Heads up!
We're moving around a number of threads and forums!
Almost every thread is being scanned before its moved, so this is going to take a while.
Things should get stable towards the end of the day / 1st of November.
Heads up!
We're moving around a number of threads and forums!
Almost every thread is being scanned before its moved, so this is going to take a while.
Things should get stable towards the end of the day / 1st of November.
Hm. Do you think the move to multiple sub-forums (fora?) might have an impact on the number of people actually reading them? In the old format, it was very easy to have a quick browse, see if there was anything interesting or any questions you could answer. Now that you've multiplied the number by 4, 5 or 6 do you think you might lose some of that "browsing" traffic? That could mean you lose a lot of responses to questions - resulting in fewer posts in the first place.
This could happen partly because it's less convenient with 5 times as many forums to check, but also people are going to be much more targetted in what they read (good in its own way), meaning they won't see and respond to slightly off-target threads they would have seen otherwise.
Doug : I wish I had an answer for that ... it is definitely a known concern here.
The reason we're splitting a few things up is that some of the "signal to noise" ratio is not acceptable in some forums like shopping / living / working where the range of questions is so diverse, a fair number of stuff gets ignored.
The next step is recruiting moderators who'll keep a number of forums in line .. when we have more specialist categories, it is easier to get someone with expertise in that area to moderate.
For example .. the tech and internet forum by itself would need several moderators, however, say the digital camera or home theater forum could easily be managed by one person.
Last edited by KnowItAll; 31-10-2006 at 06:33 PM.
By the way, the most popular entry point amongst regulars is still here ...
http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/search.php?do=getnew
I must admit I agree with doug. I think there are now too many forums/sub forums. looks a bit convoluted. if you wanted to lose a few casual posters, I think this may be the way to do it, though I am sure the hardcore will remain.