Forum descriptions: what should they do?

TheMix

Hey lovely people,

We haven't updated or looked at the forum descriptions in an incredibly long time, and we thought it might be time to blow the dust off them and give them a new feel. We want you all to help us do that.

The first thing we want to know is: what purpose should these descriptions serve?

Currently, some are more informative and let people know what the forum is for:

And some are a bit more fun/abstract, and function more as flavour text:

What do you prefer? There's a poll on this post - vote for what you think.

Once we've decided this, we can look at exactly what those descriptions should say.

Mike & the team

Former Member

Forum descriptions should be informative and tell you what the forum is for

Oh god... I don't really know Thing is, I like both. Making them informative feels useful and organised, but at the same time, making them fun is relaxing and humorous. So my opinion is feel free do either x

TheMix

kathleen0172 said:

Oh god... I don't really know Thing is, I like both. Making them informative feels useful and organised, but at the same time, making them fun is relaxing and humorous. So my opinion is feel free do either x

Thanks @kathleen0172, it's good to hear your thoughts. It definitely doesn't need to be just one or the other.

Feel free to vote for the 'we should try to do both' option.   

Mike & the team

Former Member

Forum descriptions should be informative and tell you what the forum is for

Thank you @The Mix

After giving it some serious thought, I finally decided to vote for "forum descriptions should be informative and tell you what the forum is for". I honestly like both ideas, though.

Another thing I had just thought of is that sometimes people will post in the wrong forum - and won't bother reading the information about it, or won't see it. So having informative descriptions may help people understand where to post.

I didn't really feel like voting for "we should try both", because it feels disorganised to me, haha. I was wondering if there could be a way that you could compromise, by making them informative but also trying to add a slightly fun or abstract edge? Don't ask me how you'd do that because I don't know, it was just a thought that came up

TheMix

kathleen0172 said:

I didn't really feel like voting for "we should try both", because it feels disorganised to me, haha. I was wondering if there could be a way that you could compromise, by making them informative but also trying to add a slightly fun or abstract edge? Don't ask me how you'd do that because I don't know, it was just a thought that came up

Yep, this is exactly what we mean by 'we should try and do both'. Adding a fun/light slant to something that's mainly there to be descriptive and let people know what the forum is for. Like you said, to avoid those moments where people post in the wrong areas. Really appreciate the insight @kathleen0172.

----

Thanks everyone!

So, it looks like we're leaning pretty heavily in favour of being descriptive and informative, with a bit of humour in there too. Look out for part 2 of this where we'll go into more detail and decide what each forum should say...

Mike & the team

Former Member

Forum descriptions should be informative and tell you what the forum is for

The Mix said:

kathleen0172 said:

I didn't really feel like voting for "we should try both", because it feels disorganised to me, haha. I was wondering if there could be a way that you could compromise, by making them informative but also trying to add a slightly fun or abstract edge? Don't ask me how you'd do that because I don't know, it was just a thought that came up

Yep, this is exactly what we mean by 'we should try and do both'. Adding a fun/light slant to something that's mainly there to be descriptive and let people know what the forum is for. Like you said, to avoid those moments where people post in the wrong areas. Really appreciate the insight @kathleen0172.

Ohh, sorry, I thought that meant the way it is now - with some informative ones and some fun ones Lol.

TheMix

kathleen0172 said:

The Mix said:

kathleen0172 said:

I didn't really feel like voting for "we should try both", because it feels disorganised to me, haha. I was wondering if there could be a way that you could compromise, by making them informative but also trying to add a slightly fun or abstract edge? Don't ask me how you'd do that because I don't know, it was just a thought that came up

Yep, this is exactly what we mean by 'we should try and do both'. Adding a fun/light slant to something that's mainly there to be descriptive and let people know what the forum is for. Like you said, to avoid those moments where people post in the wrong areas. Really appreciate the insight @kathleen0172.

Ohh, sorry, I thought that meant the way it is now - with some informative ones and some fun ones Lol.

In fairness, that wasn't very clear on our part! Glad you mentioned it @kathleen0172.    

Mike & the team