Suggestion: A reduced number of forums
 

Hey musicbanterers.

So the forums seem a little bloated nowadays considering the amount of activity, or lack thereof. I would suggest the amount of forums should be trimmed down.

Today, MB looks like this:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/O1...gBirg9rE=w2400

This excludes the section with archived threads.

Some facts:

• Total number of regularly user accessible forums: 34
• The biggest forum, by far, is The Lounge (I assume thread count includes the subforums). General music, Rock & Metal and Media are also popular.
• Most forums have a tiny amount of activity compared to these big ones

Might it be time to trim down the amount of forums and rather have a few forums with actual activity in them? I think it would make for an easier experience navigating this site and also make it seem less dead.

This may seem a little minimalist, but I propose the following:


Musicbanter forums

• Music section
  • Artists corner - For discussions on music production, equipment, songwriting, etc.
  • General music - For general discussions related to musical arts and artists
  • Releases forum - For threads relating to specific releases like album reviews, etc.

• Off-topic section
  • Media corner - Discussions on non-music media like books, movies & video games
  • Philosophy - For discussions on religion, morals, science, the nature of reality, etc.
  • The Lounge - For general discussions that would be off-topic in the above forums

• Community section
  • Introductions - New members can introduce themselves here
  • Member journals - Members can create their journals here

• Admins section
  • Announcements & feedback - Mods and admins announcements and members feedback
  • Archive - Threads that have been locked down

(this is an updated suggestion. The old suggestion is here)

Ignoring archive, these would be forums with a fair amount of activity and should cover our bases (I think).

These forums can be made by merging together the forums we already have.

So what do you think?

There are definitely subforums that are hardly ever used, however practically speaking is any of this possible? It seems to be difficult, not to say impossible, to get sub-forums added, so is it as hard to delete or move them? I had asked, once, recently, for a sub-forum in the journals section for my journals, so that I didn't overpower everyone else (if you only knew the power of the Dark Side!) and swamp the section, but nothing happened. So I wonder if this idea could fly at all?

I suppose it depends on who uses or intends to use the, shall we say, currently empty forums? I doubt you're going to drive any more users to the ones that are busy (in comparison) so really all you're doing, so far as I can see, is shuffling the blocks around, rearranging the furniture for the same amount of people. I guess it would make it look tidier, true. However my feeling is that there will be a general lack of interest in doing this and your thread will remain with some views but no replies, or very few. I guess we'll see.

For my part, I'd have to say it's not a priority. If there are unused rooms, lock them up, but someone might come and want to use them. If you knock them down nobody will. So in answer to your question I don't know.

Someone like Yac can do this easily using the merge function. Whether he/she will want to isn't my concern at this point in time. I'm more concerned with seeing what you guys think.

I also think human drive to specify and categorize and find the most specific place for everything leads us to dividing which is definitely the opposite of what this place needs.

As for your furniture analogy, it might be a little like swapping out a bunch of small chairs for some big, comfortable couches. It's easier to see where you're supposed to sit and you can do so in the company of others.

My opinion is it isn't really worth fretting over. I always look at the new posts anyway so it doesn't really matter much about the multiple forums and sub-forums. Anyway, it's obvious the admins are only going to do what they feel like doing anyway so I guess just go with the flow.

Hall monitor Tore making sure no one pees without a hall pass.

I wouldn't be bothered if we merged things and widened the tents, so to say. Likewise, if it remains as it is and how it's been forever, I'd be fine with that too.

If you don't want to post in a specific forum, just don't post in it. The amount of subforums rarely if ever deters me from going on with my forum experience. Seems pointless to worry about it.

I wouldn't call it obvious. I'm guessing that for years, there has been little attempt to try and engage with Advameg in any meaningful manner, so requests to Yac/admin are probably relatively rare. There is little for admin to do here these days, so why should they check in often? I'm not saying this is the explanation, but I find it slightly more feasible than the admins just do what they want (nothing). Whoever's behind Yac's account is a paid (I hope) employee with a job to do.

There was a time when Yac did help us rearrange the forums to their present state and so there's precedence. I see no reason it couldn't happen again.

Everything is fine? That's an interesting statement.

This seems like a weird strawman argument. You might be making stuff up, my man.

Just my personal opinion, but I think merging all music-related forums/sub-forums into a single big one (if this is what you are proposing), with no way to sort things apart except for what has recently received new posts, could quickly turn into a a cluster****. It would make me dread browsing music-related threads because the ones I was interested in and wanted to read were lumped in with a lot I don't care about.

However, if we had a forum like your "Music corner", essentially replacing the "General music" forum we have today and maybe a few others, and then sectioned off genre-specific discussion into its own forum, with a sub-forum for each category, I could actually see it helping to declutter the website and making the front page a little less bloated (and make it easier to access the Shoutbox and the Lounge for that matter) while still not making it difficult for users who were searching for genre-specific content.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts, and for the record, I wouldn't mind if the site stayed the way it is now either.

Not arguing. Just saying my personal side of it.