jcarr71
08-27-2010, 06:28 AM
I love this place. While I have read that there are more active aquarium forums on the web, I never bother to look for them. The people and advice here are great. I've never had an issue with any of the moderation of the forums either Everyone really does a great job and there is very little I dislike about this place. Great job, everyone. From the top down.
The one thing that I've never seen work that well is the abundance of subforums though. A thread being sent away from the general forum seems to basically be a death sentence. If it is active on the general forum than it seems to still keep minor, much lessened activity levels on the subsection that it is moved to, and other slower threads are instantly killed by the move.
The theory behind all the subforums is sound. An organization of conversation, topic, and thought definitely is a good idea. It just doesn't seem to work to me. People just don't actively browse most of the forums. Those who use the "New Posts" feature will see activity in the sub forums, but I suspect only really experienced posters use that if they do at all as it isn't a common forum feature.
It seems to me that the main effect of moving a thread inevitably ends up being a sharp decrease in responses if not a flat out death of the thread. We do not seem to me to have the userbase and activity level that the efficient use of the subforums would require. I mean, just browse the forum categories. On any given time the general forums may have 20-25 people viewing, if not more. The sub forums usually have 0-2 people viewing them. The odds of someone finding the responses they are looking for are significantly higher on the general board, but they are often forced to move to an inactive forum without the consistent userbase to actively help them.
Thanks for reading and I am curious to read responses. Obviously the system isn't broken as people routinely get great help here, but it just seems overly complex to me. Simpler is always better on website layouts.
Of course there is always the serious possibility that I am crazy and no one else thinks this way.
The one thing that I've never seen work that well is the abundance of subforums though. A thread being sent away from the general forum seems to basically be a death sentence. If it is active on the general forum than it seems to still keep minor, much lessened activity levels on the subsection that it is moved to, and other slower threads are instantly killed by the move.
The theory behind all the subforums is sound. An organization of conversation, topic, and thought definitely is a good idea. It just doesn't seem to work to me. People just don't actively browse most of the forums. Those who use the "New Posts" feature will see activity in the sub forums, but I suspect only really experienced posters use that if they do at all as it isn't a common forum feature.
It seems to me that the main effect of moving a thread inevitably ends up being a sharp decrease in responses if not a flat out death of the thread. We do not seem to me to have the userbase and activity level that the efficient use of the subforums would require. I mean, just browse the forum categories. On any given time the general forums may have 20-25 people viewing, if not more. The sub forums usually have 0-2 people viewing them. The odds of someone finding the responses they are looking for are significantly higher on the general board, but they are often forced to move to an inactive forum without the consistent userbase to actively help them.
Thanks for reading and I am curious to read responses. Obviously the system isn't broken as people routinely get great help here, but it just seems overly complex to me. Simpler is always better on website layouts.
Of course there is always the serious possibility that I am crazy and no one else thinks this way.