Proposal: Forum Reorganization

[GHDpro]

Originally Posted by Haiprbim

By "Read-only", do you mean that there would be a selection of overall most helpful/strong threads that would become Sticky/Locked?
Sounds interesting.

Well, no, it would simply mean that nobody can create new threads or reply to existing threads. You would only be able to read existing threads & posts, hence a "read-only" forum.

[SaintessHeart]

What about a "thread firewall" system that blots out major flamers from entering a certain thread?

Thread locking and banhammering people doesn't seem exactly effective.

[synaesthetic]

Split General into two subforums:

Politics/Current Events

Everything Else

That way I can go directly to the "everything else" and ignore all the depressing/enraging poo-flinging that happens now in genchat every time someone brings up a major divisive issue.

[Haiprbim]

Originally Posted by GHDpro

Well, no, it would simply mean that nobody can create new threads or reply to existing threads. You would only be able to read existing threads & posts, hence a "read-only" forum.

Yeah, that's basically the same thing as what I was thinking.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

From my experience, the more segmentation your forum has, the less activity it actually gets. I can already tell you that if AS decides to pursue such a policy with he general anime and general chat subforums, I'll probably stop visiting those sections altogether. I have less incentive to click on those links than a more general encompassing subforum. While general might be more chaotic, it also gives us a nice holistic picture of all sorts of conversations in the anime world (and for general everything else). I can click on those links and then participate in all sorts of conversations without having to look through like 10 different subforums.

Yes, I am lazy, but I am pretty sure most people on the interwebs are lazy. So personally, I don't like this idea.

The only things I support are the splitting of light novels into their own section, and perhaps giving likes/dislikes/contests/favourties its own section. Other than that, I don't see the benefit of this approach whatsoever. It also just seems like more work for the moderators since now there are even more sections to police around here and they have to make sure that everything is on topic for those sections.

Also, the fansubs subforum seems pretty worthless and archaic, so not sure why we still have it.

Whoa, these are exactly my thoughts on the matter.

Dividing general anime and general chat into so many subforums strikes me as a terrible idea. It will make it a major pain to browse this section, and I am most likely swiftly going to give up on visiting it (besides the root forum...but what will be left there?) once this gets implemented.

General forums are messy, but it's an integral part of their charm. They're easy to browse as long as they're not completely cluttered (that's not the case of General anime, no idea about chat since I rarely go there). It only takes me one minute to find topics I might be interested in General anime. Having everything in one place is very practical.

If you really want to do that though, at least scratch Merchandise, Sales, and Ratings. This sub-forum would get like three to four topics at best (unless you create a thread for each merchandise, which would quickly turn it into a completely mess). Completely necessary. Same for News, events and conventions, although that depends on the kind of news allowed there.

Splitting manga and light novel was long overdue, so in full support of that.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Dividing general anime and general chat into so many subforums strikes me as a terrible idea. It will make it a major pain to browse this section, and I am most likely swiftly going to give up on visiting it (besides the root forum...but what will be left there?) once this gets implemented.

I should say that, as a result of the discussions in this thread so far, we've already consolidated some of the proposed splits, so this may address some of your (and Reckoner's) concerns. I will update the opening post soon once I get some more feedback from the staff.

I do think, though, that some sorts of topics would be given more room to grow in their own section without stifling other conversation, so there's a balance here. Having everything in one giant forum may be convenient in some senses, but I think it also has some drawbacks too.

[Haiprbim]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Having everything in one giant forum may be convenient in some senses, but I think it also has some drawbacks too.

Quite a lot of drawbacks, actually. From the possibly overall lack of organization of the threads, to the fact that every currently active Moderator would have to focus on that forum, and so on.
It would be better off balanced, or so I personally assume.

[Liddo-kun]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

From my experience, the more segmentation your forum has, the less activity it actually gets.

Originally Posted by Kanon

Whoa, these are exactly my thoughts on the matter.

Dividing general anime and general chat into so many subforums strikes me as a terrible idea. It will make it a major pain to browse this section, and I am most likely swiftly going to give up on visiting it (besides the root forum...but what will be left there?) once this gets implemented.

Those are also my concern. Some threads could have fewer new participant in discussions because new members won't easily find them.

[Haiprbim]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

Those are also my concern. Some threads could have fewer new participant in discussions because new members won't easily find them.

That is one point of looking, but if a specific forum has too much activity, a certain thread might just fall behind the first page onto the second one and so on, where not many members look and it won't be "easy to find" either.
That is the case at the moment.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

Those are also my concern. Some threads could have fewer new participant in discussions because new members won't easily find them.

This might not be a bad thing, actually. I log in once a day (if that) and find it difficult to keep up with some fast-paced conversations. I can check a thread one day, write a reply, and find that there are two or three new pages of replies when I log in the next day. In the past I have attributed this problem at least partly to the policy of aggressively trying to keep similar discussions confined to a single thread, but I also recognize that this is a problem that is bound to occur as the forum grows.

It's true that many members tend to keep to certain sub-forums, but I think we're reaching a user base size where having a bit of fragmentation wouldn't be a bad thing. There will be enough users to keep conversation going even if there is a bit of fragmentation. The only downside that I can think of is that it might present more work on the staff.

Granted, I recognize that my usage of the forum does not mirror that of everyone else's, nor should the forum be organized around users who aren't overly active. I'm just chiming in with my usage scenario.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

Those are also my concern. Some threads could have fewer new participant in discussions because new members won't easily find them.

Well, I just want to say that we already have this sort of "discovery issue" (if you want to call it that) with the forum structure we have right now. We have "Current Series" and "Older Series" that have a lot of threads in them, but some shows that have sub-forums. These sub-forums are visible right on the home index so people know where to click, but still sometimes people don't see them and end up creating new threads in General Anime or wherever else because they didn't notice it. And then we on the staff redirect them to the sub-forums and they get used to the forum structure. Yes, it means that not all anime series have threads right in a single common place, but you get used to it. (Granted, I know some people don't like series sub-forums for various reasons, but nevertheless it is a key feature of our current design.)

What is being proposed here isn't fundamentally so different from that. The sub-forums would be visible right on the forum index. Currently proposed is that you could click the top-level and see some threads, and you would also have these other sections underneath for certain specific topics. Yes, some people wouldn't notice the sub-forums at first, and we'll have to redirect them, but it's basically the same as what happens with series sub-forums now. And also, some of the sub-forums proposed are really existing forums being moved slightly to *hopefully* be easier to find and more-clearly labelled.

So while I do understand the complaint about "I prefer to have everything in one space", I'm not sure that the purported problem with discovery is insurmountable (given that we deal with it every day here already). And, just like with sub-forums, if it means a topic that needs room to expand now has better place for that (and is able to build its own sub-community of people with like-minded interests), I'm potentially okay with the trade-off.

[Liddo-kun]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

This might not be a bad thing, actually. I log in once a day (if that) and find it difficult to keep up with some fast-paced conversations. I can check a thread one day, write a reply, and find that there are two or three new pages of replies when I log in the next day. In the past I have attributed this problem at least partly to the policy of aggressively trying to keep similar discussions confined to a single thread, but I also recognize that this is a problem that is bound to occur as the forum grows.

It's true that many members tend to keep to certain sub-forums, but I think we're reaching a user base size where having a bit of fragmentation wouldn't be a bad thing. There will be enough users to keep conversation going even if there is a bit of fragmentation. The only downside that I can think of is that it might present more work on the staff.

Granted, I recognize that my usage of the forum does not mirror that of everyone else's, nor should the forum be organized around users who aren't overly active. I'm just chiming in with my usage scenario.

For me, this forum is sort of like a large town in the internet. I log in everyday, but I do stay only in certain anime threads, and the General Chat section. Rarely visit the other areas.

Well, reorganizing of the General Chat could make it easier to find threads, because they would be in a designated area. I just hope that once reorganization is done, the thread that I visit in the general chat area won't be put too "deep" into the forum, to the extent that the number of people visiting it would drop.

What is being proposed here isn't fundamentally so different from that. The sub-forums would be visible right on the forum index. Currently proposed is that you could click the top-level and see some threads, and you would also have these other sections underneath for certain specific topics. Yes, some people wouldn't notice the sub-forums at first, and we'll have to redirect them, but it's basically the same as what happens with series sub-forums now. And also, some of the sub-forums proposed are really existing forums being moved slightly to *hopefully* be easier to find and more-clearly labelled.

So while I do understand the complaint about "I prefer to have everything in one space", I'm not sure that the purported problem with discovery is insurmountable (given that we deal with it every day here already). And, just like with sub-forums, if it means a topic that needs room to expand now has better place for that (and is able to build its own sub-community of people with like-minded interests), I'm potentially okay with the trade-off.
Today 00:36

@relentlessflame

I'm particularly concerned on where the Cosplay at It's Best! thread will be placed, just in case the reorganization pushes through.

Would it be placed in Hobbies and Fun?

General

General Chat

News and Current Events
Sports
Arts and Science
Entertainment
Hobbies and Fun

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Liddo-kun

I'm particularly concerned on where the Cosplay at It's Best! thread will be placed, just in case the reorganization pushes through.

Would it be placed in Hobbies and Fun?

It sounds to me like a good candidate for "Hobbies and Fun", anyway, although the structure is still subject to change at this point.

[Write]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Whoa, these are exactly my thoughts on the matter.

Dividing general anime and general chat into so many subforums strikes me as a terrible idea. It will make it a major pain to browse this section, and I am most likely swiftly going to give up on visiting it (besides the root forum...but what will be left there?) once this gets implemented.

General forums are messy, but it's an integral part of their charm. They're easy to browse as long as they're not completely cluttered (that's not the case of General anime, no idea about chat since I rarely go there). It only takes me one minute to find topics I might be interested in General anime. Having everything in one place is very practical.

Splitting manga and light novel was long overdue, so in full support of that.

Agreed.

Also if I wanted to discuss feminism in anime, for example, where would I make that thread?

[hyl]

Originally Posted by Write

Agreed.

Also if I wanted to discuss feminism in anime, for example, where would I make that thread?

Most likely in the "Other Anime-related Discussion Topics", seeing that none of the other categories seem to fit for discussions on abstract subjects. Eventhough i am not sure if i am going to like it that some other "abstract" discussions like "The Uncanny Valley of Anime Character Design " or "The Chains of the Adaptation: Is it easier to like original anime?" will be probably also placed in there

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Write

if I wanted to discuss feminism in anime, for example, where would I make that thread?

No need for that. We have several threads on this; both for feminism in general and for feminism in anime and japanese culture. A quick search will show you the location of each thread.

[RRW]

I dont mind if you leave general chat they way it is. i s not really very complicated for now

[Write]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

No need for that. We have several threads on this; both for feminism in general and for feminism in anime and japanese culture. A quick search will show you the location of each thread.

So necro-posting is okay? I'm seriously asking btw.

EDIT: Hypothetically speaking, say there is no thread about feminism, where would the thread go in the current layout as opposed to the one detailed in the OP?

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Write

So necro-posting is okay? I'm seriously asking btw.

Necro is okay as long as you’re not replying to someone’s post from ages ago IIRC. If you yourself have something to tell, go look for the proper thread and then you’re welcomed to necro it.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Write

So necro-posting is okay? I'm seriously asking btw.

Answering a post that is a month or year old is bad... but probably its more ok to open a new topic in that thread than making another new yet similar thread...