THE PACK Message Boards

RedEye wrote:That is an idea; Werewolves in Multi-Media would cover a lot of disparate sections that take up space now.

You might also try:
Werewolves in Print: Comics, Novels, News, etc.
Werewolves in Media: TeeVee, Movies, Games (as commentary)

That I agree would work best. There seems to be a desired in the Pack for read media being seperated from other entertainment.

RedEye wrote:There are obvious repeat sections that are now separated only by a philosophical wall; combine them, too.

And you can MAKE a sub-forum by creating a forum and then locking it. That way, it becomes a title.

And why not "retire" the forums that haven't been written to in a year or longer? They are just taking up metaspace on this board, now. Tuck them at the bottom of things as a title only.

I'm confused by what you mean when you say "philosophical wall".

The use of root forums as a organizational system seems to be the basis of the subforum idea that came up, but I think we can still explore both possibilities. My only concern is if the subforum approch makes certain sections either harder to get to, or buried to the point nobody knows they're there. This turned out to be the case in another forum I used to visit, so when I started my own it was a much more flat root system. I'll toy with a new forum section and see how it could work.

Lastly, are you suggesting that these retired sections are archived? I feel that is much like sweeping dirt under a rug. Even the unused sections have places they can be merged with.

I'm confused by what you mean when you say "philosophical wall".

I think what Red-Eye was trying to express with that comment is that there are a lot of forums that are essentially the same/similar forum, but are seperated only by unspoken protocol.

For example: Users have both uploaded their own personal werewolf stories and prospective novels to both the "General Werewolf Novels" and "Creative Writing" sections. Either a larger writing forum should be created, or a greater amount of division should be implied (To seperate "other" works versus "our" works, that is.).

(That's what I THINK he meant....I probably shouldn't speak in RedEye's place....)

Anyhow: I agree with everything brought up in Kae's posts. It fits neatly into what I imagined could be done with the forums.

Just to voice a concern real quick, I think my postings here are being interpreted as 'the last word' or something. I'm only making suggestions the same as everyone else. If there's a majority agreement to any ideas posted, we'll incorperate them. The only thing this itchy admin tag will do is put the final decided structure into motion. If I ever go into "admin mode" yall will know.


In regards to Redeye's suggestion to merging similar sections, it of course is something that was considered in many places already, and may need to be double checked to make sure. Though the merging of Creative Writing with Novels (for example) may not work due to the reasons you stated. We may want to keep 'our work' seperated from 'their work'.

Are there any additional thoughts about using subforums instead of one page of links in a flat structure? A flat structure (like we have now) means that we need to merge sections to make things smaller and organized. A subforum structure means that we have links on the first page that lead to a second listing of forums to choose from on its own dedicated page, and can avoid merging entirely.

Soooooooooo...
It is in my opinion that we can use BOTH methods. Perhaps merge sections that make sense to merge without reprocussions, and then keep dedicated sections using subforums such as the Freeborn discussion threads.

The "Philosophical Wall" I referred to is the "Wall" that re-states a premise or title two or three times and has effectively the same groups of people posting to them.

As an example: Werewolf Novels and Werewolves in Comics and the Media. What they are, are Stories; only delivered in a different medium.
There is very little difference between the story in a Graphic Novel (Comic) and the story in a Printed Novel (only no pictures in the latter). They're both Novels, Stories...
Then there are Movies and Teevee. There are two cites on them: one in the General Stuff area, and one in the Werewolf Films, Novels, and TV shows. They're the same thing!

Games should be in one section, not two.

That's an example of the "Philosophical Wall" I was referring to.

Outwarddoodles has the right idea...

In regards to Redeye's suggestion to merging similar sections, it of course is something that was considered in many places already, and may need to be double checked to make sure. Though the merging of Creative Writing with Novels (for example) may not work due to the reasons you stated. We may want to keep 'our work' seperated from 'their work'.

Well, that was my example at the time: I think RedEye's was much better, and I thoroughly agree with his proposals.

About subforums: I prefer the "Flat Forum" layout, but subforums are fine with me in moderation. Honestly, subs are anathema to me (for whatever reason, I simply DON'T like them) and I only ask that they're not used excessively -- I don't want to feel as though I'm traversing a labyrinth everytime I access these forums.

Examples of forums I feel should be sub'd would be forums that concern a very specific topic: Such as Alpha Luna, HoD, etc etc. Which would be placed in their respective media-related forums.

outwarddoodles wrote:I'd rather have a general "Werewolf Section" which would include both the "What Should a Werewolf Be?" forum, the Werewolf Media-Related forums, and discussion about werewolf lore and the like -- instead of treating 'What Should a Werewolf be?" section as a "Pack Project."

Im OK with this.

I usually don't mind all those threads, since they do bring interesting topics. But some are just inactive.....

I certainly hope we're still doing this. Very soon I'll take all of the suggestions so far and compile another up-to-date proposal that we can discuss.

I guess everyone who's remotely interested has said what they want to say regarding the topic -- I'm waiting for the updated proposal.

I'm REALLY looking forward to a new forum layout.

I'm still ok with this one you posted earlier:

--General Discussions
Moderators and Admins Only Forum
Introductions
General Stuff
| Feed the Beast
The Pack- General Business
| WEBSITE UPDATES
Pack Meetings & Conventions
| Conventions
Film, Music, TV Shows & Other Multimedia
| Film & TV Shows
| Music
Games
| Video Games
| Role-Playing Games
Forum Games
Tech Support

--Werewolves
What should a werewolf be?
Werewolf Legends & Lore
Werewolf Film, Comics, Novels, Etc.
| General Werewolf Novels
| General Werewolf Comics
| General Werewolf Films
| H. O. D.
Freeborn & Anthony Brownrigg's Films
| OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!
| Synopsis
| Responses from the director
| FILM TITLE CHANGE
| Werewolf Final Facts (i.e. Silvers Corner)
| Replies to Silvers Corner
| CASTING
| QUESTION AND ANSWER
| Comments on the Screenplay|
| MAKEUP TESTS
| RED VICTORIA

--The Creative Den
Artwork (Pictures, Sculptures, Costumes, Websites etc.)
| Costumes/Prop construction
| Artwork (werewolf based)
| Artwork (other)
| Links to other art/story sites
Creative Writing
| Creative Writing (werewolf based)
| Creative Writing (other)
Classifieds

--Roleplaying
Informal In-Character Role Playing
Formal In-Character Role Playing

In regards to the current proposal, I would rather see it as thus:

(Green = Forum, Red = Subforum)

--General Discussions
Moderators and Admins Only Forum
Introductions
General Stuff
--- Feed the Beast
The Pack- General Business
--- WEBSITE UPDATES
Pack Meetings & Conventions
Film, Music, TV Shows & Other Multimedia
--- Music
Games (Video, Board, Roleplaying)
Forum Games
Tech Support

--Werewolves
What should a werewolf be?
Werewolf Legends & Lore
Werewolf Film, Comics, Novels, Etc.
--- H. O. D.
--- Luna
--- Any other subforums concerning specific titles and whatnot
Freeborn & Anthony Brownrigg's Films
--- OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!
--- Synopsis
--- Responses from the director
--- FILM TITLE CHANGE
--- Werewolf Final Facts (i.e. Silvers Corner)
--- Replies to Silvers Corner
--- CASTING
--- QUESTION AND ANSWER
--- Comments on the Screenplay|
--- MAKEUP TESTS
--- RED VICTORIA

--The Creative Den
Artwork (Pictures, Sculptures, Costumes, Websites etc.)
Creative Writing
Classifieds

--Roleplaying
Informal In-Character Role Playing
Formal In-Character Role Playing

My thoughts: I found a lot of the subforums to be excessive. I think the werewolf media section should remain as one large forum, and same with the creative art and writing sections. A subforum for "conventions" in the Meetings and Concention forums seemed really unnecessary.

I agree. Too much clutter can be condensed. I've said it many times before.

I have thought it was a bit busy for some time, I do not notice it too much because I love to use the "View new posts" button, keeps things simple enough, even so, yep, too much unused forums.

I keep putting this off. well, im almost done packing for my move. I'll have a night with nothing to do, so I'll get things organized... very carefully. Don't want to rupture the forums. I'll see if I can get Tak online to help me break it down without losing posts or misplacing sections. We'll take the suggestions and decide on the best organization to keep the navigation the easiest to get around.

Ok, it's been almost two months. All the votes are in. Seems like the majority are in favor of restructuring. When will this be accomplished?

Well, the admin who was heading up the project has stepped down, so someone else needs to step up to fill the void before anything can happen, I think.

Though I'm hoping that in thinking of fiddling around with the forums, an important realisation has been reached: Each of the subforums we have at the moment is important, merging them would probably lead to disaster, flooding, plagues, and confusion. All that really needs to happen is that the existing subforums should be sorted into a better categorical system.

Our group still needs to decide on a final draft of the sections that will remain.

My last attempt to change the forum based on the previous draft left me fearful of screwing something up, so it never happened.

Kaebora wrote:Our group still needs to decide on a final draft of the sections that will remain.

That's basically the only holdback for me as well, is waiting for something to be mutually accepted upon.

Otherwise I could rearrange it all, and even do a DB backup prior just in worst ever case scenario. Overall it shouldn't be all that complex (people don't develop GUIs to make them that complicating ) and I'd certainly be willing to do so.

It seemed to be that the last restructure was done without consensus -- I just woke up this morning and it was entirely rearranged.

Considering the rather communal lack of interest present to this project, if we wait for a 'final draft' complete with mutual agreement, this restructure will never happen. I'd honestly rather the admins just go through with any rearrangement, even if I had no input. Afterall, I wasn't fond of the last restructure, and I'm still alive.

Considering that there seem to be little posting from anyone here these days, I don't think it makes much difference either way.

while id love to see the book section stay separate, I suppose things are just not active enough to register the need to stay so spread out.

Youd have to post something in the multimedia section once it was created, that if you create a thread, please specify in the subject line, what kind of media is the thread discussing. Like, if its a thread about a werewolf videogame, then use the word videogame in the subject line, even if you just slip in (videogame) at the end of the subject.

I mean, who knows, this could revive the forums again if people see more stuff to post about.

I felt no need to change anything.

So now I simply went forth and mutilated the crap out of the layout, pretty much following outwarddoodle's proposal (with some differences).

Now feel free to complain and critique finally!

Werewolf section should be on top.

Sebiale wrote:Werewolf section should be on top.

That's what I was also debating upon, considering pretty much any forum has their sections that reflect the sole interest on the top, and general discussion below. Change made.