Discussion Thread for new Community Forum Structure
Is the existing service status email list going to be brought across or will we have to re-subscribe? (I realise that those of us that use the Service Status RSS feed will have to reconfigure).
Why is Referrers been scrapped & Archived? PlusNet is supposed to be promoting Referrers, not scrapping Referrers, this is not good! 
It's working - so why change it?
Gary,
You only have to look at the number of "Topic moved" actions we see made by the moderators to understand what is wrong with the current layout.
One thing which is not being suggested is to used child forums, but prevent people posting in the parent itself. That way you wouldn't ever have to scroll past the list of child forums to see the posts in the parent. Was that idea ever considered?
You only have to look at the number of "Topic moved" actions we see made by the moderators to understand what is wrong with the current layout.
One thing which is not being suggested is to used child forums, but prevent people posting in the parent itself. That way you wouldn't ever have to scroll past the list of child forums to see the posts in the parent. Was that idea ever considered?
Quote from: Jameseh Bob isn't a fan because then you just have to scroll down after clicking on the parent forum in the first place.
Could you explain this please. Clicking as shown in the first screen shot takes you straight to the second - why the need to scroll down?
Child forums is the best way to shorten the main index page!
Well, for what it's worth, here's my 2p.
Seven years ago when I first joined PN the forums were simple, maybe a handful. It was easy to post and much of the discussion was productive. After a couple of years it became vogue for people to get really worked up about being off topic, off subject and off forum. The moderators wielded bigger sticks and it became harder to make a point without someone getting upset. The number of forums increased and it became less obvious which forum was right for any particular subject not exactly matching the forum selection. People got even more worked up and, for me, the forums became too much like hard work. I therefore stopped visiting them.
A few months ago I had a problem and thought I might give the forums a go again as support would not accept there was a problem. When I looked there were even more forums, child forums, sub-forums and nothing matching my problem area. I therefore gave up again. This problem has been reoccurring (vpn just stops working for some days/a week or two and then starts working again) for some time so today I thought I might try the forums again. Would you believe it - it's even worse!
Clearly there's something wrong with the structure of the forums otherwise there wouldn't be the post soliciting opinion. Well, for what it's worth, can I suggest someone considers the likely reaction of someone wishing to post and being faced with a wall of different forums. If it takes a lot of time to decide the right forum, but there's a risk of being wrong, being sent a stroppy reply, not actually attracting the attention of someone who can comment sensibly on your post, then you are probably wasting your time. The net result is the forums don't actually achieve what they were originally set up to do (help PN members) and they become nothing more than a talking shop for only the few who have time/tenacity to persist. In short, my vote is to strip out the plethora of categories and have just a few with one that gets good service from PN staff. If there's worry about having too many subjects within a single forum then strengthen the search capabilities, but above all give PN members a change to post without needing a degree in obscurity.
Oh, and it would be good to encourge posters to keep it brief
Seven years ago when I first joined PN the forums were simple, maybe a handful. It was easy to post and much of the discussion was productive. After a couple of years it became vogue for people to get really worked up about being off topic, off subject and off forum. The moderators wielded bigger sticks and it became harder to make a point without someone getting upset. The number of forums increased and it became less obvious which forum was right for any particular subject not exactly matching the forum selection. People got even more worked up and, for me, the forums became too much like hard work. I therefore stopped visiting them.
A few months ago I had a problem and thought I might give the forums a go again as support would not accept there was a problem. When I looked there were even more forums, child forums, sub-forums and nothing matching my problem area. I therefore gave up again. This problem has been reoccurring (vpn just stops working for some days/a week or two and then starts working again) for some time so today I thought I might try the forums again. Would you believe it - it's even worse!
Clearly there's something wrong with the structure of the forums otherwise there wouldn't be the post soliciting opinion. Well, for what it's worth, can I suggest someone considers the likely reaction of someone wishing to post and being faced with a wall of different forums. If it takes a lot of time to decide the right forum, but there's a risk of being wrong, being sent a stroppy reply, not actually attracting the attention of someone who can comment sensibly on your post, then you are probably wasting your time. The net result is the forums don't actually achieve what they were originally set up to do (help PN members) and they become nothing more than a talking shop for only the few who have time/tenacity to persist. In short, my vote is to strip out the plethora of categories and have just a few with one that gets good service from PN staff. If there's worry about having too many subjects within a single forum then strengthen the search capabilities, but above all give PN members a change to post without needing a degree in obscurity.
Oh, and it would be good to encourge posters to keep it brief
