Forum restructure... Any thoughts?

[Dxs]

Hi guys, just though i would ask your opinion in relation to the current forum structure. When i was looking for info about honda citys before i purchased my t2, i was glad to find this site. However i found the forum structure to be quite unattractive with the info messed all together in the general section, and it didnt seem to promote good discussion.

Now i used to be a mod on crxaustralia. When i was first there i found the community was just too superficial and no one talked tech. But i believed a cause of this was due to the structure not fostering the retention of technical minded members (mainly ricers and show ponies stayed) or the promotion of tech talk. But after a few changes this did change quite a bit. I think this is also an issue for this site, and i believe others do too.

So yeah, i am just wondering if anyone feels the same.


Personally what i would like to see are the following subforums:


Introductions - Simple subforum for noobs to say hello, it seems to happen in the general section a lot, just seems messy to have it mixed with techtalk, worklogs etc.

ChitChat - A forum for just general chit chat not related to citys. Some may argue that this would detract from the forums tech talk. But i think the biggest issue is that a lot of technical members dont stick around here. If you want info, there are members that could answer, but they never come here to do so. Because why would you return when all that is done is tech q's are asked and answered.

Engine/Gearbox - I think the general section should be broken up into subsections. Simply to promote more specific talk, as well as easier to find info.. If you just want engine info, it would be easier to scroll through a specific subforum, rather than just one with intros, worklogs, and all other types of talk.

Bodywork - Same reasoning as above.

Suspension - Same reasoning again..

Worklogs - Simply a subforum for all the worklogs of peoples car to be kept. Keep them all nicely together and will also promote people wanting to create a worklog (which are good sources of tech info).

Articles/DIY - Same as the infobase.. DIY articles and tech info.

Media - Seen this in other unique car forums, and is a nice idea. A subforum strictly for things like uploads of pamphlets, magazine articles etc just for cities. (i have some wheel magazines with city turbo articles etc)

Meets - Subforum to for the organisation of club meetups. Probably will rarely be used, but in terms of something promoting the community and forum member retention. This is a good idea.

I would also say remove the old member details subforum.. seems like an old locked up graveyard.


So yeah, there are some ideas for a forum restructure from me. Any thoughts? I also think the notion of 'no one visits this site, so why bother making any changes' is a bit redundant because it is a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.[/i]

[James]

Dividing the infobase into categouries could be a good plan I recon, there are actually quite a number of articles in there now and it takes ages to find the one you want sometimes.

[Hyperblade]

Dividing up the general forum would be a waste of time, there are not enough posts for each category, and doing that can have a negative effect on people posting as they go into there own little areas.

The infobase is probably best suited to a wiki somewhere were members can also edit it.

No need for a forum to say hello, its not that common...

i think a worklogs one is a good idea, but combine it with an article/meets ones.

Any media related info should go into the info base.

If someone was to try and organise a meet we can sticky it to keep it up the top.

[Colza]

I agree that splitting up into a few new forums would be good, however we do have to be careful not too make too many. We dont want 20 sections with 5 threads each.

I think just:

General
Tech
Build threads
For Sale
Infobase/wiki

Thats only 2 new sections over what we have now but i think it would make everything tidier.

[James]

Dividing up the general forum would be a waste of time, there are not enough posts for each category, and doing that can have a negative effect on people posting as they go into there own little areas.

The infobase is probably best suited to a wiki somewhere were members can also edit it.

No need for a forum to say hello, its not that common...

i think a worklogs one is a good idea, but combine it with an article/meets ones.

Any media related info should go into the info base.

If someone was to try and organise a meet we can sticky it to keep it up the top.

Wiki is a brilliant idea for the infobase

[3GCVC]

so long as people dont change the wiki thus making the info useless,

All sounds good though.

[Mike_NZ]

The wiki idea has been mooted before:
http://cityturbo.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1315&highlight=wiki

I remember thinking at the time it was pretty cool, unfortunately it looks like the wiki has been lost with the site shift.

I suspect that having a "ChitChat" or off topic section wouldn't fly well since we want to keep bandwidth usage to a minimum, and those sections can easily run away with themselves and dominate a forum.

[turbocab]

i like it just the way it is! i know my way round this site and can usually find what i need when i need it.
off topic is great but too mutch crap ends up invading the forum.
i vote no change!
matt

[Dxs]

hello newbie here, had a city for 5 years now have a company car and wondered what to do with it, so after some searching found you lot, i am interested in the suspension kit and will watch this space eagerly, John

that was in bigelboes suspension thread..

perfect example of why there needs to be an intro subforum.. happens all the time..

do people
a) post a hey and welcome message to him, making him feel aboard so he feels welcome and continues to post, yet fill bb's sussy thread with irrelevant posts
b) ignore him