Revamping the Forum Categories

[DudleySmith]

So many fever swamp spammers think the latest crap they're told to run around and spew on the various 'social media campaign' targets is 'Breaking News' or 'Current Events' those Forums have become useless. Just call it The Jack Ass Poseurs Forum', and stop lying to the public. Why is it they can't see the Politics Forum right there above it? That's where the latest in moronic spin doctor spam should be posted.

 

[Wyatt earp]

We should have a republican party room and a Democrat party room. Put general discussion under politics and current events.

 

[Pogo]

Suggestions:

Merge Breaking News with Current News

Merge Congress and Politics and Tea Party

Merge Science and Technology, Environment, Energy

Merge Sick Market with Economics

Merge U.S. Constitution with Law and Justice system

Merge Healthcare/Insurance/government healthcare with Obamacare

Merge Health and lifestyle with Race relations/Racism with Philosophy

Merge History with Military

Merge Conspiracy theories with Wikileaks with Paranormal

Merge General Global Topics with General discussion with Garage

Merge Debate now with The bull ring

Merge USMB lounge with Humor with Reviews

Merge Arts and Crafts with Gardening and Landscaping

Merge Music with TV forum, with Writing with Photography and imaging

Merge USMB badlands with The rubber room

Merge Computers with Xbox/Playstation/Nintendo Wii

Some of the merged groups could use a new forum name?

Suggest that all ZONE level one forums be under a single Category

Suggest that all ZONE level two forums be under a different single Category.

Suggest that all ZONE level three forums be under a different single Category

Then place the merged forums under the appropriate Zone based Category.

Cheers!

Agree with a lot of that, good suggestions. Disagree with mainly these:

Merge Health and lifestyle with Race relations/Racism with Philosophy

Merge History with Military

"Health/Lifestyle" has little if anything to do with Race OR Philosophy.
I've posted profusely in History and almost none of it has had anything to do with "Military". It's just not relevant. OTOH I've never posted anything at all in Military. Just not interested.

Merge Arts and Crafts with Gardening and Landscaping

Merge Music with TV forum, with Writing with Photography and imaging

I can remember when Gardening/Landscaping (it's really gardening, or gardening/growikng) was created, there was a need for it. But it isn't anything to do with Arts and Crafts, it's horticulture.

ABSOLUTELY DO NOT toss as noble an art as Music in with the utter trash of TV. They have zero in common. Photography if it must be merged might better blend with Computers.

Please make suggestion on what you disagree on, your own proposed groupings, the main focus for me is to greatly shorten the main board.

Computers with Xbox/Playstation/Nintendo Wii forum makes sense since they ALL are based on computers.

Music with TV forum, with Writing with Photography and imaging are all loosely based entertainment activities.

Health and lifestyle with Race relations/Racism with Philosophy are about how people live and think as individuals

Gardening and Landscaping with Arts and Crafts all generally considered Hobby activities.

I will yield on your Military with History objection

I did make some suggestions early upthread, and I like most of yours, they make sense. I just pointed out a couple that don't. One by one, I don't disagree at all on the games/Wii put into computers. That does make sense. I would add Photography/Imaging into it --- if that topic wants to be moved/consolidated -- as that is also based in computers (if there are die-hard darkroomers still about they can and should object but that's not my thing, I'll never go back to film). I don't know that it needs to move but if it does, that would be more logical. Photography though is absolutely NOT "entertainment". Personally, virtually nothing I do with photography has anything to do with entertainment at all, but with documentation. Originally, Katrina damage. After that, works/projects in progress, eBay items, restoring family records, etc. Sure I shoot an occasional shot of a lovely snowfall or a butterfly but that's the rare exception of convenience and not what I own cameras for.

Music, TV, Writing may be all classified as "entertainment" (but then so is Sports, so is Health/Lifesstyle, so are Hobbies in general), but they're very different from each other. TV is a wasteland with no redeeming social value and deserves its own dump, whereas the other two are higher forms of human expression involving active creativity, and other such endeavors (Arts/Crafts would certainly integrate here too). TV by contrast is a mindless passive non-activity that involves no creativity and is a complete waste of time. It has most in common with Movies, so those two could lump together maybe as sub-fora of Media. As you see I'm using form rather than function, as function varies while form does not.

Can't see any way in the world "Health and Lifestyle", which I interpret as exercise, diet, natural supplemets, leisure activities not covered under Hobbies, etc, has a thing in the world to do with Racism, which is Sociology. Philosophy is outside both; one could argue that Racism is a philosophy but so are a million other theories that have nothing to do with race. These last two are Social Sciences, perhaps that could be a category with Racism, Philosophy, and even Religion as sub-fora within it --- Religion certainly fits under Philosophy --- but none of them would have anything to do with using a stationary bike, climbing a mountain or how much Vitamin E is effective. I think somebody mentioned outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, fishing -- these would certainly fit under Health/Lifestyle.

>> Gardening and Landscaping with Arts and Crafts all generally considered Hobby activities. <<
They may be, but I'm noting that the site added the former (Gardening) because there were too many posts looking for a home. Gardening isn't so much a creative activity though; it's a basic process that can be done in creative ways but the end result is food, not art. I could see Arts/Crafts as a section of a general Artistic realm that would also include Music, visual art, (creative) Writing and Poetry and Literature, Landscaping, where the end result is visual rather than nutrition, might be separated from Gardening as a creative rather than a practical activity, "Lifestyle" maybe.

As may be evident I manage a bookstore where all these various subjects need to be logically categorized, so I give this sort of thing a lot of thought out of necessity. I'm thinking like a Librarian. The only difference here is I'm not getting paid for it.

Far as I know.

 

[AMart]

I think the forum/layout is fine. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Have seem many other message forums that are incredibly dated relative to USMB.

 

[Pogo]

We should have a republican party room and a Democrat party room. Put general discussion under politics and current events.

No, just No. Are we not divided enough? Moreover there are more "None of the Above" people than either of those parties, and we'd all be shut out. Besides which, in such an artificial dichotomy, inevitably any discussion of "Democrats" would necessarily invoke discussion of "Republicans" and vice versa. It would be meaningless.

In the past, don't know if it still goes on, there have been special interest PM groups along those lines. They were not very interesting in this writer's experience. At best, strategy sessions for how to approach the next gotcha topic, and a whole lotta gossip.

 

[Canon Shooter]

What the site really needs, not to derail the idea, is a reliable way for a poster bringing in a new story to check on whether that story is already posted

That's been an issue on internet forums since I worked for AOL back in the late 1990's...

 

[Canon Shooter]

My only comment is that there are just too many different forums. By my count there are 66 separate forums.

Do we really need a forum for XBox and Wii? Seriously? Maybe just change the name of that one to "Never Getting Laid" and leave it be...

 

[Hellbilly]

A 'Liberals Only' forum that is off limit to conservatives so we can talk amongst ourselves.

 

[Pogo]

So here's my more complete list of categories-fat I think can be trimmed. Thinking in terms of "if I was looking for (X) and didn't know where to look, what broad category would I check?"

• Congress - Mostly politics; if it's a neutral Congressional action, put it under "Government/Gov Services" (new category to integrate existing redundant ones)
• Obamacare --- already a Healthcare/Insurance/Gov Healthcare forum
• Immigration - really? If it's politics, go in politics. If it's just a 'how it works' go Government (above)
• Stock Market -- sure, but there's already an Economy forum. Stick it in there. Don't need two separate fora.
• Religion/Ethics - MERGE with Philosophy. Split them into sub-fora.
• Tea Party - Defunct. Could create a general "New Political Movements' category that would stay active. "Wikileaks" might merge under that too.
• --- Not sure why we need a forum for "Conspiracy Theories". They're infecting every other forum already. Imagining they can be funneled into one place is basically herding cats.
• "Current Events" is valid but maybe should be reserved for current events that are not Political, as that has its own category. A hurricane, a plane crash, that sort of thing.

Under Global Discussion:

• Afghanistan is part of Asia. Slip it in there.
• So are Iran and Iraq. If any of these are traffic-worthy of it, create a sub-forum.
• Israel and Palestine fit under Middle East. Largely inextricably.
• I would make a (weak) argument that Brazil deserves its own category separate from Latin America.

Miscellaneous

• Much as I like Humor, does it need its own category? It's a vital ingredient in any category. In the case of posting jokes/stories not on any present topic, this would fit nicely as a sub-forum under General Discussion.
• Reviews should be a sub-cat of the relevant material -- books, movies, music, whatever. Reviews are going to end up there anyway. If I have a music review I already put it in Music.
• As noted earlier Photography/Imaging could be integrated into Computers, but I'm not convinced it needs to integrate or move at all
• I think TV Forum's description includes movies, so put it in the name: TV/Movies. Make it apparent.
• Finally The Garage -- a worthy category but its description says "anything that doesn't fit anywhere else" -- isn't that the definition of General Discussion? Call it what it is, a Workshop.

 

[Pogo]

A 'Liberals Only' forum that is off limit to conservatives so we can talk amongst ourselves.

See post 47. PM groups fulfill that function.

 

[Pogo]

What the site really needs, not to derail the idea, is a reliable way for a poster bringing in a new story to check on whether that story is already posted

That's been an issue on internet forums since I worked for AOL back in the late 1990's...

It's partly a result OF having so many forum categories. The more that exist, the more a given story can fit under. The primary problem is a poster bringing in something new --- has no idea where to look to see if it's already here. Then we get pulled over for redundant thread even though we did our due diligence. That's the site's fault, not the poster's.

I don't know what the answer is other than trimming down categories but I suggested maybe any new thread going up MUST have tags describing what it's about, so those tags could be searched and the incoming poster wouldn't have to look through 66 categories and open every last one knowing that a thread title could be literally anything without revealing what its topic is.

What I usually do is a search on the keywords but that only works occasionally.

 

[Sunsettommy]

I see that only two members are really that determined to greatly reduce the size of the main board, there are too many overlapping forums that could be merged and have just one forum title and maybe a subforum or two under some forums sections.

Post 31 and post 52 are the posts worth responding to, suggest that others comment on them, Pogo has already made some effective criticism of mine, but he agrees with a lot of it too.

The main board page is one of the longest I have ever seen anywhere, can get a sore wrist trying to scroll down the board......it looks bad to see so many overlapping forums on it too, which is why there are some confusion on where to post the article.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

A 'Liberals Only' forum that is off limit to conservatives so we can talk amongst ourselves.

when do you plan on embracing liberalism, Billy?

 

[HenryBHough]

I've been thinking for a few days now that maybe we should come up with a new format for the layout of the forum with some different thread categories. Maybe we eliminate some old ones (like the Election 2016 forum), perhaps merge a few, change the names of some so their purpose is more clear, and maybe add a category or two (like Second Amendment). We have a lot of different thread groups out there and some are hardly used, some are outdated, and some could be named better. I'm just looking for some better organization.

I started a conversation with the other moderators earlier today, but thought I would also solicit the board to see everyone's thoughts in general for suggestions of what some of you may want to see added or changed. I'm looking for constructive comments, please. Thanks

Certainly the 2016 forum should go away. After all, it's only visited by liberals who have nothing to bitch about now that their zombie rules.

But beyond that....heed the words of the Great American Prophet.....Lucille Ball:

"Don't Fuck With Success"

 

[Pogo]

I've been thinking for a few days now that maybe we should come up with a new format for the layout of the forum with some different thread categories. Maybe we eliminate some old ones (like the Election 2016 forum), perhaps merge a few, change the names of some so their purpose is more clear, and maybe add a category or two (like Second Amendment). We have a lot of different thread groups out there and some are hardly used, some are outdated, and some could be named better. I'm just looking for some better organization.

I started a conversation with the other moderators earlier today, but thought I would also solicit the board to see everyone's thoughts in general for suggestions of what some of you may want to see added or changed. I'm looking for constructive comments, please. Thanks

Certainly the 2016 forum should go away. After all, it's only visited by liberals who have nothing to bitch about now that their zombie rules.

But beyond that....heed the words of the Great American Prophet.....Lucille Ball:

"Don't Fuck With Success"

Lucy didn't say that. What she said was "RICKY! I found fake quotes all over the internet!"

 

[HenryBHough]

Lucy didn't say that. What she said was "RICKY! I found fake quotes all over the internet!"

Got the message! You believe success must be thwarted. I would never deny a fool his/her/its right to whatever beliefs they've been indoctrinated to accept.

 

[Dalia]

I'm surprised that no one as complained like the BLM for example that the pages were too WHITE it's a lefties fashion lately

 

[Dogmaphobe]

Stop reading National Geographic:

I'm old enough to remember when that was about the only reliable source of good titty pics.

 

[MarathonMike]

You have seven categories: USMB Writer's Corner, USMB Office, US Discussion, Global Discussion, Community, Hobbies and Taunting. It would be nice to have navigation buttons linked to each category on the first page. Then you could see all the categories at once and click on the category of interest rather than scrolling and scrolling.

 

[Missourian]

Current Events" is valid but maybe should be reserved for current events that are not Political, as that has its own category. A hurricane, a plane crash, that sort of thing.

And IMO General Discussion should also be reserved for non-political discussion.

I endorse all the proposals outlined in Post #49...well done Pogo

One exception

IMO we should keep Religion but move Ethics in with Philosophy.

And...I'd still like an Outdoors Forum.

Workshop is good...I like that...but that still doesn't really encompass outdoor activities.