Suggestion for Organization in this Forum

[Oracle]

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Let first say that of the 100's of sites a google search gives you, this is one of 2 or 3 sites I found that actually have adult party game ideas that aren't incredibly childish, and actually sounds fun. None of those other sites had more than 1 or 2 good ideas. (I'm sorry, in my book a bean bag toss does not qualify as a viable adult party idea).

Having searched & read this party ideas forum for all adult party game ideas I could find, the ideas are splintered, and keep getting asked every few months it seems. My suggestion is for one of the moderators to create a few sticky topics (ex: adult party game ideas, adult party theme ideas, kids party game ideas, drink recipes, etc...) to consolidate these reoccurring questions & suggestions.

I do not know how active the moderators are, but in each sticky thread, I would suggest limiting all posts to ideas & questions about those ideas. Save the chatter comments for another thread. With this type of guideline rule, a moderator could simply delete/move non-relevant posts in an effort to stream line the sticky threads.

Use of sticky topics in this fashion has proven fairly successful on several other forum boards I use. I'm thinking it could do the same here.

[larry]

I appreciate the kind words.

One of the reasons why this is the best Halloween oriented forum is that we do not over moderate. While we are working more to keep threads on-topic, it will be virtually impossible to do as you suggest. For instance, if a thread topic is throwing a party and is talking about invitations, we are not going to delete the post if they also mention a skeleton that is a prop.
The way that we run this forum has proven to be VERY successful. That is why you have found the content here that you have found.

Ironically, what you just suggested would mean that we would have deleted your post.

[Muffy]

Larry I would also like to mention that the "Search Engine" in this Forum is a wonderful tool to access information quickly. I use it to find all kinds of things & often suggest it to other members because I for one did not start using for quite sometime after I became a member.

[larry]

Absolutely Muffy. I appreciate you pointing that out. The search function is amazing. Never to be overlooked.

[Terra]

Yep, I second the search feature. GREAT TOOL!

It saves you and others time when the question has already been answered. For new members, don't be afraid to bring up an old thread if you still have a question. It keeps the info better organized and easier to find.

[Oracle]

I agree about using the search function, it's often overlooked. I get the impression that you are thinking of something slightly different than what I have. I am a moderator & admin of my own forum board, and understand how generally you don't want to touch anyone's content.

I'll walk thru an example, because I may have not chosen the right words. Inside the Halloween Forum > Party Ideas. Experiences and Recipes forum you would create a sticky thread called "Adult Party Game Ideas" (just like you currently have a sticky thread for "Rules for Merchants, Services and Businesses"). The first post could outline that anyone posting to that thread should stick to presenting adult party game ideas, questions about the ideas, or even suggestions. The point is to discourage the many 'thanks', and 'nice idea' type posts which can sometimes clutter the thread up. Suggest that if anyone wants to make a comment like that, to just start a regular thread. As a moderator, you could move those types of comments, or just let them be, it's really up to you. You could create several other sticky threads with the same premise, just change the topic to 'adult party food recipes', etc.

Part of the reason I make this suggestion is because of the burdens of success sometimes. Another website about music production that I'm actively involved in ran into this type of problem. There are so many posts about 'how do I make a bassline', and 'how do I get a good kick drum sound', that even using the search engine was a lot of information to sift thru. Everyone got tired of newer users posting the same questions, & everyone would say to use the search engine. Even that got annoying, and eventually people weren't even responding at all.

So we adopted this model of using sticky threads at the top to very commonly asked questions. Users could easily find a repository of content, and it led to drastically reducing the same questions from being posted as new threads all the time. After a few years, that 'How do I make a bassline' sticky thread is now over 50 pages long of genuine ideas.

In the grand scheme of things, I honestly think it will save the moderators & users time and effort. It certainly did for us. You wouldn't even have to go collect the the information, just start the thread, and I'm fairly sure many users will repost their ideas in the new sticky thread.

Thanks for your time everyone, and keep up the good work!

[wristslitter]

Lets not confuse me Oracle, I am a special needs forum member.

[the dogman]

Instead of cluttering up the main area of a forum section with stickies, why not make a Collections area? a place on the forum that select posts can be moved to and closed to general comments so that it works more like a reference than a thread. Then it could include all common threads that are seen year after year, party stuff, props, general, costumes, etc.

It could be like a FAQ area for each section so people looking for specific topics can peruse there before making a thread. Moderators can choose the posts that go into said FAQ's and update them when new info is needed. Mods could also add generally good threads with a lot of info instead of sorting through 100 posts to weed out 20 no informational posts.

I like that kind of setup idea better than a butt load of stickies at the start of a section.
Just my two cents.

[larry]

I appreciate the input.

A resource/extended FAQ section is planned for the forum.

I have seen this method and have also seen it kill a forum. There are A LOT of possible topics that "could be" considered for a sticky. If we did that, there would be 3 pages of stickies. It may work somewhere else, but that would just piss off users here.

A large number of stickies is not what is desired at all. This cannot be considered here.

[Gothikren]

subheadings in sections maybe a ton of stickies no wai I'd go nutso.