Merging sections

HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
edited August 2011 in Help and Suggestions
POST REASONS WHY WE SHOULDN'T

YES = merge NO = Don't merge
Right now totse has 53 sections that can be posted in, and that's great! Everybody loves variety, but people also want to have their voice heard, and right now that isn't happening due to the user to section ratio. By simply merging a couple of the inactive sections with some of the more active sections, we could increase the learning curve, and encourage more people to join based on the apparent amount of activity on the site.

The first step is for us to come to the agreement that we do currently have too many sections. After that we can openly discuss what sections should be merged.

Comments

  • da teachada teacha Regular
    edited September 2010
    http://totse.info/bbs/showthread.php?t=1420
    Pre 2006 layout ftw.

    It's just stupid having half dead forums laying around.

    - It increases time to scroll down the page
    - Takes traffic away from what could be successful forums
    - Takes too long to check too many forums
    - Increases mod:user ratio
    - Less people check small forums = less replies to threads = less content
    - Dead forums gives impression of dead site
    - Less stuff to talk about in SG

    Set the style: merge into Reinvent Yourself/Art & Design
    Money money money: merge into Reinvent Yourself/Bad Ideas
    Headshrinkers: merge into SG/S&A/Reinvent Yourself/Humanities
    Anime: merge into Moving Pictures
    All nature forums: merge into Green Planet (categorise under Science)
    Science of the Damned: merge into Mad Scientists, or vice versa
    Cunning Linguists: merge into Humanities/SG/Trav Travails
    NOTY: merge into SG/IFIOTW
    OSNWFS: merge into SG/Reinvent Yourself
    I am the law: merge into SG/S&A/Humanities
    Together we serve: merge into W&C
    Nix/Mac/MS: merge into T&T

    So DFG, look at the following comments to my post here and tell me people didn't want these changes.
  • da teachada teacha Regular
    edited September 2010
    "Totse back in the day had a fraction of the forums we currently have; it worked perfectly fine.

    There is a huge amount of bloat at the moment, which isn't sustainable for a community our size.

    It isn't exactly 'one huge pile', the forum mergers I suggested all result in forums with direction and a general topic.

    And it's forced and stupid to just mention 'contribute!!!'. With the size of our community, well end up with a bunch of people making bullshit 'what is your favourite X' threads in an attempt to boost the amount of threads. The answers will be posters going through the notions, and no real content will be generated which we haven't seen before.

    Rome wasn't built in a day, and it's absolutely stupid to think we can instantly become Totse and support the same number of forums in an instant. We need to return to a sustainable level and build from there."
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited September 2010
    da teacha wrote: »
    "Totse back in the day had a fraction of the forums we currently have; it worked perfectly fine.

    There is a huge amount of bloat at the moment, which isn't sustainable for a community our size.

    It isn't exactly 'one huge pile', the forum mergers I suggested all result in forums with direction and a general topic.

    And it's forced and stupid to just mention 'contribute!!!'. With the size of our community, well end up with a bunch of people making bullshit 'what is your favourite X' threads in an attempt to boost the amount of threads. The answers will be posters going through the notions, and no real content will be generated which we haven't seen before.

    Rome wasn't built in a day, and it's absolutely stupid to think we can instantly become Totse and support the same number of forums in an instant. We need to return to a sustainable level and build from there."

    Thank you.

    We don't need to get rid of these sections for good, but merging them until they are needed again would be a good idea to increase the apparent traffic.
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited September 2010
    spazz wrote: »
    @halladamnleet: SO? unfortunately there ain't many people with the brainpower to comprehend that RFA/chemistry/MS/PLRC shit, so it takes some time to sift through the BSers to find the gems


    EDIT: I dont care its yalls forum. do what you want. im going to work.

    peace,

    Exactly, so why not merge a few sections so there is more intelligent conversation going on in one place?
  • da teachada teacha Regular
    edited September 2010
    spazz wrote: »
    @halladamnleet: SO? unfortunately there ain't many people with the brainpower to comprehend that RFA/chemistry/MS/PLRC shit, so it takes some time to sift through the BSers to find the gems

    Will the few users we have which are knowledgable in such areas leave if we merged there forums with similar subjects?

    For example, would the radio guys stop posting in an all encompassing technology forum?

    Would the chemists stop posting in an all encompassing science forum?

    Or would they be more attracted by the having more posts to read regarding similar subjects, and likewise would they welcome those who may not initially have ventured into their own forum popping in to ask a few questions?

    I personally remember the best threads in SG being those which now have their own dedicated forums. When people made threads on health issues, about the law, travelling, etc. Now they have their own forums, it's killed a certain part of SG. There's very little to post there bar idiocy.
  • IndicaIndica Semo-Regulars
    edited September 2010
    Yes = merge, right? :confused:
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited September 2010
    da teacha wrote: »
    Will the few users we have which are knowledgable in such areas leave if we merged there forums with similar subjects?

    For example, would the radio guys stop posting in an all encompassing technology forum?

    Would the chemists stop posting in an all encompassing science forum?

    Or would they be more attracted by the having more posts to read regarding similar subjects, and likewise would they welcome those who may not initially have ventured into their own forum popping in to ask a few questions?

    I personally remember the best threads in SG being those which now have their own dedicated forums. When people made threads on health issues, about the law, travelling, etc. Now they have their own forums, it's killed a certain part of SG. There's very little to post there bar idiocy.

    You make some pretty good arguments, really. It's good to have someone who remembers how things used to be a LONG time ago.
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited September 2010
    Indica wrote: »
    Yes = merge, right? :confused:

    Yes = merge, correct.


    Maybe I should have made the options more apparent....

    ALSO, can people voting not to merge please post a reason why?
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited September 2010
    I say no to this. I like the speciality forums and as we get more members there traffic will grow. Merging them to make it look more active is just a superficial solution that does no good in the long run. Our goal shouldn't be tweaking things to look like were more active but to actually get more members which were doing. I say keep the forums the way they are.
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited September 2010
    Yes.

    IMO the whole merging thing would probably make things more appealing but we would have threads that don't fit with the right forum and the few people who are, let's say, mac experts wouldn't enjoy the site as much as if we had cult of the mac available to post in. If we really want to increase traffic then just move the most popular sections to the top of the BBS.

    That's why we merge sections with like sections :confused:

    We're not talking about merging S&A with Backyard Ballistics or anything you know...
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited September 2010
    I say no to this. I like the speciality forums and as we get more members there traffic will grow. Merging them to make it look more active is just a superficial solution that does no good in the long run. Our goal shouldn't be tweaking things to look like were more active but to actually get more members which were doing. I say keep the forums the way they are.

    But that's like someone renting out a stadium for 5 friends to party in in hopes that more people will show up. It just doesn't make sense. We don't have the activity to support some of these specialty forums, and merging them for a while COULD bring us the activity needed.
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited September 2010
    Set the style: merge into Reinvent Yourself/Art & Design
    Money money money: merge into Reinvent Yourself/Bad Ideas
    Headshrinkers: merge into SG/S&A/Reinvent Yourself/Humanities
    Anime: merge into Moving Pictures
    All nature forums: merge into Green Planet (categorise under Science)
    Science of the Damned: merge into Mad Scientists, or vice versa
    Cunning Linguists: merge into Humanities/SG/Trav Travails
    NOTY: merge into SG/IFIOTW
    OSNWFS: merge into SG/Reinvent Yourself
    I am the law: merge into SG/S&A/Humanities
    Together we serve: merge into W&C
    Nix/Mac/MS: merge into T&T

    I'd be ok with merging a lot of these. I am the law, together we serve, all the tech forums into T&T, money money money, head shrinkers, and anime.

    I think maybe we could merge things for a while until the forums get more traffic. I really don't care, though. I do see the point that there's no reason to have a specific Anime forum when we hardly have anyone posting there and people could just post that content in Moving Pictures.

    It's a tough call. I'm going to think about it some more. I voted no, but I'd be willing to change my mind for some mergers.
  • SkittlesSkittles Regular
    edited September 2010
    I say yes, but only if it is temporary. When we have enough members we could then expand them back out. It will be tough filtering the threads back out, but if it makes us more tightly knit and gets more people posting I say why not.
  • HelladamnleetHelladamnleet Banned
    edited September 2010
    fanglekai wrote: »
    Set the style: merge into Reinvent Yourself/Art & Design
    Money money money: merge into Reinvent Yourself/Bad Ideas
    Headshrinkers: merge into SG/S&A/Reinvent Yourself/Humanities
    Anime: merge into Moving Pictures
    All nature forums: merge into Green Planet (categorise under Science)
    Science of the Damned: merge into Mad Scientists, or vice versa
    Cunning Linguists: merge into Humanities/SG/Trav Travails
    NOTY: merge into SG/IFIOTW
    OSNWFS: merge into SG/Reinvent Yourself
    I am the law: merge into SG/S&A/Humanities
    Together we serve: merge into W&C
    Nix/Mac/MS: merge into T&T

    I'd be ok with merging a lot of these. I am the law, together we serve, all the tech forums into T&T, money money money, head shrinkers, and anime.

    I think maybe we could merge things for a while until the forums get more traffic. I really don't care, though. I do see the point that there's no reason to have a specific Anime forum when we hardly have anyone posting there and people could just post that content in Moving Pictures.

    It's a tough call. I'm going to think about it some more. I voted no, but I'd be willing to change my mind for some mergers.

    Thank you for your consideration.

    I would at least like to see it tried.
  • SkittlesSkittles Regular
    edited September 2010
    Even locking and hiding certain forums might work? That means that later on we can easily open them back up when the time calls for it.
    • Vogon Poetry
    • Money Money Money...
    • Anime
    • Green Planet
    • Clean Tech
    • Mad Scientists
    • Everything *NIX
    • Cult of Mac
    • It came from Redmond
    • etc...
  • SkittlesSkittles Regular
    edited September 2010
    Yea I wasn't too sure on that one. There are a lot of HB styled poems that you can't really distinguish between poetic and idiotic.
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited September 2010
    Vogon is good, though. Locking and hiding the forums might be a good idea.
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited September 2010
    fanglekai wrote: »
    Vogon is good, though. Locking and hiding the forums might be a good idea.

    But isn't that just a superficial solution? To me it doesn't seem like it would accomplish much. Let's get more users instead of making it look that way.
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited September 2010
    The problem is that some of the subforums never made much sense. Why do we need anime when people can put it in moving pictures? Why do we need "we serve together" when they could put all that in weapons & combat. Totse added a bunch of sections at one point. I can't remember when, but there were fewer sections that then branched into more. Of course we had such a huge userbase that it didn't matter.

    Anyway, it's something to consider at least. I'm not totally sold on the idea yet.
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited September 2010
    I don't know maybe but I don't see it bringing more user's really. I can agree to a few like I think merging some of the tech forums might be ok and a few others but It still seems like a very temporary solution. I say we stick with adding more content to all sections and reddit and other sites as the main goal. Wont it bring more users to see that we have a section for most all topics? Look at our stats were growing steadily I dont think we need to merge sections as of now.
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited September 2010
    Yeah, fuck merging. Let's just add more content. I considered the idea, but there's not much point.
  • AlbinoEthiopianAlbinoEthiopian Regular
    edited September 2010
    I agree that we just need more content but i like how the forums are already. I like how there are a lot of specific areas. Hopefully with traffic increase it will fix this debate, but for the moment i do not agree with merging anything.
  • da teachada teacha Regular
    edited September 2010
    Ages ago on Totse there weren't anywhere near as many forums. The site still worked and attracted users from a variety of areas.

    New users are by and large going to be attracted by interesting threads which they are linked to, not the forums themselves. And besides, people will still be able to deduce that a technology forum is a place to speak about macs.
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited January 2011
    Leave it be...
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited January 2011
    Post dig
  • GrinchGrinch Regular
    edited July 2011
    I request that the "Art" section be returned to its original fashion.

    I feel that the bold "Design", "Studio", or "Literature" prefaces of the merged unsuccessfully attempt to organize what was previously achieved by the separate subforums.

    While I can reason as to why they sections were merged, was it necessary? The singular fashion comes off as rather cluttered.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited July 2011
    Grinch wrote: »
    I request that the "Art" section be returned to its original fashion.

    I feel that the bold "Design", "Studio", or "Literature" prefaces of the merged unsuccessfully attempt to organize what was previously achieved by the separate subforums.

    While I can reason as to why they sections were merged, was it necessary? The singular fashion comes off as rather cluttered.

    The clutter would get removed eventually. I would fade out the prefixes eventually. Right now you will just have to hold on and wait for things to settle down.

    Plus, the Art section is now more diverse.
  • thewandererthewanderer Regular
    edited July 2011
    There are definitely too many stickies in that forum at the moment.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited July 2011
    Fixed the sticky issue. Like I said I am in the middle of fixing things, once new mods are working on those sections everything will be streamlined.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited July 2011
    Fixed the cluttered issue as well, it was just a simple CSS edit :). Now it blends in nicely.
  • GrinchGrinch Regular
    edited July 2011
    Dfg wrote: »
    Fixed the cluttered issue as well, it was just a simple CSS edit :). Now it blends in nicely.

    Sorry Dfg, while it does look slightly more bearable, I can't get behind you on the prefix approach.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited July 2011
    Grinch wrote: »
    Sorry Dfg, while it does look slightly more bearable, I can't get behind you on the prefix approach.

    Like I said, it will get removed once everything is in order. I expect the forum mods to make guidelines etc. I am currently in the middle of a major overhaul, once it's done we will keep these sections and remove other prefixes. Once we're big enough 12+ months we will expand and just generate new content instead of moving threads from other sections.
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited July 2011
    Dfg wrote: »
    once new mods are working on those sections

    More mods?
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited July 2011
    dr rocker wrote: »
    More mods?

    I reshuffled the mods to different sections. So, technically they're new to that section, hence new mods.
  • GoingNowhereGoingNowhere Global Moderator
    edited July 2011
    Hmm, I don't like the idea of merging if I'm honest. If a section of the forum isn't getting threads, it just means that people are genuinely not interested in that subeject, but they should still have the option of posting in it or making a thread in that section. Plus, combining a section would make it too generic. Just my thoughts.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited July 2011
    Hmm, I don't like the idea of merging if I'm honest. If a section of the forum isn't getting threads, it just means that people are genuinely not interested in that subeject, but they should still have the option of posting in it or making a thread in that section. Plus, combining a section would make it too generic. Just my thoughts.

    I had the same thought when this thread was created but after testing. I thought why not :)
  • MeloncholyMeloncholy Regular
    edited July 2011
    Merging forums with related content is a great idea and I fully support it. We don't get enough traffic to warrant the seperate Mac, Windows & Linux forums for example, so rolling them up into one makes sense.

    But merging unrelated content doesn't make sense (at least, not to me anyway). A thread about literature sitting next to a thread about flip-flops? Really? That smacks of a forum without direction and that doesn't inspire me to post in that section. And if it doesn't inspire me, who is already part of the community, then it's not going to inspire potential new recruits.

    I used to post a lot on the original PLRC, and what I think made the forum great was that short OPs with little attempt at discussion were discouraged. If you were going to post something you had to put some thought into it. It sent the message to new posters that if you posted something well thought out then people would actually take the time to post a well thought out response. Quality begets quality. I don't think merging it with the news forum helps at all to this end. There are other websites that do similar things to us and we aren't going to suddenly appear more active than them over night by just merging a few forums. In the long term, I think merging the wrong forums is a bad idea.
  • GrinchGrinch Regular
    edited August 2011
    Grinch wrote: »
    I request that the "Art" section be returned to its original fashion.

    I feel that the bold "Design", "Studio", or "Literature" prefaces of the merged unsuccessfully attempt to organize what was previously achieved by the separate subforums.

    While I can reason as to why they sections were merged, was it necessary? The singular fashion comes off as rather cluttered.

    Resubmitting my previous request.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited August 2011
    Meloncholy wrote: »
    Merging forums with related content is a great idea and I fully support it. We don't get enough traffic to warrant the seperate Mac, Windows & Linux forums for example, so rolling them up into one makes sense.

    But merging unrelated content doesn't make sense (at least, not to me anyway). A thread about literature sitting next to a thread about flip-flops? Really? That smacks of a forum without direction and that doesn't inspire me to post in that section. And if it doesn't inspire me, who is already part of the community, then it's not going to inspire potential new recruits.

    I used to post a lot on the original PLRC, and what I think made the forum great was that short OPs with little attempt at discussion were discouraged. If you were going to post something you had to put some thought into it. It sent the message to new posters that if you posted something well thought out then people would actually take the time to post a well thought out response. Quality begets quality. I don't think merging it with the news forum helps at all to this end. There are other websites that do similar things to us and we aren't going to suddenly appear more active than them over night by just merging a few forums. In the long term, I think merging the wrong forums is a bad idea.


    You can point out the bad merges as we can move them back.
    Grinch wrote: »
    Resubmitting my previous request.

    Okay, you made your point.
  • edited August 2011
    Yah, I really like Grinches idea of putting it back to how it was. I also support the merging of certain places though, I think it's made things a lot better in some places.
  • DfgDfg Admin
    edited August 2011
    I reverted the Art section but kept Studio and Art as one.
  • EchidnaEchidna Regular
    edited August 2011
    I make all my posts in sg anyway. Back in the day I was exclusive to tech and movie forums and frequent to gpp. Lurked hb and posted occasionally in sg.
  • white88enochianwhite88enochian Regular
    edited August 2011
    this is good
  • GrinchGrinch Regular
    edited August 2011
    Dfg wrote: »
    I reverted the Art section but kept Studio and Art as one.

    Much appreciated Dfg, I hardly visited the Art sections when they were merged, it was far too much to take in at once, especially with the god-awful pink prefix.

    I am not overly opposed to the merging of sections, although in this particular case, I feel that the separation is more visually appealing and organized.
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