Forums

[ctrl-alt-delete]

Define Number Crunch? Not digging Forum games. I honestly couldn't care less about post count, so I vote leave them in GD. Anybody disagree?

[ShadowTiger]

I liked the Forum Games forum because it created a clear and definitive division between the various levels of "seriousness" of topics and conversations. If people saw people counting to ten thousand or commenting on peoples' avatars in one topic, and in the very next topic discussing life plans and their children and how they met their spouses or whatever, I would give serious pause to that particular forum. I wouldn't be able to take it seriously, I feel. Having a separate forum for Forum Games gives it the freedom to do as it pleases. GD doesn't have such a luxury, when it's the default location for chatter without absolutely spamming up the place with completely useless messages. It's basically the last resort of an intellectual standard, GD.

[CJC]

Well, Think Tank says that it's a place to talk about mathematical puzzles, so I figured Number Crunch would be a place for that. Posting in the general 'Think Tank' area would be about advice or brain teasers, whereas the heavy mathematics, heavy politics, and heavy religion would be reserved for subforums (so that people wouldn't have to see that stuff unless it's what they were looking for).


Forum Games was not so much about post count (who cares about that?) but rather about separating the games from the general discussion so that, if the user wants to play a game, they can all be located easily without eating up the 'pinned' space or needless bumping.

[ShadowTiger]

Well, Think Tank says that it's a place to talk about mathematical puzzles, so I figured Number Crunch would be a place for that. Posting in the general 'Think Tank' area would be about advice or brain teasers, whereas the heavy mathematics, heavy politics, and heavy religion would be reserved for subforums (so that people wouldn't have to see that stuff unless it's what they were looking for).

Here lies the fun part about creating and managing forums. There is a unique balance that must be discovered between having too many forums and too few forums. A forum that serves a category of personality is useful, whereas a forum devoted to a sub-category of that same personality becomes a bit much when it stretches that category too thin.

I suppose one question we could ask ourselves while deciding on forums and subforums for everyone is "What's the harm in having this vs removing it?" We ought to imagine as many negative scenarios with the inclusion of each particular sub-forum as possible. If the positives dramatically outweigh the negatives, it's time to create a forum. If the positives don't quite outweigh the negatives, then the sub-forum's existence can likely be deferred to its parent forum to provide for its functionality.

It's why I made a poll for the revival of Mercy's Tasty Edibles forum. There is a LOT of food out there from here and many other different cultures. The question posited is whether or not there is enough demand to warrant an entire forum for it. I.e. if it stays inactive, but still had a lot of threads in it, then that would mean that there is a lot of food in the world that people want to eat, yes, but it's not quite pressing enough to constantly need to make new threads in it. I mean once you've made Sushi, that's it. You've made it. The thread exists. Another one on it won't be necessary.

On the other side of the coin, new math puzzles are constantly being created. The catch is, what's the harm in placing them in the Think Tank? I know I personally sure wouldn't mind if math puzzles sit next to intellectually inclined topics at all. Who would? (If you do, speak up now. )

[CJC]

In my experience, Mathematics can be as intimidating as religion or politics to a very large portion of the populace (myself excluded, since math is my thing). So I propose we put it to a vote.



And I was (I suppose incorrectly) picturing the main context of the Think Tank as a 'what would you do' hypothetical discussion forum.

[ShadowTiger]

Ah. From my own experience, or perspective at least, the Think Tank forum was an extension of General Discussion, but for heated debates to take root, or controversial issues to be discussed in a manner that wouldn't erupt into flaming. It was filled with issues that ordinarily wouldn't need to take place in General Discussion. Oddly enough, I wouldn't be surprised if a math puzzle found its way into General Discussion, but I would be surprised if someone didn't know whether to place a topic in the Think Tank or in GD. The line is hazy for some and obvious for others. I think, in general, the moderators can move topics wherever they see the most reason to have them.

But yes, a poll is always a good idea.

[Gleeok]

Yay Think Tank is back!

Also, what to do about Beta Suggestions? It either doesn't need to be closed anymore, or there's no point to it seeing how ZC is not in beta development currently. ..Hmm..

[ShadowTiger]

Mm, how right you are. Tucked the forum away for now.

Definitely glad Think Tank is back.

Don't forget to peruse this forum for other topics regarding AGN's revival. :) If you have a poll you'd like to start, do please bring it up here or anywhere else, or PM ctrl-alt-del or I. We cannot stress it enough that opinions are worth more than gold. There's no reason not to excel.

[Glenn the Great]

I'm glad to see that you are branching out the forums a bit, within reason. We've seen a lot of forum consolidation as activity levels have dropped, but the interesting thing about having more forums is that they can be moderated by different people.
This gives a unique flavor to the discussions within different forums, even when the topics being discussed are not really all that different. Back in the day, moderators loved staking out claims over one forum vs. another and part of the reward of being a moderator was to have your own turf. This is hard to have when there are only 1 or 2 forums that you might be interested in.

My only other suggestion right now regarding forum count is that if you're going to do sub-forums, please make them all visible from the main page. I don't want to have to click into one forum before I can see or click into another.

[ctrl-alt-delete]

My only other suggestion right now regarding forum count is that if you're going to do sub-forums, please make them all visible from the main page. I don't want to have to click into one forum before I can see or click into another.

Excellent point, and strongly agreed. If we don't get rid of the sub forums altogether, it will be done as you wish.