A few weeks ago, I introduced some changes to our board layout, to remove redundant sections and reduce the amount of overlap between different parts of the board. Now, following some discussion, I've simplified things a bit more.
All in all, three sections have gone, and several others have been re-named. I'll start with the re-namings, since it'll be easier to understand the removals once I've done those:
So, with that done, here are the three sections that have been removed:
Recreation Station
This was really just a 'Miscellaneous Entertainment' section, for fun activities that weren't TV/movies/music/reading/sports/video games. As a result, it ended up lumping together lots of things that had little in common with one another (for example: shopping, physical leisure activities, tourism, non-video games, and writing).
Some of these have been split between the various newly-renamed forums listed above. The two main exceptions are shopping (which has become part of Health and Lifestyle), and the two threads about writing (which have been moved into Your Creative Work). Then there were a few other threads that didn't fit into any of these categories, which have been moved on a case-by-case basis. For example, the thread about crosswords and sudokus ended up in Abstract Ideas and General Knowledge, because these puzzles test either general knowledge (in the case of crosswords) or abstract thinking skills (in the case of sudoku-type puzzles).
Vehicles and Transport
A couple of years ago, there was a spike in car-related posts. I decided they needed their own sub-forum, so I created one under Technology and Computers (since I wasn't sure where else to put it). Now, this spike has long since ended (and the member behind it hasn't been on for over a year), so this sub-forum is no longer required for the purpose for which it was created. Furthermore, this section brought in a lot of threads that had little or nothing to do with tech (one of the worst offenders being "Jaywalking", which looked very out of place under "Technology and Computers" !)
So, as with the Recreation Station, I've broken this section up. The threads that are actually about the technology on vehicles (for example, the "air taxi" thread that queenzelda started this morning) have stayed in Technology and Computers. A few threads that are explicitly about the experience of travelling, or fit in nicely with the 'city' topics (for example, they're about a particular city's metro system) have gone into History and Tourism. Vehicle news threads that don't fit into either place have gone into Current Events and Politics, and other miscellaneous stuff (like the aforementioned 'Jaywalking' thread) has gone into General Chat.
Gaming Showcase
This was one of our least-used sections (only 21 threads in the space of a year), and there was little chance of this changing. Furthermore, three of these topics were about Nintendo games, so it was silly not to put them in the 'Nintendo' sub-forum !
It's been decided that the purpose of the Gaming Showcase would be fulfilled better with the use of thread prefixes. For example, we're currently trialling a 'Review' prefix, which has been applied to all of the game reviews (now that they're either in Nintendo or the main area of The Gaming Table). It's possible that we'll add another prefix for people's gameplay stories, but that's being discussed over in this thread.
So, that's it for now . It's entirely possible that we'll do more simplifications in a few weeks' time (since the thread prefixes may allow us to get rid of some more sub-forums). However, until then, enjoy the newer, slightly-simplified layout !
All in all, three sections have gone, and several others have been re-named. I'll start with the re-namings, since it'll be easier to understand the removals once I've done those:
- 'History and Society' has become 'History and Tourism'. This is to re-centre the forum around the 'world history and culture' stuff that it was originally intended for, as well as the 'city' topics that have sprung up there recently. Furthermore, 'society' was considered too nebulous: it overlapped awkwardly with other parts of the board (while 'tourism' has less of this overlap). There were a few threads that fitted in with "History and Society", but not "History and Tourism", the most recent example being @"Dust Bowl"'s military service thread, which has been moved into Current Events and Politics.
- 'Sport' has been re-named to 'Sports and Physical Activities'. It now also covers physical leisure activities that aren't really sports (for example, rock climbing and paintballing).
- 'Gaming' has been re-named to 'The Gaming Table'. It now also includes the "Toys and Games" sub-forum (which has been re-named to 'Tabletops and Toys').
So, with that done, here are the three sections that have been removed:
Recreation Station
This was really just a 'Miscellaneous Entertainment' section, for fun activities that weren't TV/movies/music/reading/sports/video games. As a result, it ended up lumping together lots of things that had little in common with one another (for example: shopping, physical leisure activities, tourism, non-video games, and writing).
Some of these have been split between the various newly-renamed forums listed above. The two main exceptions are shopping (which has become part of Health and Lifestyle), and the two threads about writing (which have been moved into Your Creative Work). Then there were a few other threads that didn't fit into any of these categories, which have been moved on a case-by-case basis. For example, the thread about crosswords and sudokus ended up in Abstract Ideas and General Knowledge, because these puzzles test either general knowledge (in the case of crosswords) or abstract thinking skills (in the case of sudoku-type puzzles).
Vehicles and Transport
A couple of years ago, there was a spike in car-related posts. I decided they needed their own sub-forum, so I created one under Technology and Computers (since I wasn't sure where else to put it). Now, this spike has long since ended (and the member behind it hasn't been on for over a year), so this sub-forum is no longer required for the purpose for which it was created. Furthermore, this section brought in a lot of threads that had little or nothing to do with tech (one of the worst offenders being "Jaywalking", which looked very out of place under "Technology and Computers" !)
So, as with the Recreation Station, I've broken this section up. The threads that are actually about the technology on vehicles (for example, the "air taxi" thread that queenzelda started this morning) have stayed in Technology and Computers. A few threads that are explicitly about the experience of travelling, or fit in nicely with the 'city' topics (for example, they're about a particular city's metro system) have gone into History and Tourism. Vehicle news threads that don't fit into either place have gone into Current Events and Politics, and other miscellaneous stuff (like the aforementioned 'Jaywalking' thread) has gone into General Chat.
Gaming Showcase
This was one of our least-used sections (only 21 threads in the space of a year), and there was little chance of this changing. Furthermore, three of these topics were about Nintendo games, so it was silly not to put them in the 'Nintendo' sub-forum !
It's been decided that the purpose of the Gaming Showcase would be fulfilled better with the use of thread prefixes. For example, we're currently trialling a 'Review' prefix, which has been applied to all of the game reviews (now that they're either in Nintendo or the main area of The Gaming Table). It's possible that we'll add another prefix for people's gameplay stories, but that's being discussed over in this thread.
So, that's it for now . It's entirely possible that we'll do more simplifications in a few weeks' time (since the thread prefixes may allow us to get rid of some more sub-forums). However, until then, enjoy the newer, slightly-simplified layout !
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Moonface (in 'Woman runs 49 red lights in ex's car')' Wrote: If only she had ran another 20 lights.
(Thanks to Nilla for the avatar, and Detective Osprey for the sig!)
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