As a newbie I’ve been frustrated a number of times by interesting threads disappearing from the default forum displays. Often they are “bumped” by questions that don’t generate a lot of interest, or are totally different kinds of questions, but ones which are liable to generate a lot of “me, too” replies.
On a thread I started somebody “did me the favor” of bumping the topic up because they thought it deserved better visibility. I appreciated the thought, but isn’t there a better way to handle this?
What suggestions would people have for dividing up the “General” forum? I was thinking along the lines of “General Social Questions” “General Technical Questions” “General Science Questions”?
I’d guess that if anything, the number of forums could stand being reduced. More forums means more redundant posts and necessitates more mods - all at a time when the server is struggling anyway.
Why not change your settings from the defaults, that will make locating fairly recent threads much easier.
I don’t think more forums will help. I DO think the forums that exist need better descriptions and clarification as to what can be posted in them. I’ve posted in GQ and been moved to IMHO because I didn’t ask something that had a factural answer. Seems if, no matter how important the question, if there is no “factual” answer, it should go in IMHO. Several months ago, a doper posted a question, not asking for opinions, but what dopers knew about why something was done in another country. It got moved to IMHO. The doper posted in this forum (ATMB) in a calm and civilized manner requesting further clarification on the move. THAT post got moved to the pit. The mod said questions about the SDMB polies go in the pit! Now, who the heck would think to look in the pit for queries about the SDMB? And it sure looks like they belong here in ATMB. AND, I just went to the pit – nothing but rants and most of them using lots of profanity. IMHO is mostly polls; MPSIMS seems to be a real mix – some polls, some real mundane pointless stuff…but also some serious questions. In IMHO, going way down the list, I came across two serious questions about medical conditions. One had only about 6 replies, the other only 1 reply. I posted a response to that one. I think the serious questions in IMHO are not getting responses they should and would if they were in GQ.
This thread, prompts an idea for a new Forum: FAQ. The Administrators and Mods would (perhaps with advice from the TM) pick 10 or 12 threads that come up alot. We, the unwashed masses, wouldn’t be able to add threads to the FAQ Forum, only the illiterati, er illuminati of Mods and Admins. The Threads would be open for continued comment, cause even old chestnuts can take new comments.
I think a forum should be established specifically for Dopefests and similar real world get togethers. Right now on the first two pages of MPSIMS, there are at least 11 such threads. Those announcing upcoming events keep getting bumped by the participants, so that folks who haven’t wandered by recently won’t miss the announcement. I don’t blame them, I’d like to see as many folks as possible show up at the upcoming BamaDope.
Bumping, as we know, is a wasteful activity
For the bumper
For the folks that check the thread to see what new excitement has been posted
For the other posters and readers of other Mundane Pointless Stuff, whose threads are knocked down a notch, perhaps to the next page.
The nice thing about a Dopefest forum is that it would be very clear-cut, requiring minimal thread-moving by the mods. Is it about Ginger’s spider in Canmore or handy’s post count? Post in MPSIMS. Is it about a Dopefest in DC or lunch in Ann Arbor? Post in the Dopefest forum. Since there wouldn’t be lots of these, current ones would generally stay on the first page, eliminating the need for bumps. If there were no events of interest scheduled last time you looked, you could just check every couple of weeks, without the need to search the MPSIMS archives to be sure you weren’t missing an upcoming event.
Dopefests are only going to get more common, gradually crowding out the rest of MPSIMS. In response, there will be more inane posts to the other threads to bump them back to life. Ok, so most of that board is inane anyway. You get the idea.
I would say the added forum should be for not just “Dopefests,” dqa, but all Doper-related threads: Dopefests, post count parties, announcements regarding the World Doper Map, the Fathom Forums, the People Pages, the Dope Tats pages, Dopers dating Dopers, etc. etc. Basically a “Mundane Pointless Stuff (About Dope Society) I Must Share.”
That is, I’d say that if I believed we should add another forum, which we should not. The mods are busy enough, there are enough misplaced threads, the servers are too overtasked, as it is. No new forum! But in a perfect world, a “meta-Dope” forum wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I frequently bump Page 2 General Questions threads whenever I see one that has 0 replies and seems like it was an interesting question but there’s nothing I can help with. Would you guys rather not have me do that any more? Would you prefer to have your threads slide off into oblivion, unanswered, unnoticed? Maybe we could have a “If You Don’t Know The Answer, Don’t Post” forum or a “Do Not Bump This” forum.
