billywoods wrote:... There are good reasons that there's more than one way to browse the forums. ... a lot of people ... tend to use the 'view new posts' link at the top for general browsing.... On the other hand, the fine division of subforums we have allows you to easily find threads you can remember the gist of, but not the title...
Of course, when a particular topic creates enough discussion that it warrants its own subforum, one should be created. One thread just isn't enough - it fits perfectly well with other topics in the relevant section of the forum.
And regarding the using of new posts: If we assume that Pareto principle applies (here it would mean that ~80% of posts are made by ~20% of users), that most likely would mean that the active users - those who use the new posts -function to keep track of daily updates, are a minority of the people reading these forums. There are still lots of people who never post or are not even registered.
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In any case, looking at this in the long run, in my opinion having a more dynamic and active forum far outweighs any potential (imo: very small) benefits of having a greater number of inactive/tiny subforums, which we can see even now are very stagnant, with barely a couple of topics with any activity. I just think it's sad to see sections of a forum die. But granted, I also see the point people above me are making, and in either direction will have little to no impact on myself, so please take my view as mostly personal rambling.
