Forum Merging

Now that it's come up in the VR discussion, is that something we want to hammer out?

My ideas for this would be:

* Merge the Press Start forum with MC.

* Fold the TK refugee forum into either RR or VR

* make Starscape into a subforum of the Green Room, since the posters there shot down the idea of disbanding entirely.

*honorable mention for shoving g Camp WF into the Green Room

Just for a start.

Put the TK thing in Violet ().

Make Camp Wordforge and Starscape into Green Room sub fora and make Press Start a sub forum in Media Central.

Also, other tangible thought on this, since someone will bring it up: will the Miss Manners thunder thighs thread get a stay of execution? I'm genuinely surprised no one has bumped that one yet.

I can probably make the move tonight. My eventual goal is to completely merge Starscape with the Green Room. It has been several years now, and they both serve the same purpose. Plus, members need to eventually mingle with one another.

I'd favor less child threading, more outright merging. I think that's also what people seem to be pushing. That said, there are some legacy reasons behind the little used forums.

• Techforge is a tribute to Techman
• Starscape is meant as a way to recognize their origin as a separate board
• Camp Wordforge, ironically enough, has a similar origin to the Violet Room, just done in the opposite fashion

I think these are the sorts of reasons we haven't done more complete merging in the past. I don't think anybody would disagree with merging MC and Press Start.

Consolidation really is a fine idea. Too many subforums gets clunky. They get nested, and people forget they're there. So for now, Starscape's being rolled into the Green Room as a subforum, but by next year I want it merged completely. Press Start and Media Central are the same thing. TK can be merged with either the Red Room or the Violet Room, though RR is probably better, and I would be more than fine with Camp WF getting merged with the Green Room.

As of now, if I'm getting all of you correctly (or trying), I'm going to roll with this:

TK /--> RED ROOM

GREEN ROOM
--> Starscape
--> Camp Wordforge

PRESS START /--> MEDIA CENTRAL


So the final layout would be:

RED ROOM
GREEN ROOM //
BLUE ROOM
VIOLET ROOM

TECHFORGE
THE WORKSHOP

MEDIA CENTRAL

HELP DESK

I figure somewhere around midnight (eastern time) I can make the changes.

Sounds good!

I'm not a fan of more mergers. I would be if we had an unmanageable number of forums, like those boards where every single season of a TV show has to have its own section or whatever, but I don't think we do.

And, even though I may be the only one who cares, I would like to reinstate the Gold Room. (The "general advice, harness-the-collective-intelligence-of-Wordforge" forum.) Not only was it useful and a lot of fun to just browse through, but I think it might even have helped the atmosphere -- it was a room whose sole purpose was for members to be helpful to each other.

Which is why it makes sense to merge it. We don't get many gaming threads in Press Start, and so the forum looks pretty empty. Add it to Media Central, and perhaps put it in the description that game threads go there, and it might just bolster things.

The Gold Room can be added later, if you all want to, but I feel consolidation is a good move (just my opinion). With the various fora looking more "full", it gives the appearance of traffic. I mean, WF gets traffic, but not enough to justify the large number of fora that exist at the moment. Plus some, like Starscape, are more than a bit redundant at this point.

Yeah, I think this is why we don't ever merge forums. People like the idea in the abstract, but we all have that room we like just where it is.

Well, I know folks feel that way, but...

Maybe we should hold back a bit before doing anything, let the idea percolate a bit more. Also, might be worth a thread discussing this in whatever forum such threads go in. Dinner made the suggestion in the Violet Room thread, and there were a couple of other posts, but that's no place for a proper discussion. I can start the thread, just not sure whether Helpdesk or Red Room is the better place to have it.

Help Desk with a redirect in the Red Room.

Okay, then. I can hold until you guys know for certain how you want to move forward.

Yrah, it wasn't something we had to do tonight, just wanted to bring it up.

Every board that I've been on that's gone through a death spiral have all had something in common: They all panic and start doing things that the members say will improve the place. None of the things work, because the members don't really know what they want. One board which I would have expected to die by now, but hasn't is one where the staff rarely listens to what the members want. They will occassionally make changes, but it's only after years, literally years, of people yelling and screaming at them to make what is a simple change. My advice would be to not to rush into anything and just see if people keep pushing for it.

Fair enough.

And hey, if any of those people wanna leave that board, bring 'em here.

One thing I would do immediately is roll the redundant and downright silly Violet Room back into Red.

The Violet Room isn't just for spam and excessive trolling, though, it also serves a function similar to the Daycare over at TK. At least, that was the idea proposed, and how I've implemented it based on that proposal. Members can be sent to the Violet Room and, like the Phantom Zone, see everything that is going on, but only post in their little space there.

If people like John Castle were allowed to return (sans apology or whatever it is he's supposed to do), then he would go there. Posters like gturner could go there. Posters like baba could go there. It's for posters who contribute nothing, but instead prefer to shit on every thread, attempt to derail it, or attempt to cause issues with the board itself.

If this were TBBS, Bonz would just ban them. Wordforge has always had an aversion to banning regulars, so this would be a compromise. One might wonder why I include TBBS in this, and it's because without TBBS, Wordforge wouldn't exist. The two boards are tied together, and there are Wordforgers who post there, and TBBSers who post here.

The fact is that the internet has changed, everything has become more connected, and Wordforge has the choice of either being connected with posters who only want to shit on everything, like TK (sorry guys, but it has that reputation), or a discussion board where people want to stay.

That's the gist of it, anyway.

^ That being said, I'd be okay with making that an annex of the RR rather than a forum in its own right.

I think Starscape Lounge has more history, sounds cooler, and is more descriptive than Green Room.

I'd prefer to keep the Starscape Lounge name than Green Room.

Same for keeping Trollkingdom Refuge over Violet Room.

Disagree on 1, agree on 2. I am however concerned about how a member gets chosen for daycare. gturner actually starts or contributes to some honest debate here, regardless of whether the Kool Kidz get their panties in a bunch over it. Castle was banned over pretty much nothing and being unpopular. I would not want to see that happen again.

There will never be 100% consistency on such things, and there never has been in the history of Wordforge. If it makes you feel any better, it's not like I would have the authority to just toss someone in the Violet Room and call it a day. It would be something the horsemen decide upon. To me, it beats banning.

Lanz has a right to be considered concern on this being abused. For now, I say limit this to spam, flaming for flaming sake and pissing matches that go on too long in MC.

So a few posters whose opinions I respect have taken to what I assume is protest spam in the Red Room. Well played, Stallion and Spaceturkey.

Okay, so the VR isn't going over well, but neither was the clutter and takeover of the Red Room by complete nonsense. Whaddyagunndo?

Drop back ten yards and punt.

If that's what you want, that's what I can do.

The Violet Room seems to have led to an instant spike in callout threads.

Granted, some of them are to make a point. But I also think there's an extent to which, if you create a dedicated forum for something, you invite more of it.