Forum categories, sub-forums, and organization

[jeshikat]

Looking for suggestions, don't want to split up topics too much but I want things organized as well.

One thing I was considering is a tag system. For example, a thread about cooling could be posted under general SFF but be tagged "cooling" rather than diluting discussion by splitting out a separate cooling sub-forum.

 

[jeshikat]

If the product has just been announced or launched it can go in News. Otherwise it should go in Hardware.

Tagging is going to be integrated into the next version of XenForo so I'm waiting for that so I don't need another add-on.

 

[veryrarium]

Thanks everyone!

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Can anyone clarify what rule I should follow in deciding if a topic on newly found hardware products that I want to post as a new thread is more appropriate to be in the Hardware subforum or in the News subforum?

tagging seems like a reasonable solution

This is my understanding. Newsworthiness trumps other categorizations in practice, so product announcements will be expected in the News section. Any other hardware-related occurrences - product reviews, post-announcement developments, and so forth - should go in the Hardware section.

 

[veryrarium]

Thanks PP.

 

[iFreilicht]

Rumors in particular should NOT go into the news section in my opinion, except as a comment to a recently announced product of course.

 

[PlayfulPhoenix]

Rumors in particular should NOT go into the news section in my opinion, except as a comment to a recently announced product of course.

That is correct. Rumors of a topic should go in the category of said topic, not the news section.

The only exception would be if something is a confirmed leak, or otherwise substantiated in a way that (effectively) makes it tantamount in substance to a formal announcement - in which case, it would be news. But that's very much the exception, rather than the rule. Most leaks won't fall under that category.

 

[jeshikat]

Ok, so the forum has grown quite a bit now, with many more threads and posts being added every day.

Any comments or suggestions for the way the forum is organized?

 

[iFreilicht]

I think it's great the way it is right now Thought to be fair, I only live in My Alerts and New Posts, so maybe I'm not a good person to ask.

 

[Phuncz]

I also agree the organisation is good, "Best Online Forum" for 2015, 2016 and having a good start for the 2017 awards !

The only thing I desire is to open all updated threads into seperate tabs with one mouse click. But that's just silly and would probably cause my router to create a black hole.

 

[jeshikat]

The only thing I desire is to open all updated threads into seperate tabs with one mouse click.

I could use that too, but doesn't look like there's any support for that.

 

[Ceros_X]

I think Custom Cases & Projects forum and the Build Logs forums are very similar. I've often found myself trying to figure out if I had a build log or a project.

Perhaps one forum dedicated to one off/scratch builds/etc and one dedicated to commercial case designs meant for production? Or juse more clear naming. Seen a few comments where people didn't know if they were posting in the right spot I believe.

 

[jeshikat]

Hmm, do you think changing the description for Build Logs from "Show off your projects" to "Show off your cool builds here" would be sufficient?

Build logs is meant for just that, take a bunch of parts and build a rig type of thing, while Custom Cases & Projects is meant more for "from scratch" type of things.

 

[K888D]

That makes sense to me

 

[jeshikat]

Done.

 

[Phuncz]

I could use that too, but doesn't look like there's any support for that.

I would expect so as this would imply you could open like 38 tabs at once with a single hyperlink, it would be quite the ad-click generating horror when that power would end up in the wrong hands.

 

[Chrizz]

In think the forum layout in the workshop could be a little more clear; currently we have:

• Build logs
• Custom Cases & Projects
• Modding

In practice, the 'custom cases & projects' section is mostly used for cases that are, or will be in production. This is no problem of course, many of these cases are very interesting, but these threads do tend to drown out projects that were never meant to be massproduced.* Sure, when finished these projects could be posted in the 'Build log' section, but many aren't finished, and for many of them, the description 'custom cases & projects' fits better than build logs.

I propose that the 'custom cases & projects' is renamed to 'custom cases', and a new subforum is made called 'projects'. This will be a place where you can post projects that require modding, custom components, or an element of DIY. You can post concepts, progress and completed projects.

* Just take a look at the first page of the 'custom cases and projects' subforum and chances are high that 75% of them are about cases that are, or are intended to be mass produced.

 

[EdZ]

Or just post in-progress builds in the Build Log section. There's no requirement that it needs to be finished, that's what the 'log' part is for.

 

[Chrizz]

Or just post in-progress builds in the Build Log section. There's no requirement that it needs to be finished, that's what the 'log' part is for.

For me it's not so much about posting, I don't read all threads, and I notice that I miss a lot of the DIY type cases. These threads usually don't remain active for very long, while mass produced cases are updated regularly thus drowning out other threads.

Another option could be to keep all projects together, but once they hit production they are moved to a different subforum.

 

[confusis]

To be honest I think we have a good selection of subforums at present - a change now may confuse too many folks. What is missing though is a clear description of each subforum - this is something I will look at this evening.

Build Logs is for one off projects/builds - one of a kind awesomeness.

Custom Projects/Cases is more for products intended for production of more than a few units.

 

[CC Ricers]

I just noticed the change in description for Custom Projects. It used to be a tad confusing where I would see scratch builds in the Build Logs section because I thought all scratch builds should have been in Custom Projects. Now at least it is made less confusing.