Too many sub-forums?

[Dubai]

Would anyone else here agree that there are too many sub-forums for what is, at the moment, a fairly small site?

 

I personally think more should be channelled to the main forum to start with, until things get busier. It will stimulate debate. In my opinion, of course.

[wren]

I use the "View New Posts" link, so I needn't miss anything new.

[Dubai]

I use the "View New Posts" link, so I needn't miss anything new.

 

Thanks for that "handy tip" Wren. It might help my experience of the site become a little more engaging!

[Steve Netwriter]

This subject has come up on many forums. It seems that many people do not realise that IMO most people just visit a forum and click on "Topics in last 24 hours" or "posts since last visit" or whatever facility the forum provides.

 

Maybe it's worth pointing out that there are TWO facilities on here.

 

"View New Posts" - at the top

 

and (specially if you've visited and want to see the recent posts again later):

 

"Today's active topics" - at the bottom of the main forum page.

 

For that reason the location of threads doesn't much concern me, as they just get listed when I visit if they have updates.

 

IMO its great to separate threads into topic areas, and as a forum grows, makes the whole thing easier to search through, especially for new people.

 

 

On iTulip they have a similar thing to my forum. A big arrow saying "click here for new posts"

 

Maybe DrBubb (or whoever) would like to add some more prominence to those facilities ?

[drbubb]

Good explanation, Steve.

 

The number of subforums does take some getting used to.

They are all there for an interest. What most people do, I reckon, is only focus on the sub-forum areas

that interest them. And they leave the rest alone.

 

For example, I know that some of the readers who I meet face-to-face occasionally, are really only interested

in Hong Kong property, others are only interested in specific gold shares, and some want to talk about philosophical

topics. The diversity of Forums allows them to find the topics that interest them quickly, and they dont need to

scroll through loads uninteresting topics, to find their areas of interest.

 

I encourage people to spend a few minutes, from time-to-time, dipping into the sections they are unfamiliar with.

 

Steve's suggestion is good, if you just want to catch up on the day-to-day postings

 

= =

 

There are some areas here, like: The Crisis of Suburbia / Future Utopian Ideas

 

which I think are of HUGE, long termimportance, and people will eventually see that understanding the underlying issues,

an make a big difference in their future.

 

I am betting that they will catch on one day (the name may change, and they may morph into something different

by then). Until they do catch on, they may seem like "Tumbleweed" forums. But a few in-the-know will read the posts

and get some good ideas. Others may even post there. Meantime, the sections may help me in my research for

future articles on these important topics.