tell me what you think of splitting 'a&e' into a separate forum

[diebitter]

-- El D.

Okay, simply put, I don't think things will change that much in OOT. I really don't see it as degradation, I see it as enhancement (of OOT AND 2+2)

And I do think a lot of OOTers would actually like it (yeah I know this is a lame-ish posit, as hardly any have piped up here: from the way this thread seems to be going, it feels like me and a couple of others vs the rest), and I'm sure a lot of non-OOTers would (which we agree on, I think).

[Tron]

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, simply put, I don't think things will change that much in OOT.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't understand how you could possibly believe this. Could you please explain how/why you think OOT will not change (that much)?

[Gildwulf]

[ QUOTE ]
-- El D.

Okay, simply put, I don't think things will change that much in OOT. I really don't see it as degradation, I see it as enhancement (of OOT AND 2+2)

And I do think a lot of OOTers would actually like it (yeah I know this is a lame-ish posit, as hardly any have piped up here: from the way this thread seems to be going, it feels like me and a couple of others vs the rest), and I'm sure a lot of non-OOTers would (which we agree on, I think).

[/ QUOTE ]

2 out of every 3 forum posters disagree

[RunDownHouse]

db et al,

I don't think a split would be a good thing.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
db,

"I remain unconvinced by your arguments"

What elements of my arguments do you disagree with? Blarg, Matt, me, tdarko, PDPG are just a few of the posters who have explained why OOT will lose much of its interest to us if it is no longer the center of A&E discussions. Do you not believe that? Do you not think others share that sentiment? Do you not think that would have impact on OOT traffic?

"as you remain unconvinced by mine"

Huh? I believe I have agreed with most of your arguments. Separating the A&E forum would create a popular forum that would on average have a higher level of intelligent discourse than OOT. Isn't that your general point?

Again, I'm curious which of my specific points explaining why a split would likely reduce total traffic to 2+2 you disagree with.

As for elwood's post, he pretty much hit the nail right on the head in terms of the analysis that an online company does in making a decision like this. First step in the analysis is something I did very early on in this thread. Take the existing asset (OOT). Write up a description of what that asset becomes after the change. Is that asset still as compelling as it was prior? If not, how much less compelling is it and is the change significant? This is a basic analysis that is done all the time by content/discussion-based sites.

[/ QUOTE ]

Very good post, El D. I have to agree OOT would become less compelling to me. The percentage of garbage compared to good threads would go up even further, and it's already a precarious balance and always has been. Splitting the forum would make OOT much more of a quick browse and yer outta there kind of deal, for me. That kind of thing might harm the OOT community, if enough people feel the same way.

Whether the resulting A&E community would provide enough value to people, and traffic to the site, to make up for OOT's losing some of its luster, I dunno. I think OOT would still have a heck of a lot of traffic, especially since A&E won't be specifically banned from OOT anyway, per Mat. It would just probably be a place I'd have less fun visiting.

[offTopic]

[ QUOTE ]

I for one got tired long ago of posting reviews in OOT to see em sink (yada yada Kingpin etc etc) and said nothing, just cut back the reviewing severely. I posit that a ton of people cut back or don't bother because of the flushing effect


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, this is 2+2...what does this amount to, like 8 guys?

[Gildwulf]

deleted by gw

[bobbyi]

Throughout this thread, people keep trying to bring out the old strawman of "if we split off A&E, then why not split off 100 other subforums? Wouldn't that suck?" This argument is horribly lame. If splitting off specifically A&E is good, we should do it. The idea that we shouldn't do it because it will lead to splitting off more things later is really weak.

[diebitter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Okay, simply put, I don't think things will change that much in OOT.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't understand how you could possibly believe this. Could you please explain how/why you think OOT will not change (that much)?

[/ QUOTE ]

Because you can still post in OOT exactly what you post now. Why do you think it will change, given that?

[Tony_P]

All, Here's an anecdotal example of a forum split:

When I was a full time online bookseller (from 2002-2004) eBay's community forums were a great resource in the begining. There were about 30 different forums, 2 of which I frequented, "booksellers" and "packaging and shippping" as those were the 2 that applied to my business.

Now, there are approxiamtly 100 different forums

http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/index.html

If were still in the business and wanted to keep up on discussions in my field, I'd have to frequent:

-Booksellers
-Packaging & Shippi ng
-Half.com
-Seller Central
-Part Time eBay Sellers
-Building an eBay business.

In addition, the off topic forum, has been split into around 6 random forums.

I am getting back into the business somewhat now, and I am overwhelmed by trying to poke through 6+ different forums rather than just 2 to find the information I need. I have given up on the community boards there, and many other big eBayers I know have done the same.

I realize that this is just one isolated story, but I felt it could serve as an example.