Interesting idea. The mods are discussing behind the scenes. Thanks!
I disagree. The point of putting them in subforums is so they can be hidden from the main page. But if they’re hidden from the main page, then newbies who get to the main page won’t see they are there, and won’t know to post that content in those locations.
Or else they will be indented on the main page, which doesn’t reduce clutter, just clutters it differently. Not an improvement.
I like it like it is. Reduce number of clicks to any forum.
Maybe moving forums around makes sense, like Marketplace in Side Conversations, but otherwise, where is the value added?
The point is de-cluttering the main page. It used to be that all of the forums could be seen without having to scroll down. Now the most popular forums are at the bottom and are not visible upon entering the site. Most people spend their time in GQ, MPSIMS, IMHO, and Cafe Society. These should be up front.
Straight Dope Chicago is a parochial forum, which belongs in Side Conversations; not pushing the more popular, more widely-oriented threads farther down on the page.
Elections is a very narrow forum meant to de-clutter Great Debates. But it is a subset of GD, and so should be a sub-forum there.
The Game Room is fairly popular, but it’s really a subset of Cafe Society. It’s not as popular as MPSIMS or IMHO, and so it shouldn’t push those forums off the page.
As for Marketplace, it’s useful to have a place where Dopers can sell things. But SDMB ain’t eBay. It doesn’t need to be on the main page. A sub-forum of MPSIMS or Side Conversations is a better place for it.
I agree that they should not be indented on the main page. That wouldn’t do anything. But the issue of newbies not finding them is not that big. Even people who have been here a decade or more occasionally post in the wrong forum. Newbies are probably not going to have Side Conversations (an area of the board in which I have virtually zero interest) collapsed, so they’ll see it. Me, I have it collapsed to reduce the clutter. Making the forums I mentioned into sub-forums that are accessed by entering the main forum should not confuse newbies (many of which probably have experience with sub-forums anyway) and will de-clutter the main page for everyone else.
Otherwise, why not have a hundred forums? We could have a forum called Animal Shelter, for talking about pets. Or better yet, The Kitty Korner and Man’s Best Friend and Assorted Critters. And Café Society could be a place for talking about the Arts, as the name implies. We could have another forum dedicated to cooking. Great Debates is a bit broad; so we could have Great Debates for some issues, The Fifth Column for debating Socialist Issues, and Don’t Call Us Fascists for the Conservatives. You can see how it can get out of hand. I think the main page has four forums too many as it is. Who knows what else may be added?
I don’t want to go the other way, where there are just ATMB, Comments on Cecil’s Columns, Comments of Staff Reports, and General Questions, and that’s it because this is about The Straight Dope, dammit! I do like the social parts of this board. But they need to be condensed.
If we do go sub-forums, is there any support for subbing The Game Room into sports, video games, and Dope games?
Probably not but only because The Game Room doesn’t move too fast.