Splitting the forum into individual sub-forums by topic

Open Discussion - for our Readers, Islanders, and Web Site Visitors alike. Discussion regarding any and all aspects of Beaver Island are welcome here. Also a place for general Beaver Island conversation and discussion.

Moderator: Gillespie

Post Reply
TD
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:34 am

Splitting the forum into individual sub-forums by topic

Post by TD »

Gillespie wrote:I have (in the past) urged Jeff Cashman to split the forum into sections on family history, current events and so on. I belive Jeff thinks it is better to "lump" the whole mess but sooner or later it will have to be sorted out.
Rich,

The lumping of things together seems to work well enough. There isn't that much action on this board to justify bifricating the posts. It nice to view all the recent post with one click. If you think a geneology only board or site a good idea why don't you start one instead of complaining about the one you use for free. Jeff's doing the Island a great service just by keeping this board open.
8)
Gillespie
Posts: 1563
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2003 1:43 pm
Contact:

Post by Gillespie »

I guess you don't know the history of the forum do you?
TD
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:34 am

Yes I'm new to the board

Post by TD »

Rich,

Based on your comment I'm sure I don't know the history of the board. Why don't you explain it to me and other people new to the board so that you don't have to be bothered by ignorant post. :oops:
Kathleen Dvoracek
Posts: 24
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:55 am

Post by Kathleen Dvoracek »

TD -- are you having a bad day? Hope you feel better soon!
TD
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:34 am

Not really

Post by TD »

Just running low on cigarettes. Now Rich,has me curious about the history of the board. 8)
Jeff
Posts: 1827
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2002 9:31 pm
Location: Beaver Island
Contact:

Post by Jeff »

Gillespie wrote:I have (in the past) urged Jeff Cashman to split the forum into sections on family history, current events and so on. I belive Jeff thinks it is better to "lump" the whole mess but sooner or later it will have to be sorted out.
I'm definitely not opposed to organizing the forum into subforums by topic - I had put it on my mental to-do list once it started getting say a dozen posts a day. My fear was/is that if we create too many sub-forums that get only 1 post a day or none, it would look deserted and people wouldn't like more clicking to see the handful of new posts. But maybe just creating sub-forums by topic would spark more activity on each. What do you suggest
- history/genealogy
- general discussion
- internet
- political banter :P
- ? open to suggestions for others ?

We can still have an option to 'view the posts since your last visit' from all forums, but it would be a tiny bit more effort to see all the new posts from a given day.
Now Rich,has me curious about the history of the board
If I remember correctly, in 2003 when Phyllis made her beaverislandnews.com forum subscriber-only, Rich called me to setup an "open" Beaver Island forum for him. We had setup a forum on the Beacon site 6-12 months prior but there weren't many people posting still, so I presented the idea that instead of setting up a third forum, since there weren't very many people posting to either of the two existing forums, it would make a lot of sense to consolidate our efforts so that we could get as many people as possible visiting "the forum" and hopefully reach a critical mass of interesting posts rather than having everyone visiting different Beaver Island forums. So we setup the unbranded beaverislandforum.com on top of the existing beaverbeacon.com/forum database - the logins and database are currently the same between the two.
Kim Connaghan
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:52 pm

Splitting the forum into individual sub-forums by topics

Post by Kim Connaghan »

Like they say "if it ain't broke,why fix it?"
Sheri Timsak
Posts: 357
Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:38 am
Location: Beaver Island, MI

splitting forum

Post by Sheri Timsak »

I totally agree with Kim. :-)
T. Scott
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:48 pm

Post by T. Scott »

Once there is sufficient traffic on this forum organizing the messages by subject matter is a logical step. At this point, given the dearth of messages, it would be counterproductive to split the volume thereby discouraging those that check this site on a somewhat regular basis. Too many clicks and we're gone.
jflanagan
Posts: 266
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 1:54 am
Location: Chicago/BI

Post by jflanagan »

I also agree that the boards traffic would make splitting it up very dangerous.

In my earlier days I ran a teachers bbs in the chicago area. Biggest mistake I ever made was taking the single board that was getting good traffic of 15-20 messages a day into several topic specific boards. Postings went completely into the tank and by the time I gave up and put things back the way they had been it took months to recover
woodchopper57
Posts: 95
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:26 pm
Location: Beaver Island

Forum separation

Post by woodchopper57 »

I guess I'm confused as to what would be the problem having sections of the forum

Where I work we have forum boards and they are separated by subject topic, you post to what's relevant.

And most forums that I have gone to on the internet are split that way.

Am I missing something?
Julie Gillespie
TD
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:34 am

A question for Jeff

Post by TD »

:idea: Jeff,
Would it be possible to split the forum into 4 or 5 sections and display all the recent topic post for each section on 1 page using different frames? Users would still see all the recent post for the entire board with one click. And with another click go to the sections they like to participate in. If people view Four or five topics as current it might generate more participation.

I would suggest the following topic catagories if it is possible with out too much administration: History & Geneology, Outdoor Recreation, Home and Garden, and General Discussion. Any other suggestions out there for which topics would be best if the post were split into a handfull of catagories :?:

My first reaction to Rich's suggestions on splitting things up was that if it could hurt participation. After thinking about it a little more, I now see the wisdome in Rich's remarks. Splitting the board may improve both the quality and quantity of post. But if it's not done right we could go down the same path that flanagan's board did.

If administrations cost are an issue we could pass the hat, I know I'd kick in some.
Post Reply