Dying Forums (again)

Harry Palmr

I was just on what was once one of the most popular forums in the arts/entertainment genres and it's like a ghost town (bands don't play no more) on the Music forum. Just a couple of on-going thematic threads are keeping it ticking over, once past them you quickly see the last contribution going back weeks and months and that's on the front page. There are wayyyyyy to many sub-genre fora while, as with so much else After Hours is also sucking life out of the forum with various passing topics that are music related.

So may I suggest the cat mods have a group think and consider streamlining the whole Music section (20 sub-boards many of which are almost as dead as a Spinal Tap drummer) and forcing the various tribes to co-exist a bit more. Only a few really need to stand alone - Gigs & Events and the ones related to creating music and being in a band.

Beasty

TBH, I would be supportive of a wider review across all categories, as many forums have seen their best days - indeed one or two of them probably never had many!

It is something we had started to look at, certainly with hosted forums, but it's one of those things that has dropped off the radar a bit. I think there's probably quite a lot of streamlining that we could look to do, but we would typically engage with (any) forum regulars before making changes.

I'm speaking from a personal perspective here, and we do need to discuss all this at Admin level. The prompt is definitely appreciated. Thanks

Arghus

Completely agree that a cull or amalgamation of sorts is desperately required in the music forum. The gigs and events forum is still ticking away, thankfully, but it's sad to see some of the forums reduced to near or total ghost towns.

I think allowing the tribes to co-exist is the way forward. A disclaimer at the start of each thread indicating what genre of music is the topic of discussion would work perfectly well in an awful lot of cases.

Frank O. Pinion

I don't know if this is the best place to suggest this, but the Prime Time Cartoons forum has very low activity. Threads for The Simpsons, Rick & Morty, South Park, etc. should just be freely discussed in the regular TV forum.

Beasty

I'm certainly happy to take onboard any suggestions for discussion here. We've not got round to discussing anything in detail at Admin level, but discussion within this thread will certainly provide nudges for us to do so

Thanks

Inviere

Beasty wrote: »

I'm certainly happy to take onboard any suggestions for discussion here. We've not got round to discussing anything in detail at Admin level, but discussion within this thread will certainly provide nudges for us to do so

Thanks

This came up about 6 months ago, largely to do with the Entertainment Category and dying/dead forums. This was my suggestion at the time, but the same approach could probably be taken with several categories. There's very little happening in the way of forum growth on Boards these days, which is an area I think the Admin team could prob look into time permitting. Areas of new growth/discussion need to be identified and trialled, because there seems to be disparity in terms of growth versus retiring old forums.

kneemos

This has been going for years. You could throw a dart anywhere in the A-Z and nine times out if ten the forum will be either dead or kept alive by a handful posting a few times per month.

Anybody coming to the site will be confronted by a sea of unused forums and promptly leave.

TheValeyard

kneemos wrote: »

This has been going for years. You could throw a dart anywhere in the A-Z and nine times out if ten the forum will be either dead or kept alive by a handful posting a few times per month.

Anybody coming to the site will be confronted by a sea of unused forums and promptly leave.

There are some exceptions though. Some forums are dormant until next season starts in that show. Like Doctor Who, very quiet now, but gets active when a new season starts.

kneemos

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

There are some exceptions though. Some forums are dormant until next season starts in that show. Like Doctor Who, very quiet now, but gets active when a new season starts.

A cursery glance through the A-Z I found several that had not been visited for years,and I only went as far as D. The vast majority of the rest were all but dormant.
Also some of them go directly to Adverts.

How difficult is it to merge this stuff?

Inviere

kneemos wrote: »

How difficult is it to merge this stuff?

Surprisingly so, there's a few considerations to make before doing so. I agree though, it needs to be done across all categories, a cleaning of the house as-it-were. Big big job though that needs a lot of volunteer time in order to happen.

Beasty

Inviere wrote: »

Surprisingly so, there's a few considerations to make before doing so. I agree though, it needs to be done across all categories, a cleaning of the house as-it-were. Big big job though that needs a lot of volunteer time in order to happen.

Just to add, when I closed a number of Sports forums 18 months ago, that was after giving posters the opportunity to discuss the idea and make their case. That takes time (I know I allowed that to drag on for too long though)

4 TV forums were archived only yesterday

I de-modded over 20 inactive mods over the weekend - again that was done after attempting to contact each of them first.

Another thing we discussed some time ago was the future of Hosted forums - some progress was made at the time, but other things cropped up and that exercise has been pretty much neglected since

These things are considered, but it takes a bit of effort to finalise decisions. Yes there is a hell of a lot more that can be done, but equally it does come down to how we prioritise stuff, and sometimes the re-reg trolls, Prison and Feedback threads and the like end to rise to the top of the pile

I realise it's us as Admins who's court this sort of stuff is primarily in, and maybe we need to adopt a more structured approach. The problems do tend to come back to other things suddenly requiring attention

Another thing we probably need to consider is additional Admin support, as although there are a number with the "Administrator" title, there's probably only half a dozen or so of us who are currently particularly active

Sad Professor

Re: the Entertainment category

After the recent mergers, the Television sub category is significantly smaller than it used to be. The sub forums that remain are mostly justified IMO. The S&F sub category could probably do with being looked at though. With the exception of Star Trek, Doctor Who & Torchwood, Star Wars, and Superheroes, most of the forums there could be merged back into the main Sci-fi & Fantasy forum and nobody would miss them.

TheValeyard

Sad Professor wrote: »

Re: the Entertainment category

After the recent mergers, the Television sub category is significantly smaller than it used to be. The sub forums that remain are mostly justified IMO. The S&F sub category could probably do with being looked at though. With the exception of Star Trek, Doctor Who & Torchwood, Star Wars, and Superheroes, most of the forums there could be merged back into the main Sci-fi & Fantasy forum and nobody would miss them.

Star Trek is very active.

Sad Professor

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

Star Trek is very active.

I know, I mod it. I meant with the exception of Star Trek and the other forums I mentioned.

Mr E

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

Star Trek is very active.

Hence "with the exception of"

Sci-Fi could do with a cleanup alright. Some forums could be rolled into Television too...

Sad Professor

Mr E wrote: »

Sci-Fi could do with a cleanup alright. Some forums could be rolled into Television too...

If those dead forums are merged/archived, we could also consider eliminating the S&F and Television sub categories altogether and just put the remaining TV/S&F forums at the base of the Ent category where they might get more traffic. It might be simpler.

So the category would look like this:

- Celebrity & Showbiz
- Doctor Who
- Films
- Game of Thrones
- Podcasts
- Radio
- Reality TV
- Sci-fi & Fantasy
- Soap Operas
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Superheroes
- Television
- The Walking Dead
- Top Gear

TheValeyard

Sad Professor wrote: »

I know, I mod it. I meant with the exception of Star Trek and the other forums I mentioned.

Mr E wrote: »

Hence "with the exception of"

Sci-Fi could do with a cleanup alright. Some forums could be rolled into Television too...

Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Completely misread that.

Im off to bed........no touchin the Trek forum!

Beasty

Murray TheDemonic TalkingSkull wrote: »

Im off to bed........no touchin the Trek forum!

Too late - it's on the "list" now


:pac:

Inviere

Sad Professor wrote: »

If those dead forums are merged/archived, we could also consider eliminating the S&F and Television sub categories altogether and just put the remaining TV/S&F forums at the base of the Ent category where they might get more traffic. It might be simpler.

So the category would look like this:

- Celebrity & Showbiz
- Doctor Who
- Films
- Game of Thrones
- Podcasts
- Radio
- Reality TV
- Sci-fi & Fantasy
- Soap Operas
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Superheroes
- Television
- The Walking Dead
- Top Gear

I think that's a good idea, though I'd nuke the Top Gear forum to high heaven, it has threads on the front page going back to June 2016. It's dead. Let Top Gear discussion happen in the main TV forum, with a thread for Top Gear, and one for The Grand Tour (though that's finished now I think?)

I've also previously suggested changing the Finished & Cancelled Shows section to be a forum, rather than a container for other forums. Just move all the finished show discussion into it, and all the dead content from the S&F container, and it can be expanded with [TAG]'s so very easily easily in the future, rather than having to add new forums for big shows that are finished.

So with the above in place, it could look like this:

Entertainment:

- Films
- Television
- Finished & Cancelled TV Shows
- Game of Thrones
- Reality TV
- Soap Operas
- The Walking Dead
- Celebrity & Showbiz
- Radio
- Podcasts
- Doctor Who
- Sci Fi & Fantasy
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Superheroes

Sad Professor

Inviere wrote: »

I've also previously suggested changing the Finished & Cancelled Shows section to be a forum, rather than a container for other forums. Just move all the finished show discussion into it, and all the dead content from the S&F container, and it can be expanded with [TAG]'s so very easily easily in the future, rather than having to add new forums for big shows that are finished.

I'd be opposed to this because it would suggest that discussion of older shows has to take place there rather than in the main forum, i.e. it would potentially add to fragmentation of tv discussion. Also most of the forums for finished/cancelled shows have already been merged back to Television. Some of them, like Lost, were far larger than the ones that remain.

Inviere

Sad Professor wrote: »

I'd be opposed to this because it would suggest that discussion of older shows has to take place there rather than in the main forum

That's a fair point I hadn't considered

tsue921i8wljb3

Beasty wrote: »

Another thing we probably need to consider is additional Admin support, as although there are a number with the "Administrator" title, there's probably only half a dozen or so of us who are currently particularly active

There are several admins still with the title who have not posted, publicly at least, for nearly two years. Why do they still have access to such a role it they are not active on the site? With the recent change of terms outlined here is it time for a cull of inactive administrators?

dudara

^^ This is a very valid point. I'll raise it in the Admin forum and we will review.

Tom Mann Centuria

I think admins from the glory days deserve to keep their title, as an honourary thing. Don't really do any harm do they?

Beasty

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

I think admins from the glory days deserve to keep their title, as an honourary thing. Don't really do any harm do they?

OK Tom - The Rugby League forum can stay....

:pac:

More seriously thought - there are other ways to recognise their contribution over the years. We could even make it as simple as calling them "Ex-Admin" in their user title. Still entitled to their Coke and Hookers, but no-one is reading their posts as coming from someone with "current" authority at Admin level

dudara

Appreciate the sentiment, but Boards has an obligation to restrict the processing of, or access to, personal data. Perhaps some form of honourary title?

EDIT: Damn Beasty beat me to it.

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

I think admins from the glory days deserve to keep their title, as an honourary thing. Don't really do any harm do they?

keeping the title and not the privilege probably isn't technically feasible. I'd be uncomfortable with certain admins from the past having access to the personal information on this account for sure. As I feel they've abused certain levels of trust in the past.

Tom Mann Centuria

All good points that I didn't really consider. I suppose their usernames are the legacy anyway, title less important since they were all just posters like the rest of us at one point anyway.


I wasn't keen on the old dead forums closing because they made my forum look positively lively in comparison

droidman123

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

I think admins from the glory days deserve to keep their title, as an honourary thing. Don't really do any harm do they?

This is the type of post that makes this site so entertaining

Inviere

Beasty wrote: »

More seriously thought - there are other ways to recognise their contribution over the years. We could even make it as simple as calling them "Ex-Admin" in their user title. Still entitled to their Coke and Hookers, but no-one is reading their posts as coming from someone with "current" authority at Admin level

Village Elders

Beasty

Inviere wrote: »

Village Elders

Don't like the sound of that....


....as I'm probably older than any of them:(

Zaph

Inviere wrote: »

Village Elders

At least you didn't suggest Village Idiots.

Fr_Dougal

Zaph wrote: »

At least you didn't suggest Village Idiots.

How about ‘Village People’?

The Black Oil

ASD Parenting was always going to very limited in success. That was obvious before it even got the green light, imo.