Category reorganisation (this is a big one)

Victor

12RecreationHobbies
Move the games ('Chess', etc.) to '5Games'?
Move 'Travel' to '9Transport & Travel'

Victor

13ScienceHealth
Do 'Economics', 'Engineering', 'Watches & Timepieces' feel at home here?

Victor

14SocialFun
Is there a Hosted sub-forum called 'Copyright'?

Victor

15SocietyCulture
Move 'Accessibility & Mobility & Disability' to 13ScienceHealth?
Move 'Farming & Forestry' to 4BusinessFinance?
Move 'Weddings, Marriage & Civil Partnerships under 'Family'?

Victor

16Sports
Change 'Rugby' to 'Rugby Union'?

Victor

17TechnologyInternet
Move 'Virus & Malware Removal' under 'Information Security'.

looksee

Goodness, Victor, you have been busy! Which led me to have a closer look at the proposals.

Why are Science and Health in one grouping? There are enough to split them into two - Science, and Health.

I don't agree about putting Accessibility etc into that section, it is more about the 'integrating into society' aspects of life than specific health issues.

Myrddin

Victor wrote: »

15SocietyCulture
Move 'Accessibility & Mobility & Disability' to 13ScienceHealth?

Definitely a -1 from me there too, as looksee said, there's much more to disability than just health aspects.

The_Conductor

looksee wrote: »

Goodness, Victor, you have been busy! Which led me to have a closer look at the proposals.

Why are Science and Health in one grouping? There are enough to split them into two - Science, and Health.

I don't agree about putting Accessibility etc into that section, it is more about the 'integrating into society' aspects of life than specific health issues.

When I was mod of Long Term Illness- I suggested the same- as for identical reasons we felt the whole purpose of the forum was for people to interact socially with one another- in a 'café' sort manner. In any event offering medical advice is automatically against the forum's (and the site's) rules- so from that perspective- the little it has in common with the pure sciences- is nullified.

I would strongly suggest that Health, Accessibility and Long Term Illness- deserve to be treated as a Soc grouping- rather than a Science grouping.

As it stands- significant numbers of posters from Accessibility and LTI are simply moving over to Facebook and elsewhere- as the 'Science' designation- and, in some cases, the moderator's medical, pharmaceutical and pure science backgrounds- stiffles what could be a very welcome place for people to let their hair down and relax with other people who actually understand them.......

I would strongly argue that LTI and Accessibility- deserve to be looked at again in a new light- and afforded a Soc designation..........

The Hill Billy

Recreation & Hobbies
Dav - Any chance that The Cooking Club could be moved out from under Cooking & Recipes to being a direct sub-forum of Food & Drink?

What started out as a bit of a 'pet' forum has taken on a life of its own & increased prominence would help it further.

Victor

looksee wrote: »

I don't agree about putting Accessibility etc into that section, it is more about the 'integrating into society' aspects of life than specific health issues.

The main reason I was suggesting this is that is because I saw 'Eyeglasses & Contact Lenses & Eyecare' there (and assumed 'Deaf and Hard of Hearing' was there also).

Black Swan

Science & Health

Once again, methinks that Dav's plans for Science & Health are grand.

Victor wrote: »

13ScienceHealth
Do 'Economics', 'Engineering', 'Watches & Timepieces' feel at home here?

Methinks they work fine together.

looksee wrote: »

Why are Science and Health in one grouping? There are enough to split them into two - Science, and Health.

The health professionals I work with often refer to themselves as being a part of the health sciences, what they do as being informed by science, and many of whom are employed in clinical reference and testing labs, health science research labs, university research hospitals, and in corporate research & development, all science based. One of the trends occurring in the health professions is the emergence of medical scholar-practitioners, who increasingly participate in both the science and practice of their profession, making science and health inseparable.

Furthermore, to split science and health into two different categories may be problematic in terms of generating enough post and view counts to justify separate categories.

Dades

I think also there's a fear that a standalone "Health" category would be perceived as a place to go for medical advice (which, for legal reasons, we have to discourage on Boards).

The_Conductor

We had a discussion about a possible new home for the likes of LTI (several years ago at this stage)- where it was pointed out that the majority of forum users are diagnosed with specific conditions- and were seeking an informal café like setting where people could informally discuss their conditions with likeminded people- without seeking medical advice. So- work issues would feature, the likes of accessibility and mobility, issues people are encountering in their everyday lives, a lot of cross-over regarding what work accommodations people have or might be entitled to, pay queries, how different aspects of conditions are handled by different people, problems being encountered, pharmacy issues (threads on this tended to get nuked- one of the mods was a pharmacist and took exception to people criticising pharmacies and the issues people with long term issues/disabilities were encountering) etc etc

Quite a few people who used regularly post- have splintered off elsewhere- as the 'medical' tag and the manner in which often innocuous discussions were forensically steered by some people (including some posters who identified themselves as student doctors, one pharmacist, and one individual who had an anti-vaccination/anti-water-chlorination/organic/holistic medicine agenda)- discouraged a café type atmosphere- where people- who had been diagnosed with specific conditions (not people randomly dropping in)- could discuss how their lives were affected on a day to day basis- and offer help and support to one another........

I realise I have a vested interest in this- given my own medical history- I do feel strongly about it though.........

The Hill Billy

Dades wrote: »

I think also there's a fear that a standalone "Health" category would be perceived as a place to go for medical advice (which, for legal reasons, we have to discourage on Boards).

What about changing it to "Fitness & Wellbeing" or "Fitness & Nutrition"? Or have the top-level forum as "Wellbeing" & keep the sub-forums named as the currently are.

Dav

That does make a lot more sense for a name actually.

OK, so I'm gonna do a final update on the forums and post them here with a view to having this wrapped up by Tuesday.

shanec1928

Sad Professor wrote: »

Technology and Internet:

Any chance the Mac forum could be moved out of Operating Systems and into Computers and Technology, or even Consumer Electronics? The forum has always been for the discussion of Mac hardware and software, not just the Mac operating system. This was never really an issue in the past, but since Apple Media Devices was renamed Apple Devices, it loses a lot of traffic to that forum. New users assume “devices” also means computers. The Apple Devices mods are good about moving threads over, but I get tired of reporting them all.

This! Look through the apple devices forum and the amount of posts in relation to MacBooks people don't think to look under OS to find a forum which is dedicated to macbooks

Brian?

The Hill Billy wrote: »

What about changing it to "Fitness & Wellbeing" or "Fitness & Nutrition"? Or have the top-level forum as "Wellbeing" & keep the sub-forums named as the currently are.

To my mind, "health and fitness" needs to be simply changed back to "Fitness" and left at that.

Any thread on nutrition should go in the diet and nutrition forum and adding "Wellbeing" invites posts about alternative medicines etc.

The "health and fitness" forum never actually stopped being the fitness forum after the last name change. We just spent more time closing medical advice threads.

The_Conductor

If you do that- you'll have stranded the likes of 'Long Term Illness' in no-mans land? Its an anamoly that its in Science at the moment- it needs a more appropriate home. Soc- is probably its most appropriate home in the current Cat contexts- however,thats not ideal either..........

Shield

Hi Dav,

While the Category overhaul is happening, is there anything that the collective brains in HQ can do about new boards.ie users going straight into the "Newbies & FAQ" forum and posting questions on everything from cliff diving to driving routes, bank bonds to car malfunctions, and from job advice to potential immigrants and beyond?

Also, will we be renaming the "Newbies & FAQ" forum itself? I know there was talk a good while ago of trying to come up with something that indicated the forum was for new boards.ie users to become familiar with the basics, along with some of the more FAQs that we are asked.

Also, lots of forums under the Sys heading, like Events, Media & Research, Census and Media Coverage all appear to be dead in the water. Are they being culled?

Thanks Dav.

The Hill Billy

If we get rid of Media & Research we'll be without a "no man's land" to send the survey spammers off to.

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.

Myrddin wrote: »

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

What are the chances of this Dav? "Video Games" from the perspective of a new user to the site has a better ring to it, over "Computer Games". The latter seems awfully out dated?

Spear

We can't just have "Computer and Video Games"?

Myrddin

Spear wrote: »

We can't just have "Computer and Video Games"?

CVG would sue us :P

Joking aside, that's a bit long for a category name no?

Spear

Myrddin wrote: »

CVG would sue us :P

Joking aside, that's a bit long for a category name no?

Is the name length really an issue? It avoids the ambiguity of just games at least. We're not quite stuck with the same old usenet name conventions anymore.

Myrddin

Spear wrote: »

Is the name length really an issue? It avoids the ambiguity of just games at least. We're not quite stuck with the same old usenet name conventions anymore.

I don't think there's much ambiguity left though with 'Video Games' is there? It pretty much does what it says on the tin, & as such, adding 'computer' to it seems superfluous?

Spear

Myrddin wrote: »

I don't think there's much ambiguity left though with 'Video Games' is there? It pretty much does what it says on the tin, & as such, adding 'computer' to it seems superfluous?

Maybe, and maybe it's just a reflection of my older generation and the terms we used to use.

The_Conductor

Myrddin wrote: »

I don't think there's much ambiguity left though with 'Video Games' is there? It pretty much does what it says on the tin, & as such, adding 'computer' to it seems superfluous?

How about sub-cats to account for the different platforms- Leap/Nintendo/PSP/Playstation/XBox/PC/iOS/Android.......?

Myrddin

The_Conductor wrote: »

How about sub-cats to account for the different platforms- Leap/Nintendo/PSP/Playstation/XBox/PC/iOS/Android.......?

We have a central Games forum, & then dedicated forums for PC, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, & Mobile already. There's then genre based forums like Massively Multiplayer, Fighting Games, Arcade & Retro etc. The majority of the chat happens in Games though, & from there it filters off to specific areas already

Myrddin

Spear wrote: »

Maybe, and maybe it's just a reflection of my older generation and the terms we used to use.

I grew up playing the Atari 2600 in the 80's...how much older is your generation?