On the subject of "maxi-threads" and locking

davidbrit2 · Last edited by davidbrit2 on Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:06 pm, edited 1 time in total

Frankly, I think the idea of creating a single maxi-thread for a topic is a bad idea in terms of usability. For instance:

http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=57902
http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=52308
http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=57902

This might seem like a nice idea on paper, but in practice, they are just a navigational nightmare.

There's no facility for searching within a single thread.
Conversations become twisted and confused as everyone tries to talk over one another.
The idea of relevant topic headings from single threads is lost, and no real summary of discussion can be found.

When the whole point of a message board is to provide for communication, doing such things is highly counterproductive.

I highly recommend this organizational scheme be dumped. Might anyone have any perceived benefits of the current layout to discuss?
_________________
definition of a recession

Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

If you suggest it should be dumped, do you have a better idea?

Having general topic thread is to keep clutter down, not meant for disorganization. Those 2 threads you mentioned aren't even good examples because they are still not long enough to be a major problem. (ie, better examples in the DDR Consoles forum, where threads are 20+ pages long).

Discussions fade with times, with 9th style IIDX coming out, would there be much discussion about 5th? Not likely.

Plus this is a DDR website, not beatmania. We don't have a specific forum for beatmania, so the next best thing is to make a sticky, general topic. Rather than have several threads, scattered about the forum.
_________________

Best thread on DDR Freak winnar | Second best thread | Posting and You...

davidbrit2 · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2003 9:54 am Post subject:

Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

Junior Asparagus · Administrator Joined: 23 Jan 2002 Location: Natick, MA

He probably is suggesting that people be allowed to make separate threads for their own topics, much like DDR Chit Chat, without having the stickies.

That's actually perfectly fine with me, if people think it's easier in those respects.
_________________

davidbrit2 · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2003 1:50 pm Post subject:

Yes, that's precisely what I mean. Just don't pigeonhole everyone into a general purpose topic.

Basically, it's a matter of tradeoffs with PHPBB, since it doesn't support sub-forums. Either you can have cluttered thread lists, or you can have the threads themselves be cluttered. Since the thread list is just a means of getting to the actual communication, and as the search feature can't be used inside an individual thread, you're probably better off making the thread list a little more cluttered, rather than severely harming the thread readability.

Not that I'm supporting countless duplicate topics, either. If someone starts a new topic about the exact same thing that's already being actively discussed, that's a bit excessive.

It's the blanket topics that are the big issue. Obviously, DDR Max 2 US Spoilers is appropriate, since that's fairly special interest. On the other hand, just making "The Official IIDX Thread" wouldn't cut it, since that's far too general. So just be a little more conservative about when to use large/sticky threads for a subject.
_________________
Yamaha Wiki
________
MEDICAL MARIJUANA STATES

Cookies · Trick Member Joined: 06 Apr 2002

well, the purpose of stickies is to reduce the number of threads on one particular topic by asking that they all be posted in the sticky.

How much sense does it make to have 30 topics on "What's your favorite song"? Stickies alleviate this problem.

I can understand where you are coming from though, and here is a possible solution. Anything extremely pertinate to the thread, i.e. codes for the game, could be posted in the first post. That way they are easy to find. And it's not difficult to edit the first post to add things like that.

I don't see a reason to eliminate stickies altogether though, because they are very useful.

davidbrit2 · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2003 4:27 pm Post subject:

Junior Asparagus · Administrator Joined: 23 Jan 2002 Location: Natick, MA

I definitely see where davidbrit2 is coming from. This would by no means call for the elimination of all stickies, but forcing any and all IIDX topics into the same thread, for example, could be a bit restrictive.

I'd personally leave it up to the mods of that particular forum to figure out what they want to do, but I'd be fine with it.
_________________

davidbrit2 · Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2003 4:51 pm Post subject:

Cool. JA sees where I'm going with this.

And it's a pretty straightforward issue. Attempting to "organize" the forums is really just introducing too much restriction.
_________________
Mercedes C111

CStarFlare · Maniac Member Joined: 24 Jan 2002

Since you linked to threads in OB&MG...

I agree, not all discussion about a topic should be contained in one thread. That's why we don't require it.

The stickies are there for general discussion; "What's a good easy song to AAA?", "I just beat Abyss!", "I just played IIDX and OMG IS IT HARD", etc. More in-depth topics definately deserve separate threads. We keep stickies so you don't have to dig through 10 generic threads to get to one good one.

The policies thread even goes over this.

davidbrit2 · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2003 1:55 pm Post subject:

I agree. That's how it should be done. In many cases, though, it isn't.

e.g. http://www.ddrfreak.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=7137191

And that wasn't just idle DM chatter. So before anybody locks a thread because it should "go in a sticky," THINK about it, first. ;-)
_________________
Baking Forums

Phrekwenci · Administrator Joined: 27 Feb 2002 Location: New York, NY

davidbrit2 · Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2003 5:33 pm Post subject:

Yeah, that's pretty much right. So as long as a thread is actually a meaningful question not 100% related to the generalized nature the sticky, or presents similar useful information, and it's not written by an asinine fool, then don't pigeonhole it.
_________________
government grants

TooNice · Staff Member Joined: 22 Aug 2002

davidbrit2 · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2003 9:18 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I've used that now and then. It isn't nearly as effective as I'd like it to be, though.
_________________
30 Rock Forum