As the title suggests, may I propose the board considers either renaming an existing sub forum, or perhaps replacing an existing sub forum with a new one entitled “Current News Stories”.
Here’s my thinking, and I would note it’s been an issue I’ve wanted to raise for quite some time now.
When a notable news story comes along - especially one with loads of high quality conversation regarding all the tangential subjects attached to that news story, the Straight Dope Message Board is my favourite place to visit to get all that background information. But where to find that discussion? Which sub forum?
When the Korean flight hit hard and short at San Francisco Airport a few years back, I eventually found the appropriate thread in the sub forum “Mundane Posts I had to Share”. Today, while looking for a thread on the Russian Airliner which exploded over the Sinai Peninsula, same deal, which forum is the thread? Great Debates? BBQ Pit? General Questions? It’s got to be somewhere…
Thank you Admins for reading, and for your consideration.
That’s the thing. There’s often not one thread, but multiple ones in different forums, with different kinds of discussion. Usually breaking news turns up in MPSIMS first. But people may also want to debate political repercussions, ask specific questions about the crash, or rant about those responsible. I assume that if we had a single forum we would have all such discussion in a single thread, which seems to me to be unwieldy. And likewise, as has been said, how long ago is “current”?
Well, we don’t have child forums. And for that matter, we don’t have all that many forums either.
That said, if you can’t figure out which forum has the discussion, you might try clicking the New Posts link on the bar up top. It’s between Calendar and Search. No snarks: I didn’t click it for years.
Set aside the word “current” please. It was merely a word I used to explain the goal.
In Colibri’s own words, there’s often more than one thread - all of which are competing for prominence. Clearly people other than myself aren’t quite sure where to create a news story either. Or sometimes, there are threads which relate to a news story which get appended to an existing thread which might have an obliquely named title.
Just call the forum “New Stories” then, all such stories GO HERE!
Obviously they’re going to fall off the first page over time as newer stories come up on the radar. But at least we’re going to know where to find them. Honestly, why provide so many options when it can be narrowed down to one forum. If it’s a new story and we wanna talk about it? This is where it goes!
For the record, if you just want general discussion of a news story it normally would go in MPSIMS. (Of course, sports and entertainment stories would go in the Game Room and CS respectively.) If it involves politics it might go in GD or Elections.
If it’s too oblique usually a moderator will edit it.
It’s rare that we have someone asking for fewer options. But as I said, just look in MPSIMS first. That’s where they will be nine times out of ten.
It’s actually a nifty idea to have a “Current Events / I don’t know where to put this” forum, where the SOP was that the thread would be moved in a week or two, or whenever it became obvious which forum it ultimately fit best in. In general, it’d be like an inbox, with no threads staying there permanently.
It would definitely help noobs that often have no clue how our unconventional forum structure works.
I think this board gets the balance of sub-forums right and it doesn’t need any more. The problem with having lots of sub-forums so that everything is nicely categorized is that it makes even busy boards appear deserted as topics hand around near the top for months or even years (conversely too few subforums and topics disappear to the fifth page in a matter of hours).
Though I would like to see an update in the board software, a “like” function for posts means you can show your agreement/approval/etc without having to comment on the post.
I understand traditions and status quo’s exist in life, I get that.
That said, this is a messageboard which prides itself on informed debate and high levels of intellectual discourse - in certain forums, that is. That’s why we have moderators to ensure a minimum threshold of conduct is being met. I also recognise there are other subjects which are lighter and more frivolous, such as entertainment for example.
There’s a rich irony in my view that the forum we’re most likely (but not guaranteed) to start or find a new thread on a major news story is in a forum called “Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share”. Honestly, is the Straight Dope Messageboard not able to come up with a better system than a forum in which we can discuss events as major as 9/11 right alongside a thread like “what’s the worst blackhead you’ve ever had?”
But as I said, just look in MPSIMS first. That’s where they will be nine times out of ten.