Suggestion Cleaning Up the Forum - catagorising with more sub-forums in sub-forums?

[MikaElle]

I in truth no nothing about Forums, this is my first, I don't even hang on chats ... so if my question seems 'silly' I apologise in advance.

Mod's and Admin's, I'm sure you can't do it all in trying to keep up to organization of the forum. So I'm wondering though if there is a 'process' or 'guidelines' which can be used to assist perhaps someone to assist you help 'clean up' the threads a bit??

For example: I know NOW that I could/should have posted my comments under an already existing thread instead of creating a new one, and NOW know how to look for threads. So for example - I would move those threads there if I could ... is that making sense?

And is in that moving threads is it possible to create sub-forums with in sub-forums? Another suggestion would have to choose an already created Forum - Thread (via a pull-down box) and new threads will be reviewed before being started.

Anyways, I said my quesiton might be naive because I don't how the technical side of forums work? And maybe its not supposed to be (all though I sure wish Blackberry was - 10 million threads to many to try and find an answer to a question, and search is only as good if you know what you are searching for.

So if there is a way, and there is some guidelines, then the next question is there a way .. I could help. I don't know .. but Avatar-Forums is growing expoentially and isn't going to slow anytime soon. So many wonderful posts, lost in never-never land.

I've added Post #6's example here (but please read his comments as they were not for this idea)

from my post #8

Eventually you'll get to the point of: Avatar > Characters > Na'vi > Omaticaya Tribe > Neytiri > OMG NEYTIRI IS GORGEOUS AND PERFECT AND I LEFT MY GF FOR HER, I'm obsessed with Neytiri, Neytiri is a goddess, Meh Jake Thread, Neytiri, Neytiri, Neytiri, Neytiri.

PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT I'M SUGGESTING - Thank you - although that's not what you meant, but it is a perfect example of what I'm suggesting ... at least up to the OMG NEYTIRI IS GORGEOUS AND PERFECT AND I LEFT MY GF FOR HER ... then I agree after that would be over organizing!

From post #9 and #10

The ONLY reasonable sub-forum I could see for Characters, for example, would be Humans and Na'vi, and even that would detract from the necessity of a Skypeople forum.

AND THIS IS ACTUALLY A FAR BETTER EXAMPLE - as in more reailistic! Which makes sense - although it could go as far as individual characters - and then no more.

[navisport]

I"m all for this, the board's way active and big it needs to be organized

[Jeremiah]

I'm not sure I completely understand what you're asking- are you talking about duplicate threads? If so, yes, it is a bit of a problem, and has been brought up before (to no avail). Also, with any large forum, posts will end up getting buried. It's inevitable. If people use the Search function more (trust me! It works ), then the severity of the problem may diminish.

[Vauktu]

If you wish to assist cleaning up the forum, you can use the report button which is located at the top right of every post. Once a post has been reported, a Moderator or Admin will be directed towards it.

[MisterKinish]

I'm not sure I completely understand what you're asking- are you talking about duplicate threads? If so, yes, it is a bit of a problem, and has been brought up before (to no avail). Also, with any large forum, posts will end up getting buried. It's inevitable. If people use the Search function more (trust me! It works ), then the severity of the problem may diminish.

If you wish to assist cleaning up the forum, you can use the report button which is located at the top right of every post. Once a post has been reported, a Moderator or Admin will be directed towards it.

That's not what she meant. She's suggesting everything be organized so when you click on a forum, nested within that forum would be more related sub-forums. This would cut down on clutter on the main page. Not clutter caused by duplicate threads. Clutter caused by the long list of forum categories.

[Kilvan]

I think the forums are split into far too many subforums as it is.

Eventually you'll get to the point of: Avatar > Characters > Na'vi > Omaticaya Tribe > Neytiri > OMG NEYTIRI IS GORGEOUS AND PERFECT AND I LEFT MY GF FOR HER, I'm obsessed with Neytiri, Neytiri is a goddess, Meh Jake Thread, Neytiri, Neytiri, Neytiri, Neytiri.

Organization is a good thing, too much organization is a turn-off.

Best way to keep things organized is to stay on topic in threads, report posts you feel are not in the right spot, or are duplicates (not all reporting is bad), post new threads in the proper boards, and do a keyword search first to see if someone has already had your idea (which, given the number of people here, your idea is probably not original).

[MikaElle]

Eventually you'll get to the point of: Avatar > Characters > Na'vi > Omaticaya Tribe > Neytiri > OMG NEYTIRI IS GORGEOUS AND PERFECT AND I LEFT MY GF FOR HER, I'm obsessed with Neytiri, Neytiri is a goddess, Meh Jake Thread, Neytiri, Neytiri, Neytiri, Neytiri.

PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT I'M SUGGESTING - Thank you - although that's not what you meant, but it is a perfect example of what I'm suggesting ... at least up to the OMG NEYTIRI IS GORGEOUS AND PERFECT AND I LEFT MY GF FOR HER ... then I agree after that would be over organizing!

[Kilvan]

At that point it's already over-organizing. The boards activity level is already slowing down significantly, and the popular topics are staying near the top.

If anything, delete threads with no responses, merge threads that are related, and report posts that ought to be moved to other places. Sure, someone may have been searching for posts about Stephen Lang, but maybe there was a post about him in a news article (News Forum), another about his portrayal of Quaritch (Character or Skypeople Forum), and another about his other work (General Discussion or Movie Forum).

You're not going to find everything you want to in one spot. Unless the site is planning a database where every topic gets linked in every relevant board, more organization is really unnecessary.

The ONLY reasonable sub-forum I could see for Characters, for example, would be Humans and Na'vi, and even that would detract from the necessity of a Skypeople forum.

[MikaElle]

At that point it's already over-organizing. The boards activity level is already slowing down significantly, and the popular topics are staying near the top.

See and that's the technical side of forums that I don't really know, but can see as you say it, that would be a drawback!

If anything, delete threads with no responses, merge threads that are related, and report posts that ought to be moved to other places. Sure, someone may have been searching for posts about Stephen Lang, but maybe there was a post about him in a news article (News Forum), another about his portrayal of Quaritch (Character or Skypeople Forum), and another about his other work (General Discussion or Movie Forum).

Could I make a suggestion then - and If this is done, and I didn't see it, I apologise in advance. In the FAQ or WELCOME or TUTORIALS, etc. Could you post a how to go about searching on a Forum. Because honestly I try and I don't get very far ... (and trust me I'm a good searcher, amazing one but somehow getting no where inside forums - Blackberry forums also giving me huge issue - and is my example of what happens when gets to be to large, with out cleaning up)

The ONLY reasonable sub-forum I could see for Characters, for example, would be Humans and Na'vi, and even that would detract from the necessity of a Skypeople forum.

AND THIS IS ACTUALLY A FAR BETTER EXAMPLE - as in more reailistic! Which makes sense - although it could go as far as individual characters - and then no more.

[Aquaplant]

I think the basic categories that we already have are more than enough. I mean this forum has quite many categories as it is, seeing that it's dedicated to a single movie.