GM forum development - your thoughts please

[USER1999]

I would agree to an 'off topic' section, but if not, then don't read it if you're not interested.
'For sale' opens a can of worms, and could lead to disagreements between members on what was a fairly friendly forum.
I belong to other non golfing forums which are split, and although it works, it has less diversity than you get on here. Less duplication on posts though.
Maybe a 'sticky' area for topics which crop up regularly, or a 'FAQ' section.
On the whole, I like it as it is really.

 

[brendy]

Sales and wants can be viable as seen on seatcupra.nets forum, you cannot post a for sale thread without having
at least 10 posts to your name and:
Contact details
Picture of the item(s)
Better than general description.

It can and has been done.
A good compromise I believe which would further the forum/magazine would have 3 sub forums.
1. Golf
2. Sales & Wants
3. Shite you write where each thread has a limited lifetime once the last post gets to a certain age.
I think its fine that some people dont want to read about non golf activities (a little narrow minded to refuse to have a nosey once in a while in case they can actually help someone out with a request, its not all about taking on this forum) but to deny the rest of us somewhere to chat about day to day topics is a little off.

 

[Junior]

It's a bad idea to split up the forum - keep it the way it is. It's got very busy now so I skip read a lot of the posts and stop at the ones i find really interesting.

Just also want to add that I've never been a member of a forum before and this is the only forum I read.

I have tried to get into other forums with numerous topics threads but they take longer to navigate and I loose interest.

Just my 10 penneth's worth.

 

[madandra]

Howz about a 2 stroke penalty (access blocked for two days) for abusive comments and insults.

 

[birdieman]

Thanks gor the prize it arrived yesturday and I cant wait till the good weather to wear them on, I will feel right royalty knowing where they came from
Cheers Mike

CC have you been on the sauce again, hope it wasn't in the clubhouse! Some interesting grammar there!

ps what shoes did you win?

 

[happyhacker]

Hi Mike,

I think a split could be fine. However I would be wary of diluting things too much. IMO we need;
-Golf related
-Off topic ie. anything non golf
-For sale / swap

I have also been part of forums were sale/swaps have worked without need for any moderator input. Would suggest though minimum post count is more like 50 than 10 if it goes ahead. Then it is up to people to use their own good sense and judgement as to whether they would like to buy / swap.

 

[HTL]

Pleas dont split it up, apart from the for sale swap section its awesome as it is, like another Post said its "Just like a virtual club house"

 

[muttleee]

The problem with splitting a forum into multiple subforums is that you pretty much always end up with one area that gets 90% of the posts (on any and every topic) and the others split the remaining 10% between them.

I've seen comments in this thread complaining about topics dropping off the front page and therefore not getting the attention they deserve - but it takes a couple of days for posts to move to page 2, so if they haven't got any interest in that time, it's unlikely that they ever will, imho. If they've got a lot of posts, then the people who are in that discussion will likely keep a close eye on it to see if there are any new ones, and respond to them if need be. As has already been pointed out, individual users can configure the forum to show the most recently updated threads first if that's what they want. That would keep the popular topics at the top for them but allow everyone else to read the forum the way it is.

Personally I'm not keen on systems where you can vote for posts/topics/users etc. That risks turning the board into some sort of popularity contest.

I like the forum the way it is but if it is to be split, I would suggest only 2 subforums: Golf and Non-golf. That way, anyone who just wants to read on-topic posts about golf can do so but the other forum should be popular enough to get plenty of interest in its own right. Maybe a Buy and Sell section could also be added if we could make sure it wouldn't be abused. Just a suggestion.

In some ways you could say this forum has been a victim of its own success. The more members it has, the more topics are posted and the more likely it is that good content gets missed. However, it's a testament to the quality of the users here that we aren't constantly inundated with spam/flame wars/wind-up merchants etc and I hope it stays that way.

 

[geronimo]

why not make this thread a poll and go with the majority, cant please all the usrers all the time, cant please some of them any of the time LOL

 

[John_Findlay]

I think muttlee and happyhacker have got the formula for the new forum spot on. Golf, non-golf and sales. Perfect.

 

[happyhacker]

Cheers J_F, nice to be recognised.

 

[Parmo]

Great idea, Equipment - Skills - General - bay/sell?

 

[toonarmy]

The main reason why I enjoy this forum so much is precisely because it is not like most other fora. This is without question the most welcoming and fun forum I have been involved with.

*IF* a categorisation is implemented, then I feel that the Golf/Non-golf/Buy-Sell split is the most sensible. The marketplace concept is proven and would make a certain amount of sense. The non-golf section would never get a glance from me as I'm not interested here in non-golf matters.

However, regardless of what happens, I wish to proffer my full support to MikeH and the guys for whatever they choose to do with this forum. I think it speaks volumes for GM that they not only provide us with this forum but also that they actively seek our input on what we might want.

Whatever you do guys, I feel comfortable its with our best interests in mind.

So there!

 

[DCB]

Good as it is at the moment. Please don't go overboard with too many options, the three suggested in earlier post would suffice. We have so far managed with just the Lounge haven't we.

Anyway, as long as the forum remains as a great place to go for chat and info it'll be worth using.

 

[AliB]

Hi
My two pennyworth
It's true the forum is so busy I'm having trouble keeping up (after 2 days away!)
I agree with J-F and viscount - keep 'splits' to the minimum - it's the variety that makes it fun - but definitley have separate area for swap/sell, and I do take Atticus' point about non-golf topics -we don't need them (even if I have have gone that way myself!)
alib

 

[holein1]

I think a face lift is needed but i would like to upload pictures to our name thingy at the left handside when you post i've already tried it but doesn't work hence the big red X at my name.

 

[Leftie]

upload pictures to our name thingy at the left handside

At last. A sensible post on this thorny thread.

All you long standing members of the forum spouting on about having 3/4/5 different sections for who knows what, or alternatively leaving things as they are. Get real.

I've been trying to upload my own Avatar since I joined, but to no avail. (I don't really fancy what's left of the stock ones). Thought about PMing young Liam who I'm sure knows 100 times more about computers than I do but thought that he had something better to do with his life.

Come on GM. Sort out the name thingies

 

[billyg]

I've been trying to upload my own Avatar since I joined, but to no avail. (I don't really fancy what's left of the stock ones). Thought about PMing young Liam who I'm sure knows 100 times more about computers than I do but thought that he had something better to do with his life.

Come on GM. Sort out the name thingies

Judging by other forums I participate in I would say the problem with avatars is server space i.e. how memory hungry or 'big' the pics are. I haven't looked into it on here as it's a fiddle at the best of times but you would need to use an image of such low quality and size it would be meaningless. To be fair to GM it's the same on most forums and it costs big money to support that sort of thing.

Youve got probably half a megabyte per image max. to play with(maybe less- typically 120 pixels square). Fire up you're photo editing software, open a pic. of yourself, cut it down and see what you end up with....not much.

It's always going to be a tough one.

On other forums I use simple cartoons available free by typing ' free avatars' into google and then just pick one out

bill

 

[Leftie]

Billyg

My response was said somewhat tongue in cheek.

btw the avatar size is limited to 80x80 I think.