Consolidate forums?
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 10:26 pm
This seems like such an obvious idea that it must have suggested and rejected long ago, and the recent birth of the Health forum is evidence that the trend is in the opposite direction. But all the time I spend starring at the Index page tells me it's worth reconsidering!
This forum has 3,843 members of whom 2,041 have 0 posts, about 3,000 have fewer than 10, and only around 350 have 50 or more. Most of the movement here is a group of ten or twenty people, but their posts are scattered across 16 different fora, some of which go dormant for days or weeks at a time. E.g., the Friends and Family forum (which is really the MBTI discussion forum) has only 93 topics in its history. This wouldn't be so bad if it were an accurate category, but it contains the Post Your MBTI type thread, INTJs in fiction thread, and How to Host a Frugal Wedding Thread--all valuable information, but not necessarily the first place you would look for any of these topics.
The current division seems overdetermined for such a small and culturally homogeneous group. Transportation, housing, health/fitness, work and education, your friends and family, and DIY skills all seem to me part of the ERE "lifestyle." Your relationship to money obviously is as well, but the vagaries of tax law, investment strategy and execution, and predicting global economic crises sort of justifies a firewall there. So too with ERE journals, introductions, and political discussion--all of these are either personal one-offs without much topic-churn or liable to be inflammatory enough to mar the spirit of reasoned discourse that prevails here. Everything else, though, seems likely to thrive in one big pot.
Lastly, wouldn't fewer forums contribute to the stated goals of a. taxing the software as little as possible, and b. optimizing mobile viewing?
And my apologies in advance if this idea has been debated and roundly rejected already.
This forum has 3,843 members of whom 2,041 have 0 posts, about 3,000 have fewer than 10, and only around 350 have 50 or more. Most of the movement here is a group of ten or twenty people, but their posts are scattered across 16 different fora, some of which go dormant for days or weeks at a time. E.g., the Friends and Family forum (which is really the MBTI discussion forum) has only 93 topics in its history. This wouldn't be so bad if it were an accurate category, but it contains the Post Your MBTI type thread, INTJs in fiction thread, and How to Host a Frugal Wedding Thread--all valuable information, but not necessarily the first place you would look for any of these topics.
The current division seems overdetermined for such a small and culturally homogeneous group. Transportation, housing, health/fitness, work and education, your friends and family, and DIY skills all seem to me part of the ERE "lifestyle." Your relationship to money obviously is as well, but the vagaries of tax law, investment strategy and execution, and predicting global economic crises sort of justifies a firewall there. So too with ERE journals, introductions, and political discussion--all of these are either personal one-offs without much topic-churn or liable to be inflammatory enough to mar the spirit of reasoned discourse that prevails here. Everything else, though, seems likely to thrive in one big pot.
Lastly, wouldn't fewer forums contribute to the stated goals of a. taxing the software as little as possible, and b. optimizing mobile viewing?
And my apologies in advance if this idea has been debated and roundly rejected already.