SUGGESTION: New Forum for Challenges, Drafts, and Sheep

[Groucho]

Lately, we've had a lot of controversy over a draft game running in Movie Talk. In the past, I've seen similar controversy over the "Challenge" threads and "Sheep" games.

Given that there's a sizable number of folks in the community who enjoy these types of threads, as well as a sizable number of folks who don't want them in the main forums, any chance we could create a special forum just for these types of threads?

It's a "win/win" proposition!

[dx23]

That will probably get more traffic than Book Talk, so I agree with Groucho.

[Groucho]

Originally Posted by dx23

That will probably get more traffic than Book Talk, so I agree with Groucho.

A forum dedicated to actual sheep would probably get more traffic than Book Talk.

[cardsfan111]

What if we put all challenge, draft, sheep threads in Book Talk and just take it over. Would the people person there even notice?

[WallyOPD]

There's a Book Talk?

[Groucho]

Originally Posted by cardsfan111

What if we put all challenge, draft, sheep threads in Book Talk and just take it over. Would the people person there even notice?

Not if we prefaced all the threads with "Female Author Discussion:"

[dx23]

Originally Posted by Groucho

Not if we prefaced all the threads with "Female Author Discussion:"

or Oprah's Book Club Pick of the Week.

[Larry C.]

Hey I don't care either way the threads didn't/don't bother me. I thought members were like me, I just click on new posts tab. For pp llike me it would still be visable but like I said it doesn't bother me.

[Numanoid]

Do a search, n00b: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/forum-feedb...hallenges.html

You even posted in that thread, AND it's still on the first page!

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by Numanoid

Do a search, n00b: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/forum-feedb...hallenges.html

You even posted in that thread, AND it's still on the first page!

I used to be leaning towards wanting a sub-forum for Challenges, but Suprmallet changed my mind with the below.

Originally Posted by Trevor

DVDTalk Challenges are a long standing tradition here at DVDTalk. They are basically set up as a group of threads where DVDTalkers are challenged to watch 100 films of a certain genre in a month, and discuss.

It started with a Horror Challenge in 2005, and we are now up to eight current Challenges. Thirty to eighty of us usually sign up, and participate in those threads all month, talking about the movies we watched, the genre, the process of marathon watching, and whatever else.

They foster a strong sense of community. In fact, before I found the Challenges, I only thought of DVDTalk as an information source, coming here for personal benefit only. After participating in a Challenge here, I started to feel like this was actually a community of fellow DVD fans, and I started actually participating here and providing information instead of just reading it.

Originally Posted by Suprmallet

I would say your post is a great argument for keeping the challenges in their parent forums. People will undoubtedly stumble onto them if they're mixed in with other threads. Whereas, if you keep them tucked away in a subforum, only people that only know about them will venture in (for the most part).

[cardsfan111]

Therein lies the problem. We want people to stumble onto them, yet not trip over them.

[Larry C.]

Originally Posted by Lemmy

I'm well aware of that discussion, "oldie"...but I felt a more current quote was more appropo. And if your so well-versed about the history 'round here, you'd know that, despite my "join date", I have viewed these forums (via an ex-wife's account) since 2000.*

*this has already been addressed by the mods, and is not considered "multiple accounts", FYI.....

And if a certain member weren't so prolific at deal-finding, they'd be the first person I'd put on my "ignore" list. But a penny saved is a penny earned, don'cha know.

Lemmy I think he was addressing Groucho. Wait is Groucho your ex wife?

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by Larry C.

Lemmy I think he was addressing Groucho. Wait is Groucho your ex wife?

Wait, am I The Deal Finder? I've always wanted a nickname.

[Larry C.]

Originally Posted by Trevor

Wait, am I The Deal Finder? I've always wanted a nickname.

How about Trevor-chaun? Since you were single handedly the reason I finally won a contest.

[Numanoid]

Originally Posted by Larry C.

Lemmy I think he was addressing Groucho.

I certainly was. And he knows it! (But is "he" Groucho, or Lemmy?)

[Larry C.]

Originally Posted by Numanoid

I certainly was. And he knows it! (But is "he" Groucho, or Lemmy?)

Dude if your asking me who goes on top, I'm not answering. It depends if Groucho's back is hurting I suppose.

At least thats what a little bird told me.

[Larry C.]

Originally Posted by Lemmy

You have to get out of the way first, bub.

No way I already had a bad experience with an eel.

[Josh-da-man]

I'd say that a sub-forum of some kind for challenges that will require multiple threads would be a good idea.

The problem is that, while a lot of posters might enjoy participating in them, they tend to clutter up forums really fast. I have, in the past, been a member of a couple of forums that went that way, to the point where about 80% of the recent topics were for things like drafts, sheep, and ___ vs ___ threads.

[Trevor]

Will someone please try to explain to me the importance people seem to be place on the apparently sacred first page of a subforum?

Who cares if 2, or 8, or even 30 of the 35 threads on page one are on Challenges, sheep, and drafts? If you look at the bottom of page one and see that it's still new to you, go to page two. Repeat as necessary. It takes maybe a second to recognize this information and click next page.

I can look at any subforum right now and find 20 or so threads on each page that don't interest me, but I'd never complain about them. For the first part of their existence here I didn't care at all about the three things in the title here, yet it never would have occured to me to complain about them.

Seriously, I don't get it at all. Just go to the next frigging page. Or use the 'new post' button, or just subscribe to the forums and threads that you like.

And isn't the whole point of a forum for us to talk about the crap we want to talk about?

[WallyOPD]

Nobody expects every thread here to cater to them, the problem is when a specific topic that is of interest to say, 2% of the forum population, spawns enough threads to dominate 10% of the threads on the front page (those numbers are clearly just made up for illustration purposes).

Originally Posted by Trevor

Will someone please try to explain to me the importance people seem to be place on the apparently sacred first page of a subforum?

It's the same reason why consumer products clamor for endcap placement in grocery stores, why being "above the fold" in the newspaper industry is considered a major thing, and why people in forums around the internet bump their threads. The more visible you are, the more interest and traffic you are going to generate. The more barriers you put in front of someone the more likely they are to not bother with it. I would hazard a guess that threads at the bottom of the front page get fewer views than ones at the top of the page, and ones that are on a second page will clearly get even fewer.

It's easy enough to tell individual posters to go to a second page (although that does take more time than just browsing the front page and everyone has differing amounts of time they can afford to devote to the forum), but the simple fact is that fewer people are going to go to the second page even if there are new posts there. That's not really fair to the starters of other threads who were just unfortunate in their timing to have started it right before someone else started 8 threads on one topic and pushed theirs further down the list/onto the second page.

[Deftones]

and they're back.

[Shannon Nutt]

Originally Posted by Deftones

and they're back.

Yeah, I was going to post something in one of the threads, but I thought perhaps the mods had cleared them this time around.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by Deftones

and they're back.

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt

Yeah, I was going to post something in one of the threads, but I thought perhaps the mods had cleared them this time around.

Are you talking about Challenge threads?

The Challenge threads are no more than normal. There are always the two threads for the current month (discussion and list), the two threads for the previous month finishing off, and the planning thread for the following month.

[fumanstan]

No, the draft.

[Groucho]

The mods have approved four "round 2" draft threads in the movie forum, so this is all being done "above the board".