thoughts on reorganizing forums?

[EricNoah]

Hi folks

We've been tossing around some thoughts about reorganizing the forums a smidge and would like any ideas and/or feedback you'd care to provide.

One thought was to consolidate some lesser used forums -- say Places & Plots with Rogues Gallery, for example.

Another thought that comes to mind is that the advent of d20 Modern might necessitate either its own board or maybe some other kind of reorganization with the d20 System Games forum, the d20 Publishers forum, and General.

So fire away! Keep in mind that one reason for separate forums is to make sure there are places where various topics can be discussed and where you can be reasonably sure it will be "on topic" almost all of the time. Another is for ease of locating certain kinds of threads.

There's a fine line between chopping things up too finely and not chopping them up much at all and hopefully we can find a solution that's good for everyone. We are probably not talking about drastic changes here, maybe just a few simple ones if they make sense.

 

[Magic Rub]

You might want to make a "Clownland" Forum for all of the [OT], [HIVEMIND], [OT SPORTS], and other misc. threads that pop up in The General & Meta Forums all the time. That may be to fine of a chop...??????

 

[Knight Otu]

I think a "Hivemind" or "Clownland" forum would be too off-topic for the ENTeam to be comfortable with.

I don't think that d20 Modern should get an extra forum, d20 System should fit well enough.

The Conversions forum could possibly dropped, and it's contents split among House Rules, CC, and Plots&Places/Rogue Gallery. If necessary, the Middle Earth d20 threads could get an extra Hosted Sites forum.

D&D software could become Software and Computers, as many moderators have moved technical problems into that forum.

I'm wondering if it is neccessary to keep d20 Publishers and d20 System Games seperate?

(Could non-moderators get read-only access to the Mods forum? - just joking!)

 

[EricNoah]

(Could non-moderators get read-only access to the Mods forum? - just joking!)

Well while we're at it why not have a forum that everyone EXCEPT the mods could visit. Now that would be fun!

 

[Morrus]

What about a previous edition forum? I'd like to encourage more 1E/2E talk (although not at the expense of the 3E!).

 

[Dragongirl]

I don't think D20 Modern needs it's own forum. Is there really that much interest in it? Maybe just a [modern] tag. And of course I am for an OT/Hivemind/Pantheon/Whatever forum, but I will not hold my breath.

 

[Buttercup]

Well, Plots & Places and Rogue's Gallery are both really for discussing topics that only apply to DMs. You could combine them into a DM forum. This might or might not include house rules. Since many of us who DM know some of our players read these boards from time to time, it might be nice to put all DM related stuff into one place, so we could warn our players to just stay out of that forum. I don't have any great attachment to this idea, it's just off the top of my head.

At this time I don't think D20 Modern needs its own forum, but that could change, of course.

I don't play any of the previous editions, but I do think it might be nice to have a forum for them. You could either put it in the D&D/D20 section, or change the name of that one to D&D3E/D20 and put the previous edition forum in Bits & Pieces, for which there might be a better name. Miscellany, for example.

 

[Mark]

Well, Plots & Places and Rogue's Gallery are both really for discussing topics that only apply to DMs. You could combine them into a DM forum. This might or might not include house rules. Since many of us who DM know some of our players read these boards from time to time, it might be nice to put all DM related stuff into one place, so we could warn our players to just stay out of that forum. I don't have any great attachment to this idea, it's just off the top of my head.

FWIW, I think this is an outstanding idea.

*Edit* ...and I'd suggest just utilizing the d20 Systems forum for d20 Modern-specific threads (as is being done currently anyway.) The first page of that forum currenlt has week old threads and the influx of d20 Modern threads isn't going to harm that forum provided tags are used, IMO. If it proves to be a much larger phenominon than it is, perhaps consider giving it its own forum but I don't see this as any more of a problem than E-Tools threads having been moved to the Software forum. *End Edit*

 

[Mr Fidgit]

Well, Plots & Places and Rogue's Gallery are both really for discussing topics that only apply to DMs...

i'm not sure combining them would be such a good idea...

if you check Rogue's Gallery right now, most of the first page are threads about PCs, mostly from Story Hours



and, i would at least wait to see how popular d20 Modern becomes before creating an entire forum to it. in a few weeks the fervor may die down...

 

[Mark]

i'm not sure combining them would be such a good idea...

if you check Rogue's Gallery right now, most of the first page are threads about PCs, mostly from Story Hours

Yeah but those threads on the first page go back for nearly a month and the writer of a story hour can always add a link into their first post to make finding them easier (if necessary.) (...and no offense since I do see your point. )

I'd like to add the suggestion that the Art Gallery & Miniatures forum be retitled the Art Gallery, Maps & Miniatures forum (and even allowing the occasional mapping software question to be left in/moved to it. Those types of software questions do not arise that often and can be very helpful to artists (just as threads that start as art showcases often have a large component of artistic softwware content.)