Thinking out loud about forum reconstruction

[jaskey]

I was on yahoo answers and I came across a question on what I would like in a forum. And below was my response.

"I would like to see...
1. a welcome section
2. commonly posted thread section (search here before asking or posting)
3. fight news and discussion section
4. fight theory section
5. technique section
6. training section
7. health section
8. garbage and troll section (mod moves threads here from other threads)
9. chill section (just random stuff that people want to discuss with other martial artists)"

It was heavily borrowed from rumsoakedfist, but it got me to thinking. Why not have the RSF divided into these sections. I personally think it's very logical divisions. Although I'm afraid to suggest it out right since the divisions that RSF has have been working so well already. So I present my idea to the mods for their amusement.

Since I'm already at it, why don't we have a sister forum with all of the styles welcomed. This is an awesome forum, but it doesn't leave much room for non-IMAists.

Now I'm going to run for the caves and hope the storms pass.

[chud]

Actually there are some good ideas there. I had also made a proposal to add to the forum, in this thread: Proposal for a new sub-forum

[Chris Fleming]

Seriously though, the last time someone sought to change all sorts of things people had to leave because we wanted to have what we have here...

That and you can obviously see the subtitle--"INTERNAL MARTIAL ARTS FORUM". People already can talk about nearly any other style as it is. People post links and video clips regarding western swordsmanship, for instance. No need to make hundreds of sub categories to click on. Simple.

[Josealb]

Why fix something thats not broken? IMO, this forum has grown into something all by itself in the past 10 years....its well beyond what us members might think it needs. Its the best damn forum for IMA information, and thats all that it needs to be.

No offense, of course.

[mixjourneyman]

the forum has its own unique character and set of characters. We are like a bunch of drinking buddies who hang out after work and talk shop while shooting the shit. I think two things need to be addressed: 1) we don't need to attract everyone in the internet who does martial arts, a small group of people who know each other can have a much more serious discussion than a large anonymous group 2) there are lots of places on the internet to talk about different martial arts. RSF is the premier site for talking IMA, it should remain that way

[zenshiite]

^I'm with mix. I don't post really at all in the main forum and I'm involved in alot of the religious scuffles around here... but besides the Kung Fu Magazine forum, this is the only MA forum I visit. I joined before the big split, tried going to the Hijacked-the-Name Forum, found it lacking, then found this one renewed and eventually renamed. I think this is just fine. If you don't want to read a political or religious thread, don't. Simple as that. Thread titles are usually informative that way, and besides which... those threads have trended towards sensible resolutions once folks get sick of hurling insults and names back and forth. I was against the proposal for a politics and religion subforum, to sub-divide this forum even more would be heinous IMO. Business as usual is just fine, and I see no reason for it to change.

[Peacedog]

I don't think we need to add anything other than a classifieds section for martial arts and conditioning related stuff. That way the next time someone moves and needs to get ride of a wooden dummy or something else they don't need someone here can get a sweet deal rather than the jerks at ebay.

Oh, I also think all political and religious posts should go to BTDT instead of off the topic.

[Peacedog]

Okay, I'm on the new sections bandwagon now.

Add a new section just for websites/links to members stuff.

[wiesiek]

same here , /e.: i`m to slow ,this is to ZenS.post/
everything listed alredy included,

Business as usual is just fine, and I see no reason for it to change.
-Business as usual is just fine, and I see no reason for it to change.
--Business as usual is just fine, and I see no reason for it to change.
---Business as usual is just fine, and I see no reason for it to change.
----

[Steve James]

Other than current events, there's nothing we can discuss (especially not cma/ima) that is not BTDT. It has little to do with the topic. BTDT should be changed to "DWTDT" (don't want to discuss that) or "CTMT" (causes too much trouble). I rarely read the main forum because I rarely see topics that weren't done to death in the 90s. I don't read BTDT because I think the topics are usually just slagging matches, and I'm not an enabler. OTT --imo-- means just that, topics "other than" martial arts. Sure, it could be sub-divided in to religion and politics, but also into sex and drugs, or race and ethnicity, or crime, the death penalty, abortion, public education and private medicine, conspiracy theories, etc., etc., iow, every subject other than ima that we have argued about over the years. (Of course, every single one of those topics can be related to each other). Then we could talk about ... everything else.

Whatever the subject or pov, people come to talk about things that matter to them. During the 2008 elections, the majority of OTT was consumed with talk about what would/could/should happen. In 2012, if there is a sub-forum for politics (or conspiracy theories=same thing as politics to some), those who think it matters will be talking there. If we can't talk about things that matter to us now "because" of what is happening currently, then it would be easier to look at pictures in magazines with one hand

[Dmitri]

1. a welcome section
2. commonly posted thread section (search here before asking or posting)
3. fight news and discussion section
4. fight theory section
5. technique section
6. training section
7. health section
8. garbage and troll section (mod moves threads here from other threads)
9. chill section (just random stuff that people want to discuss with other martial artists)"

So, you walk into a bar, and you'd like to see a "Welcome" sign in the front, and separate sections for light beers, dark ones, rums, vodkas, liqueurs, etc., and a few separate areas for nice customers who behave themselves, who don't, who (don't) leave good tips, who (don't) start fights all the time, who (don't) get really very drunk, etc., etc., etc.?

it doesn't leave much room for non-IMAists

...and what, a special little section for non-alcoholic sparkling beverages with organic vegan snacks?

[yusuf]

Peacedog's idea of a classifieds is very good. there is always stuff i want to buy from CHina, or the US which the seller won;t ship overseas. RSF members who want to earn some $$$ could respond in the wanted section of the classifieds...

[zenshiite]

1. a welcome section
2. commonly posted thread section (search here before asking or posting)
3. fight news and discussion section
4. fight theory section
5. technique section
6. training section
7. health section
8. garbage and troll section (mod moves threads here from other threads)
9. chill section (just random stuff that people want to discuss with other martial artists)"

So, you walk into a bar, and you'd like to see a "Welcome" sign in the front, and separate sections for light beers, dark ones, rums, vodkas, liqueurs, etc., and a few separate areas for nice customers who behave themselves, who don't, who (don't) leave good tips, who (don't) start fights all the time, who (don't) get really very drunk, etc., etc., etc.?

it doesn't leave much room for non-IMAists

...and what, a special little section for non-alcoholic sparkling beverages with organic vegan snacks?

I'd like some organic vegan snacks please!

[Muad'dib]

I've been advocating a separate politics section for sometime.

[ashe]

Why fix something thats not broken? IMO, this forum has grown into something all by itself in the past 10 years....its well beyond what us members might think it needs. Its the best damn forum for IMA information, and thats all that it needs to be.

No offense, of course.

+1, less is more.

more sub-forums = more division and less interaction on all levels. keeping the number of sub-forums to a minimum instills a type of "competition" where more individual members are likely to see any given topic and participate, which means more view points and levels of experience and better return on the level of conversation that can develop.

i personally think a sub-forum for poli/rel discussion is a waste of time. it's a venue for two parties to scream at each other while having their fingers jammed in their ears. in other words, there's not even any intent of honest discussion so why bother?

IMO, the real problem is the software. phpBB is great at a certain level, but is woefully inadequate on so many levels of a community of this sort, which is why, as an admin, i advocated for the forum to migrated to a drupal based website.

one obvious benefit would be that we could turn over the responsibility of running the teachers directory to the membership. if you want to see a teacher listed, you can list them and you could leave comments about a teacher, etc.

another additional benefit would be the ability to use tags to sort specific forum topics, so for instance you could tag any one of the topics you start as 'fight news' or 'sparring clips', etc. and sort forum posts by searching though the tags.