Is it me, or are there just too many forums now. Do we really need a Forum for every single subject out there? Most of these forums could simply be threads in the Other forum or elsewhere.

The tough thing is that OTHER is SO active that many threads get lost in the shuffle.

Many of the new forum areas aren't meant to be huge traffic areas, more like encleves for people to disucss topics which otherwise would get lost.

If I had my way I'd ditch all of the forums that aren't directly related to DVDs and/or movies. This is DVDTalk afterall. Of course, mine's not the popular opinion. :(

I agree!

Actually, I would agree.. with the exception of the Other Forum -- though thats probably because I live there. :)

Well, the whole question is: Just what should DVD Talkers discuss at DVD Talk?

* Only DVD-related material
* Stuff tangentially related to DVDs (home theatre stuff, movies that will eventually be on DVD)
* Anything

Normally, option #3 would seem strange. But the DVD Talk community has developed far past DVDs... which is a good thing, since DVDs really aren't too interesting these days. :) The format is established and bargains are almost nonexistent. I don't want to think about how much traffic DVD Talk would still have if restricted to one of the first two options. And given the quality of that discussion, I think that avalanche of posts behind door #3 deserves to be allowed somewhere.

The problem, of course, is how to sustain this traffic without <b>gkleinman</b> going backrupt or the server going belly-up. :)

- David Stein

<b>Sparky189</b> & <b>gotdvd?</b> I guess you were semi-serious at best but, aside from the server-related reasons that David Stein mentions, how can the mere fact of the existence of alternative forums detract from your personal enjoyment of those that relate to your DVD interest?

Maybe the name should be changed to something other than DVDtalk..

EverythingTalk?

But seriously, I really only check out the DVD related items. Including Talk, Bargains, Home Theatre, other bargains, and then the Other because you just never know what you'll find there and worth a good laugh.
But it doesn't hurt anyone that there are a myriad of misc forums. I can just ignore them and there's nothing lost. Besides, Geoff can make more $$ with a wider variety of topics.

I believe that maybe the time has come for Geoff to ask himself "How many non-DVD related forums is enough?" I'm confident Geoff has the ability and the resources to start an entire new site if he wants to have things such as a Video Game forum, Book Forum, Other Bargains forum. In the not too distant future I'm sure he'll add a Sports forum, Music Forum, and perhaps even a "Babes" forum. But then again, it's his site so he can have people come here and talk about whatever non-DVD related things he chooses, though the site would probably benefit from a name change then.

The more specific forums we have the better. Having too much crap in other, it's tough to find the threads you want. Having specific forums allows you to find what you are interested in, and totally avoid topics you don't care about. It's also quicker to hop between 3 or 4 forums than to have to skim through 5 pages in other to find the three threads you want to read.

Hi! I was wondering if Fe(NO3)2 was a good solution for wheat from the Baltic region?

Oh, sorry.

I was looking for the Lithuanian Hydroponics Forum.

LOL

still waiting for the DVD/CD Club Forum,
If topic deserves a seperate forum, this one does!!

I just wonder what new members think when they see that half the site has nothing to do with DVDs. Especially when the non-DVD related half gets the majority of the traffic.

<b>TCHJ</b>, what did <i>you</i> think about the variety when you first started coming here?

Personally, I came for the coupons on the Bargain Forum and only later started investigating the various additional forums. Until I did I paid absolutely no attention to their respective relative popularity.

Aside from the Other Forum, <i>even today</i> I couldn't tell you what forums were the more "popular" or higher traffic, although I am aware that the Internatonal Forum is low traffic. I just feel no pressing reason to compare the stats.

So, to answer the question, I can't see how more choice could put off a newbie: the site has what would be expected from its name.... and more. <i>Oldbies</i> can make personal choices where to read and post so there shouldn't be a problem IMO -biggrin-

(And don't forget, everyone, that the DVDTalk site is not restricted simply to the forums. Anyone seen the <A HREF="http://www.dvdtalk.com/">frontpage</a> recently?).

Well, that was a loooooong time ago ;) Then, we didn;t have:

International
Will Click...
TV Talk
Video Game Talk
Book Talk
All About Movies

The PC forum was still strictly DVD-ROM matters only, and Other was still one of the "quiet" forums. So, back then, it was still pretty heavily DVD oriented, the other areas seemed decidedly "tacked on" just for completeness' sake.

Now, on the other hand, the non-DVD forums make up at least half of the "forums" part of the site, and Other accounts for over 40% of the entire forum's posts. The other "non dvd" areas account for a bit more than 10% of the posts, and that's not even taking into account that a lot of the threads in the "DVD related" forums (e.g. DVD-ROM and PC, Stores Forum...) aren't actually DVD related. Even the "flagship" forum, DVD Talk, only accounts for a little over 15% of the posts on the forums.

To me, that just seems... well, weird, that a DVD site's forums section has more stuff about non-DVD related matters than it does on the actual focus of the site...

JMO, but I don't see how you can include the International DVD forum as non-DVD related. Just because it doesn't deal with R1 discs?

So you're gonna cringe that I just added ANOTHER one:
<a href="http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=19">Studio Talk</a>

My point was, out of the 6 forums added since "back in the day", only one was DVD releted, and even that has virtually no traffic.

And, FYI, I'm in the UK, so anything outside of R1 is especially interesting to me. In fact, the International forum was created as a result of demand from the many international users of this site... most of whom have now realised that this site is so USA-dominated that they're just as well off looking at more local sites. If I have anything DVD-related that I actually need an answer to, I ask on on of the UK sites that I frequent, because I know full well that nobody even bothers reading the International forum anymore.

When I was a kid, we only had 1 forum. It was big, made out of wood and had big, sharp, rusty metal edges that poked out. When you turned it on there was a big rush of air and tremendous roar as the bellows started. You had to wait 15 minutes for it to warm up, and by then you'd already forgotten what you were going to do with the forum once it got running in the first place.

I think extra forums are fine, as long as they're being used. Adding more forums to DVDTalk is like when a store starts selling new items. Maybe people buy, maybe they won't, but it's just a bit of expansion.

Other forums keep the DVD forums on topic and keep people from having to go into the Otter Farm and wade through 130, "Look at my belly button" threads to find what they were looking for.

Yeah, that's exactly the point. A Lithuanian Hydroponics Forum is probably in the planning stages, right Geoff? ;)

Yeah, weird is a nice way of putting it.

I understand your point completely. I recently bought a regionfree player and now the International Forum even though a dead forum is my favorite here. Same for at HTF. I wish more people would post info on R2 & R4 DVDs. Perhaps you can stop by that forum and recommend some good R2 DVD news sites? ;)

Less deals at the International forum other wise, it would be great.Maybe the HK dvd deals should be moved there.Also the canadians deals

I don't really have a problem with the number of forums. Some seem a bit superfluous, but as time goes on and they lack popularity, I am sure they too will get the axe. It is nice that geoff actually tries to provide a wide variety of content here and listens to users suggestions. It is always worth giving something a try.

J

i have no problem with any of the new forums but i do want to see a limit on the number of new forums

just because some people don't have the analytical talent that i have to scan a page in a sec and decide what i want to open and what i don't want to open shouldn't mean we have a forum for everything under the sun !

Next there will be forum for George W Bush's healthcare Policy!