Forum Structure: The Sequel
There's a lot of confusion about which threads go where, and I think this is due to the confusing nature of our current forum structure.
Right now the two primary forums are News & Current Events and Political Commentary & Opinion. When I say primary, I mean that these forums are intended to be the most widely-used. Anything you read in the news (anything at all) should go in News & Current Events; if it has a link, it probably goes there. Political Commentary & Opinion is similiar; however, its primary purpose is to separate news articles from opinion articles. If Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow, et al. write an article with bias and a blatant point-of-view, then it belongs in Political Commentary & Opinion.
But what about the supplementary forums? Those are designed to be a place to talk about topics in general. The delineation between News & Current Events and Politics & Economics is that a thread posted in the former forum would likely have a link; a thread posted in the latter forum would be a place to ask for opinions on a political ideology, share your views surrounding a recent event, tell us about something that angers you, etc. These forums are separated so that these "discussion forums" can be specific to science, religion, politics, foreign policy, etc.
That said, we need to do a revamp. My original idea was to simply get rid of the Ideology and Belief category and simply move all preexisting threads to the News & Politics category, but this seemed too radical. I'd rather hear what you all want in terms of forum structure and organization. What would be the simplest way to go about organizing threads?
It is a bit confusing, and tricky, cause a lot of the forums overlap with one another. Social issues could often count as politics, for instance.Originally Posted by Chase
I think one big politics forum would be good, and then you could have a separate one on economic issues, as that is distinct enough to be by itself. I also think the world history forum should be moved from chit-chat and given a more prominent place in the regular forum.
"I mean, who would have noticed another madman around here?" - Blackadder
"Politicians like to panic, they need activity. It's their substitute for achievement." - Yes Minister
I think politics and economics could easily overlap as well, which is why I would like to have one centralized forum for news articles. That, or I may categorize it as simply a politics forum where economic issues related to politics could be posted as well.
And I do plan to give the world history forum a more prominent place on the forum.
Thanks for your feedback. :)
I llike the idea of splitting news from political opinion - I like it a LOT.
What I personally would like though is to change the Foreign Policy & International Relations
To a more encompassing "International Issues" to make it more multiculturally friendly.
The only problem with doing that is you might end up with a "middle east" forum and those are so nasty most of the time that all a mod can ever do is just push the !@#!@ back into the forum and lock the door.
A sub-forum of science could be "environmental issues" simply to sweep all the climate change argy-bargy into one spot
Another forum to consider might be "conspiracy theories" - simply because it is nice to keep the real nutters corralled lol!
Breaking News
International Politics
U.S. and North American Politics
E.U. Politics
Middle East Politics
Asia/Pacific Politics
Religion Philosophy
Current Events
On Society
Business and Economics
The Bookshelf
Science and Technology
History
The Pub
Announcements and Feedback
I like that list, or something similar along those lines. I also like the idea of splitting real news from opinion pieces, if only because I like the idea of browsing through lots and lots of opinion pieces.
<= Opinion piece junkie here
"Money, when considered as the fruit of many years’ industry, as the reward of labor, sweat and toil, as the widow’s dowry and children’s portion, and as the means of procuring the necessaries and alleviating the afflictions of life, and making old age a scene of rest, has something in it sacred that is not to be sported with, or trusted to the airy bubble of paper currency."
–Thomas Paine
Agreed. Something similar to the list Summy posted is fine. I think that's close to how WS used to be laid out. But I also want an "opinion piece" section because lots of people post opinion pieces and think it's real news.
It ain't.
I will give you the same warning as others about a Middle East section though - if the forum keeps getting bigger, and it probably will, that Middle East section will get bat shit crazy in a heartbeat.
Winn is right. A forum only about the ME is not worth it. Threads about the ME should go in the international section
The bacterial flagellum is not irreducibly complex
The problem WS had with all these categories is that some, like Asia Pacific, are naturally less used, and eventually when someone did post a new thread in one it would be more or less ignored. Current events and society also had so much overlap that I prefer the "social issues" forum.
I would recommend to Chase that you keep the news and opinion sections and change the name of the politics forum to "Political Science and Economics", and roll the foreign policy forum into a subforum of that. I think that would abate most of the confusion. You could have a US and International subforum under the news and opinion forums.
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." - Adam Smith
As th forum grows, more subsections will be appropriate.
I'd like a philosophy/religion section.
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