Streamlining the forum structure

[mobvok]

Ok, first two posts are me, quoted from B&C:

I'm thinking about whining to the admins in a new thread in the Don't Expect, Suggest forum about the current Interference forum layout. Jumping back to the navel-gazing upthread for a second, I think one reason that there could be a small community in B&C is that it's relatively out of the way. The front page unnecessarily dices and segregates some of the U2 content into poorly visited top-level forums while hip, hopping young joints like this are hidden.

Ideally some of the U2 subforums get nested or absorbed into EYKIW, some of the ZOOTV introduction forums get nested, and maybe ZS and B&C are brought to the main page.

Any thoughts about that? Or am I which, like the toad, ugly and venomous.

Good idea but I reckon the majority of people who sign up for these boards are here to talk about U2, so when they see off-topic forums with threads with hundreds of posts they just ignore them. It was a long while before I started posting outside of EYKIW and related forums.

Yeah but the thing is, though, the current setup's doing a disservice to "pure" U2 fans as well. The current song lyrics forum is moving at a positively glacial pace, meaning there's little incentive for anyone wanting the reasonably quick gratification of a post in response to bother. Kind of trapped in a cycle of inattention. It's true that we're currently in a mid-album lull, but besides deleting the forum, another option would be to nest the song lyrics forum into Everything You Know along with Where the Album has No Name, hopefully leeching off that forum's popularity and general discussion nature to spark more thought, as opposed to being simply 1 of 25 on the front page.

It's this sort of spring-cleaning re-assessment of each forum I think is currently lacking somewhat. Should the Pen Pals forum really be above EYKIW, FYM, PLEBA, or Lemonade Stand?

While Interference is obviously successful and hardly a deathly labyrinth, that does not mean the status quo is the most efficient or optimal possible way of organizing. As Interference is a living community of users, I think a periodic evaluation should probably happen to take the pulse of community conversation.

There are basically three options here: "nesting" front-page forums, which turns them into the same relationship as Where the Album Has No Name has to EYKIW where they're subordinate, erasing and merging forums together (The Goal Is Soul into EKYIW, for example), and bringing nested forums (like B&C) down. The point of all this is to make it as easy as possible to navigate, the front page in particular, instead of navigating through 25 sometimes-rarely-used forums. At the same time, it tries to make some of the specialized U2 forums livelier.

Any thoughts?

 

[mobvok]

Here's a sample arrangement/trim:

ZOO TV:
Announcements
Babyface Cafe (Introduce yourself!)
---> Pen Pal, Interference/U2 Gathering subforums
HALP (Forum/Computer help)

Lypton Village:
Free Your Mind
Lemonade Stand
IO
B&C
Viva El Feedback

Your Blue Room:
EYKIW (U2360 box score revenue Sticky thread, song lyric discussion)
--> Album Has No Name, Guitar Tabs/How to Play Effects, Buy/Sell (?)
U2 Tour Central
PLEBA
Music On The Internet
Vertigo Tour Archive

United Colours:
Zoo Confess
(absorb Dream Out Loud into Lemonade Stand?)
(absorb The Goal is Soul into EYKIW)

But Not Least:
Don't Expect Suggest

So that's 25 --> 15 total forums on the front page. For reference, PLEBA is the 15th forum currently. Some of the forums near the bottom I'm a little fuzzy on/might not comprehend the significance of, and I can envision it being entirely possible that the advantage of a discrete forum outweighs the separation cost. But the whole idea is to raise thoughts.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I'm all for this idea, personally.

 

[mikal]

yep. all good stuff. when you look at Atease, their other music forum is right there for everyone to see. granted, if B&C ever got as bad as Atease, i'd probably vomit. but it would still be nice to see a little more traffic.

 

[cobl04]

I wish I didn't care even slightly if this changed, but at over 16,000 posts it's quite clear I'm a regular.

 

[bono_212]

I just don't understand why the main forum is so far down the list, that's the part to me that needs to be changed. I also feel like Inside Broadcast and this forum either should be next to each other or merged.

Why should B&C be its own forum? Maybe I'm just not following correctly...

 

[mobvok]

Well, Bang & Clatter is currently an active forum (more than IO, for example) that's getting slightly neglected as far as current forum placement, and since this forum is foundationally appealing to music fans who want to talk about their love of said music, it also makes more sense for B&C's front page status than if Interference was started as, say, a Honda motor enthusiasts board.

Of course, every change is (theoretically!) undo-able, so at the very least I don't see the harm in a 2 month long test drive if one were cautious.

I do agree that if the Your Blue Room forums were reduced in number, it might make more sense for Lypton Village and YBR to flip positions.

 

[SeeLoganRun]

I think all threads should be changed to be about Achtung Baby or Lemon.

 

[cobl04]

Well, Bang & Clatter is currently an active forum (more than IO, for example) that's getting slightly neglected as far as current forum placement, and since this forum is foundationally appealing to music fans who want to talk about their love of said music, it also makes more sense for B&C's front page status than if Interference was started as, say, a Honda motor enthusiasts board.

Of course, every change is (theoretically!) undo-able, so at the very least I don't see the harm in a 2 month long test drive if one were cautious.

I do agree that if the Your Blue Room forums were reduced in number, it might make more sense for Lypton Village and YBR to flip positions.

it also kinda makes sense to make B&C a front-page forum because a lot of the content on the Interference home page (not that i ever read it ) is random music related.

 

[mobvok]

it also kinda makes sense to make B&C a front-page forum because a lot of the content on the Interference home page (not that i ever read it ) is random music related.

Yeah, content-wise and stylistically @U2.com has the Interference main page licked so I virtually never go beyond the forums here. I remember reading a nice essay about the 1997 Popmart Leeds concert one time; but that was a while back. Wait- here it is.

 

[martha]

FYM and Lemonade Stand used to be at the bottom, but nobody looked for them there and would post those kinds of threads in the main U2 forum.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

FYM and Lemonade Stand used to be at the bottom, but nobody looked for them there and would post those kinds of threads in the main U2 forum.

oh yeah, i'd forgotten that. i only recently remembered when we had a radiohead forum before b&c existed.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Wait? There used to be a Radiohead designated board on this forum?

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i think it was called everything in its right place, with the description being yesterday i woke up sucking a lemon.

why do i remember these things?

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Because they become useful on occasions, like this one.

 

[mobvok]

Yeah.....

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

i think it was called everything in its right place, with the description being yesterday i woke up sucking a lemon.

 

[mobvok]

Here's a sample arrangement/trim:

ZOO TV:
Announcements
Babyface Cafe (Introduce yourself!)
---> Pen Pal, Interference/U2 Gathering subforums
HALP (Forum/Computer help)

Lypton Village:
Free Your Mind
Lemonade Stand
IO
B&C
Viva El Feedback

Your Blue Room:
EYKIW (U2360 box score revenue Sticky thread, song lyric discussion)
--> Album Has No Name, Guitar Tabs/How to Play Effects, Buy/Sell (?)
U2 Tour Central
PLEBA
Music On The Internet
Vertigo Tour Archive

United Colours:
Zoo Confess
(absorb Dream Out Loud into Lemonade Stand?)
(absorb The Goal is Soul into EYKIW)

But Not Least:
Don't Expect Suggest

So that's 25 --> 15 total forums on the front page. For reference, PLEBA is the 15th forum currently. Some of the forums near the bottom I'm a little fuzzy on/might not comprehend the significance of, and I can envision it being entirely possible that the advantage of a discrete forum outweighs the separation cost. But the whole idea is to raise thoughts.

One year anniversary suggestion

Deluxe Edition is $5 more, with 2 B-Sides