Forum Organisation

[megamoose]

As part of expanding and bringing new friends to our community it is important to think about the organization of the forums we have, whether any forums should be removed/merged with other ones.

Now as a new member myself I have no idea what forums are the most active and how you see the forums, so I don't think I could make a fair choice so I am asking you.

First of all
Don't worry, nothings being deleted/changed just yet and if it does you'll be involved and made aware of anything before it happens.

My Concerns
Okay I want you to open up the main forum page and pretend you are a brand new visitor to the site and have just stumbled upon it as a guest. We have a lot of forums (which are all great) but can be confusing to members and maybe scare them off and/or make them not know where to go next, or just leave the site completly, making us miss out on the chance to make a new friend.

My Ideas
My first idea is to have a vote amongst the community to find out where you feel is our top 5 boards, and then move them to the top of the index page.

My second idea is to go through each of the forums one by one and decide, a) if the forum could be merged with another, b) if the forum could be moved to another category.

My third idea is to move a lot of the forums into sub forums. An example is:

Neighbors Artistic Creations
--Siggy, Avatars,Smilies,Snags.....
--Creating Creations and Tutorials.
--General,Graphic,Media & Comic Arts

Instead of having all these on the front page, there would be one forum you click on called:
Neighbors Artistic Creations

Then once inside it there is a load of different sub categories such as:
--Siggy's and Avatars and Smilies
--Photoshops
--Cartoons and Graphics
--Artistic Creations
--Photography

etc, etc

Basically
Before I start a promotion campaign I want the site to be easy for new members to see what we're about.

BTW, these are just some of my ideas I concocted up today, and some are probably not very best suited, but the reason I'm asking is I want to know what you think we should do?

Thanks guys, and just fire ANY ideas you have, no matter how daft they sound!

Mark

[muchtrouble10]

Hi! I haven't been here in quite a while, but I think you may be seeing a lot of me in the future. You are correct...Our main index is huge compared to other forums, but I LIKE it. I feel it is especially nice for the new person, showing all we have, and also helping them figure out where to post something. I belong to a variety of forums and I think our main page is one of the best!

[megamoose]

Originally Posted by muchtrouble10

Hi! I haven't been here in quite a while, but I think you may be seeing a lot of me in the future. You are correct...Our main index is huge compared to other forums, but I LIKE it. I feel it is especially nice for the new person, showing all we have, and also helping them figure out where to post something. I belong to a variety of forums and I think our main page is one of the best!

That's really interesting muchtrouble. Thanks for you're input.

Did you find it easy enough to find your way about when first visiting here. I definatly think the actual forums are great and the content in them is great, it;s just the organisation I worry about.

Mark

[Nancy]

What happened to the Debate area????

[handymanmike]

Its in Neighbors now Nancy

Originally Posted by Nancy

What happened to the Debate area????

[Nancy]

Thank you Mikey...... :-)

Originally Posted by handymanmike

Its in Neighbors now Nancy

[1 Sexy King]

Well I too have not been in here for a very long time but, I just went to the main page and I like the way it is laid out and having the sub-threads listed there also makes it a less confussing where things are posted and find it very easy for a new comer to see what is offerd and find it a lot easier to navigate around the board. I also like the way that the latest post are located at the bottom so that we can see what has been posted recently.

[Nancy]

Nice to see you Homie......

Originally Posted by 1 Sexy King

Well I too have not been in here for a very long time but, I just went to the main page and I like the way it is laid out and find it very easy for a new comer to see what is offerd and find it a lot easier to navigate around the board. I also like the way that the latest post are located at the bottom so that we can see what has been posted recently.

[1 Sexy King]

Thank you, will be in when I can, will have surgry in
May on my eyes and will hopefully be able to see more clearly and be on the computer longer than 15 - 20 min at a time.

[Zmama]

Originally Posted by 1 Sexy King

Thank you, will be in when I can, will have surgry in
May on my eyes and will hopefully be able to see more clearly and be on the computer longer than 15 - 20 min at a time.