06-12-2019, 07:48 PM
A few weeks ago, I made some changes to the board layout, to condense a few sections that were either underused (in the case of the "Art and Design" and "Stories and Literary Work" sub-forums), or just duplicating what was already covered elsewhere (in the case of the "What If?" section). I think these changes have worked pretty well; however, they were only intended as the first step in a multi-step process. So, now, it's time for another round of simplifications.
As with Phase 1, I am not going to propose any major, groundbreaking changes here. As before, I'm very wary that any radical overhaul would introduce new and likely unforeseen problems - which would need to be solved by a second radical overhaul in a couple of months' time. So, once again, the basic form of the board layout is going to remain intact (just minus a few bits of bloat and clutter).
So, what am I proposing?
1. Break up the Recreation Station
In the discussion for Phase 1, I proposed creating an "Odds and Ends" category, which ultimately didn't happen. Pyrite gave the following reason for opposing it:
However, that's exactly what the Recreation Station is (seriously, the board description even uses the words "any other recreational activity not covered above" ). This includes all of the following: shopping; toys and non-video games; physical leisure activities that aren't sports; tourism; a couple of threads on writing tips; and a few miscellaneous threads that don't fit into any of those categories. So, we're lumping together a lot of different things which have little in common with one another.
Here's how I'd propose splitting those up:
2. Re-name History and Society.
A few months back, I moved the book threads out of History and Culture (into a new Entertainment sub-forum), and re-named the board to "History and Society" in order to include more social science stuff, but explicitly exclude popular culture. While I stand by my decision to move the book threads, I don't stand by the forum's new name, for two reasons:
So, I'd suggest re-naming the board to something that would cover the history, the 'city' topics, and also any tourist-y threads coming in from the Recreation Station. "History and Tourism" seems to me like it would do the job just fine (I did consider "History and Travel" and "History and Places", but both of these would bring in other stuff that I don't want to bring in). Some of the demographics stuff could stay, and the Linguist's Lounge would remain as it is, since languages are important to historians and tourists alike . We would need to move a few threads out (for example, DB's recent military service thread would no longer fit there), but most of these would fit well enough in Current Events and Politics.
3. Break up Vehicles and Transport.
The "Vehicles and Transport" sub-forum was created some time around 2016, when there was a spike in car-related activity (I remember Cim was quite interested in car stuff). However, Cim hasn't been on in almost two years now, and so, this section is no longer required for the purpose for which it was created. Furthermore, a lot of the topics in there have little to do with tech (for example, a thread about "Jaywalking" looks very out of place under "Technology and Computers" !)
I did, at one point, consider just moving the entire sub-forum into History and Society (and perhaps picking a different name). However, there are quite a few 'technological' threads about self-driving cars - and excluding those from Technology and Computers feels about as wrong as including jaywalking!
So, I think the best solution is to just get rid of this relic of a bygone era. The threads about things like self-driving cars can stay in Technology and Computers. The threads that fit in with the 'city' topics (for example, "Railways") can join them in History and Tourism. Any news articles that don't fit into either place can go into Current Events and Politics, and random crap like "Interesting/unusual vehicles you've seen lately" can go into General Chat. Let's face it, nobody even cares about that thread but me !
4. Remove the Gaming Showcase.
With only 21 threads and 157 replies, this is one of our smallest sub-forums (there are a couple of smaller ones, but it's mostly read-only archives, and things that are necessary for organisational purposes, like "Profiles and Information"). Furthermore, I can count three Nintendo threads in that section: if someone has a Nintendo review, do they put it in 'Nintendo' or 'Gaming Showcase'? This problem is resolved if the Gaming Showcase is removed.
Removing this makes me a bit sad - some of those topics are great - but I think this section is underused, and that's not likely to change any time soon .
So, that's what I have planned for this round of simplifications. Should I go ahead with these?
As with Phase 1, I am not going to propose any major, groundbreaking changes here. As before, I'm very wary that any radical overhaul would introduce new and likely unforeseen problems - which would need to be solved by a second radical overhaul in a couple of months' time. So, once again, the basic form of the board layout is going to remain intact (just minus a few bits of bloat and clutter).
So, what am I proposing?
1. Break up the Recreation Station
In the discussion for Phase 1, I proposed creating an "Odds and Ends" category, which ultimately didn't happen. Pyrite gave the following reason for opposing it:
Pyrite Wrote:As a principal I really don't like the idea of Odds and Ends, because it'll only results in the lumping together of things that shouldn't go together, thus creating more problems than it solves.
However, that's exactly what the Recreation Station is (seriously, the board description even uses the words "any other recreational activity not covered above" ). This includes all of the following: shopping; toys and non-video games; physical leisure activities that aren't sports; tourism; a couple of threads on writing tips; and a few miscellaneous threads that don't fit into any of those categories. So, we're lumping together a lot of different things which have little in common with one another.
Here's how I'd propose splitting those up:
- Shopping can be recreational, but it often isn't. In fact, if you look at the topics we're discussing in there, most of them are very "Health and Lifestyle"-y. So, it'd probably fit better as a sub-forum of Health and Lifestyle.
- The "Toys and Games" sub-forum can be moved into Gaming - although, to prevent confusion, it should probably be re-named to something like "Non-Video Games and Toys". Might also be worth changing the name of 'Gaming' - because, while the word 'gaming' can cover these, in practice it refers almost exclusively to video games.
- The physical activities can go into Sport. In some of these topics (like this one), people are starting them with sentences to the effect of "Well this is recreation but then it could also be sport" - which I take as a sign to merge the forums. Here, I'd suggest changing the name to "Sports and Physical Activities".
- The tourist-y threads would fit in nicely with the 'city' topics in History and Society (more on this in point #2).
- The writing tips can go in "Your Creative Work". Since I allow people to seek forum advice in "Your Sites and Forums", I should be consistent and allow people to seek creative advice in the "Your Creative Work" sub-forum.
- The other miscellaneous threads will be re-homed one by one, but any that don't fit anywhere else can just go into General Chat.
2. Re-name History and Society.
A few months back, I moved the book threads out of History and Culture (into a new Entertainment sub-forum), and re-named the board to "History and Society" in order to include more social science stuff, but explicitly exclude popular culture. While I stand by my decision to move the book threads, I don't stand by the forum's new name, for two reasons:
- I was intending for the 'book' threads to be replaced by things like sociology and demography; however, this hasn't really happened in practice. Instead, they've been replaced by the 'city' threads (which I've really enjoyed making so far, and would like to keep up with).
- 'Society' is very vague and nebulous. In particular, the border between 'society' and 'politics' is poorly-demarcated: there are a lot of threads which could fit into both!
So, I'd suggest re-naming the board to something that would cover the history, the 'city' topics, and also any tourist-y threads coming in from the Recreation Station. "History and Tourism" seems to me like it would do the job just fine (I did consider "History and Travel" and "History and Places", but both of these would bring in other stuff that I don't want to bring in). Some of the demographics stuff could stay, and the Linguist's Lounge would remain as it is, since languages are important to historians and tourists alike . We would need to move a few threads out (for example, DB's recent military service thread would no longer fit there), but most of these would fit well enough in Current Events and Politics.
3. Break up Vehicles and Transport.
The "Vehicles and Transport" sub-forum was created some time around 2016, when there was a spike in car-related activity (I remember Cim was quite interested in car stuff). However, Cim hasn't been on in almost two years now, and so, this section is no longer required for the purpose for which it was created. Furthermore, a lot of the topics in there have little to do with tech (for example, a thread about "Jaywalking" looks very out of place under "Technology and Computers" !)
I did, at one point, consider just moving the entire sub-forum into History and Society (and perhaps picking a different name). However, there are quite a few 'technological' threads about self-driving cars - and excluding those from Technology and Computers feels about as wrong as including jaywalking!
So, I think the best solution is to just get rid of this relic of a bygone era. The threads about things like self-driving cars can stay in Technology and Computers. The threads that fit in with the 'city' topics (for example, "Railways") can join them in History and Tourism. Any news articles that don't fit into either place can go into Current Events and Politics, and random crap like "Interesting/unusual vehicles you've seen lately" can go into General Chat. Let's face it, nobody even cares about that thread but me !
4. Remove the Gaming Showcase.
With only 21 threads and 157 replies, this is one of our smallest sub-forums (there are a couple of smaller ones, but it's mostly read-only archives, and things that are necessary for organisational purposes, like "Profiles and Information"). Furthermore, I can count three Nintendo threads in that section: if someone has a Nintendo review, do they put it in 'Nintendo' or 'Gaming Showcase'? This problem is resolved if the Gaming Showcase is removed.
Removing this makes me a bit sad - some of those topics are great - but I think this section is underused, and that's not likely to change any time soon .
So, that's what I have planned for this round of simplifications. Should I go ahead with these?
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