Forum Consolidation
While I'm looking into the technical issues that need to be resolved, I've also been looking over some general site organization. What do you guys think of doing some forum consolidation? Forum activity breeds forum activity. An easy way to juice a board into some more activity is to consolidate forums -- actually, usually a forum is only added when forum volume is so much that users can no longer easily see the new topics in a specific forum. Here's what I see in the general forum sections (let's ignore the Groups for now)
I think we could combine some of these and end up with fewer, but more frequently used forums. Maybe something like this:
A&E, Databank Discussion, and Communications could go into the Cafe, resulting in one general forum that is frequently used. News and Announcements is contextually different and published to the home page, so that has to stay separate.
R&D, IC News, and Bio & History could all be grouped into one forum, with the different topics distinguished by the use of [posttype] tags in the subject line. They're all non-roleplaying yet In Character thread types that exist more for informational purposes than for active use (ah for the days of a good old propaganda flame war), eg: contextually similar.
Whaddya think? Something like this would result in fewer, yet more active forums. It's a subtle effect, but I think it'll result in a boost to post frequency as less-frequent members stop by and see.
General
- Rebel Cafe
- Arts & Entertainment
- News & Announcements
- Databank Discussion
- Communications
In Character
- The Battlegrounds
- IC News & Propaganda
- Astral Astoria
- Biographies and History
- OOC Forum
- Research & DevelopmentI think we could combine some of these and end up with fewer, but more frequently used forums. Maybe something like this:
General
- Rebel Cafe
- News & Announcements
In Character
- The Battlegrounds
- Astral Astoria
- Technology, Propaganda, & History
- OOC ForumA&E, Databank Discussion, and Communications could go into the Cafe, resulting in one general forum that is frequently used. News and Announcements is contextually different and published to the home page, so that has to stay separate.
R&D, IC News, and Bio & History could all be grouped into one forum, with the different topics distinguished by the use of [posttype] tags in the subject line. They're all non-roleplaying yet In Character thread types that exist more for informational purposes than for active use (ah for the days of a good old propaganda flame war), eg: contextually similar.
Whaddya think? Something like this would result in fewer, yet more active forums. It's a subtle effect, but I think it'll result in a boost to post frequency as less-frequent members stop by and see.