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Post by jamesinclair on Oct 21, 2011 18:16:01 GMT -8
Has any thought been given into merging many of the subforums? So many are dead and have been dead for months. It also makes it hard to realize when something has been posted in a forum no one visits.
Example:
The entire first half of the forums
Transit Coalition Contact Information & Websites
Sign up for Discussion Board
About this Discussion Board & The Rules
Transit Coalition Forum News & Alerts
Links and Other Resources
Forum Tech Support
Transit Coalition Forum Feedback and Suggestions
It seems like all this can be consolidated into one board. Indeed the first 4 have a combined total of 5 posts.
Why not something like:
"Transit Coalition Forum: Meta Discussion and Help"
The then next section.
TRAC Contact and TRAC feedback dont need their own (empty) forums.
Bay area has two forums, one with zero posts. Why not merge them into a Northern California transit forum?
Amtrak has three forums, California, National and Starlight. Again, why not just one Amtrak forum?
You can move down the list and keep doing that. It would make navigation much easier for everyone (less scrolling!), and may even promote more discussion, because instead of 5 dead forums, you get one thats used and people are comfortable posting in.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Oct 21, 2011 18:44:18 GMT -8
I have given it consideration and in fact that was my first post here. Unfortunately I'm not involved in making such decisions. The number of topics means that using the most recent posts feature is about the only way to read the posts. |
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Post by jamesinclair on Oct 24, 2011 18:38:04 GMT -8
All in favor of consolidation, do not reply to this topic for the next 24 hours.
I have a feeling this will be near unanimous.
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Post by mattapoisett on Oct 24, 2011 22:29:46 GMT -8
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Post by ieko on Oct 24, 2011 22:47:34 GMT -8
I think the point is, you shouldn't have to use that feature to browse the board if it were consolidated.
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Post by bluelineshawn on Oct 25, 2011 3:09:34 GMT -8
I think the point is, you shouldn't have to use that feature to browse the board if it were consolidated. Also once a topic is gone from the 99 most recent it can be very hard to find. The 99 most recent doesn't show the forum and even if it did it'd be hard to remember. |
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Post by bluelineshawn on Oct 25, 2011 3:10:53 GMT -8
All in favor of consolidation, do not reply to this topic for the next 24 hours. I have a feeling this will be near unanimous. Seconded. Oops!  |
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Post by JerardWright on Oct 25, 2011 10:52:10 GMT -8
All in favor of consolidation, do not reply to this topic for the next 24 hours. I have a feeling this will be near unanimous. No it won't, because consolidation wouldn't solve the problem if you can't remember where the post was located in the first place. Also the nature of some of these posts have at times switch from topic to topic all on the same thread making consolidation a rather fruitless exercise in activity. I think the point is, you shouldn't have to use that feature to browse the board if it were consolidated. When someone could be discussing something about Expo will lead to a brief but important conversation about Crenshaw Corridor or Regional Connector within that thread however that post was in the Expo thread file, so based on consolidation how will this help anyone find a particular comment on file when it's not directly on point to topic of that thread? I see this same issue within some of the paid discussion board sites, where they consolidated threads and made the forum more difficult to use. Maybe what you all meant was thread re-organization where topics such as TRAC can be moved down the page. |
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Post by jamesinclair on Oct 25, 2011 11:42:00 GMT -8
^ Youre talking about consolidating stuff Im not. Im not talking about merging active forums. I gave plenty of example in the OP, like making the three Amtrak forums into just one and merging all the "about this forum" forums into one discussion page.
Again, Im not talking about cutting out discussion from one thread and sending it to another, Im talking about having a ton of forums that arent using because theyre too hyper specific.
Again, why does "TRAC Contact" need an entire forum....when it could just as easily be a single thread in a meta forum?
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Post by bluelineshawn on Oct 25, 2011 12:55:39 GMT -8
Jerard, I'm not just talking about finding posts, I'm saying that entire threads are hard to find and that they would be easier to find if there were fewer forums. If you have ever posted anywhere else, this should be obvious. But as an example say that you want to find the "30 in 10" topic? Where do you go to find that? It could reasonably fit in a few different forums. On top of that, not all threads get started where I think make the most sense, but it's personal preference I guess.
Even when I think that I know where a topic might be, I have to scan the front page to find the forum. There are so many that it's cluttered and noisy. But hey, if this works for you I guess you're the admin and can keep it like this. We're offering well intentioned criticism, but you don't have to agree.
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Post by JerardWright on Oct 25, 2011 13:31:17 GMT -8
Jerard, I'm not just talking about finding posts, I'm saying that entire threads are hard to find and that they would be easier to find if there were fewer forums. If you have ever posted anywhere else, this should be obvious. But as an example say that you want to find the "30 in 10" topic? Where do you go to find that? It could reasonably fit in a few different forums. On top of that, not all threads get started where I think make the most sense, but it's personal preference I guess. I'm bolding this section because this is precisely what I replied to in the first post. So if I mis-understood what you and others have suggested thats understandable but so far what I'm reading gathering by what you wrote is trying to find posts and threads. I am trying to troubleshoot what the suggestions are. So far what I'm hearing is finding threads and posts and I'm suggesting that maybe a re-organization of the threads to where the more discussed items are closer to the front so you don't have to waste time scanning down with the mouse on screen to find them is a way to solve this problem. But complete consolidation in my experience doesn't help but does more to cause more confusion in the long run because the nature of the conversations within a thread jump from one topic to the next. You're right I don't have to agree, but what I was getting at if you scrolled down to the end of my post was a suggestion that might go to the heart of the problem and come up with a more practical solution. Because the more projects that get added to the forum the more this will grow and we'll be back to this problem again even with the consolidation that you're suggesting because we've added additional complexity to the mix. One of the core reasons why the posts of membership, rules and forum decorum is at the very top is for practical reasons where if we try to hide that or enbed it at the bottom of the link it would pose more legal issues. |
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Post by jamesinclair on Oct 25, 2011 14:03:13 GMT -8
Those rule things can still be at the top, but simply as thread within one "welcome to the forum" forum.
For example, you already have four forums under the heading
Forum Alerts, News, Feedback and Suggestions
Why not name the forum that, or as I suggested "Welcome Forum", and just have the grand total of 25 topics inside that one forum?
The current system is like having an entire forum for "expo construction" and then one for "expo testing" and then one for "expo phase 2". The current system of threads within one expo forum works well, so why not do the same elsewhere?
Look at how many forums we have for buses....and the silver line is discussed in 3 of them!
Just merge them into one "LA Bus System" forum. Perhaps the Orange line is the only one worthy of a separate forum in the bus world. That way, you can have one silver line thread within the bus forum, instead of three that sort of fit into various topics.
Noted, however this will take time to go through these files to see whats to consolidate and what's a better name for it because " LA Bus System sounds ok to you but goes back to the adding complexity where we don't need it.
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Post by Transit Coalition on Oct 25, 2011 14:16:25 GMT -8
Those rule things can still be at the top, but simply as thread within one "welcome to the forum" forum. For example, you already have four forums under the heading Forum Alerts, News, Feedback and Suggestions Why not name the forum that, or as I suggested "Welcome Forum", and just have the grand total of 25 topics inside that one forum? Noted. I want a sincere thank you from all of you who want these changes because an administrator Jerard Wright doesn't get paid to do this is all sweat equity. Noted, however this will take time to go through these files to see whats to consolidate and what's a better name for it because " LA Bus System sounds ok to you but goes back to the adding complexity where we don't need it. |
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Post by bluelineshawn on Oct 26, 2011 6:35:33 GMT -8
Thanks Jerard and Bart for considering these ideas to potentially improve the forum.  |
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Post by jamesinclair on Dec 2, 2011 1:45:22 GMT -8
I just wanted to note that the small changes implemented (subforums like this one) have been noted and IMO improve the main page of the forum.
I still feel that more work is needed and look forward to further changes.
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Post by fissure on Dec 3, 2011 11:42:24 GMT -8
I'm not sure the subforums are really that helpful. It makes the main page cleaner, but it also means an extra click before you get to the post you want to read. These boards get so little traffic that it would work fine even if every thread was in the same forum, as long as you're just keeping current instead of trying to read through the archives.
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