Recategorisation / Renaming of Categories

Cloud

I propose a recategorisation of the forums as follows...

I'd like to have the same top-level categories as the Open Directory Project, except for the two extra ones of System Boards and Hosted Boards. ODP has 16 top-levels, but we would probably only need 10 of those.

Initial proposition:


Arts
- Same forums as is, but also Music
- Music »


Business ("Biz")
- Business / Economy / Finance
- Commercial Interaction »
- etc.


Computers ("Comp")
- Nets / Comms »
- Operating Systems »
- Programming
- Security
- Web »
- etc.


Games
- Same forums as is


Hosted
- Incorporate the Community forums in a more generic top-level category


Science ("Sci")
- Electronics
- Science
- Technology
- etc.


Recreation ("Rec")
- Same forums as in After Hours, more meaningful name


Shopping ("Shop")
- Incorporate the Classifieds forums in a more generic top-level category


Society ("Soc")
- Same forums as is


Sports
- Same forums as is


System
- Same forums as in Admin, but with a slightly more meaningful name
- Help (was Admin / Support)
- Feedback (was Bickering / Suggestions)
- Discussion (not sure if there's too much overlap between this and Feedback, I'd suggest merging with Feedback)
- Forums (a better place for forum requests, new forum details, forum moves or recategorisation)
- Latest or News or Announcements or System or something (for general announcements about the site)
- Newbies / FAQ
- etc.

I suppose most changes are cosmetic. Please post comments here. I will update the proposition above according to comments.

Vex, would the Commercial Interaction forums be Biz or Shop or both?

seamus

OK, my few cents....

Arts
- Same forums as is, but also Music
- Music »

So-so. The Music
dropdown is almost as big as the Arts one. Quite a lot of users (half, was it?) who join up are interested in discussing Music, and this may make it more difficult to find.

Biz
- Business / Economy / Finance
- Commercial Interaction »
- etc.

But what's the "etc"?

Comp
- Nets / Comms »
- Operating Systems »
- Programming
- Security
- Web »
- etc.

Again,

Hosted
- Incorporate the Community forums in a more generic top-level category

Good idea

Sci
- Electronics
- Science
- Technology
- etc.

Another good oen.

Shopping
- Incorporate the Classifieds forums in a more generic top-level category

(To me) it gives the impression that you can actually shop. Classifieds lets you know that they're classified ads, not shopping forums. The only change I would propose would be to create a "Jobs" board under classifieds, and move the Work board to Society, for work-related discussion.

System
- Same forums as in Admin, but with a slightly more meaningful name

Something much colder about the name. I just don't like it. That's my reason

I like the icons though

Cloud

Yes, the menus are getting bigger, and it may be a reason (as admins are discussing) to display a second row of relevant sub-categories or maybe a vertical menu down the left - but I think it is still important to have the correct parent categories in place. Music isn't alone with being an important category that should be up top - there's also Education, Languages and Sci-Fi that are quite large, but they can't all be top-level categories

I'm glad you have that warm, fuzzy feeling when you see "Admin" seamus But the System boards aren't just for administration issues, but also for events, awards and other general boards things. "Site Boards" and "Home Boards" have connotations (sp.) with web pages and hosting - so I thing System is general enough to include all.

Edit:I think you're right - there is some confusion in the Work forum - maybe one forum for Appointments in Classifieds and one for Work issues elsewhere (Biz?).

Dont be at yourself

I'm aware that this is old ground, but I feel it is worth bringing up:

The problem isn't catagorization (or, at least, not all catagorization), but rather to do with the large number of forums, most of which are unneccessary. The music forum would quite easily fit in under Arts if some (or most, ideally) of the sub-forums were scrapped or merged - and would result in little or no loss of posts. And that's not just the music section either: games would be another obvious example.

Cloud

We can take a look at combining old unused forums (with a low level of activity) if it is a problem. If you have any obvious examples, post them here.

I'm going to move this to Feedback / Suggestions now. Thanks for the discussion so far.

DeVore

In general I like this but two points jump to mind:

1. Music really should stay a top level category, we should create the Trad Music forum too and personally I think we should expand rather then contract that area.

2. What about the Subbed forum menu? Its crucial to the way I use boards (what about you guys?).

DeV.

oscarBravo

Originally posted by DeVore
2. What about the Subbed forum menu? Its crucial to the way I use boards (what about you guys?).

Most definitely - it's the only menu I access 90% of the time. I can't imagine Boards without it!

Cloud

Yep, Subbed and New would stay as menu items, since they're not forum categories I didn't mention them...

Should Trad also encompass Folk? I think that while Music does belong under Arts, there should be a way to promote sub-categories to the top-level of our menu bar.

(BTW good idea on the New menu item DeV.)

fitz

The Trad board was suggested previously and seemed to get the go ahead.

I had suggested it be expanded to Trad/Folk/Acoustic.

Reason being, the Rock/Metal forum doesn't really cater for more mellow, acoustic rock type music, there's a bit of a niche missing there, which I think is extremely worthwhile...

Music category being as visible as it is, well, I don't think that should be changed.
It's probably a more immediate category for people to be interested in posting on that most of the stuff under Arts, although I like most of the rest of your suggestions Cloud...

Anyway...bring on the Trad/Folk/Acoustic forum!!

amp

Sounds good. Also could whoever keeps renaming various forums in Admin please stop it, it's very confusing. Last night Admin/Support was Help/ Support/ Angst or something.

Cloud

Originally posted by amp
Sounds good. Also could whoever keeps renaming various forums in Admin please stop it, it's very confusing. Last night Admin/Support was Help/ Support/ Angst or something.

No

But you have given me a good new username for you Thanks angst!

Asok

DeVore

heads down folks... he's back on that escalator! [1]

DeV.
ok, that quote is a little bit odd but kudos to anyone bar Amp and Dotc who can place it

sceptre

Originally posted by DeVore
heads down folks... he's back on that escalator! [1]

DeV.
ok, that quote is a little bit odd but kudos to anyone bar Amp and Dotc who can place it

Mallrats

It's criminal!

Crash

<pedant>

actually i believe the correct phrasing of that quote (if sceptre is right) is

I don't believe....that kid is BACK on the escalator again!

</pedant>

Raphael

Um...what happens to community, didnt see that in your list..

Edit: Never mind, I'm an idiot

seamus

Originally posted by Raphael
Um...what happens to community, didnt see that in your list..

It'll be put under a "Hosted" category.

leeroybrown

The seperation of Technology (in it's current form) into Sci rather than Comp doesn't make sense as the majority of it's threads/posts are about computer hardware/software.

Likewise H/W Tweaking/Modding is currently in Electronics which is listed in Science. It is also 90%+ computer related (about half of these should probably be in Tech).

fitz
The Trad board was suggested previously and seemed to get the go ahead.

I had suggested it be expanded to Trad/Folk/Acoustic.

There are many who would argue that Trad/Folk and Acoustic are worlds apart.

amp

Originally posted by Cloud
No

But you have given me a good new username for you Thanks angst!

Oh Lord! Why must you test my faith so?

Victor

Originally posted by Cloud
Arts - Same forums as is, but also Music

I don't use music, but I think it should be separate. What about the name "Entertainment" (long I know).

Originally posted by Cloud
Business ("Biz")
- Business / Economy / Finance
- Commercial Interaction »
- etc.

How about calling it "Money" and including Work and Accommodation / Property?

Originally posted by Cloud
Science ("Sci")
- Electronics
- Science
- Technology
- etc.

I'd stick with "Sci / Tech" or "Sci/Tech".

Originally posted by Cloud
Recreation ("Rec") - Same forums as in After Hours, more meaningful name

Some of these forums aren't "rec", e.g. Weather.

Originally posted by Cloud
Society ("Soc") - Same forums as is

"Soc" may not be understood by non-university students

Originally posted by Cloud
System

Nah, stick with Admin, more intuitive.

Sleepy

Trad should really be kept seperate from the acoustic/folk music boards because there's a massive difference between the scenes...

zoro

Hey, I just thought that the "Comp" category would be better named as "Tech" as it means more as a shorthand word.

Also, consider renaming "Rec" to "Recreation" or something similar

I find it pretty damn difficult to decipher some of the categories and where each subcategory that I'm looking for is

Daniel

zoro

Sorry about the extra thread Thanks for merging mr mod

Sleepy

I'd second the call on "Rec", it's not the most intuitive of titles.

Cloud

Rec has been identified on USENET's discussion groups for over 20 years, and you'll learn too old dogs!

(Same for Comp, Sci and Soc.)

leeroybrown

The main reason people's brains point them towards the old location is to give them a chance to do what they do best ... complain!

zoro

I'll agree with that

Cloud: Fair enough

jesus_thats_gre

Instead of Comp or Tech, can we not have Geek or Nerd?

Sleepy

Originally posted by Cloud
Rec has been identified on USENET's discussion groups for over 20 years, and you'll learn too old dogs!

(Same for Comp, Sci and Soc.)

/me runs away to the corner with his tail between his legs....

Do I feel like a n00b right now

Crash

Originally posted by Cloud
Rec has been identified on USENET's discussion groups for over 20 years, and you'll learn too old dogs!

(Same for Comp, Sci and Soc.)

...and look at the way usenet is today. bad argument cloud

my only problem with this reorganisation is that
a)my subbed list is going through the roof
b)on dialup switching between so many forums for my usual read is pretty awkward, time consuming and bandwidth consuming.

ButcherOfNog

this reorganisation of forums annoyed me so much i spent time finding where you'd hidden the feedback forum so i could whinge about it.

*whinge*

.. like Boards Events is under system? go the whole hog and rename it 'pourties' and stick it under 'soc', like yah.