Discussion board taxonomy?

[Jason Dunn]

So now that we have a more flexible back-end, with a true discussion board, what do we do with it? Do we create a forum similar to BrightHand & Pocket PC Passion, with forums for each Pocket PC? Or do we allow people to post to the front page forums like HARDWARE and SOFTWARE, and continue using the taxonomy that we have now?<br /><br />The advantage of the former is that we keep the "front page" content separate from the discussion board content, which makes it easier for you to find things later on. The "public" site can evolve into whatever you want it to.<br /><br />The advantage of keeping the current taxonomy is that we end up with a smaller, tighter overall feel. However, over time with a lot of public threads it might get a little unwieldy.<br /><br />Cast your vote!

[JohnnyFlash]

Well, Im not quite sure where to enter a vote, but I really like what youve done with the board so far. I like it the way you have it right now. Every other site is the same, so this layout makes you unique. But personally, Id be cool with whatever you guys chose to do. This just makes it extra straight forward and keeps people a little more on topic in terms of posting comments about new items on the homepage. Or perhaps you could implement both board layouts. This layout for comments about homepage items, and the other layout for everything else. Just a thought.

[harry]

I really like the idea of mulitple fourms. It's nice to able to look up information on a specific item and not have to sift though non-realted items.

[JohnnyFlash]

I can't see how to "vote" either, but please keep the same (old) format. Apart from anything else, this site is quicker to load than many, with fewer banners, side-bars, animations etc.. What you DO provide is lots of interesting and up to date news and comments with a few pictures to help. I would guess that most people only visit your home page, with the occasional excursion into a discussion.

What you have now is excellent. Why change just because that's what the others are doing?

Thank you for a very interesting site!

[marlof]

Currently, the forum requires you to be registered to participate in a poll. So if you'd like to vote, register and you'll be able to do that. Non registered users can post their comments, but can't post a vote.

To make things more clear: the choices you make here have nothing to do with the front page. That one will remain the one it is now: about three days of content and easy to be read on the Pocket PC. This question regards just the way the discussion forum is setup. Like the other boards ( which means, generic topic and device specific topics, next to the comments on our posts on the frontpage) or just keep the current categories (which you can see right now) and open them up for new entries for you, the reader of the site.

[Joe Bogner]

The current board index looks good. I would like to see hardware broken down into specific PPC/Manufacturers if possible though. This would allow for browsing of more specific hardware posts.

Thanks and keep up the great work.

[Mike P]

Having user replies to new stories on the front page is very useful. I've made buying decisions based on it and find it one of the biggest attractions about your site. I do also love the idea of a typical board somewhere else on your site.


ONE THING THOUGH: I USE TO BE ABLE TO VIEW THE COMMENTS AND REPLY ON MY PPC AND NOW, EVEN WITH LANDSCAPE MODE, I HAVE TO SCROLL AND THE REPLY AND NEW POST BUTTONS DON'T WORK.

[Tycho Morgan]

Keep it the way it was. If I wanted to visit a site like bright hand, I'd go to bright hand. I think what makes this site unique is the cohession of the comunity, and the type of the content. I wouldn't moneky with that.

Cheers,
Sam

[charlie]

I like how it is now. With the current setup, if you want to view ipaq related articles, it is easy to just run a search for ipaq and get good results. But if the site were divided up by devices and you wanted to view software specific postings, running a search for software would most likely return a ton of garbage matches.

but I think there are too many categories. column seems redundant and could be folded into review. Event could be folded into news. Maybe you could merge development and step by step since both would contain posts searching for technical help. And maybe you should edit the description for the software category to mention something about bugs so people know where to put bug related posts.

with lots of similar categories, I think people are going to post to multiple sections very often because more than one would be relevant to their topic. Also, someone who just checks news might never hear of events that they might be interested in. just some thoughts...

--charlie

[James]

I like the way it is now, tho I almost think there are too many categories... One of the things I hate about most sites is there are just way to many forums...makes it impossible to keep up with what's going on.

[JohnnyFlash]

Honestly I have always liked this site better than any other I've seen. It seems like most spend all their time making the site look pretty (and slow) and never update the content. When I pull up www.pocketpcthoughts.com I see a listing of the latest and greatest headlines with a short blurb about each one. The ones I want more details on I can link to in order to see the full story. I hardly ever leave the main page to go deeper into the site (don't take any offense here, I just get what I'm looking for from the headlines).

Glad to see you back up. I like your new tools but please don't make any major changes. And from here on, make sure you have good backups :wink:

[stevew]

I think the way it's set up now is just right with maybe a little tweaking. I'm excited about the new forum.

[Wuss912]

how about a suggestion board?
or a news submission board...

[Jason Dunn]

We'll add an online form for news submissions, but what I think would be really cool is this...

Let's say you are making a new post and you think it's "front page material" - ie: important for the whole site to read. You check a box, it gets submitted to us. We approve it, bam, it's on the front page. Very similar to Slashdot.

That's the dream - let's see how close we can get. 8)

[JohnnyFlash]

Fewer is better.

[pocketmon]

I like the way it is now, tho I almost think there are too many categories... One of the things I hate about most sites is there are just way to many forums...makes it impossible to keep up with what's going on.


I agree with that. This morning I came in and was very excited by how slim the board was. Not more than 15 catagories i think. I looked again and its just about doubled. I understand that its nice to catagorize everything but by doing that people tend to just stay in their "device" forum. Like how on brighthand the ipaq forum has always scored more hits than the general ppc forum even though not all the posts are ipaq specific. I feel less catagories encourages better conversations. :twisted:

[Wuss912]

jason why not make the submission page a (Vote page) ie have users vote on wether it should be posted to the front page?

[JohnnyFlash]

Jason,

Just wanted to say the new discussion forum looks great. I much prefer this format over the old.

Congrats on the new home and the new(ish) e-home!!

Dazz

8)

[JohnnyFlash]

NOW IT TAKES FOREVER TO LOAD COMMENTS!!!

Jason, go back to normal comments on one topic. Keep the boards for everyday discussion. I have a dialup connect and I loved pocketpcthoughts because the site was SO FAST! Now, I have to wait for all of the images and code for the board to load. Is it possible to have an option to TURN OFF all images or text mode in the boards>

[Scott R]

I have to echo the comments that there are too many forums here. I think it makes sense to break them out to some degree, but I think you've gone overboard here. Keep in mind that average viewers will not check 6 different forums every time they visit your site to see if a topic that interests them is worth replying to. The result will be that some forums will be practically dead, and all forums will suffer. Here are my suggestions:
* One forum for each of the hardware manufacturers (Casio, Compaq, etc.) so that device-specific questions can be asked there.
* A "General" forum for most discussion.
* A "News" forum which is where most of the front-page items will be linked to.
* A general "Hardware" forum (for CF discussion, etc.).
* A general "Software" forum.
* A "Buy & Sell" forum.

You might be able to justify adding one or two additional forums, but don't go crazy. The fewer the forums, the more participation you'll get.

Scott

[JohnnyFlash]

:!: As long as the board is fast, especially threads linked from the front page, it will work. I do like Scott R's idea for fewer, but well structured forums.

m.

[[Cruzer]]

Jason is there a way to make this forum viewable on a PPC. This would be killer if you can.

[Jeff Rutledge]

We'll add an online form for news submissions, but what I think would be really cool is this...

Let's say you are making a new post and you think it's "front page material" - ie: important for the whole site to read. You check a box, it gets submitted to us. We approve it, bam, it's on the front page. Very similar to Slashdot.

That's the dream - let's see how close we can get. 8)


Great idea!

I do think one thing missing from many of the other sites: PPC compatability (read: quick load, less horiz. scrolling).

My $0.03 (inflation...)

[marlof]

Let me explain a bit on how this works. The frontpage is nothing more than a mirror of some items in this bulletin board. So we can't go back to the old system, the whole idea was to get the comments more together in a bulletin board, with more flexibility for all users.

The frontpage items are actually created in these forums. They show up on the frontpage, and can be discussed further on the board. This is the way the new backbone works. We can't put all frontpage items in one group, as the frontpage will evolve from what you see now. The taxonomy we use by the different forums will be important there.

So you'll have to look at this board as two different boards. One (the top part) contains our items, that you can discuss. Only the Thoughts team can be topic starters there, and those topics will show up on the front page. Esp. with the extra functionality we're after, we'll need the categorization that's in there. As a matter of fact, we've always used that taxonomy, but it just never showed up on a list like now. If you come from the front page, you should not get the complete list, but just the specific thread the post on the front page deals with. You'll get to the specific categories, because we post the items there, and your response will end up in the same forum we post to.

The other board ( the bottom part ) contains community items, where people who gather on Thoughts can discuss Pocket PC related items. The way that board will be set up will be defined by what the community wants.

Currently, only the structure is online, and we're still working on a definite format and style. As always, as high a viewability as possible of this site on low bandwith devices will remain an important aspect. As a matter of fact, I'm used to viewing this on 28k8, so I know how important speed is.

[bbarker]

I like the new format, and I really love that the comments run from oldest to newest.

But I can't read it on my Pocket PC. That's more important to me than forums or anything else. I'd say the lack of this is a show stopper. I hope you can accommodate it.

[James]

Let me explain a bit on how this works. The frontpage is nothing more than a mirror of some items in this bulletin board. So we can't go back to the old system, the whole idea was to get the comments more together in a bulletin board, with more flexibility for all users.


I'm not looking for things to go back to the old system, but I would like to see fewer categories. I figure I'll only be able regularly read maybe 3-4 forums, and that may be stretching it (consider 3-4 forums x 20 boards I regularly keep up with, plus 500+ emails a day)...It's information overload 8O

[marlof]

James: if you used to click on Comments links on front page posts on Thoughts, you went into forums without knowing it. Every post contained a category, so depending on the category the post is in, you commented in different forums. Nothing changed, only now all forums show in one list. You can choose to read the front page forums from the forum list, or just - like the old days - read the comments on the items that are currently on the front page. That way you'll hardly know about the amount of forums, because you'll enter straight into the discussion threads.

As I said: the community boards are different. They're just here to provide a place to discuss Pocket PC related things for those who frequent Pocket PC Thoughts. It's up to you if you want to use that, and we're happy to receive feedback on how those forums could be set up best to accomidate the wishes of you, readers of Pocket PC Thoughts.

[James]

Marlof, exactly! Now there are the additional boards, I want to keep up with 'em...but there are TOO many! You're going to explode my head! :)

[marlof]

James and others: do you have a suggestion on what forums you'd like to see in the community part ? We've given this lots of thought of course, but are very happy with more user input. That was the point of this thread after all. :)

It should be forums that cover the most frequent discussion topics, and that will be easy to navigate if many of the Thoughts readers will start to use them. Splitting forums up later on is a very harsh thing to do, and we'd like to avoid that.

And another thing: as many of you have lots of experiences on web based boards, do you feel something else ( navigation, formatting, style etc. ) is missing? Or is there something that you'd rather not see? Please tell us, because this is your chance to help shape Thoughts!