mean it has anything to do with the topic of cars itself (for example, designing a door lock, or an exhaust vent), and just because you really like cars doesn't mean you're interested in the mechanical engineering in general. Likewise, just because you're interested in software and programming, doesn't mean you have an interest in science or the advancement of technology in general.
Personally I consider ~comp to be a parallel of /r/programming and ~tech to be /r/technology
My thoughts:
As a general rule of thumb (but not really a concrete rule), ~comp will typically cover a lot of software-level subjects, whereas ~tech will typically cover a lot of hardware-related subjects, but software and hardware are often tightly coupled together and a discussion of one will often necessitate a discussion of the other.
Additionally, there are plenty of areas of research and events in the news that have practical considerations for both, so you can't really say "this belongs in one of these groups, but not the other".
The problem is that they're just similar enough to have quite a bit of overlap, but they're also just different enough that they don't fit any neat hierarchical structure and will attract very different people. ~comp isn't really a subset of ~tech, and ~tech isn't really a subset of ~comp, so they really need to be viewed as separate communities. I know that for myself, at least, I'm only somewhat interest in ~tech and prefer to remain primarily in ~comp where programming-related subjects are more appropriately located.
So you're right, they are indeed very similar, but they're fundamentally different as well. It's a tad tricky :)
This was already discussed in the thread: Why is ~comp not ~tech.comp? – maybe you can find some answers there as well.
The fact that it's not immediately clear is a problem.
As discussed in the linked thread, I think aliases are a good way to access subgroups. Maybe they could have a different prefix which would help avoid some of the potential name collisions.
If you read the sidebars for each, it is pretty immediately clear IMO.
Maybe for some topics it's clear, but I can foresee lots of crossposting which may be solved by a child/parent relationship
True, but in the future it's entirely possible cross-posts will be truly cross-posts on ~ ... as in a single submission mirrored across both groups so they can share the comment section and interact with each other. So I don't really see the problem with any slight overlap in top-level groups.
~comp also has the potential to have a pretty deep subgroup structure under it (e.g. ~comp.lang.python.sqlalchemy) and if it was placed under ~tech then that is just one more extra layer getting in the way of navigation. If you're curious about the hierarchy and why certain choices like that were made, I talked about it at length not that long ago on /r/tildes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tildes/comments/8qwng4/question_about_hierarchical_groups/e0mru4y/
I'm not immediately able to describe the difference, but I immediately know which one to use when posting a topic, or at least which one not to use
This. I go to ~comp to talk shop and brush up on my coding. I go to ~tech to see what new things have tilders excited and talk about the potential ramifications / applications.
Because ~comp focus on the design and software aspects of computing, while ~tech covers hardware and scientific advancements in thing that can compute, but also topics in things that don't have to - for example, a discussion on electric vs gasoline cars, or a breakthrough in pacemakers, are topics I could conceivably see under ~tech. It's sort of like having a discussion for people who really like cars, to engineers who design cars (but also other things). Just because you're engineering a car doesn't mean it has anything to do with the topic of cars itself (for example, designing a door lock, or an exhaust vent), and just because you really like cars doesn't mean you're interested in the mechanical engineering in general. Likewise, just because you're interested in software and programming, doesn't mean you have an interest in science or the advancement of technology in general.