Introduction of new sub-forums?

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MikeH

MikeH

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Hi all

Happy New Year to everyone

Following on from discussions on the forum 12 months ago about adding new sub-forums to the site a year we added the out of bounds and for sale sections. From our perspective these seemed to have worked well.

Looking at the forum over the last few months and especially since December it seems to be busier than ever with almost a 'page' turning over every day meaning if you're not on the forum for a day or two you can lose the pace of things.

Is their a need or desire among to add a few new sub-forums?

We could add sub-forums for obvious things like gear and tips, a dedicated one for posting your own reviews of gear/courses, an 'ask the experts' one where you pose questions you want answering and we do out best to get an industry expert to solve your queries.

I stress that this is just an 'idea' the moment but do please leave comments/thoughts/suggestions for new sub-forums here or even just register snap shot view with a yes or no on the poll below.
 
Mike,
It might be best imho if we could get a sticky on this forum on the most talked about subjects i.e. GPS :shakefist: ,custom fitting or noob hellos and the likes rather than slit members across many forums? Just an idea is all.
 
I think if we had 5 or 6 sub-forums it would get messy. We sometimes post in the wrong one now and we've only got 3 to choose from!

It would also begin to resemble the Today's Golfer forum (only looked at it for comparison to ours! Honest!)

If its at all Golf related it goes in The Lounge otherwise its Out of Bounds - simple.

As regards the For Sale section, maybe if all initial posts had to be approved by GM (I know there is a time and money constraint there) it might help weed out the blaggers who just want free advertising - then Homer can keep his "Diatribes" in his trousers!!!
 
6 forums/sub forums would be about right, using the view new posts everyone can see whats posted so its not like each sub area is "closed off" from causal browsing.
 
Think the number of forums is just fine.

However stickies are a good idea and someone to preview 1st posts or an idea from another forum I use is new users are banned from posting for a month.(We could have a permanent hello I'm new thread?)

I would be quite happy to vet the for sale section!
 
FWIW Mike I would shy away from too many sub forums. I know when I join a new forum (for example about a car I might be interested in) the bewildering selection of forum headings is a big turn off.

......

Having said that some sort of FAQ sub forum might help to free up some space. We've all been new here at some point, we've all asked the most common questions so it's perfectly legitimate to ask them. However, some topics would benefit from a permanent space of their own and made sticky to boot.

The threads themselves would still be able to be updated as new thinking or fresh opinions occured but they would be contained in one place that anyone interested in the topic could gourge themselves on to their hearts content.

Maybe such topics could be framed within a poll that remains open in perpetuity and the results constantly being updated as more add their thoughts.

e.g. GPS systems A) good idea B) bad idea.... and then opinions underneath.

Trying to carve off different general topic areas may also have one of two results which I commonly see on other forums

1) The main forum is no longer 'main' as it is just a fractured part of the whole and it ends up loosing the immediacy and vigour that is a part of a thriving site

2) One of the forums gets unofficially nominated the main one and the others get virtually ignored which looks tatty, is misleading as someone decided to post on CF (boo hiss) not in the CF forum but in the nominated main one instead and also it becomes much more hands on for the mods.

If you do go down that route then I personally stick with areas not already covered by general discussion such as perhaps ' ask the team' or one dedicated to course reviews ( I know you do that already but with the full weight of all of us out there it could be huge). One sticky thread for each club as they pop up and then added to by other visitors or members. Now that I WOULD use!

bill
 
Forum is too messy now. I agree with Brendy, increase it too 6 sub forums and it will be easier to navigate and find posts that you want.

Could also do with jazzing up the dull 1980's style posting.
 
I like the idea of further sub-forums.

I would suggest as previously mentioned, Equipment, Tips & Advice.

Possibly an "arrange a game" section perhaps?

Think with the F/S and Out of bounds that things have been working really well but as you say, it is getting busy.

I have had days out and come back to 250 new posts more than once, this is hard work to get through so further subdivision can only help in my eyes.
 
Happy new year MikeH and all the best to you, your family and all at the towers.

IMO the forum is becoming to popular to stick with what we have. Seriously, I didnt log on for 3 days and I had something like 19 new topics with almost 350 posts to get through.
Sub sections would have been great.

Not too many though. Maybe something like

*The lounge(for general golfing chat)

*Instruction(Post here to ask for advice, or browse tips left by others)

*Arrange a game (Use this space to challenge fellow GMer's to a game)

*For sale section(A place where forum members can swap, sell or buy private items. No spamming or chancing :D )

*The Spike Bar,formerly known as Out of bounds (A place for one and all to discuss anything they fancy)

*Equipment Guide ( Along with links from GM's regular tests a place to seek out other forum members advice a views)

Just a few examples of how the forum could go. Doesn't have to be overly complecated with a couple more sub sections.

I would also add that it wouldnt do any harm to have a couple of moderators knocking around to keep things clean and in the right place.
 
Agree 100% with Medwayjon. Equipment, Tips & Advice. and possible an "arrange a game" section perhaps?
 
Happy new year MikeH and all the best to you, your family and all at the towers.

IMO the forum is becoming to popular to stick with what we have. Seriously, I didnt log on for 3 days and I had something like 19 new topics with almost 350 posts to get through.
Sub sections would have been great.

Not too many though. Maybe something like

*The lounge(for general golfing chat)

*Instruction(Post here to ask for advice, or browse tips left by others)

*Arrange a game (Use this space to challenge fellow GMer's to a game)

*For sale section(A place where forum members can swap, sell or buy private items. No spamming or chancing :D )

*The Spike Bar,formerly known as Out of bounds (A place for one and all to discuss anything they fancy)

*Equipment Guide ( Along with links from GM's regular tests a place to seek out other forum members advice a views)

Just a few examples of how the forum could go. Doesn't have to be overly complecated with a couple more sub sections.

I would also add that it wouldnt do any harm to have a couple of moderators knocking around to keep things clean and in the right place.
Click to expand...

I agree that something like Tony mentioned would be desirable.

It is nice to see you are thinking about us all though Mike :D Happy new year to you and the others in the GM team.
 
I like the idea of the arrange a game section but thats it, stick with The Lounge, O.O.B, Sale/Wanted and then the arrange a game on top of that.
 
Mike,

Happy new year to all at GM Towers and hope you have them slaving over the enxt issues. I am in two minds (unlike me). I can see the benefits particularly of popular suggestions like equipment and arrange a game but on the other hand I'm concerned that it will become too diluted and dificult to follow active and popular threads. I think on balance a few extra sub-sections (I like the ask the expert idea) may help as would pinning a subject.
 
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