Josh H

People are bitching about all the movie polls and non-dvd related topics in the DVD Talk forum. Why not create a new forum to handle discussion of movies. These discussions don't belong in At The Movies since the movies are no longer in the theater, and the discussions in DVD Talk should revolve around DVDs rather than movies IMO. DVD talk should be about extra features, release dates, transfer/audio quality, problems, easter eggs etc.

Fhrx

I was always under the assumption that the 'DVDtalk' forum was for normal movies and the 'At The Movies' forom was for cinema movies.

Josh H

It is currently. It would make more sense to limit it to discussion of dvd's since it is called "DVD Talk." However, after reading the post below, I believe it might be better to just rename and expand At The Movies rather than start a new forum. I mean theres not even a page of new posts a day there. I say we rename it General Movie Discussion, and let people discuss all movies there, instead of just current and upcoming releases. At any rate, JustinS's posts below makes many good points, so I dont' really need to reiterate them.


[Edited by joshhinkle on 02-28-01 at 10:59 PM]

jfoobar

Well, obviously I agree with Josh

Wormwood

I wholeheartedly agree.

Wormwood

^bump. This needs to be acknowledged by the administrators. The questions in the dvdtalk forum are getting way out of hand.

Kenwood

FYI

We are discussing the issues.

Josh H

Thanks for the update Kenwood, be sure to keep us informed.

Josh H

Any progress on the discussions Kenwood. The DVD Talk forum keeps getting more and more movie threads, and less DVD threads.

garmonbozia

I don't look in this forum area often, but I was going to suggest the same thing. I think that the "At the Movies" section should just remain for movies currently in the theaters and there should just be a new forum for "General Movie talk" or whatever it will be called.
many people will probably still read both, but it would be nice to have them divided.
just my opinion.

Sykes

My fear is that a new General Movie Discussion Forum would quickly degenerate into the Polls Forum, in all but name.

Before we start dividing DVD and movie discussion into seperate boards, something has to be done about the poll-itis that has infected the Talk forum increasingly over the last half-year or so.

Scott27

I agree wholeheartedly about changing At the Movies to just Movies. I hardly ever read the DVD Talk forum anymore because of the polls/movie threads. I come here now for the Bargains/Will Click/Exchange/Feedback/Other forums and go over to the HTF for their DVD forum. I refuse to wade through so many non-DVD polls in the main forum anymore. Something has got to be done, or else you will lose more regulars like myself in that forum.

Josh H

I agree, we need to do something about the multitude of polls, and start the movie forum. That way the movie forum can be a good place to discuss movies, and the DVD Talk forum can be a good place to discuss DVD's.

DVDer

I agree with Sykes. BTW, I have (sort of) addressed this topic in Gonnosuke's "Talk forum out of hand?" thread; if you read it and would like to reply to the 'general movie' part of my post, please do so in this thread, which I've been visiting.

--Heather
Moderator, DVD Talk & Reviews forums

Josh H

Thought I'd put DVDer's comments here so people could reply to them, and I could address them as well.

I think the poll problem can be solved by limiting them by closing them when they are redundant and/or when there are too many on the front page. Or we could start a polls forum. Personally I don't think DVD Talk and At The Movies are sufficient because the DVD Talk forum should only contain DVD threads IMO. For example, release dates and speculation, descriptions of features, opinions of transfers and audio quality, problems with disk, etc. These topics get buried by polls and movie discussion. The General Movie forum would be a place to discuss all movies, and would make things a lot less cluttered. I say just do away with At The Movies, and combine it with the General Movie forum. There's rarely even half a page of new posts there a day, it shouldn't be a problem to combine them. I realize it might be more work for the moderator, but the solution to that is to get a few new mods just for the new forum, in addition to you and Kenwood and whoever else wants to do it. Two focused and uncluttered forums should be easier to moderate, than one high volume, unorganized one.

Josh H

up

Scott27

Geoff, please seriously consider changing the content of At the Movies from solely new releases to all movies past and present. That is probably the easiest and best way to solve the polls problem without starting a Polls forum. It's probably your best option right now.

DVDer

I got an e-mail about this thread, and wanted to clarify that I have been reading it, but haven't posted anything more because my feelings on the subject are still the same.

--Heather

sfsdfd

I've gotta give a big <b>w00p</b> to this suggestion (er, that's a thumbs-up. )

<i>When I go to the main DVD Talk forum, it's to find out about DVDs: news; disc announcements; specs; calendar, re-release, and unreleased lists; comparisons of different versions; that sort of thing. When I want info about the technical details of a particular disc, I go to DVD Reviews. And when I want info about a movie, I go to At The Movies. I believe these viewing habits are held my most DVD Talkers and the forums should be organized around those purposes.</i>

Uh... that is all... unless, of course, we want to revive the "serious other forum/fun other forum" discussion that seems to have bubbled up again in Other, but given Geoff's take on this in the past, it's probably not worth raising

- David Stein

Josh H

Well said sfsdfd. Most people do see the forums this way. I mean I expect to see DVD topics when I click on DVD Talk, not a bunch of general movie posts. I don't see why this isn't obvious to the administration, and why something isn't done to make the forums clear and well organized.

sfsdfd

(sigh)

- David Stein

Chumley1

Okay, I'm fairly new here, so I don't know the history. WHAT is the big problem with either expanding the scope of "At the Movies" or making a polls forum? Who is AGAINST such obviously beneficial changes?

sfsdfd

Geoff and the mods play their cards very close to the vest, but I've gotten the impression (during the many times I've seen such things suggested over the last year) that they generally don't like splitting forums or creating new forums unless there's a serious need for it. One forum has to be seriously undermined by a flood of posts that are better taken elsewhere to motivate the admins to do something about it.

Why the reticence? I'm clueless. It's not like the crew pays extra for every forum they create. But hey, this place isn't my project.

- David Stein

Josh H

sfsdfd is pretty much on target. Another thing people have complained about when talking about expanding At The Movies is that the currently playing movie threads will get lost in the general movie discussions. I don't think it would be that big a deal, but to appease them we could keep At The Movies and make a new General Movie Discussion forum and/or a polls forum. I've never understood why Geoff is reluctant to have more forums. Having several specific forums should attract more members and make them post more often. For example people may have been turned of by the Other forum and missed out on the TV and video game threads. Now that they have their own forums, these people may post in them. At the worst case, the traffic would remain the same. Having a better organized group of forums certainly isn't going to turn people away.

classicman2

A much simpler solution (or at least considerable improvement) would be to elimininate the post count. Of course, there's not a snow ball's chance in hell of that happening!