It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:59 am

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 35 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
Offline
 Post subject: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #1 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:55 am 
Lives in sente
User avatar

Posts: 866
Liked others: 318
Was liked: 345
I'm sure this idea has been brought up before, but just in case it hasn't...

I suspect that if the number of subforums was drastically cut and most go conversation was steered to a single forum, both traffic and post-quality would increase.

It makes sense to keep a few things separate, I guess. Certainly commercial posts should be a different section. I was thinking Malkovich, too, but I'm not even certain of that.

If there was a primary forum to browse, it would be easy to ignore threads that didn't interest the reader, while not have to click through multiple subs to find one that does. Yes, I know that much of this functionality exists with the "View Unread Posts" feature, but I suspect only hard-core users take advantage of this capability, leaving the casual visiter somewhat bewildered.

Example - Go book reviews is a ghost town. It's probably not visited all that often. But if book reviews showed up in the main forum, they'd likely get more attention, which would encourage folks to write more.

I'd suggest just a few forums:

*Go Chat - 90% of traffic

*Off-Topic (give it a better name like "The Asylum" or "Tenuki" or something) - for no-go stuff. This sub is quite popular on other fora I frequent. It seems to make the bulletin board a place to hang-out.

*Computer Go - the one area that might get traffic that I suspect would bore most forum members to tears.

*Malkovich - for all Malkovich activity. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing this in go chat, too, but I could see why others might object.

*Trading Post - for commercial posts, and to facilitate users selling to users

*Go Clubs (all posts start with club name) - one sub to combine all the current club subs.

Anyway, just my 2 cents. Have a great day.

_________________
- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #2 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:46 pm 
Gosei
User avatar

Posts: 1744
Liked others: 702
Was liked: 288
KGS: greendemon
Tygem: greendemon
DGS: smaragdaemon
OGS: emeraldemon
For what it's worth, I browse almost exclusively by the "View unread posts" button, so the subforums have no affect on me. I see everything :batman:


This post by emeraldemon was liked by 6 people: Bantari, Bonobo, ez4u, Inkwolf, Phelan, shapenaji
Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #3 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:19 pm 
Oza
User avatar

Posts: 2644
Liked others: 304
Was liked: 631
Rank: kgs 6k
Yes, I think the consensus is that all registered users use unread posts, and I know that before I registered, I used "View new posts".

I don't think it's impossible that fewer forums would make L19 more appealing to the technologically unsavvy, but it would make it much, much harder to find older posts. The need to find ways to find and index old posts is a big, separate issue that I was considering posting on, but I really don't have anything intelligent to suggest... other than maybe, we should all work harder at migrating interesting discussions to SL so that we don't need to find them on L19. The "likes" used to work decently as an index to the best posts, but there are just way too many posts now for that to be helpful.

Glancing at our board index, I'm actually surprised by how active all the sub-forums are. Except for the variant Malkovitch sub-forums, they all have posts from 2013, which is quite good - I was expecting about half would, half wouldn't.

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #4 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:21 pm 
Lives with ko

Posts: 289
Liked others: 7
Was liked: 42
Rank: 100
GD Posts: 100
I agree, there are forums with thousands of users that don't have so many subforums.
Some of the subforums have topics without a post for years still on the first page.

I think combining most of them and having graphical tags applied to each topic would be much better.
For example: combining all of the server subforums into a go-server subforum and having a small graphic for each topic that says 'KGS' or 'IGS' or whatever.

This comes with the benefit of juts adding new tags for new servers/clubs instead of adding a whole subforum.

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #5 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:45 pm 
Lives in sente

Posts: 800
Liked others: 141
Was liked: 123
Rank: AGA 2kyu
Universal go server handle: speedchase
I like it the way it is. It makes it easy to tell what you are going to get.


This post by speedchase was liked by 2 people: ez4u, Phelan
Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #6 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 7:33 pm 
Gosei
User avatar

Posts: 1581
Location: Hong Kong
Liked others: 54
Was liked: 544
GD Posts: 1292
jts wrote:
we should all work harder at migrating interesting discussions to SL so that we don't need to find them on L19.

That is not a good idea unless it is your own posts. People like JF who have posted interesting information for the readers of L19 have not given permission for further dissemination of their writings. And IIRC the SL copyright license is quite different from that of this forum.

_________________
http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.


This post by tchan001 was liked by: Phelan
Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #7 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:05 pm 
Oza
User avatar

Posts: 2644
Liked others: 304
Was liked: 631
Rank: kgs 6k
tchan001 wrote:
jts wrote:
we should all work harder at migrating interesting discussions to SL so that we don't need to find them on L19.

That is not a good idea unless it is your own posts. People like JF who have posted interesting information for the readers of L19 have not given permission for further dissemination of their writings. And IIRC the SL copyright license is quite different from that of this forum.

Does this forum.... have a copyright policy? :shock: Is everything we write here (c) Jordus?

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #8 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:13 pm 
Gosei
User avatar

Posts: 1758
Liked others: 378
Was liked: 375
Rank: 4d
No, you maintain copyright of your posts. You never clicked away anything when you registered. On SL however, there is a license under which all content is published, which is AFAIK the modus operandi for wikis.

_________________
We don't know who we are; we don't know where we are.
Each of us woke up one moment and here we were in the darkness.
We're nameless things with no memory; no knowledge of what went before,
No understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be.


This post by Dusk Eagle was liked by: Phelan
Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #9 Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 11:47 pm 
Gosei

Posts: 1348
Location: Finland
Liked others: 49
Was liked: 129
Rank: FGA 7k GoR 1297
emeraldemon wrote:
For what it's worth, I browse almost exclusively by the "View unread posts" button, so the subforums have no affect on me. I see everything :batman:

Same here. That's the way I use all forums I follow actively.

_________________
Offending ad removed

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #10 Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:34 am 
Lives in sente
User avatar

Posts: 866
Liked others: 318
Was liked: 345
emeraldemon wrote:
For what it's worth, I browse almost exclusively by the "View unread posts" button, so the subforums have no affect on me. I see everything :batman:
I understand. I am sure the majority of experienced posters use this approach. I guess the question is whether the goal is to maintain the site for current users or to grow and add more insightful users and useful content. If the latter, then I'd suggest making access easy and painless for noobs less BB-savvy than you.

KISS (Keep it simple, stupid) is a pretty good design concept, in general.

That said, I won't stop participating no matter how the forum is structured. Just thought I'd throw out an alternative. Maybe the fact that this post received 160 views in a day proves me wrong, anyway. (Is that a lot?)

I am most gratified that not one response was along the lines of "Why is this dude with twenty posts in two and half years trying to tell us how to run our board?" Y'all are a polite lot, anyway.

_________________
- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #11 Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 3:16 am 
Lives in gote

Posts: 628
Liked others: 45
Was liked: 98
Rank: KGS 3k
Universal go server handle: Alguien
emeraldemon wrote:
For what it's worth, I browse almost exclusively by the "View unread posts" button, so the subforums have no affect on me. I see everything :batman:


I only read "view unread posts" too.

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #12 Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:23 pm 
Oza

Posts: 2493
Location: DC
Liked others: 157
Was liked: 442
Universal go server handle: skydyr
Online playing schedule: When my wife is out.
Alguien wrote:
emeraldemon wrote:
For what it's worth, I browse almost exclusively by the "View unread posts" button, so the subforums have no affect on me. I see everything :batman:


I only read "view unread posts" too.


I do this as well, but I think in the long run it makes it more likely that I respond to existing topics rather than create new ones.

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #13 Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:00 pm 
Oza
User avatar

Posts: 2401
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Liked others: 2338
Was liked: 1332
Rank: Jp 6 dan
KGS: ez4u
skydyr wrote:
Alguien wrote:
emeraldemon wrote:
For what it's worth, I browse almost exclusively by the "View unread posts" button, so the subforums have no affect on me. I see everything :batman:


I only read "view unread posts" too.


I do this as well, but I think in the long run it makes it more likely that I respond to existing topics rather than create new ones.

Attaboy! :tmbup: :tmbup: That's why we call them 'discussions'. Imagine all we did was create new topics. :rambo:

_________________
Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #14 Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:10 am 
Oza

Posts: 2493
Location: DC
Liked others: 157
Was liked: 442
Universal go server handle: skydyr
Online playing schedule: When my wife is out.
ez4u wrote:
skydyr wrote:
Alguien wrote:

I only read "view unread posts" too.


I do this as well, but I think in the long run it makes it more likely that I respond to existing topics rather than create new ones.

Attaboy! :tmbup: :tmbup: That's why we call them 'discussions'. Imagine all we did was create new topics. :rambo:


Well, there's a balance to be found. If everyone just replied to topics and no one created new ones, where would we be?


This post by skydyr was liked by: Phelan
Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #15 Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:06 am 
Lives in sente

Posts: 800
Liked others: 141
Was liked: 123
Rank: AGA 2kyu
Universal go server handle: speedchase
skydyr wrote:
Well, there's a balance to be found. If everyone just replied to topics and no one created new ones, where would we be?

We'd have ten page discussions about stupid things like... never mind


This post by speedchase was liked by 4 people: Bantari, Joaz Banbeck, Phelan, topazg
Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #16 Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:31 pm 
Tengen

Posts: 4380
Location: North Carolina
Liked others: 499
Was liked: 733
Rank: AGA 3k
GD Posts: 65
OGS: Hyperpape 4k
The subforums have one really important function: marking an entire set of things as read.

_________________
Occupy Babel!

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #17 Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 7:50 pm 
Oza

Posts: 2493
Location: DC
Liked others: 157
Was liked: 442
Universal go server handle: skydyr
Online playing schedule: When my wife is out.
hyperpape wrote:
The subforums have one really important function: marking an entire set of things as read.


That's only useful if you know it's a feature, which I did not until now. Thanks!

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #18 Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 8:42 pm 
Honinbo

Posts: 10905
Liked others: 3651
Was liked: 3374
I think that we might benefit from more sub-forums, with related discussions in proximity. How often do we have the same or similar discussions? If there is any value to retaining old discussions -- which there is --, I am not sure that we should just rely upon the search function to find topics of interest.

In another forum database I was involved with, we used to have people who worked on a daily basis at organizing discussions in a tree structure. We called them librarians. :) Just as a library is not simply a collection of books, but has a structure, they were concerned with the structure of discussions.

Which reminds me. How is the Go Discussions archive coming along? :)

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #19 Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:26 pm 
Oza

Posts: 2264
Liked others: 1180
Was liked: 552
Bill Spight wrote:
Which reminds me. How is the Go Discussions archive coming along? :)

not so well, to be honest.

there was data corruption, so I'm sure we don't have all of it.

and I've been super busy at work.

Top
 Profile  
 
Offline
 Post subject: Re: Increase traffic by decreasing subforums?
Post #20 Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:46 am 
Lives in sente
User avatar

Posts: 866
Liked others: 318
Was liked: 345
Bill Spight wrote:
I think that we might benefit from more sub-forums, with related discussions in proximity. How often do we have the same or similar discussions? If there is any value to retaining old discussions -- which there is --, I am not sure that we should just rely upon the search function to find topics of interest.

In another forum database I was involved with, we used to have people who worked on a daily basis at organizing discussions in a tree structure. We called them librarians. :)


I love libraries. But, librarians cost time and money. If xed_over doesn't have time to archive Go Discussions (no offense meant, of course), who has time to enforce structure here?

I personally don't mind the structure, I just suspect we'd gain more users and therefore more content with simplicity. Of course current users are satisfied with the status quo, else they wouldn't be current users. It all depends what the goal of the board is, to please current users, or to grow and become an increasingly important and useful resource. The likes of reddit r/baduk haven't caught this board yet, but traffic is increasing.

_________________
- Brady
Want to see videos of low-dan mistakes and what to learn from them? Brady's Blunders

Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 35 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group