Does Somersoft need so many areas
- Thread starter peastman
- Start date
Sim
Administrator
Actually, there's only 17 since there are three sections you can't post in (archives and interviews), and if you discount the three non-property related forums, there's only really 14 topics.
If you look at other similar "big boards" http://rankings.big-boards.com/ (the cutoff for that site is currently 500,000 posts - which we are almost at!) ... you'll find the majority of large forum sites have a lot of discussion topics (many have more than we do). Somersoft is not unusual by any means.
If you look at other similar "big boards" http://rankings.big-boards.com/ (the cutoff for that site is currently 500,000 posts - which we are almost at!) ... you'll find the majority of large forum sites have a lot of discussion topics (many have more than we do). Somersoft is not unusual by any means.
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Sim
Administrator
If you used the "New Posts" search, you would have seen this thread from the Help and Feedback section: Could mods move the property investment - other section back to the top
There's another new thread in that section too, which is relevant to the discussion: New feature: opt out of forums from "New Posts" searches
Sim
Administrator
Which is why there is a "New Posts" search, which allows you to keep track of everything at once.
Through ignorance, rather than design, I have always clicked on "new posts" every time I sit down. I then look down to see whether the title interests me. If it does I click it. If I am bored, I even click on ones that might not initially interest me to see if it is just a bad title 
.
I always assumed this was how everybody found interesting threads.
.I always assumed this was how everybody found interesting threads.
Poor design, unfortunately
Suddenly I find myself lost on Somersoft. Never happened before. The quality of a discussion is directly proportional to the number of views it recieves. Now the discussion is scattered all over. Across 17 sections
Poor design unfortunately.
Suddenly I find myself lost on Somersoft. Never happened before. The quality of a discussion is directly proportional to the number of views it recieves. Now the discussion is scattered all over. Across 17 sections
Poor design unfortunately.
Sim
Administrator
The "New Posts" search consolidates all updated threads into the one, easy to navigate view.
You don't need to miss out on the discussion, and you don't need to worry about where the discussion is happening - you can access it all via "New Posts".
Hiya
My personal view is
I didnt even notice there was a change to the forum .............
I use the New posts feature and the email alerts for stuff that I have replir to
ta
rolf
My personal view is
I didnt even notice there was a change to the forum .............
I use the New posts feature and the email alerts for stuff that I have replir to
ta
rolf
I also use 'new posts' and always have. It's far more efficient than going through each forum.
When I want to find a specific post, I go to the appropriate category which are all easily defined in my mind.
I think it's about right the way it is. There's an easy way to keep up to date and there's an easy filtering mechanism as long as people post in the right place - the mods are fairly good at moving things when required too!
When I want to find a specific post, I go to the appropriate category which are all easily defined in my mind.
I think it's about right the way it is. There's an easy way to keep up to date and there's an easy filtering mechanism as long as people post in the right place - the mods are fairly good at moving things when required too!
Likewise. I'm not good at the interweb, so can you start anew thread with a poll on it and maybe 20 or so more categories? Then we can vote on the best 5 (???) or 8 (???) or something like that and see if Sim will make them up for us.
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Oh I didn't know you could do that. How do I get email alerts???
Sim
Administrator
Go into Edit Options in the control panel - http://www.somersoft.com/forums/profile.php?do=editoptions
Look for the "Default Thread Subscription Mode" under "Messaging & Notification"
You want to set this to "Instant", "Daily" or "Weekly" notification (I use "Instant", but if you prefer to get just one email a day, set it to "Daily").
This will automatically subscribe you to any thread you post in, you will receive an email notifying you of the update. You'll only get that one email until you visit the forum, no matter how many other replies are made (so you won't get flooded with emails if there are a lot of replies all of a sudden).
Personally I don't have a problem with the number of sections or with the change, now that I know what happened to that section.
The main forum I've used for years has quite a few sections and the moderators are very quick to move messages to what they consider to be the appropriate section. That includes splitting branches off threads and moving just the branches to new threads in other sections. I think as long as the moderators are prepared to do that, then having a range of sections for specific topics works well. In that forum as well as this, there are whole sections I skip that don't interest me. Having said that though, the "general" and "coffee lounge" type sections do tend to be the busiest.
IMO, having lots of sections is less likely to be effective if the moderators are lax in maintaining order (and I don't mean that critically, I realise they're volunteers and it's a time-consuming task), as then you can't trust the section to only include threads on that topic. With well-managed sections, I think a selection of clearly distinct sections such as here is good.
GP
The main forum I've used for years has quite a few sections and the moderators are very quick to move messages to what they consider to be the appropriate section. That includes splitting branches off threads and moving just the branches to new threads in other sections. I think as long as the moderators are prepared to do that, then having a range of sections for specific topics works well. In that forum as well as this, there are whole sections I skip that don't interest me. Having said that though, the "general" and "coffee lounge" type sections do tend to be the busiest.
IMO, having lots of sections is less likely to be effective if the moderators are lax in maintaining order (and I don't mean that critically, I realise they're volunteers and it's a time-consuming task), as then you can't trust the section to only include threads on that topic. With well-managed sections, I think a selection of clearly distinct sections such as here is good.
GP
Funny, i was just stopping in here to post this exact topic but someone already did it for me.
I think there is way way to many forums. I don't know what to look at anymore. I think we should only have a maximum of about 5 or 6 sections like so.
General Chat - maybe split this into one for resi and one for commercial
Where to Buy - same as above
Accounting, Tax, Finance etc
Help and feedback
Coffee Lounge
There's just way too many forums now, i only visit 2 or 3 at most.
I think there is way way to many forums. I don't know what to look at anymore. I think we should only have a maximum of about 5 or 6 sections like so.
General Chat - maybe split this into one for resi and one for commercial
Where to Buy - same as above
Accounting, Tax, Finance etc
Help and feedback
Coffee Lounge
There's just way too many forums now, i only visit 2 or 3 at most.
