Ideas for the next reshuffle

[#1]

Quote from: Jameseh

I don't think we can realistically get rid of the archives.  Gary would probably have a heart-attack and then we'd have a manslaughter case to deal with.

Never mind Gary... the pain I went to trying to get the bloody things migrated in the first place, they better be staying!
I don't see the point of Chit Chat sitting in it's own category, it just seems a bit pointless to me...

[#2]

I'm another that very rarely looks at anything on the Community site, I navigate to the forums directly via an unread posts link, and thats what I use all day when reading posts.
Thats why I rarely notive when posts are in the wrong boards - most of the time I don't even notice which board I'm reading TBH.
Maybe we should just have one board for everything? - I wouldn't notice the difference!

[#3]

He he - I read some sections and not others, and I use RSS to catch news and the Community Support boards. Maybe I'm just too much of a geek 🙂
For me, forums work best when they are split into distinct areas that people can use to categorise what they do and don't read and contribute to based on their interests or issues. A single forum would be a mare for me, as there is stuff in here I will never have time to read.
I don't have a problem with announcements being here, but it doesn't really 'fit' as a forum topic and the reason I'd move it down isn't because of importance, but because updates are rare and space should be at a premium here. News like that could be displayed in better ways than a read only only forum imo.
Ian

[#4]

Actually, the Product Announcement board didn't feature in the new layout at all, but I got cold feet just retiring it to the Archives board.
However, I see the rationale for removing it.
B.

[#5]

Quote from: Ian

For those of you using announcements, can I ask what you'd think about moving it right to the bottom. It's a pain for us to post twice, but it's no problem if you need it - I just feel that most people don't need that information there as well as on the front page.

I've seen add-ons for CMS systems that, when a new item is posted in a category in the CMS, cross posts it into the site forums in a new thread where discussion on it can then take place.  I'm sure your community site coding team could knock up something similar for you to cut down the workload in posting it twice.

[#6]

I never (well very rarely) see the announcements page. I just start typing 'comm... ‘and go straight to the forum.

[#7]

I dont even do that, I have a bookmark to take me straight to the forum page, I can see the titles before I go to unread

[#8]

Keep the noticeboard at the front door. Take the one from the reception hall and bin it because it's a duplicate of what is posted at the front, and sod those who insist on coming in the back door. They can always nip out to the front door and read the noticeboard if they want to be kept informed.

[#9]

Any more suggestions?
I'll have a look at knocking up a bit of a survey type thing so we can get some yes / no decisions on these.
Ian

[#10]

Quote from: geewizz

Keep the noticeboard at the front door. Take the one from the reception hall and bin it because it's a duplicate of what is posted at the front, and sod those who insist on coming in the back door. They can always nip out to the front door and read the noticeboard if they want to be kept informed.

Except that the front door is really just a porch that they built because they weren't happy with the old segregated reception areas.
The noticeboard in Reception was the first one, so technically the new one by the new front door is the duplicate.

[#11]

When the Channel 4 Time Team dug this up in 2002 they uncovered the foundations of an outer porch which was built in Pre-Amstradian era and was probably used by monks for the recitation of announcements in MS Latin Illumination Script 12pt..
I can't help feeling that I've taken that analogy a bit too far.

[#12]

Take the archives away and stick them in an old server that isn't plugged in. Maybe then we would have some sort of meaningful search facility.

[#13]

I guess we are all slightly different
I really hate the sub forums as you never really know  of interest might be in there. I would happily go back to the old lay out but it seems that opportunity has passed

[#14]

Usenet had the whole hierarchical forum thing sorted out about 30 years ago.

[#15]

Quote

I really hate the sub forums as you never really know  of interest might be in there.

Groundsman - I agree with you 100% but would go slightly further in that I detest them. Some things grow on you and I gave the benefit of the doubt for a while but it has been long enough now and I believe that I will never enjoy browsing around the forum as I used to do.