Let’s have a private chat and see what we can come up with.
I have been a little less active here lately but picking this up.
My idea to make it a community project was mainly because one cannot achieve by himself what a group of people can.
@tom_l & @Stiltjack: the idea is to have user feedback, not raw information.
That’s the opposite of a community project.
Since I wanted to brainstorm about this, I have started this thread in the Social section.
The way I see it:
- In the hardware category you get 1 thread for every specific type of hardware
- Some kind of template in the OP as a guideline of what is worth/useful to share
- Some kind of moderation to keep these topics clean and to the point
This might be a example for 1 product, just out of the top of my head.
Topic/thread title: User experiences: Sonoff SNZB-03 (motion sensor)
Opening post:
Brand: Sonoff
Model: SNZB-03
Link to exact product: SNZB-03 - SONOFF Official
Each experience:
In use since: 1 Oct 2021
Number of this item in use: 4
Positive: Small, cheap
Negative: Reliability
My rating (1-5, 1 being bad, 5 being super): 1
Comment: These were the first motion sensors that I tried.
Some of them work more reliable then others, bending the contacts, adding some cardboard between battery and lid didn’t solve anything.
the problem with this is that its a hell to maintain,
it will be out of date quickly and never up to date.
Fo some platforms (like velbus) this is verry easy, but for other platforms like zigbee this is a pain to maintain.
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Hi Maikel, the only maintenance I see could be some moderation when it goes off topic.
We all know that topics can end up in the same issues over and over again, discussions, disagreements, new questions (hijacks), …
Apart from that, each user will write his/her experience and each topic becomes a source which can help you to choose.
In this case the ‘template’ in the OP should be a guideline to follow and respect.
I know. 
I meant, “let’s chat privately about the nuts and bolts of Velbus & HA, then we can come back here and offer useful collated information, rather than muddy the water with chatter”
FYI, Maikel and I have been working together on the Velbus side of things for years.
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OK, I’ve taken the plunge and started a thread in Community Guides (so that the template can be edited). Presumably it would be moved to Hardware eventually?
One problem that comes up immediately: there doesn’t seem to be a hardware tag. I’ve put it under zigbee, which is wrong.
@Nick4 Is this what you had in mind?
Edit: Have now created a hardware tag. Apparently you have to create the post with one of the existing tags, then edit to create a new tag and delete the original one. Odd. I’ve also created a user-experience tag.
Yes @Stiltjack
Two threads about how to do this can become confusing (since @orange-assistant had reacted with a device different from the first one, of course adding your experience can give new ideas)
In the end, I think, it can be interesting if a topic title reveals for which device you can find the user experiences.
So each thread goes about that 1 specific device.
My idea was to discuss on what information would be necessary in the template and how to put all this into place.
I wanted to ask for ideas/opinions because I might see it wrong/to limited.
Ah. Have I misunderstood? I was thinking one thread for each generic type of device (IR blaster in this case) and a post for each user experience. Some people might have different experiences of the same device, some might have different devices. Then a user looking for IR blaster recommendations could go to a single place and scroll down.
Still, this is what trial posts are for! 
It’s in community guides - so you can edit the template!
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I also have edited my post with the example by adding the function of the device.
Like that, if someone does a search, or browses the forum, he/she will find the user experiences for that specific device in the title.
Of course, you get more threads since in you and orange-assistant have 2 different devices.
I don’t see a problem with that, my idea was to start from specific devices instead of topics about device types.
If we are starting to do this, why not go for more detailed/specific devices?
As you are already not using the wiki format of the community guides (only the first post is editable by everyone) I have moved it to the Hardware category.
As stated previously this is not a good solution. People will post there asking questions and not use your accepted format.
Reviews for devices are not correlated by device making searching vestry hit and miss.
Try searching the massive Australian Certified Hardware topic.
If the moderation requirements become excessive it will be closed and you will be directed to use a more appropriate solution like a wiki.
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Think of it from a user point of view. A recent convert to HA wants an IR blaster but has no idea what’s available. If there’s a thread for each device, she/he has to do quite a lot of searching.
OK, thanks. I was hoping we would have a little longer to get the template post in the OP right!
As I have said, a forum is not an appropriate place for this.
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Arrrrrgh! 
The first post doesn’t have to be editable by everyone, it should contain a template for that device.
After that, the thread ideally would contain user experiences based on that template.
That’s why I wrote that these topics should be moderated in some way.
I agree that there are some drawbacks as well by using the forum but most users of HA search, read or write in the forum and therefor I think the forum is best place to do something like this.
To be able to add your experience with a device, one just copies the template in a new post and writes his/her personal view about this device.
Of course like any thread, unless sticky, these topics are not at the top of it’s category very soon.
In my example with the motion sensor, anyone who searches (in the forum or a search engine) for sonoff snzb-03 motion sensor will find that amongst the search results.
I’m looking at the advantage of such a system as opposed multiple topics about the same device and the off topic answers there.
Is it best solution? Maybe not but such a system can be valuable.
Yeah, you can’t do that and I’m not doing it for you.
Make a wiki.
- You can moderate it yourself.
- You can make an input template.
- You can organise search reports.
- You can correlate multiple device reviews based on model.
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It’s a different angle…
Let’s take my example with topic title: User experiences: Sonoff SNZB-03 (motion sensor)
That is very clear what the thread is about if you search for instance for Sonoff SNZB-03 or motion sensor.
After some time, it will become clear that there are user experiences for specific devices in the forum.
You know that if you start a topic about a Zigbee device, there will be someone else chiming about a WiFi version, it can turn to esphome or whatever integration and it becomes static/noise.
Come on Tom, your such a great guy! 
Do you mean a community guide?
That’s perhaps the biggest problem… (I mean, if it’s done the way I thought of doing it)
Creating the right template for that device can be discussed in another topic so that’s not a biggy.
Is that necessary/important?
No I mean this: