Category reorganisation (this is a big one)

Myrddin

Arts & Entertainment

The Sci-Fi and Fantasy sub-cat in Arts I'd question. At least for me personally, Doctor Who & Torchwood, Red Dwarf, Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate franchises are all by far and away cemented in tv shows and films. If the goal is user friendliness and intuitiveness, then I'd be an advocate of moving the mentioned sub-cat/forums to the Entertainment category. As a user, I'd expect to find all those forums in the category that caters to tv and film, not the one that caters predominantly to creative arts etc.

Sad Professor

Arts & Entertainment

I agree with Myrddin above that the Sci-Fi and Fantasy sub-category belongs in Entertainment. There’s always been a lot of overlap with these forum and Television, so keeping them close together is a good idea.

And if Films is considered more Entertainment then Arts, then I’d argue Comics belongs in Entertainment as well.

Dades

As a regular poster in SF&F I think I agree it might fare better in Entertainment (and indeed thrive).

SF is mainstream these days. The geeks shall inherit the earth.

L1m1tless

Myrddin wrote: »

Computer Games & Recreation and Hobbies


On the Recreation and Hobbies front:

1) Chess really shouldn't end up there. I'll advise the Chess mods of this question, & perhaps they might involve the community to give their opinions. There was a drive a while back to move Chess to the Sports category, that's how seriously the game is taken and played by its community here on boards. We felt leaving the Chess forum in the current Games category was best at the time, because it was only then that the forum was given it's own full on forum status, whereas it had previously been a subforum of the now retired Strategy forum. The idea was to let the Chess forum grow and develop, to later revisit the notion of moving it to Sports. At this stage, it's ready I feel to make the move. Moving it to a hobbyist category won't go down well with the locals at all

I agree with this, Chess is seen as a Sport in many countries, although not in Ireland at the moment.
I would imagine the chess forum users would be upset by being moved to "Recreation and Hobbies" but I am only guessing here based on my own feelings, I will see if I can get some more opinions from the users.

Spear

Given the long term and far reaching consequences of the reorganisation, does it not warrant a sitewide announcement?

Dav

It's got Front page and will have news letter presence. I'd much rather have a slow and steady flow of feedback so I can manage it properly rather than a tidal wave.

EnPassant

I also think that Sport is a better place for the Chess forum. It is very competitive with leagues and tournaments all over the country. To me, sport is the natural place for it.

Cookie_Monster

On the regional cat (and some others) why is the layout of North East and North West different?

IE North East is white background and black / blue writing while North West is blued out background and white writing. That doesn't make sense to me. Abroad is the same but there seems to be more valid reasons for highlighting that as different to the regional fora.

Moonbeam

I am delighted to see a secondary school forum.

I like the new layout it tidies things up a lot.

SoftMicro

Accommodation & Property

Not sure about moving that under Business as it would seem more of a Soc category where it currently is. Yes for sure there is an element of Business re: mortgage loans, buying selling houses, however there is probably more of an element of noisy neighbours, leaky pipes etc. Just my two cents.

Top job done to date, looks an impressive shake up.

The_Morrigan

SoftMicro wrote: »

Accommodation & Property

Not sure about moving that under Business as it would seem more of a Soc category where it currently is. Yes for sure there is an element of Business re: mortgage loans, buying selling houses, however there is probably more of an element of noisy neighbours, leaky pipes etc. Just my two cents.

Top job done to date, looks an impressive shake up.

Also on A&P. We get a lot of my neighbours tree/fence/child is getting on my wick as much as we get discussion on the property market. We also have the tenants/landlord rights element which is more legal than business.

I would have thought Home and Garden would have been a better fit.

SoftMicro

The_Morrigan wrote: »

Also on A&P. We get a lot of my neighbours tree/fence/child is getting on my wick as much as we get discussion on the property market. We also have the tenants/landlord rights element which is more legal than business.

I would have thought Home and Garden would have been a better fit.

Unless split it in two:
business > property (Mortgage rates, buying/selling, investments and landlords etc.)

and the other:
soci > accommodation (noisy neighbors, trees, rent relief queries etc.)

Maybe a bit messy but it is a very mixed bag in the one forum

Ted_YNWA

general

Just a general question there Dav, how will this impact on followed threads/forums?

Will existing followed threads auto-relink to the new location or will it be starting with a clean slate for users?


Apologies if I skipped over this in your posts.


Sorry, meant to add looks good btw, some categorisations can be a bit obscure, which is understandable as the discussions that can happen can veer in 14 directions after 5 threads.

Tokyo

Ted_YNWA wrote: »

general

Just a general question there Dav, how will this impact on followed threads/forums?

Will existing followed threads auto-relink to the new location or will it be starting with a clean slate for users?


Apologies if I skipped over this in your posts.


Sorry, meant to add looks good btw, some categorisations can be a bit obscure, which is understandable as the discussions that can happen can veer in 14 directions after 5 threads.

From here:

Dav wrote: »

3) What will happen to "My Forums" and "My Threads?"
Nothing at all, the changes in locations of some forums and categories won't have any impact on and followed forums and threads you've got.

Threads are identified by a threadID - the category that they fall under has no bearing on that. Followed threads should not be affected.

Ted_YNWA

mike_ie wrote: »

From here:



Threads are identified by a threadID - the category that they fall under has no bearing on that. Followed threads should not be affected.

Thanks Mike, that was the only question I missed in that

Overheal

Technology

I spotted that you didn't upload any detail view of the tech category - presumably no changes were made within the category, but this is the best time to discuss it. There are a lot of appendaged forums in the category when there doesn't need to be that much fragmentation. For instance, there is a Cloud and Distributed Computing forum, and there is also a Servers & Systems forum - which makes no sense. And the top level of the category is under-utilized - Tech only has 13 top level forums, while the average of other categories looks to be a couple dozen.

The entire Web forum and its sub-forums sound like they might fit better in the Business and Finance category, for people to discuss social media and internet marketing, etc.

Computers and Technology, Building and Upgrading, Laptops, Overclocking and Modding, Graphics: Re-jigger it to be New Technology (or Tech News), Notebooks, Desktops, Tablets. Upgrading and Modding should be a new joint forum.

Electronics should be it's own discrete forum along with Robotics.

The_Conductor

Dav wrote: »

So some changes here in moving of Accommodation & Property and Maritime into a "Business Sectors" category. I initially also had the Construction & Planning sub-forums as well as Farming in this new sub-category, but discussion with the relevant mods showed that these weren't the right fit. I'm debating whether or not we even keep the "Business Sectors" sub-cat, it doesn't seem to make as much sense as it did when I had 2 other very busy Topics included.

Legal Discussion is also coming under this Category, again, we think it's a better fit here given the nature of discussion, but an argument can be made to keep it under Soc (nownamed Society & Culture).

Dav- my tuppence- is that I genuinely do not feel that the Business grouping is an appropriate home for the Accommodation and Property forum. Certainly we do get the odd query relating to finances and/or mortgages- however, they are in a minority- mostly its queries relating to the Residential Tenancies Act (2004) alongside a bewildering array of issues from tenants, landlords, newspaper articles, various discussions including price trends, people's experiences of hunting for property, problems that occur (burst radiators, problems with various trades etc).

If anything having it as a Soc Cat is the most convenient home for it. Under Biz- it really would be like a fish out of water- certainly there are some Biz aspects to what is posted there- however, it is in a more stand-alone manner, quite ringfenced into discrete topics, and the entire raison d'etre of the forum is to enable discussion by the various interests- on relevant topics.

We honestly have more cross-over with State Benefits and the Gardening and DIY forums- than any other forums- and moving us to a Biz category would fundamentally change the ethos of the forum..........

I implore you to rethink the move for Accommodation and Property from its current Soc Cat home.

Thankyou.

The_Conductor

SoftMicro wrote: »

Unless split it in two:
business > property (Mortgage rates, buying/selling, investments and landlords etc.)

and the other:
soc > accommodation (noisy neighbors, trees, rent relief queries etc.)

Maybe a bit messy but it is a very mixed bag in the one forum

It is quite a mixed bag having both in the one forum, as at the moment- however the flipside of that coin is we get very good interaction from a wider cross section of the community when any issues arise- and forum users are very often offered ideas and/or perspectives that enable them to think in ways they might not have considered- and wouldn't consider- if they hadn't encountered landlords or other people who may have had to deal with their issues from a different angle.

It might seem to some people like a mess- but it does work.

Cookie_Monster

Dav wrote: »

Business & Finance:

So some changes here in moving of Accommodation & Property and Maritime into a "Business Sectors" category..

Really??

That's baffling, why is it under business when no other transport related forum is? The vast bulk of that forum is directly transport and/or enthusiast related with few, if any, actual hard business topics in it.
Why is it different to motors, C&T, Trains & Rail, buses, Aviation & Aircraft all of which sit under one heading?

Incidentally what's the difference between trains and planes that one is a main cat and one sits under C&T?

mikhail

Just on the chess forum: the bulk of posting there in recent years has been relating to competitive chess - the official Leinster leagues, major tournaments, etc. While I understand the perception of chess as a board game and 'just' a hobby, that community doesn't consist of casual players and would imo fit better into sport.

Mint Sauce

Dav wrote: »

Regional:


So we've taken Region out and given it a slight seperation from the rest of the site. There are a few reasons for this, but mostly the sorts of conversations that happen on the regional forums are quite different from the rest of the site. For example, if you're in Blanchardstown and you want an electrician, you're more likely to hit the D15 forum up rather than the Electrical as you're looking for someone specific to an area. You can have any number of different conversations on any number of different topics on the Regional forums, so giving them their own space makes a lot of sense to us.

One thhng i have noticed Dav, is the the NW Region, unlike all the other is that, there is not a Forum for the NW as well as the counties within this. Being a small region, there as questions or subjects, that may apply to the whole region, rather than just individual counties.

Edit

My bad, there is, although it is laid out diferently when you open up the NW forum. Still wonder why this is the case though.

cdeb

I'll echo what's been said about the chess forum alright. Doesn't really fit with model-making, the paranormal and zombie survival!

Ditto Poker I'd say - lots of competitions there.

Darts is (correctly) in the sports forum though there's not much exertion involved - I think chess (and poker) should follow.

Hyzepher

Not 100% sure Poker would fit in Sports. It is seen by a lot of poker players as a sport but thats not necessarily where people would go to find it. With the dwindling numbers on the forum placing it in sports may not be wise.

We may just have to put it under Gambling in the Rec section

Dades

I'd support moving Chess to Sport, but definitely not Poker.

EDIT: I can also see Accomodation & Property belonging in Soc.

Lovely Bloke

Chess isn't sport lads, it's a game.

Black Swan

The new Science & Health category looks grand Dav.

Tabnabs

Maritime as a business sub forum seems bizarre, should be in Transport with the likes of Aviation.

The_Conductor

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Chess isn't sport lads, it's a game.

If my memory serves me right- its actually recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee....... So too are many other 'games' though.......

L1m1tless

in India, the 2012 sportsperson of the year was Viswanathan Anand - a chess player.

reunion

Rather than get into an argument about if chess is a sport or not, Ireland does not see chess as a sport but internationally it is a sport.

so for new/old foreign players, looking up sport to find chess would make sense before rec & hobbies (IMHO).

For Irish players, neither rec & hobbies or sport are a good fit. Sport suits players who play for >1 year and rec & hobbies suit players who play online every once in a while. Education could also be a location for it.


But out of the choices I have now, I'd have to go for sports since for Irish players it makes no difference (neither really suit) but for foreign players it would be one of the first avenues that they would consider.