lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
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Post by lidar2 on Jan 24, 2019 13:11:20 GMT
Something I was thinking about recently was the structure of the forum and sub-forums. I don't know if this is something the mods look at much, but it's maybe something that could do with being looked at every once in a while. As others have doubtless experienced, the search facility on the forum is not great and it can be quite hard to find an old thread. Greater use of sub-forums might help this.
What I mean is that series like Jago & Litefoot and Dorian Grey both have their own sections, even though both series are now finished and there are likely to be fewer and fewer new posts as time goes on. Going forward, maybe J&L would now be better as a sub-forum within Worlds of Doctor Who and Dorian as a sub-forum within Worlds of BF? What was sensible and appropriate in 2015 when the forum started is perhaps harder to justify in 2019 and beyond.
At the same times there are things like BF Originals which could probably do with their own sub-forum in Worlds of BF. Likewise within the Worlds of DW on-going series like River Song, UNIT, Counter Measures, Gallifrey etc. could probably justify their own sub-section.
I realise this might mean a bit of one-off cutting and pasting for the mods, but it might make things a bit easier to find if there was a little bit more structure to the forum.
What does anybody else think?
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 24, 2019 13:33:55 GMT
When TinDog started the forum we did have loads of individual sub-forums and I was one who collected them together based on instinct as to what might get a volume of posts and demand its own sub-forum. We did tweak (I think Avengers was one case) but as you say J&L Dorian Gray and possibly soon Counter Measures.
It's very easy to move sub-forum around and I can still do it as an admin, even though not a moderator. Adding sub-forums is as easy, though moving old posts may be more of a challenge.
I think this is a great question and look forward to other views
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Post by Digi on Jan 24, 2019 14:37:47 GMT
It only makes sense, IMO, to 'retire' low-traffic mainpage forums down to subforum status. It makes the main forum tree more easily navigable, while not robbing people of a place to discuss those ranges if they want. It shouldn't even be all that difficult to do the move, I wouldn't think. Admittedly I've never moderated on the proboard platform, but when I used to mod/admin on vB/UBB forums, I would've created the new subfolder where I wanted it, clicked the checkbox at the top of the thread list and it would select all threads. Then you'd just pop open the admin tool dropbox and "Move all selected" over to where the new subforum is located, and then finally just delete the old forum. Again though--I've never done any admin stuff on proboard, so I have no idea of the difficulty level involved. As a related suggestion, it might not be a terrible idea to make the main tree listing slightly more accessibly readable. Whereas the list currently looks something like this: Worlds of Doctor Who Small blurbModerators: A, B, C Sub-forums: X, Y, Z
I would drop the Moderators and blurb lines entirely and slightly pump up the Sub-forums bit to look a little more like: Worlds of Big FinishSub-forums: The Avengers, The Confessions of Dorian Gray, The Omega Factor, The Prisoner, SurvivorsOr alternatively, indent the sub-forums list in the main tree and have one per line, if it wouldn't make the main forum tree too long to scroll through (it might, I'm just thinking aloud here) : Worlds of Big FinishSub-forums: - The Avengers
- The Confessions of Dorian Gray
- The Omega Factor
- The Prisoner
- Survivors
(I'm using bullet points here because afaik there's no way to indent text in a forum post). And for the love of my own sanity/OCD, alphabetize the subforums It's a little difficult to draw up something pretty-looking in post code format here, but that's kind of the general jist of what I'm getting at. Accessibility and readability should always be top priority in web design.
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 24, 2019 16:24:15 GMT
Moving things around is trivial, tweaking the look and feel isn't at all easy as far as I can see, I think it would need hacking the templates
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 24, 2019 16:32:44 GMT
Though it looks like the moderator list can be hidden in the style sheet with a pretty simple edit
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Post by Ela on Jan 24, 2019 17:48:00 GMT
Some good suggestions, Digi. As Tony Jones stated, we did have a discussion initially and decided that some ranges needed their own boards and others could be collected within "Worlds of Big Finish", "Worlds of Doctor Who" and so forth. Sub-boards were created for ranges that get a lot of posts, like Avengers.
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lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,811
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Post by lidar2 on Jan 24, 2019 22:33:43 GMT
Some good suggestions, Digi. As Tony Jones stated, we did have a discussion initially and decided that some ranges needed their own boards and others could be collected within "Worlds of Big Finish", "Worlds of Doctor Who" and so forth. Sub-boards were created for ranges that get a lot of posts, like Avengers. I agree that's totally the right approach, I just think that it needs periodically reviewed as some ranges end and new ones begin. Anything that makes it easier to find threads is considering.
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Post by omega on Jan 25, 2019 0:47:18 GMT
If a pre-existing thread for a release coming up later in the month is around, might that be pinned for for the board it’s on during the month it’s scheduled for release?
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Post by Ela on Jan 25, 2019 1:08:31 GMT
I don't think it's necessary to pin release threads.
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Post by masterdoctor on Jan 25, 2019 1:18:31 GMT
Some good suggestions, Digi . As Tony Jones stated, we did have a discussion initially and decided that some ranges needed their own boards and others could be collected within "Worlds of Big Finish", "Worlds of Doctor Who" and so forth. Sub-boards were created for ranges that get a lot of posts, like Avengers. I agree that's totally the right approach, I just think that it needs periodically reviewed as some ranges end and new ones begin. Anything that makes it easier to find threads is considering. Fair enough, so thank you for the input!
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Post by masterdoctor on Jan 25, 2019 1:20:00 GMT
I don't think it's necessary to pin release threads. If the release is coming up, it will likely already be at the top of the board so I don't think it's nessecary, however we can look into something like that as mods. And I meant to quote omega so sorry Ela.
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Post by Digi on Jan 25, 2019 1:32:50 GMT
I don't think it's necessary to pin release threads. If the release is coming up, it will likely already be at the top of the board so I don't think it's nessecary, however we can look into something like that as mods. And I meant to quote omega so sorry Ela. That's kind of what I was thinking too, that the thread will likely be pretty active around time of release anyway.
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 9:45:23 GMT
I've removed the moderator list as discussed. We're considering other (simple to do!) changes and will update here as we agree them. Do keep suggestions coming!
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Post by omega on Jan 25, 2019 10:52:44 GMT
A sub-board for retired ranges like Jago & Litefoot?
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 10:53:56 GMT
A sub-board for retired ranges like Jago & Litefoot? We're looking at moving J&L and Dorian into sub-boards of various things, I think that's likely to happen. Similarly River and UNIT get a lot of traffic so might get boards. Thoughts?
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 16:39:50 GMT
I've tweaked the font sizes/ style for subboards and description and removed the description for TV>Doctor Who
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Post by Digi on Jan 25, 2019 18:31:19 GMT
I was just about to comment that I see it's changed. Good stuff, now to play around till you find something you/we like
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 18:55:54 GMT
I was just about to comment that I see it's changed. Good stuff, now to play around till you find something you/we like I'll keep tweaking until I get told off by the mods. There aren't as many admins so I can play for a while! #joke
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
Still rockin' along!
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 19:05:01 GMT
Have removed some more descriptions and moved the Dorian Gray board to be a sub-board of Worlds of Big Finish
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Tony Jones
Chancellery Guard
Professor Chronotis
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Post by Tony Jones on Jan 25, 2019 19:13:11 GMT
River Song now has her own board
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