ADMIN: Structural Reorganization of Forums

[SunflowerP]

Hi, Everyone,

TC has a great many forums/subforums. At one time, we had enough site traffic, not just reading/lurking but posting, that this was desirable, and even necessary to keep any given area from becoming overwhelming.

Like most 'old-fashioned' means of online connection and communication in these days of increasing reliance on social media, TC is less busy than it once was, and the large number of distinct forums merely serves to make the board look quieter than it is, and confuse newer members trying to figure out where to post a thread.

So TC staff have been - starting while Randall was still host, and continuing under my leadership - discussing how best to reduce the number of forums. This is still an ongoing project; we're nowhere near finished making all the many decisions, large and small, involved in this. We have, though, reached a point at which we can begin implementing some of the changes.

Implementation will occur a bit at a time, as we're ready to do some particular piece of if; I'm hoping to be able to complete the project before the end of 2020 (well before, if all goes smoothly, but I don't expect it to be done in less than 6 months even in the best case scenario). You should see the first ones before the end of this month (or might not see them, if you're not looking closely).

So, as the cliche goes: please forgive the sawdust, this is a Work in Progress.

Sunflower
Host, The Cauldron

[Hariti]

Hi, Everyone,

TC has a great many forums/subforums. At one time, we had enough site traffic, not just reading/lurking but posting, that this was desirable, and even necessary to keep any given area from becoming overwhelming.

Like most 'old-fashioned' means of online connection and communication in these days of increasing reliance on social media, TC is less busy than it once was, and the large number of distinct forums merely serves to make the board look quieter than it is, and confuse newer members trying to figure out where to post a thread.

So TC staff have been - starting while Randall was still host, and continuing under my leadership - discussing how best to reduce the number of forums. This is still an ongoing project; we're nowhere near finished making all the many decisions, large and small, involved in this. We have, though, reached a point at which we can begin implementing some of the changes.

Implementation will occur a bit at a time, as we're ready to do some particular piece of if; I'm hoping to be able to complete the project before the end of 2020 (well before, if all goes smoothly, but I don't expect it to be done in less than 6 months even in the best case scenario). You should see the first ones before the end of this month (or might not see them, if you're not looking closely).

So, as the cliche goes: please forgive the sawdust, this is a Work in Progress.

Sunflower
Host, The Cauldron

Good luck! I support this initiative!

[Yei]

Hi, Everyone,

TC has a great many forums/subforums. At one time, we had enough site traffic, not just reading/lurking but posting, that this was desirable, and even necessary to keep any given area from becoming overwhelming.

Like most 'old-fashioned' means of online connection and communication in these days of increasing reliance on social media, TC is less busy than it once was, and the large number of distinct forums merely serves to make the board look quieter than it is, and confuse newer members trying to figure out where to post a thread.

So TC staff have been - starting while Randall was still host, and continuing under my leadership - discussing how best to reduce the number of forums. This is still an ongoing project; we're nowhere near finished making all the many decisions, large and small, involved in this. We have, though, reached a point at which we can begin implementing some of the changes.

Implementation will occur a bit at a time, as we're ready to do some particular piece of if; I'm hoping to be able to complete the project before the end of 2020 (well before, if all goes smoothly, but I don't expect it to be done in less than 6 months even in the best case scenario). You should see the first ones before the end of this month (or might not see them, if you're not looking closely).

So, as the cliche goes: please forgive the sawdust, this is a Work in Progress.

Sunflower
Host, The Cauldron

I just noticed that the Into the Twilight Zone section just got brand new coloured identification tags. They look pretty good. I'll assume that this is the plan for condensing other sections? If so, then I'm in favour. I think that the colours really stand out from each other, and make it clear what each thread is about.

[SunflowerP]

I just noticed that the Into the Twilight Zone section just got brand new coloured identification tags. They look pretty good. I'll assume that this is the plan for condensing other sections? If so, then I'm in favour. I think that the colours really stand out from each other, and make it clear what each thread is about.

You might also have noticed that the colored tags - prefixes, which we have in a few other forums, but not (yet) in different colors to make different subjects distinct - are  in place of the forum being divided into separate child boards.

That is indeed the plan! Twilight Zone was simple; it only has a few subcategories, so choosing colors that stand out from each other (but are not eye-searing, either on their own or in contrast to the others) was easy. Some of the other forums will be trickier, and we'll have to make use of colors much closer to each other to cover all the subcategories required - I'm figuring that assigning similar colors to prefix tags whose text is dissimilar, as much as possible, is the way to go with that.

I'm glad you like them, and happy to hear that they're doing exactly what we wanted them to do.

Sunflower

[SunflowerP]

So, as the cliche goes: please forgive the sawdust, this is a Work in Progress.

To all of you:

I've received a PM with a suggestion about the merging, with a request for permission to post the suggestion in this thread; I'm going to say 'yes', and invite anyone who has ideas about it to also post them.

Please keep in mind that your suggestions will not necessarily be what's implemented. Staff have already been working on this for several months - ever since the software we were considering switching to failed in 'open beta' and we resumed running on SMF - so there's a fairly high chance that we've already thought of any given suggestion, and discussed its pros and cons in detail. Some of the suggestions posted here will be ones we've already decided against - not necessarily because they're bad ideas, but because we thought of something even better.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't post them; while staff are 'the experts' when it comes to how the board works and how people use it, someone with a perspective outside of that could still come up with something we haven't thought of and that'll be better still.

Nor does it mean you shouldn't discuss each other's suggestions; discussion can improve those suggestions. BUT, this is not The Discussion On How To Do It. Just because someone suggested something you don't like doesn't mean you need to argue against it so that it doesn't happen, nor will arguing in favor of one you like ensure that it does happen.

As well, don't expect a lot of staff interaction with the suggestions. Individual staff members might feel that some particular suggestion calls for a response of some kind, but we're not going to be clogging the thread with acknowledgements of each suggestion, nor doing in-depth explanations of why we think something won't work. (What we will do, though, is keep track of the suggestions that we eventually use - even if they're something we'd already thought of and decided to do - or that made a difference in our decisions; there will be a 'thank you to these people for their contributions' post to acknowledge them.)

THIS IS ONLY FOR SUGGESTIONS ON STRUCTURAL REORGANIZATION. Any and all other suggestions should be made in Board Questions, Suggestions, and Feedback as usual.

Sunflower

[Yei]

To all of you:

I've received a PM with a suggestion about the merging, with a request for permission to post the suggestion in this thread; I'm going to say 'yes', and invite anyone who has ideas about it to also post them.

Please keep in mind that your suggestions will not necessarily be what's implemented. Staff have already been working on this for several months - ever since the software we were considering switching to failed in 'open beta' and we resumed running on SMF - so there's a fairly high chance that we've already thought of any given suggestion, and discussed its pros and cons in detail. Some of the suggestions posted here will be ones we've already decided against - not necessarily because they're bad ideas, but because we thought of something even better.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't post them; while staff are 'the experts' when it comes to how the board works and how people use it, someone with a perspective outside of that could still come up with something we haven't thought of and that'll be better still.

Nor does it mean you shouldn't discuss each other's suggestions; discussion can improve those suggestions. BUT, this is not The Discussion On How To Do It. Just because someone suggested something you don't like doesn't mean you need to argue against it so that it doesn't happen, nor will arguing in favor of one you like ensure that it does happen.

As well, don't expect a lot of staff interaction with the suggestions. Individual staff members might feel that some particular suggestion calls for a response of some kind, but we're not going to be clogging the thread with acknowledgements of each suggestion, nor doing in-depth explanations of why we think something won't work. (What we will do, though, is keep track of the suggestions that we eventually use - even if they're something we'd already thought of and decided to do - or that made a difference in our decisions; there will be a 'thank you to these people for their contributions' post to acknowledge them.)

THIS IS ONLY FOR SUGGESTIONS ON STRUCTURAL REORGANIZATION. Any and all other suggestions should be made in Board Questions, Suggestions, and Feedback as usual.

Sunflower

I do actually have one recommendation/request. When you merge the recon religions into a single forum, could you include a coloured tag for Mesoamerican Recon?

A completely selfless request off course.

[SunflowerP]

I do actually have one recommendation/request. When you merge the recon religions into a single forum, could you include a coloured tag for Mesoamerican Recon?

A completely selfless request off course.

  Already planning on it.

Sunflower