Things you hate to see in an sffworld thread

[xvart]

That's cause the search function answered the question.

lol, of course. I was just merely pointing out that since the loss of subforums and the number of posts in this thread are not correlated.

xvart.

 

[Evil Agent]

That's cause the search function answered the question.

Well that brings us back to another debate: does the search function help or hinder conversation? If a new member has a question (in this case regarding Brian Sanderson and the Wheel of Time), and then we tell him "use the search function, this has already been discussed many times", is he going to be interested in continuing some old thread? Or is he just going to read over the old thread, then give up and go away?

 

[jamieem]

I think it helps avoid repetition, which can be a pain for people who check the forums regularly... The best thing about this site is the wealth of info available, I think it just gets watered down every time a new thread is started on the same subject.

I understand some people's issues with it, but I think removing the sub forums was the right idea.

 

[Boiler]

i liked the author subforums, but i don't think the forum has suffered from removing them

i do have issues with the tag search though. for instance, there's a thread about GRRM on the first page of the forum: http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19008

it's tagged with george r.r. martin. however, if i search with this tag, the above mentioned thread does not show in the results.

 

[algernoninc]

maybe it's time to update the guidelines or the faq. after several years of posting here, i still have issues with the correct syntax when i try to post a link to another topic within the forum, or insert a picture in my post. if i try to use the FAQ tab in the menu bar i get only "no matches" for my word search.

 

[Eventine]

i liked the author subforums, but i don't think the forum has suffered from removing them

i do have issues with the tag search though. for instance, there's a thread about GRRM on the first page of the forum: http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19008

it's tagged with george r.r. martin. however, if i search with this tag, the above mentioned thread does not show in the results.

Boiler, there was a typo in the tag (it was missing the r in george). It's fixed now.

 

[Boiler]

thanks eventine, i didn't notice that.

 

[jamieem]

I'm in favour of the removal of the sub forums.

 

[jamieem]

Re: Things I hate to see...

The fact that JohnH has not posted since 1st November last year... anyone know if he is ok? I greatly miss his contributions to the board.

 

[Siberian]

Yeah, it was so much fun talking to myself, making a post that wouldn't get a reply for a month. He posts here and he gets 8 replys in one day.

If the subform wasn't active for month than, obviously, it was needed to be removed. But get rid of all of them? I'm not sure it was a good idea. For example, I remember a few lively discussions in the Jordan forum that don't happen here anymore.

 

[Rob B]

Nice to see you have gone soft on the new peeps asking for recs too

If they are different enough from just asking "What should I read next?" then they stay, even if I do drop links into the thread.

Too many Sticky Topics though. The monthly reading thread gets enough traffic to stay on the front page. No need to sticky it imo. Two or three sticky's isn't to bad but when you have more plus two announcements they just take up to much space at the top.

Yeah, yesterday or the day before I realized we had about 10 stickies, which I then unstuck. Something to consider, though.

 

[Werthead]

The problem wasn't the low traffic in the subforums, it was the low traffic in some of the subforums. GRRM, Jordan and Erikson were all constantly busy, Pratchett and Tolkien took off from time to time and pretty much everyone else was dead. Whilst I agree that pruning of the subforums was a good idea, wholesale elimination of them wasn't, and seems to have discouraged discussion of those topics rather than encouraged them. For example, the only recently active GRRM thread has been the perennial one about Book 5, nothing else recently (despite my own efforts with the HBO thread, interest seems to have dwindled).

 

[KatG]

Yes, but the delivery schedule on Book 5 used to be mostly what you would talk about in the Martin sub-forum too, wasn't it?

One of the things we worried about is that if we got rid of the sub-forums, the popular ones would then swamp the main forum with too many threads on the same authors because the sub-forum conversations would be moved over. That was the original reason for creating the sub-forums in the first place, and we figured if it happened again, we'd have to put the sub-forums back. But that hasn't happened this time, which is sort of interesting.

So I suggest that since finding old threads and continuing them still seems to be an objected to practice in some quarters, despite the valiant efforts of our tag squad, squashing discussion it's felt, that we definitely let people just start new threads on the authors. Brighten up the place, welcome the new folks, and put the author's full name at the beginning of the thread title so it's easy to spot. If we run into repetition, we'll deal with it, but since repetition has not so far occurred, let's open the floor.

But -- and this would be my other suggestion -- you'll get more conversation if you're less forceful about dissenting opinions. Old talking pals can josh with each other, but new folk are less inclined to join the conversation when they're going to get sneered at for liking/disliking Jordan, Martin, Erikson or Goodkind. We've had several new members complain already that they find it difficult here because it's all secondary world fantasy, because only a handful of authors get talked about, and when you do try to talk about them, you get jumped on. So apparently, you're scaring them off from talking.

As for your old talking pals, I suggest PM-ing them and asking why they won't talk with you about Erikson and Martin no more. Bug them if they're quiet. Because I'm not sure that putting back the sub-forums is going to magically get them chatting again.

Again, if it isn't working so well, we could experiment with putting one or two sub-forums back if the staff and owner decide it's workable. But the lack of a discussion does not make a good argument for setting them up again.

 

[xvart]

I think there needs to be better "rules" for tags. Is it really necessary to have a tag for "grrm" and "george r.r. martin"? They are redundant. I know there is no way to control this, but if there was a "preferred guidelines for tagging," such as only using full author names. Since one thread might be tagged under "grrm" and not "george r.r. martin", it could be detrimental to using tags as a good search feature.

xvart.

 

[Rob B]

Good point xvart.

My thinking on the tagging is this: While redundant in some respects to those tagging the threads makes it easier for people to search. If you search for grrm or george r.r. martin, the same threads will come up. Same with recommendation and recommendations. Since I did a lot of the tagging in the fantasy forum, it wasn't that much of a problem, I just kept a word document open and copied and pasted.

 

[Bond]

If the subform wasn't active for month than, obviously, it was needed to be removed. But get rid of all of them? I'm not sure it was a good idea. For example, I remember a few lively discussions in the Jordan forum that don't happen here anymore.

A tip for new members: to get a better appreciation of what has gone on on this site previously, sort the threads based on number of replies or views to see some of the most active threads of the past.

 

[xvart]

Good point xvart.

My thinking on the tagging is this: While redundant in some respects to those tagging the threads makes it easier for people to search. If you search for grrm or george r.r. martin, the same threads will come up. Same with recommendation and recommendations. Since I did a lot of the tagging in the fantasy forum, it wasn't that much of a problem, I just kept a word document open and copied and pasted.

Of course. I completely agree; however, it is only effective if every Martin thread has all of the tags, which is easy if one person is doing it all. But as everything is caught up from the past and new threads are made they need to continue what the hard core taggers did in the beginning.

I did a lot of the tagging when it first got implemented at a forum where I am a moderator and I tried to inititiate a discussion with the community about the most effective tagging methods. Although, all is good with good intentions and planning, but carrying it out with group dynamics is a whole other ballgame!

xvart.

 

[Werthead]

A tip for new members: to get a better appreciation of what has gone on on this site previously, sort the threads based on number of replies or views to see some of the most active threads of the past.

Yes, but how would this be transmitted to new, green members who don't know where anything is? We were all newcomers once and I remember not knowing what the form was for anything when I first arrived.

 

[Seak]

This thread started about that time that I signed up here and I think I made most mistakes this thread lists.

Yes! what a newbie thing to do.

 

[killhus]

Eventine wrote

"I'm sick of everything being compared to Tolkien, and people acting like Tolkien is the be-all and end-all of fantasy"

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have seen many established critics do this when they review books. Another thing I hate is people who are afraid to criticise tolkein, I love Tolkeins work, but it does have many flaws.

I also cant stand it when people make fun of other people because of their opinions. When they are debating and they attack the person and not the issue.