The return of removed sections!

I'm not sure about how other people feel about this but; I think it would be great to see the return of the removed sections. This is including Food and Drink + Animals and Pets, now that the jokes section has returned I think that might be all of them.

Keeping it short and sweet I just think there are more advantages of having 2 additional sections (promotes discussion) as opposed to having a smaller forum index. The Discuss Anything section hasn't really replaced them 2 sections very well.

Thoughts?

I completely agree that discuss anything has become a secondary spam now. It hasn't taken over the removed sections at all. I must say, however, that adding more sections is a bad idea. We had a problem with the forum being slow recently and more forums will add to this. Also, specialist sections usually go dead after a while and it's a bit embarassing. Plus, with the way moderation had changed I doubt they'll want to add more work.

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Originally Posted by Mrs.McCall

I completely agree that discuss anything has become a secondary spam now. It hasn't taken over the removed sections at all. I must say, however, that adding more sections is a bad idea. We had a problem with the forum being slow recently and more forums will add to this. Also, specialist sections usually go dead after a while and it's a bit embarassing. Plus, with the way moderation had changed I doubt they'll want to add more work.

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The server - Isn't it still having work done to it?

Moderation - Applications are open now so should these 2 sections be added, the amount of trialists could be increased.

agreed bring 'em back

Feel free to read this recent thread for my reasons as to why this would be an unnecessary and detrimental change to make

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Originally Posted by Apple

The server - Isn't it still having work done to it?

Moderation - Applications are open now so should these 2 sections be added, the amount of trialists could be increased.

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But surely even after the server is sorted, having less forums will mean a quicker loading time?

And yeah there's applications open for ONE more moderator. That's still not enough to meet the demand of extra sections. Plus you'd have to bring everything back then. Like the creative writing forums, travel etc.

I just don't think they're needed.

By less than half a second or so, yes. :P

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Originally Posted by Mrs.McCall

But surely even after the server is sorted, having less forums will mean a quicker loading time?

And yeah there's applications open for ONE more moderator. That's still not enough to meet the demand of extra sections. Plus you'd have to bring everything back then. Like the creative writing forums, travel etc.

I just don't think they're needed.

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OK well clearly that's an invalid argument then :p my bad.

Either way I think streamlining the forums makes them look tidier. I don't want to have to scroll down a huge list (and imo it's big enough already and could be cut down) to get to, for example, TV & Film.

I can see why you'd want them back but, as a I said, specialist sections just seem to die off.

I don't think they are needed. However I also think the Discuss Anything forum should go..

It is pointless, might as well be spam. And unsure about Jamesy, but Oli always refused to admit it was a pathetic forum - remove post count or something?

I'm a huge fan of removing discuss anything. I don't like it. I think it's pointless and just not needed.

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Originally Posted by Mrs.McCall

I'm a huge fan of removing discuss anything. I don't like it. I think it's pointless and just not needed.

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It's just a post count rising forum tbh.

Just like the 'WHAT ARE U EATING OR DRINKING?!?!?!?!?!11?!'

As far as I can say; who cares? :S

Totally agree, it doesn't add anything to the forum, it doesn't provoke intelligent discussion, it doesn't have a purpose.

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Originally Posted by Apple

I'm not sure about how other people feel about this but; I think it would be great to see the return of the removed sections. This is including Food and Drink + Animals and Pets, now that the jokes section has returned I think that might be all of them.

Keeping it short and sweet I just think there are more advantages of having 2 additional sections (promotes discussion) as opposed to having a smaller forum index. The Discuss Anything section hasn't really replaced them 2 sections very well.

Thoughts?

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I'll use the jokes forum as a case study in this. We had people asking for it back, and we obliged however we found that despite the rousing support its return had gained in feedback, the reintroduction was a slow build up - even with its doubled up purpose as a funny images/ videos forum. I don't think bringing back the two sections will work, for a start the old threads are now merged. Two new empty forums would remain empty with only the 2-3 people asking for it back, soon people would simply say remove them that they aren't work. Bringing back jokes was sort of worth it in that I no longer get questioned where to post jokes, however Discuss Anything can happily cover the few topics we get that would come within your suggested returning forums.

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Originally Posted by Milestone

I don't think they are needed. However I also think the Discuss Anything forum should go..

It is pointless, might as well be spam. And unsure about Jamesy, but Oli always refused to admit it was a pathetic forum - remove post count or something?

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One thing I feel is a problem is people's attitudes towards it. Instead of knocking the pointless threads (in reference to your quote below), why not make some interesting topics yourself. If you make a lot of effort in your threads rather than simple one word answers, and people begin to see the forums image change from a "post your" forum it will set the trend. You will always get crap threads in whatever forum on any discussion board - the real gems shine through though ;). So my attitude is that Discuss Anything is simply that it's got potential that is being missed. I'd like to add that when I say "your" I don't mean at you, I meant the forum populace.

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Originally Posted by Milestone

It's just a post count rising forum tbh.

Just like the 'WHAT ARE U EATING OR DRINKING?!?!?!?!?!11?!'

As far as I can say; who cares? :S

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Originally Posted by Jamesy

I'll use the jokes forum as a case study in this. We had people asking for it back, and we obliged however we found that despite the rousing support its return had gained in feedback, the reintroduction was a slow build up - even with its doubled up purpose as a funny images/ videos forum. I don't think bringing back the two sections will work, for a start the old threads are now merged. Two new empty forums would remain empty with only the 2-3 people asking for it back, soon people would simply say remove them that they aren't work. Bringing back jokes was sort of worth it in that I no longer get questioned where to post jokes, however Discuss Anything can happily cover the few topics we get that would come within your suggested returning forums.



One thing I feel is a problem is people's attitudes towards it. Instead of knocking the pointless threads (in reference to your quote below), why not make some interesting topics yourself. If you make a lot of effort in your threads rather than simple one word answers, and people begin to see the forums image change from a "post your" forum it will set the trend. You will always get crap threads in whatever forum on any discussion board - the real gems shine through though ;). So my attitude is that Discuss Anything is simply that it's got potential that is being missed. I'd like to add that when I say "your" I don't mean at you, I meant the forum populace.

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But you can discuss everything in other forums.. the problem lies in people getting an easy post count by posting things like 'EATING A MUFFIN'. Who cares?

If you don't care don't give them attention. They only make them because people reply, same as anyone who makes a thread wants some form of user response to it.

I'm sorry Jamesy but I don't agree on this one :p There is and never will be intelligent discussion in that forum. It's too broad a range. There's got to be elsewhere people can post so I say get rid!

I respect your disagreement :). However I think dissolving that forum would cut off people posting, spam has proven not to be a replacement "anything" forum - it's almost got its own culture down there.

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Originally Posted by Jamesy

I respect your disagreement :). However I think dissolving that forum would cut off people posting, spam has proven not to be a replacement "anything" forum - it's almost got its own culture down there.

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Apart from the statistics, what does commenting on the colour of your bedroom do? Just out of interest?

If there's a lack of 'intelligent' threads in there (and what's with the elitism anyway, why does every thread have to be 'intelligent', the whole point of a forum is to discuss something, stupid things included), then post some. I find some of the discussion in 'Discuss Anything' very interesting (e.g the social class debate)

I understand there are one or two threads that are fun and interesting but I just don't see why they can't go into Spam. I mean, stupid things like the colour people's toenails go in winter or something crop up and you're just like what?!

But I respect your opinions and I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. :p

Spam is more of a sub forum with all the 'old timers' down in it. In spam you can post basically anything aslong as you abide the rules, discuss anything is a good forum, lots of interesting topics and conversations come up in it and you can't just post "Eating a muffin" surely that's spam worthy. It's the way people treat the forum, I have seen many interesting topics in that section and I think it is one of the most active forums so it would be pointless removing it as it would loose a lot of posters.

I just had a look at Discuss Anything and I'm confused with this belief that it's just a spam forum with posts :/ It seems quite tame compared to the Spam Forum, so I'm not sure where this idea has come from. Discuss Anything needs to be better moderated, like things that really do not belong in other forums get moved there. So far it seems the forum relies on member moderation, where members themselves have to look at other forums, when that should be common sense anyway.

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Originally Posted by GommeInc

I just had a look at Discuss Anything and I'm confused with this belief that it's just a spam forum with posts :/ It seems quite tame compared to the Spam Forum, so I'm not sure where this idea has come from. Discuss Anything needs to be better moderated, like things that really do not belong in other forums get moved there. So far it seems the forum relies on member moderation, where members themselves have to look at other forums, when that should be common sense anyway.

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It has improved a bit, but at one stage it was 'What colour is your bedroom' 'Do you like crisps'

Then all the posts were like 'red...' 'blue...' 'yes i love crisps'

And that was it. Nobody actually reads each others posts.

More a problem with moderation, than the actual forum itself :P

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It has improved a bit, but at one stage it was 'What colour is your bedroom' 'Do you like crisps'

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I think any thread where users are more inclined to respond to posts and actually read them is an improvement. Because, who really cares what colour your room is?

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Originally Posted by Jamesy

I respect your disagreement :). However I think dissolving that forum would cut off people posting, spam has proven not to be a replacement "anything" forum - it's almost got its own culture down there.

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If people aren't willing to discuss these pointless topics in spam then all that proves is that they're crap topics.

In the "What's the weather like where you live now?" thread 92/486 replies are the thread starter, and none of it whatsoever is conversation. That's 92 spam posts just from one person. The eating/drinking thread's post leader has a mega 435 posts in the thread, and I obviously haven't read all of it (because it would be very boring) but again I can see no conversation. This is the case for a huge amount of DA threads... However a thread with nearly 40,000 replies, almost entirely conversational covering a huge range of subjects and having over the years forged friendships and supported the rise of some of the forum's best members is seen as spam.

I'm not saying we should suddenly make spam posts count toward our totals or even that the KKK thread alone should be moved to DA (although that'd be nice for my post count :P), just making the point that conversational threads that actually occasionally evolve into something occur far far more frequently in spam than DA, where only robotic responses that directly answer a question and lend nothing to discussion are seen for the massive majority.