While we're on new forums

[gonorth]

quote:

There have been lots of discussions of late on new forums, and a lot of that has been in the vein of limiting new ones.

Yes, it is good to have discussion so as to hear of peoples reasoning and as is happening, the introduction of new forums and the maintaining of existing ones should be monitored and reviewed.
But let's not knock on the head new ideas because of perceptions that limiting new ones is the consensus.
There is something called resistance to change and it is all too easy to be comfortable with what is rather than take an opportunity to enjoy more.

[anniebanannie]

I am not knocking it...I am disagreeing with the need for the forums proposed. I think new forums are fine, as long as there aren't currently ones already serving the same purpose (which is why the staying put didn't work).

I am in no way resistant to change, but to me there is no sense in changing for change's sake. And I am also looking at it from a usability POV.

[jedimasterbooboo]

That's fine, but I think we need a news forum, at least. The obits would fit in there better, too. It's chit chatty but so is everything else on this board.

[gonorth]

Annie,

quote:

I think new forums are fine, as long as there aren't currently ones already serving the same purpose

Maybe you have heard the saying "nothing ever stays the same" or in my book there's a lot that doesn't.

I agree with not changing for change's sake but sometimes, even from a usability POV, there are improvements that can be made - the same purpose is served, but just a little better or more easily done - it's called progress.

Reason why you may have a 2000something model car if you have one as against a 1990 model or a horse and cart.

[Capt Steve]

I think having too many forums could just make it harder to find what you are looking for, since you never know who may post what where. One person's "Entertainment" is another's "Chit-Chat" - so I think you'd have to go searching in both anyway over time. We all define what is chit-chat, news-worthy, or fun-and-games differently.

I think using Favorites and Notifications to make your own custom tailored list of thread you track is a great idea. And use the "new since last visit" function to scan for new topics across all boards.

gonorth: I hear you that the Favorites may have a limit to how many threads you can list, and managing a Favorites list could get out of hand. But I find Notifications to work quite well though. I simply subscribe to threads of interest and whenever someone posts a reply, it comes to my inbox.

But how can one be notified when a new thread is posted, you ask? Here's how:

Simply subscribe to the entire "chit-chat" board (or any forum, for that matter). For example, from Chit-chat simply click "notify" at the top and choose the type of notification you want. This will alert you whenever a new topic is posted. Be careful checking the "include replies" check box, you'll then be flooded with all replies to all threads. Probably better just to go subscribe to threads of interest.

Hope this helps.

[gonorth]

Yep Captain,
My limited appreciation for the subscribing/notifications bit is much as you have described and totally agree it could be a good way to SPAM yourself.

I understand what everyone is saying about Chit Chat and I have no problem myself with discussion on a myriad of topics being both entertaining and even educational in many respects.

I did also consider that

quote:

. Where is this
. Various other geography games (there's been a few that have come up and with limit on saving threads they are gone)
. Non Sequitur
. Inane Comments (if we must!)
. Maybe even Photo and URL of the day
. A jokes thread

are all more very specifically in the fun and games category rather than topical discussions which I fully agree as far as the ones in Chit Chat go, that's where they belong.

My intent was for there to be a forum dedicated to travellers having some fun things all in one location to use for when they may have some spare and lonely time on the road, ain't in the mood for scrolling around her and there.

I still think it would be a great service.
Being of open mind though, on the brighter side of life it might just mean some gonorthian pops up in unexpected places!

[webbod]

How about a little slicing and dicing - split chit-chat into three:

chit-chat:Fun and Entertaining
chit-chat:so-so
chit-chat:Worthy but dull

Encourage people to rate threads.

Set up an auto-mod-shuffle-o-matic script to move threads between the three forae based on ranking, number of posts, number of views and who's posted.

Give it a couple of tweaks and you'd soon separate the fun games from the more mundane stuff, everything else could slosh about in the middle.

Tricky bit would be rating the booties - any volunteers ?

[gonorth]

I hear ya webbod even if no one else wants to.

It all comes down to looking at what is practical I suppose within the limits of resources to handle new stuff and I'd reckon slicing and dicing etc. could get even more time consuming than having another forum.

[Keppie]

The more forums there are, the less likely people are to go into every forum, so it seems people would just use some of them less. I know I certainly don't look at every forum on here, there are a few I regularly check. It's easier to scroll down and see the topics than to go back and check out each forum. Lazy, perhaps, but more convenient...