# A completely unimportant question. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 9, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075 "2003-08-09T20:23:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/1 "2003-08-09T20:23:12Z")
I was just curious about the forum ID numbers. About This Message Board: 2 Comments on Cecil’s Columns: 1 Comments on Staff Reports: 6 General Questions: 3 Great Debates: 7 Cafe Society: 13 In My Humble Opinion: 12 MPSIMS: 4 The BBQ Pit: 5 Is there any logic to the numbering scheme? I realize that new fora were added over time, but I assume (perhaps wrongly) that they could have been re-numbered when the switch to vB was made. Why the jump from 7 to 12? I’ve seen references to a Moderator’s forum, which could account for onw of the “skipped” IDs, but what about the other three? Why yes, I am quite bored today. Why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/2 "2003-08-09T20:37:58Z")
1-6 were the original forums here (Staff Reports used to be called “Cecil’s Mailbag,” and the forum was named as such). After six, I can only assume are the hidden forums, accessible to staff only. After some time, They added IMHO for stuff that maybe were deeper than MPSIMS, but not quite cut out for GD/GQ, and for surveys and opinion threads. Then came CS, to unclog MPSIMS a bit and giving entertainment and art a forum unto itself. So the invisible forums were already established and numbered, so IMHO and CS get tacked onto those. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/3 "2003-08-09T21:29:10Z")
Okay. There are four invisible fora? Why di they need so many? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/4 "2003-08-10T12:47:35Z")
One is for the money. Two is for the show. Three is because a list of two is silly. Four is for. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/5 "2003-08-10T13:05:48Z")
There don’t have to be four invisible forums. If you add a forum, then delete it, then the forum number of a new forum created afterwards is still incremented by one. This happened on my Board where, as a joke, I created a “Teletubbies Fanfic” forum, and made **UncleBeer** the Moderator of it. When I deleted the forum, the next one I created after it was incremented by one, so there is a gap. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/6 "2003-08-10T21:05:10Z")
I can see an argument for reordering the forum IDs, but the strong counter-argument is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” - are you sure there’s nothing going to be broken by changing the number? ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/7 "2003-08-11T14:15:05Z")
Heck, I’m not advocationg anything. I was just mildly curious. And bored. Like I said, it’s really an unimportant question. I did learn something useful, though. I’m unable to type properly on Saturdays. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/8 "2003-08-11T14:17:10Z")
Or Mondays, either. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/9 "2003-08-11T15:56:13Z")
I believe one of the “invisible” forums was intended to be a read-only “archives” forum that was part of a plan pertaining to old threads, a plan that never got implemented. You used to be able to get to it by manually editing the URL (changing the forumid digit). That doesn’t seem to be the case any more (that you can still view it, I mean), so they probably finally deleted it. It only had a couple of ancient threads in it anyhow, most of them board FAQs and that kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/10 "2003-08-11T16:05:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Anthracite \* > This happened on my Board where, as a joke, I created a “Teletubbies Fanfic” forum, and made **UncleBeer** the Moderator of it. Why would that be a joke? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/11 "2003-08-11T16:07:06Z")
Well, I’ll be damned. ::cue sound effect of more ignorance being stamped out:: ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/12 "2003-08-11T16:44:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I believe one of the “invisible” forums was intended to be a read-only “archives” forum that was part of a plan pertaining to old threads, a plan that never got implemented. Actually, all of them are, or more properly, _were_ archive forums. A plan was implemented to move worthwhile threads from active forums to archive forums in the old UBB system. This was actually done for several forums. Then, when we converted the database from UBB to vB, the archive forums disappeared in the process - those data (along with forums 8 thru 11) are just _gone_. The conversion process actually created the forum and converted the information, but then discarded it - hence the non-consecutive forum numbering that you now see. The original Phaedrus evolution thread that ran for well over one thousand posts, “So I read in the newspaper . . .” and another great GD thread, “Why pray?” are two examples of such missing content. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/13 "2003-08-11T17:55:16Z")
Hey, thanks **Uncle Beer**. Now, please feel free to fill us in on the Teletubbies thing. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/14 "2003-08-11T20:49:21Z")
As long as it wasn’t Teletubbies Slashfic, I’m not too scared. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/15 "2003-08-12T16:43:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Now, please feel free to fill us in on the Teletubbies thing. Never. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/16 "2003-08-12T23:52:31Z")
Coward. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/17 "2003-08-13T13:29:00Z")
The dreams are simply too frightening for words. They’d send Dean Koontz screaming into the night. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/18 "2003-08-13T16:58:04Z")
So **porcupine** ’s guess was correct, then? I am now officially terrified… ---
**Author:** ![CuriousCanuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@CuriousCanuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuriousCanuck)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/19 "2003-08-15T14:10:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UncleBeer \* > \*\*The dreams are simply too frightening for words. They’d send Dean Koontz screaming into the night. \*\* Dean Koontz? A stale french fry would scare him. He ain’t fit to lick Stephen King’s boots. Besides, it is that damn baby in the sun that send me running. That kid is just CREEPY. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075/20 "2003-08-15T14:53:32Z")
_As the baby-faced sun slowly set, Tinky Winky took Po’s hand and led him deeper and deeper into the underground world._. Po: I’m scared… Tinky Winky: Don’t be scared…I’m right here. _Tinky Winky grabbed Po hard, and stared into his eyes. Their breathing got heavy, and Tinky’s hand slowly fell from Po’s shoulder to…_ AAAAAUUUUUGHHHHHHH!!! I even freaked myself out!!! Must kill brain… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-completely-unimportant-question/194075.md?page=2)