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Sub-forum overload?
**helen**
Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
in General Chat
Hey guys,
I've just been catching up with Mavis' useful thread on the pros and cons of the boards and was considering the point about sub-forums and the sense there may be too many these days...
We would be happy to consider merging some, but wouldn't want to do this without your more specific input (e.g. we wouldn't want to axe a sub-forum that a core of people feel really strongly about).
So, to help us start thinking about this, it would be great if you could let me know, the forums you feel strongly about keeping and why and the ones you wouldn't notice if we merged tomorrow?
Note, the forums that will definitely stay from TheSite's core mission point of view are relationships, drugs, politics & debate, anything goes, health & wellbeing, home, law & money and sex. Everything else is up for discussion...
I've just been catching up with Mavis' useful thread on the pros and cons of the boards and was considering the point about sub-forums and the sense there may be too many these days...
We would be happy to consider merging some, but wouldn't want to do this without your more specific input (e.g. we wouldn't want to axe a sub-forum that a core of people feel really strongly about).
So, to help us start thinking about this, it would be great if you could let me know, the forums you feel strongly about keeping and why and the ones you wouldn't notice if we merged tomorrow?
Note, the forums that will definitely stay from TheSite's core mission point of view are relationships, drugs, politics & debate, anything goes, health & wellbeing, home, law & money and sex. Everything else is up for discussion...
0
Comments
yeah agree, maybe volunteering and activism could go with work?
Wot I think: Having a lot of sub forums made sense when the boards were a lot busier. That was when people came to thesite for thesite, the community was the draw. But now that forums have become more focused, having stuff like Net & Tech doesn't make much sense.
There are devoted forums filled with people that have the niche knowledge to really help. Sticking with Net & Tech, you'll get a much better, more informed answer on a tech focused site. Ditto sport, you'll get a better discussion on a sport focused forum.
So I think you have to be ruthless. Refocus the boards into what thesite should be. You have the core topics already, nuke the rest. Make all Sex, Relationships etc 'On-Topic' and turn Anything Goes into a catch all 'Off-Topic'.
What needs to stay:
anything goes
work & study
relationships
health
politics & debate
drugs
Introductions can go into anything goes, as can waste time.
Style, food & drink, tech, shopping, travel, going out, sport and entertainment can all merge into a lifestyle forum.
Parenting can be merged in with relationships, maybe with a rebrand to indicate it's about family and friend relationships, not just boyfriend/girlfriend relationships.
Employment, volunteering and studying should be three separate sub-forums of 'work & study'.
that's just crazy talk :P
It's really not though. Look at how dead something like Entertainment is. You could easily just have the occasional book or tv thread in another more general forum. Some of the forums have threads from 2011 on the first page. If there was a big catch all off topic, more people would see, say, the book club thread and possibly get involved.
I honestly think that it could be reduced to:
Health
Sex & Relationships
Home , Money & Law
Drugs
Work
Off-Topic
Totally see where you're coming from in terms of a substantial overhaul, it does make sense and you give good reasons. We would probably make a few tweaks to the above and would welcome more thoughts - e.g. volunteer and student are still needed (they are on topic) but I can deffo see a case for merging sex and rellies and parenting.
Off-topic isn't a cool title though, because it's not 'off-topic' - self expression and personal interests are a really important part of what TheSite provides in terms of community - the book club, the creative threads (photos and doodling etc), the sharing film & music interests are all important and to slide them into 'off-topic' neglects the fact that without them, this place would lose character. So I'm not saying we can't merge all this stuff, but we need a more substantial name that recognises the value, if that makes sense?
A lot of forums I've been to favour 'The Lounge' as their off topic, general discussion board.
The Community Lounge? Party Shack 2000? The Infinite Forum of Non-Specificness
Joking aside, let's try and keep the most "serious" random discussion matters in P&D and the mainly silly/unimportant stuff elsewhere.
Don't worry P&D will most definitely stay as it is
TheSite Lounge? :chin:
Sounds like a nightclub in Ilford circa 1997, yes.
:razz:
:yes: True dat.
:yes:
I think we deffinately have to take things like this into account.
I personally think the boards are fine as they are but there are quite a few subjects lower down on the main page such as 'Net & Tech' that don't attract much attention, maybe they should be the ones addressed?
I'd merge intros into anything goes, possibly along with waste time. Net & tech seems to have had it's day with net and tech both being very mainstream now on one level and specialised beyond these boards on another.
I'd also have another go at squashing the relatively happy/hug threads, and encourage people to post their own.
I tend to read the "What's New" forum. The only regular use I would have for the fora is if I could filter what I see in What's New by the categories.
+1
So this is our suggested structure having taken onboard your input:
Introduce yourself
Free Time (Anything goes + other subforum topics)
Politics & Debate
Creative
Health & Wellbeing
Sex & Relationships
Drink & Drugs
Home, Law & Money
Work & Volunteering
Student
We Need You
TheSite - Problems & Suggestions
So, as you can see, we're almost entirely replicating the navigation of the main site
I won't start to make changes until tomorrow, so, if you have any real aversions to any of these decisions, this is your last chance to have your say. :thumb: