Forum Stickies - have your say

Cherry Blossom

Okay guys this is the last outing of this, and whatever the result is will be what happens. So here's a poll to determine what will happen to the forum stickies - should they stay as they are or be re-organised. The number will either stay the same or we will drop one. There are a maximum of 4 stickies that can be changed around, in a tie situation for the last space we drop all of those that tie. If you have any feelings on the matter at all please make your thoughts known by commenting in this thread, and feel free to nominate threads you would like to see stickied (other than those that are already there) The poll will close in 7 days.

Whatever the outcome of this poll is goes, this won't be revisited again.

Please note the Re-homing thread will not be stickied.

Cherry Blossom

Okay, going against everything I've said about stickies, I'm sticky-ing this thread to make sure everyone sees it so this can be as fair as possible.

After all it's only temporary for a week.

anniehoo

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

feel free to nominate threads you would like to see stickied (other than those that are already there) The poll will close in

I nominate Departed Pets to be stickied.If not on its own then merge it with Post Your Pet Pic (it has 5666 posts and so popular). Those 2 would be worth combining together as a You and Your Pet thread described as ( for all posts about life, love and loss to do with pet ownership ). Something along that line anyway.

Bargain Alerts should be dropped. Chillout Zone ive grown to like after my initial annoyance (only because departed pets was dropped). We all need a place to have a random chat and a rant

SillyMangoX

Even though bargain alerts is handy I dont think it gets high enough traffic to warrent being a sticky. I agree with anniehoo, id love to see departed pets/ post your pet pic stickied!

Just wondering with the puppy farm awareness thread, does it need a sticky all by itself or would it do to have a link to it in the charter under faqs? I honestly dont know how many people view it but it seems to me a lot of people coming here for advice on purchasing a pup get linked to the thread by regular contributors here.

Cherry Blossom

We can debate about the finer points/ pros and cons of each thread once we get this one over with anniehoo(just realised, there may not necessarily be a next thread.

I think attempting to merge threads of that size would be a nightmare tbh. The threads have their separate purposes and I don't think there's anything to gain by merging them, the departed pet's posts would be lost in the 'rabble' which would defeat the purpose somewhat and people can already post in either thread for that purpose as they wish.

Cherry Blossom

SillyMangoX wrote: »

Just wondering with the puppy farm awareness thread, does it need a sticky all by itself or would it do to have a link to it in the charter under faqs? I honestly dont know how many people view it but it seems to me a lot of people coming here for advice on purchasing a pup get linked to the thread by regular contributors here.

Actually yes, quite a few first time posters here asking for advice do refer to it or to content included in it and the attached advice thread.

anniehoo

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I think attempting to merge threads of that size would be a nightmare tbh.

Why? Post Your Pet Pic is already massive and as far as i can see the biggest thread here. If my vote that Departed Pets cant be stickied, this is my next best suggestion.

wrote:

The threads have their separate purposes and I don't think there's anything to gain by merging them.

It's not about gaining anything, its about how the "feel" of the forum is.If Departed Pets isnt stickied then my next suggestion is to merge the 2 if possible, but under the thread premise that its not all "happy go lucky" photos,which for the majority it is, but also "life stories" about your pet. It could be a thread where people know its ok to post happy AND sad stories about them and their pets.Currently its not.

SillyMangoX wrote: »

Just wondering with the puppy farm awareness thread, does it need a sticky all by itself or would it do to have a link to it in the charter under faqs?

+1 The forum title is Animal & Pet Issues...which should encompass ALL animals not just dogs. I'd love a Feline Awareness thread just as much as im sure others would like a Rodent,Lagomorph,Equine, etc thread.

I know im going off on a complete tangent here, but i feel a good shakeup of the stickies is needed to make it feel inclusive to all "companion animal" loving Boardsies and newbies.

Cherry Blossom

anniehoo wrote: »

Why? Post Your Pet Pic is already massive and as far as i can see the biggest thread here. If my vote that Departed Pets cant be stickied, this is my next best suggestion.


It's not about gaining anything, its about how the "feel" of the forum is.If Departed Pets isnt stickied then my next suggestion is to merge the 2 if possible, but under the thread premise that its not all "happy go lucky" photos,which for the majority it is, but also "life stories" about your pet. It could be a thread where people know its ok to post happy AND sad stories about them and their pets.Currently its not.

There is no good reason to merge any two existing threads just so you can have it both ways, there will be no threads merged. What you are suggesting is something with an entirely different purpose from either of those threads. If you want a thread like that then start a new one and add it here for the list of nominees.

anniehoo wrote: »

+1 The forum title is Animal & Pet Issues...which should encompass ALL animals not just dogs. I'd love a Feline Awareness thread just as much as im sure others would like a Rodent,Lagomorph,Equine, etc thread.

Then why you haven't started any threads on Feline Awareness or composed a cat post that could be added to that sticky?
(Equestrian has a whole fourm to itself btw)

anniehoo wrote: »

I know im going off on a complete tangent here, but i feel a good shakeup of the stickies is needed to make it feel inclusive to all "companion animal" loving Boardsies and newbies.

The forum is comprised of what posters post in it, that's why it's predominantly dog/cat threads - because that's what people ask about. Feel free to nominate whatever existing threads you want, or whatever new threads you feel like starting.

anniehoo

anniehoo wrote: »

Feel free to nominate whatever existing threads you want, or whatever new threads you feel like starting.

I have. Hope everyone else reading puts their 2cent in

Cherry Blossom

anniehoo wrote: »

I have. Hope everyone else reading puts their 2cent in

anniehoo, I think you misunderstand somewhat, in order for people to vote for a specific thread, it has to exist, we won't be voting for theoretical threads. If you want a specific thread then start it now because whether or not it takes off by the end of this poll will be a deciding factor.

star-pants

anniehoo wrote: »

Why? Post Your Pet Pic is already massive and as far as i can see the biggest thread here. If my vote that Departed Pets cant be stickied, this is my next best suggestion.

Just on this point - large threads once they reach 10K replies have to be closed. Merging mega threads also causes issues with the sites database so they don't like if we do that.

Even if we were allowed to merge large threads, it would make the threads un-readable as the posts would be all out of context/out of sync.

My 2c:
Puppy Awareness should be under the Charter/FAQ/Useful Threads
Bargain Alerts unstickied & under the above
Chillout Zone unsticked & under the above (it has enough traffic to keep it on the first page itself)

Stickies should be
-Charter/FAQ/Useful Threads (Has to be there obviously)
-Barry/Franknfurter (I don't think that one is up for debate IIRC)
-Post Your Pet Pics
-Departed Pets Thread
-Lost & Found Thread

anniehoo

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

If you want a specific thread then start it now because whether or not it takes off by the end of this poll will be a deciding factor.

I think SPs choices are good so +1 from me for that layout.

star-pants wrote: »

Stickies should be
-Charter/FAQ/Useful Threads (Has to be there obviously)
-Barry/Franknfurter (I don't think that one is up for debate IIRC)
-Post Your Pet Pics
-Departed Pets Thread
-Lost & Found Thread

**Vai**

Why wont the rehoming thread be stickied? Surely its one of the more important threads on here. Far more important than post your pet pics, for example.

Cherry Blossom

**Vai** wrote: »

Why wont the rehoming thread be stickied? Surely its one of the more important threads on here. Far more important than post your pet pics, for example.

Rehoming via the fourm has been somewhat problematic and there have been quite a few issues behind the scenes, one of which in particular was extremely serious. This is down to the nature of this site - you can be completely anonymous if you want to be or you can proclaim yourself to be someone you are not just as easily. Basicly there are much safer ways for people to re-home their family pet than via an anonymous discussion forum. The thread is there for those that wish to use it but it's a terrible idea to have it stickied as one of the main focal points of the forum. Quite a few people in this forum have advised people not to put their pets on advert sites as 'free to good home', there are very good reasons for this advice being given and the same reasons amongst other things led to that thread being unstickied in the first place.

suomi

I don't think Post Your Pet Pic needs to be stickied, it's a busy thread and always on the front page anyway so it's not like it's difficult to find. The less stickies the better in my opinion.

Binka

star-pants wrote: »

Stickies should be
-Charter/FAQ/Useful Threads (Has to be there obviously)
-Barry/Franknfurter (I don't think that one is up for debate IIRC)
-Post Your Pet Pics
-Departed Pets Thread
-Lost & Found Thread

I'm a +1 for Star-pants' suggestion and I'd love to see the departed pets thread stickied.

are you serious

Just my two cents

Why not merge lost/found with re-homing, some people who find a dog may not find the owner but at the same time they also will not want to let it go to a pound but they would let someone else re-home a found pet...?

Sticky : Lost/Found/Re-homing
Sticky : Charter
Sticky : Puppy farm

There's no need in my opinion to sticky Post your pet pics, it is posted in at least a couple of times every day and it is almost always the top of page 1

The chill out zone is pretty much the same, posted in every day no matter what else is going on, so that will always be on page 1 even on a busy day.

Not sure why, but can we not have more sub forums?? I know when I first came here I was trying to post there!!

gavmcg92

I'm happy with the general consensus above. The one that I really want stickied is departed pets. Would also like to see the "Post your pet pics" stickied but less so than departed pets.

Cherry Blossom

Part 2 is now up & running.