Group Discussion: Adding new Music/Travel/Food Board

[F Horn of Valere]

The staff have been having a discussion, and we are at a point where we would like some general input from Band members. Please remember that the big issue here is still in a brainstorming phase, so if an idea below is something you do NOT like, don't worry; nothing has been decided yet except that there needs to be a change.

 

The background:

The Band is, frankly, a confusing place for a new member. So many forums, sub-forums, and pinned topics have made the Band a maze of information that is not always easy to follow. We have already begun making changes to fix this (a simple guide for Recruits, removing some pins, moving some others), but the work is not yet done. We have already identified some unused forums to hide at least for the time-being, to include the Courtroom and Dicing/Fighting with JotS.

 

The current discussion:

We have been mulling the idea of adding another public board as a sub-forum of our main board. Why add a forum when everything is already too complicated? It would be a place to consolidate. This board would be a one-stop-shop for resources relating to Music, Travel, and Food. The Travels of Jain Farstrider would become its sub-forum, etc.

 

IF we go along with this idea, this presents another issue: How much do we want to move? Some threads are obvious... they are pinned topics about music resources, etc. But what about the games? Tune or No Tune? We don't want everything to leave our main board because that is the first place new members look! My first thought was to move everything into the new board. Corki's first thought was that we don't want to abandon that board. Upon further thought, I am thinking perhaps moving all finished topics along those lines (Tune or No Tune, voting for the best drummer of all-time, etc) could work, and/or maybe designating one or two things to stay in the main board while the rest move over.

 

This is where you all come in. For a change that is this big, which moves beyond asthetics and actually might impact recruiting or activity levels, we want your input. What do you think? Is there anything above that you really do or do not like? Did we miss any good options? Remember, the ultimate goal is to make everything easy and simple, without sacrificing quality or activity.

[Corki]

This is part of our forum re-organisation. As Horn mentioned, some of our lesser used boards will be hidden (NOT deleted) until activity warrants them. Two boards are being deleted as they are not used and currently sit empty.

 

The overall aim is to make the Band less confusing. In the past, we were probably big enough for all the boards. We are downsizing to a better level, with the aim of increasing numbers steadily over the year. At the moment, we regularly get 20 members into a roll call - in the past, we often got 45/50+. So we are adjusting, and hopefully making the Band better for it.

 

Horn's suggestion had me initially confused over what he intended. However, I think we have reached a good middle ground. But we want to see if you agree or disagree. Or if you can add to it and make it better. It is important to remember that the main Band board is the public board, and the first place new members see.

 

Also, on a separate point, I will be using the blog on DM (once I get a new link) to advertise our activities, as well as somehow convince those who use the DM's Twitter account to retweet the tweets from the Band's Twitter account to help promote us as a group.

[Krakalakachkn]

Dude....this is hard to answer. Let me think on it and get back to you.

 

Is there a timeframe for this to happen/not happen?

[F Horn of Valere]

We will be carefull enough to not rush into anything... we haven't discussed a timeline on this exactly, though we don't want it to drag out for weeks and months either! But anyways, we don't want to drag our feet, but better to go too slow than too fast lest we make a bad decision I guess.

[Imperium]

Don't get rid of the court room

 

I want to be a Red Arm again and kick you all back into shape!

 

Hmmm that seems abit power mad...

 

I myself am struggling to see how creating the new board would actually work...I don't though have a problem with The Travels of Jain Farstrider being a public board

[Kaylen]

well as a new observer I think that a little more organization could be useful. The guide for the recruits is definitely helpful but there is still so much going on.. I still find myself looking for threads and not knowing exactly where I should look.. Is it in the public boards or is it in the Campfires? Is it in one of those sub boards under the campfires? Is it in one of those other subboards?? It can be frustrating...