Condense the forums?

[dieselbaby]

I'm not sure exactly who to ask as I'm not sure who's running this place, but have you guys ever considered condensing the amount of individual forums there are here? There are a ton of different ones, and a lot of them aren't even active. It would cut down on a lot of the clutter on the main page and would be less confusing - for example: there are 2 "general talk" sections on the main page, and we could merge the tv/music/etc ones into there too to increase the traffic to the subsections and focus the conversations more into places where more people would congregate and contribute.

[Indy]

a few months back they got rid of some of the more obscure forums, and it seems like the board isn't as active these days, so i'd say yeah, condensing the forums could help make it more active, as it'd put more than one active thread in some of the more obscure subforums, and more people would be exposed to them. and i don't see any downside really, as long as you don't start putting too many together.

[Duckfeet]

I think it's more the "pain in the ass" factor than anything else...in other words, just about *everybody* thinks there are too many forums, but it would actually be a lot of work to condense them, make huge changes like that, siteowners would have to get involved, etc...and since administrators and moderators do enough work around here, without having to rewrite the whole enchilada, I guess it's more like an old car that really needs a paint job...but who the fuck wants to paint the car???? Not me, not when it's still running :cool:

[jersey_emt]

It actually wouldn't be a lot of work to combine some forums. Going the other way around (splitting a too-popular forum into two or more separate forums) is where it gets tricky as you need to decide which threads to move to forum A and which threads to move to forum B. But combining forums -- what would take the most amount of time would be getting the administrators and moderators together and deciding which forums to merge into which other forums. Actually doing the work would only take one person an hour or two if they knew what they were doing. It's pretty easy with vBulletin to move all of the threads from one forum into another forum, and they all will automatically be placed in the proper order (newest first).

I'm been an administrator for a couple of years for a very large automotive-related forum with 68,000 members and 4 million posts and have done things like this in the past. I'd be willing to help you guys in any way you need if this is something that you want to pursue.

[bronyraur]

Actually, it is a pain in the ass for us.

We've discussed doing this in the past, but we eventually say "fuck it" and forget about it.
We're not getting rid of/condensing any forums any time soon.

And about the two different general forums–everyone is guilty of using them incorrectly. When people talk about stuff that has nothing to do with the site (and we all do), it should be placed in the general chat subforum, not this subforum.

So thanks to the OP for the suggestion, but nothing is changing for the time being.

[dieselbaby]

Actually, it is a pain in the ass for us.

We've discussed doing this in the past, but we eventually say "fuck it" and forget about it.
We're not getting rid of/condensing any forums any time soon.

And about the two different general forums–everyone is guilty of using them incorrectly. When people talk about stuff that has nothing to do with the site (and we all do), it should be placed in the general chat subforum, not this subforum.

So thanks to the OP for the suggestion, but nothing is changing for the time being.

Not meaning to be prying, and please don't take this in the wrong way, but what exactly is such a pain in the ass about it? (this isn't sarcastic) I have been a vBulletin administrator and developer (php and vBulletin hacks have been my specialty for a long time) for many years and I'm just curious as to what you think is annoying about it. If you're ever interested in biting the bullet and doing it I can certainly give you a walk-through on how to do it. Like jersey_emt said, the annoying thing is splitting forums - combining them is really not too hard at all.

[bronyraur]

I'm aware that the technical aspects are not that difficult–it's just that we have something that is working fine the way it is.

This topic has been discussed before, and the conclusion was to just leave things as they are.

[dieselbaby]

I'm aware that the technical aspects are not that difficult–it's just that we have something that is working fine the way it is.

This topic has been discussed before, and the conclusion was to just leave things as they are.

Word, I hear that...wasn't trying to push your buttons or anything - sometimes it's hard to write something online and not have it come across that way. Just curious to see what you found frustrating about the whole process, I've been using vBulletin since the first release and know a bunch of people on the development team.

[bronyraur]

Word, I hear that...wasn't trying to push your buttons or anything - sometimes it's hard to write something online and not have it come across that way. Just curious to see what you found frustrating about the whole process, I've been using vBulletin since the first release and know a bunch of people on the development team.

Yeah, vBulletin itself is easy to use, once you get the hang of it.

It's deciding what forums to remove and where to put their content that is the PITA.

[blackdog]

BLEWLIGHT DOES IT ALL THE FRKIN TIME.
ESPECIALLY WHEN THE THREADS MAX OUT.
OR IS THAT JUST MERGING THREADS?
WHICH MIGHT BE EASIER THEN FORUMS?
HUH UMMMM NEVERMIND?
SHRUGS SHOULDERS:rolleyes:

[robojunkie]

If I could do the "back door/super admin" thing (I cannot, neither can brony or roxi) I would change a lot on the forum list as well as immediately open regs as the site is slowly slowing down. However only billi who is the "superadmin" but not owner anymore can do this.

EDIT: Actually I can change that forum stuff and I do agree but this should be consensus shit...what do the rest of you esp brony adn roxy think about this???

[roxi*stardust]

If I could do the "back door/super admin" thing (I cannot, neither can brony or roxi) I would change a lot on the forum list as well as immediately open regs as the site is slowly slowing down. However only billi who is the "superadmin" but not owner anymore can do this.

EDIT: Actually I can change that forum stuff and I do agree but this should be consensus shit...what do the rest of you esp brony adn roxy think about this???

I would not mind changing/getting rid of/condensing some of the forums as a side project but I though, like robo said above, that we need to be a superadministrator, which neither robo, brony, nor myself are. I believe only bi11I and jacky have this ability and it may only be bi11i.

But if we do have the ability and robo and/or brony feels like going over the stuff with me and deciding what goes and what staysthen maybe we can get it done. That's the PITA part brony was talking about!

[Duckfeet]

I think we never were *totally* sure site would survive...(hell, I've wondered more than once about my *own* survival, so why bother doing laundy...)...and what w/the regular changes and "shut-downs" it seemed almost "jinxing" this place to make too many changes, only to get your heart broke when site goes down...and since every little thing had to get voted on, I know this always seemed like "more trouble than it was worth...

I mean, the v-bulletin stuff wasn't the real obstacle--and probably still isn't--its whether or not u *really* want to spend the time doing something that isn't vital...and are you pretty sure Opy will survive? I'd rather see the gates open and get some serious crazies on here for a while, than worry a whole lot about forums that nobody uses...

A little bit like my house/cottage here: I'm always on the verge of eviction, (so they can build huge condos)....so I never do repairs or anything...yet the cottage and me both have been here for years...so what do I know...but I just *know* that as soon as I fix the fucking stove, I'll hear the bulldozers...so I never fix the stove haha....:)