Category reorganisation (this is a big one)

tricky D

Dav wrote: »

We're not deleting anything except some superfluous sub-categories like you'll see in Region -> Dublin County South -Dublin County South for example.

Can or will the same be done for Film > Film and all other ones with the same parent and child category names?

evolving_doors

Teaching and Lecturing ----> Secondary Teaching

The lecturing component has always been a bit of a tumbleweed on the T&L forum to my mind. There was an odd few primary teachers knocking about so it'll be sad to cut the apron strings and move on to big school .

The Teaching Abroad sub forum raises an anomaly though if the T&L is to become the new Secondary. TA encompasses TEFL, Primary, Secondary and the odd universities, maybe a forum on it's own!
It's a pretty hot topic considering the numbers emigrating and the demand for such superb Irish teachers:D. It might need a new mod though as generally we let em at it until I get reported posts or spot some blatant spam. Within that sub-forum education recruiting agencies need to be handled by someone in the know as there's a fine line between advertising/information and outright scammers (there's a few long term posters in that forum that would be good mods if needs be).

Educational theory sub forum is a bit 'quiet'.

looksee

Regardless of which forum ends up where, I think the two titles 'Social and Fun' and 'Society and Culture' are going to cause endless confusion, they are too similar sounding.

Aard

Motoring and Transport
I really dislike the name. In "Commuting and Transport" for example, very little of the discussion has to do with cars, and is more concerned with bus/rail services and maybe even cycling.

I think that having "Motoring" as the first part of the name of the category gives the wrong impression of the type of posts that are encouraged. There are often, for example, "motorists vs cyclists" threads and the likes, and having "Motoring" in the title is just emphasising this adversarial standpoint.

sdanseo wrote: »

Motoring and Transport

I'm not sure that the Infrastructure forum belongs in here. While transport infrastructure is the most popular topic of discussion, there are many topics in here that are not remotely related to motoring or transport. I'd say this would be better placed under science along with things like Engineering. That or perhaps have a category for the environment incorporating these types of forums?

I agree to a certain extent. In reality, a lot of Infrastructure posts are transport-related. I think that having a "Transport & Environment" category or something along those lines could work well. Also bring in Construction and Planning, Sustainability & Environmental Issues, Aviation & Aircraft, even Architecture. It's a very difficult subject to draw boundaries on.

Beasty

Aard wrote: »

Motoring and Transport

I think that having "Motoring" as the first part of the name of the category gives the wrong impression of the type of posts that are encouraged. There are often, for example, "motorists vs cyclists" threads and the likes, and having "Motoring" in the title is just emphasising this adversarial standpoint.

Motors is one of the most popular forums on the site and already attracts around twice as much traffic as the rest of the proposed category (looking at both posts and threads to date). Including "motoring" in the category title is likely to make it easier to find the forum and probably boost its traffic, which is presumably one of the main purposes of this reorganisation.

Avada

For me, the infrastructure forum should not be here, it suggests that the forum is transport infrastructure only, which it really isn't.

Polar101

Regional
It was mentioned that some subcategories will be deleted in Regions, hopefully that means getting rid of this:

Region > East > Dublin County West > Dublin 15

Currently it's a Dunnes Stores store locator style "what country do you live in? What county? what post code?" trek to get to the D15 forum.. why not have it under "East"?

Dav

But if you're finding it hard to navigate to, why isn't it on your "Followed" list so it's always available on your My Forums menu?

Infrastructure needs to find a better home, I'll work on that today along with the rest of the feedback, thank you very much folks.

Peregrine

I don't think Maritime belongs in Business & Finance, I think it should be in Motoring & Transport with Aviation & Aircraft and the like.

Infrastructure is a tough one. While transport infrastructure are popular topics, there's plenty of other debates going on. Recent topics include the metric system, census and postcodes. I think Society and Culture might be the best place to put it.

"Chess, sport or not?" is a whole other discussion and is probably just a matter of opinion.

And I echo what others have said about C&H and O&O but I see there are already discussions going on in both forums about this.

Dont be at yourself

Can I suggest changing 'Computer Games' to 'Videogames' [or Video Games, at a push!] -- the latter is much more widely used these days and applicable in a much broader context than 'Computer Games', which increasingly comes across as the gaming equivalent of 'motion picture' for movies.

Myrddin

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

Can I suggest changing 'Computer Games' to 'Videogames' [or Video Games, at a push!] -- the latter is much more widely used these days and applicable in a much broader context than 'Computer Games', which increasingly comes across as the gaming equivalent of 'motion picture' for movies.

I had the same thought also, but wasn't sure about it...

Darkglasses

Yeah I'll +1 that too. I'd also accept "Vidja games".

wnolan1992

All wrong.

The correct answer is "Vidyo Games"

looksee

But Vidyos are so last week, don't they come on dvds now?

Dav

Actually, they come on BluRays now

Work continues on this folks, I'll have a new thread for us all to give a final review to on Monday afternoon I reckon. I know there're a few forums asking their members what they think of their placement which is great. So if any of you have any results from your communities, let me know. Thank you again for the help and input.

hullaballoo

Legal Discussion

Unfortunately, I do not have the time I was hoping to free up to deal with this in some detail but although I can understand how the law and legal system is seen as a business sector, it is not.

Fundamentally, lawyers are not providing a service in the way that bankers/financial advisers or public relations bodies do. A lawyer's function, whether people are prepared to believe it or not, is to represent the interests of their clients without fear or favour. You hear in the news that x and y have been struck off for defrauding clients and you have a lot of people giving out about lawyers and the legal system being designed to just absorb money from people. In the first instance, it's important to note that when someone is struck off, they have committed a wrong that is not tolerated within the profession. Unfortunately, these are usually to do with dishonesty and that is because lawyers are often placed in a position of trust. In the alternative example, it is true that engaging lawyers is expensive but if you are found to be in the right, you generally do not end up paying much for the lawyers. It's people who either committed some wrong for which they are getting sued or people who insist on suing when they have not been wronged who end up with stiff legal bills. (It's probably important enough to mention here that the biggest earners in the legal world are probably transaction or funds lawyers operating on behalf of major businesses engaging in their mergers/takeovers etc. Those clients are financially mighty and can and will pay for the best to represent them. Lawyers with that sort of earning capacity form maybe 5% of the profession. Unsurprisingly, they also do not spend much time on boards arguing with strangers about the niceties of constitutional interpretation.)

In any event, leaving the perceived financial aspects aside, legal systems the world over have grown out of societal and cultural needs - to maintain order and prevent wrongdoing within our societies. Where culture comes into play is what gives rise to the different legal systems across the globe. For example, there is no legal provision here that deals with regards to ceremonial masks because our culture does not require it to maintain the fabric of society. Extensive laws exist elsewhere for these masks.

A quick way of finding out more about this is to read the tomes and tomes of jurisprudential writings over the past few thousand years where this function has been examined. Globally, what can be said is that laws are made to reflect societal and cultural issues. Their binding nature is what we refer to as the social contract. In order to participate freely within the society to which we purport to belong, we must adhere to the confines of the social contract wherever we may be.

In terms of the relevance of the above, it informs what I'm going to say next. The vast majority of threads on Legal Discussion are people who have queries relating to minor legal matters, such as petty crime like road traffic offences, consumer contractual issues, employment matters etc. Occasionally, the big guns come out to play and you'll see serious legal debate. All of the above relate to the above societal issues that have given rise to laws to protect citizens from one another. Previously, there were many laws being made to protect citizens from the State but these were mostly judge-made laws. Nowadays, judges are reluctant to legislate from the bench since the English stopped doing it and saying it was for the legislature. The upshot is that we now have many many laws designed to protect the State, with fewer being promulgated for individual rights. This is a matter of discussion as well, though probably not put so concisely. One of the most frequent queries that arises relates to TV licence fees. You can now have your fundamental right to liberty impeded because you didn't pay a yearly tax of €160. Surely that's something society should be concerned about?

TL; DR: I am strongly of the view that Legal Discussion belongs in Society and Culture, not Business.

Grolschevik

hullaballoo wrote: »

Legal Discussion

TL; DR: I am strongly of the view that Legal Discussion belongs in Society and Culture, not Business.

Ditto.

Pat Mustard

hullaballoo wrote: »

Legal Discussion

The vast majority of threads on Legal Discussion are people who have queries relating to minor legal matters, such as petty crime like road traffic offences, consumer contractual issues, employment matters etc. Occasionally, the big guns come out to play and you'll see serious legal debate. All of the above relate to the above societal issues that have given rise to laws to protect citizens from one another.

TL; DR: I am strongly of the view that Legal Discussion belongs in Society and Culture, not Business.

I posted the following in the Legal Discussion Mods' forum, in support of a view that the Legal Discussion forum belongs in the soc category:

The Mustard wrote: »

most of the posts about issues tend to be social issues rather than business issues. The more common issues tend to be neighbour disputes, employment issues, crime, probate & administration of estates, residential purchases, water charges, taxes and legal aspects of current affairs.

There are posts from people who ask about buying commercial property and business-related issues but these are few.

The Soc category is the better fit as far as I can see.

I will also mention that I think that it might be worth considering merging the business category with soc and calling it "Society and Commerce" or something like that.

Dav

hullaballoo wrote: »

Legal Discussion
TL; DR: I am strongly of the view that Legal Discussion belongs in Society and Culture, not Business.

Cool with me.

I think Mustard's idea of Society & Commerce makes too big of a combined category though.

MarkAnthony

On the back of comments made ref the Legal Discussions forum, good to see it no lumped in the business section, it just doesn't fit there really. As I mentioned over there a discussion of transgender rights or length of sentences would simply be nonsensical there.

The only reason I mention that is although I see what you're saying ref The Mustards suggestion, the business section is looking a bit sparse. Would some kind of link with Home and Garden not be better. A sort of Economy forum?

EDIT maybe gardening would then have to go with other hobbies leaving the money side of things in the Economy section.

wnolan1992

We opened a poll in C&H. I think most our group of regulars have voted at this stage. Clear preference for Social and Fun. Make of that what you will, as said before there's arguments for both options. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057396667

Victor

1TalkTo
The content and quality of the tag lines varies hugely. Standardise / innovate them somewhat.

Victor

2Regional
Make 'North West' the same as the rest.

Victor

3Arts
Should 'Boards Writers' be under 'Creative Writing'?
Make 'Sci-Fi & Fantasy' the same as the rest.
Move 'Mythology' to 15SocietyCulture?

Victor

4BusinessFinance
Change to 'Money'?
Move 'Accommodation & Property' to '8HomeGarden'
Move Maritime to '9Motoring' (that I suggest renaming '9Transport & Travel')?
Merge 'Marketing' and 'Public Relations'?
Merge 'Consumer' and 'Personal'?
Create 'Post & Couriers'.

Victor

5ComputerGames
Note the current Games forum includes real world games. Change to '5Games'.
People may not necessarily associate mobile gaming with 'Computer Games'

Victor

7Entertainment
Are you happy with the split between 3Arts, 7Entertainment and 11Music?

Victor

8HomeGarden
Move 'Accommodation & Property' from to '4BusinessFinance' to '8HomeGarden'

Victor

9Motoring
Change to '9Transport & Travel'
Category is flooded with Motoring forums, but isn't all motoring.
Move '4x4 & Tractors & Diggers & Plant', 'Classic Cars', etc. to 'Motors'
Add 'Travel' forums as they have an overlap with 'Aviation & Aircraft', 'Commuting & Transport', etc.

Victor

11Politics
Is politics too narrow for a Category of its own? Move to '15SocietyCulture'?