Merge MP3 forums

2013-07-07 19:04:09

I know when Lame development had a lot to accomplished the MP3 Technical and General forums saw a lot of postings  Now that Lame is very mature, do people think we still need the 2 separate forums?  Seems like often enough people confuse what should be posted in each forum and a moderator has to move an misplaced post.  With so few posts these days.  I just wonder if it would be easier to just have 1 MP3 for all related posts.  What do others think?  OK, maybe I'm just lazy about having to navigate to both forums.  I suppose combining the forums might also present problems for the forum designer.

Bob

Merge MP3 forums

Reply #1 – 2013-07-08 11:24:46

I’ve never used IP.Board as an admin to know for sure, but I doubt merging two subfora would be at all problematic. (Edit: I mean from a purely logistical perspective, as I hope the remainder of the post would have made clear.)

In any case, IMO, it would be suboptimal. Organisation is not a bad thing. In particular, a merge would destroy all the accumulated organisation from the past. Does this matter much? Maybe not in a practical sense, but it seems a shame to increase entropy in that manner.

And that takes me to my other point about this: The fact that people frequently post threads in the wrong place from the two available is tiresome, especially to staff, yes. But this is another case in which I don’t think misuse of functionality by some users justifies removing it for everyone.

Also, if you’re going to be consistent with this logic, you’ll have to go after the subfora for Ogg, too. What about AAC: would you leave that alone because it gets a lot of questions from people who’re presumably learning it as part of various syllabi?

Just IMO, of course. I’ll be interested to hear what other people think.

Merge MP3 forums

Reply #2 – 2013-07-09 13:39:33

Archiving the tech forums instead of merging them would fix that.

Merge MP3 forums

Reply #3 – 2013-07-09 23:01:11

Yes, but then there would be no place for valid technical questions. I don’t see MP3 dying any time soon, so even if the tech is quite close to its limits, there’ll always be people who’re learning it anew or exploring a new area. The two subfora aren’t offensive, but they might be useful, and as such, I don’t see a need to merge them. I say that even though it does cause work for us as staff when people don’t understand the fairly simple distinction between general and technical subjects. Again, misuse by some is not a reason to deprive everyone, if you ask me. Other staff might feel differently; I don’t know.

Merge MP3 forums

Reply #4 – 2013-07-10 01:22:01

If a missing ability to choose the right forum for new threads were the main criterion for a subforum's right to exist, we only had one foobar2000 forum, comprising all general, technical, and 3rd party components topics.

foobar's upload forum could remain preserved, however.

Merge MP3 forums

Reply #5 – 2013-07-10 03:06:02

I guess I just wondered how many people actually visit one but not both of those forums when visiting hydrogenaudio.  I guess maybe those working on Lame development might appreciate not having to visit the general forum, but as just a Lame user, I figured like myself, most visitors are reading both forums anyway.  With such limited numbers of posts these days.  I didn't think there was much need to break things up into 2 forums anymore.  Maybe some visitors do appreciate the split.  For me I read both forums and just let the subject line dictate if I want to read the post.

Bob

Merge MP3 forums

Reply #6 – 2013-07-10 12:10:46

Personally, I use View New Posts and read in reverse order (oldest first) for any threads that look interesting. It does mean I have to refresh to avoid missing anything that gets bumped down, but I catch all forums in one go.