Too many forums

[tape-leg]

  I think the large number of sections is intimidating to new members.  I personally find it annoying when I go to a forum and there's a bunch of uninteresting sections that have nothing to do with the subject of the site.  If I came here for the first time I'd be like "Hmm... News, Secrets, Sightings...Art, Games, Fan-Fics...Combolations (what?), Video Games, electronic stuff etc., music, books, movies/TV, sports...Bottomless Spirit Pit.  Eh... *leaves site*"  

 Remember that this is a H*R fan forum.  Recently the off-topic sections are more popular, but maybe they shouldn't be.  If stuff is condensed into child boards, they'll all still be on the main page, the link will just be smaller.  I actually think this makes it look cleaner and keeps the attention focused on the Homestar Runner sections, which is why this site exists.

[Conner]

"Everything is fine. Nothing is broken."

Yeah, this is a Homestar Runner Fan Forum, but if the off-topic sections are keeping it alive, then we should keep them. That isn't the focus of the discussion however. It is easier to access, and it saves time. Some modifications could be done, but re-doing a large portion of it would make it suprising to people who have not heard about this discussion. Small modifications are fine with me.

[potthole]

Just one little thing I'd like to mention, because I find it rather amusing.  Two of the people who are most adamant about "This is a H*R forum, let's keep it that way" are two of the people who I never see post in it.  Huh.

[Depressio]

I was wondering when a thread like this would come up.

About a month ago, I spoke with someone who had been coming and going in the forum basically since its inception. They told me that they weren't as inclined to come back here anymore because it has "lost its focus" and moved towards things like popular culture, video games, and an always-more-than-30-pages CGN thread.

Growth is a part of any successful forum. As the member base expands, there is a greater need to touch towards other areas of interest. I know that there was a great deal of discussion regarding whether or not to even put in these off-topic sections in the first place, but I think that for the most part they're alright. I don't think that they're that annoying to scroll past, though I do agree that it might not be completely necessary to have a Tech section and a Books section when neither are consistently upgraded. But I'm still agreeing with Teatime here: it's not really necessary when the way it is now works fine.

Do I think there could be more H*R content? Maybe. But there is still a lot going around here that is H*R related. We have discussions about basically every update on the site in the Secrets forum, but in my opinion, what really makes this place what it is is the ability of the member base to adapt the content of the website towards in other mediums, such as the Games forum or the Bookstand. The eagerness of the member base to springboard off of H*R.com is always refreshing and interesting, and I certainly think it's possible to combine both on and off-topic discussions just fine.

[Valiant]

Not sure if this is relevant but saw it in The Pit.
http://www.burninghorizon.com/hsrforum/index.php/topic,7226.0.html

[stix]

Not sure if this is relevant but saw it in The Pit.
http://www.burninghorizon.com/hsrforum/index.php/topic,7226.0.html

I suggested this many months ago with slightly different wording.

http://www.burninghorizon.com/hsrforum/index.php/topic,7127.0.html

It was sent to a poll, which was split evenly between consolidating the existing threads, or leaving it be.  Former admin Brett showing true character... left it be.


There were good points on either side.  Perhaps members will be willing to revisit the issue.

mentioned it on the previous page

[Revan/anakinjmt]

A'ight, time for my two cents *throws in two pennies*

Personally, I like how the forum is right now. Nice and neat and easy to find exactly the section you're looking for. Sure, there may be a lot of boards, but I think it'd be a heck of a lot harder to find the threads or areas that you're looking for if you combine any boards. TIAB COULD be removed, but like potthole said, where would you put all of the threads in there? And, as AC said, it's just handy to have for any H*R threads that don't fit in Action Cool News, Secrets, or Sightings. They gotta go somewhere.

On the other hand, I don't want to seem anti-progressive here. If we WERE to merge boards, I'd vote Nerdular Nerdance and Videro Games. Videro Games is technology, so that makes sense to me. And, merging of two boards that don't get posted in very often, such as Once there was a Green Goblin and Golf Club, would be okay. They don't get posted in too often (I mean, Books' last post was March 11, Sports' last post was March 4, at least at the time of this writing), so combining them makes sense. Other than that, I would say leave it as it is.

Besides, tapey, I don't think a lot of new members would get intimidated by the number of boards. I think especially Spirit Pit would intrigue them, because every topic in there is basically random, where did that come from, fun i.e. Space. With, of course, CGN taking the top crown.

That's what I say. If you don't like it...gimme my two cents back.