I'm going to pick

[Craig.]

It seems to me that with the forum becoming more of a problem in terms of managebility with so many posts, and profiles not changing and so on. Is adding another forum such a good idea? With the photo forum being changed to include help topics aswell as normal photos, why cant the same be done for the screenshots?
Just my personal opinion but the forums as a whole is starting to look cluttered with far to many sub-forums.

[Woodlouse2002]

You mean merge the freeware and payware screenshots forums like I've been calling for since they were seperated?

We are a site that promotes freeware and having so many payware devoted forums seems to be clouding that issue just a little.

[Woodlouse2002]

Or the fact that there is yet another screenshot forum. Where did that come from?

[Craig.]

There are several I feel could be merged without much of a problem.
Firstly why not a joint FS98 and FS2000 forum? surely these two older titles no longer require their own seperate forums. Can posts be moved so they are in one seperate forum without losing the past posts?
next I would merge. like you freeware and payware, it takes 2 seconds to mark in a post that its payware, but this is going to happen when pigs grow wings and fly.
aircrft and 3d design being merged with aircraft repainting and perhaps designer feedback, would be the next one, they are all pretty much intertwined.
Hardware and tweaking and overclocking could be merged, again personally I see the two seperate ones as pointless when they could go into one.
why not just have an add-ons wanted section? Thats what the aircraft are anyway.
your site and other sites. Both again could be merged because they are pretty much the same in the end.
Ok I am done, phew

[Fozzer]

I would merge the whole lot together into one giant Forum.

....And then supply each member with a blindfold and a pin to select the subject of their desire... ...!

...sorted... ...!

Paul...Always full of good ideas... ...!

[Felix/FFDS]

There are several I feel could be merged without much of a problem.
Firstly why not a joint FS98 and FS2000 forum?  surely these two older titles no longer require their own seperate forums.

Not a bad idea.....

Can posts be moved so they are in one seperate forum without losing the past posts?

Yes - post by post...   I haven't found a way within yaBB to move all/groups of posts (I could do the same in the FFDS forums).

next I would merge. like you freeware and payware, it takes 2 seconds to mark in a post that its payware, but this is going to happen when pigs grow wings and fly.

It's easier to keep it strictly freeware or payware....

aircrft and 3d design being merged with aircraft repainting and perhaps designer feedback, would be the next one, they are all pretty much intertwined.[/quote
They are, admittedly, but repainting is pretty much a discrete subset.  Aircraft and 3D Design will handle texturing - assigning the textures to the source models, but repainting is on existing models.  In other forums where the two are mixed, you get a lot of repainting questions answered with "select the polygons and make sure your UVW mapping...."  etc.   As to Designer Feedback, our thoughts were to provide an area where users can publicly praise the developers of their favorites models/etc.,, rather than have those e-mails buried amongst many others

Hardware and tweaking and overclocking could be merged, again personally I see the two seperate ones as pointless when they could go into one.

*My* reasoning would be that I would rather see a "how to overclock/tweak"  message specifically, in its own area, rather than a general "Is this video card good?"  

why not just have an add-ons wanted section? Thats what the aircraft are anyway.

Harrumph!  This is a flight simulator site, so the emphasis is on aeroplanes.... hehe - while you have a point, I still think separating the two makes it easier for the responders to reply to a specific aircraft model vs a scenery add-on.

your site and other sites. Both again could be merged because they are pretty much the same in the end.

I'm neutral on this one.

Ok I am done, phew

The main reason against 'merging' sections is the tediousness of it all.  Posts would have to be moved one by one.....

[Craig.]

Its a shame that its so tedious to do. Thats why I asked if it could be done in one go.
Definatly not something that should be taken on if not

[legoalex2000]

this is why i stated this idea, since YaBB has it's limits (we've broken what, all of them?)

my way of going about this. we can reduce posts by laying out the following plan.

The volunteer users (by select choice)
--Mark posts in each forum delegated to be moved. this can be done by a simple reply. when they reply's are made, they move to the top of the forum, and lead to part two.

the moderators
--begin a relocation process of each marked thread, after second review of relevance. also being deletion of closed/locked/moved threads

the admin
--finish off any leftover posts not deemed relevant by deleting the forum, and renaming the forum that the relocated posts moved to.

It's a relatively simple process. however since i'm unfamiliar with what goes on behind the scenes, i may be omitting information. i believe this is a good formula that will produce results that are the same as deleting the pictures over a year old.

ramos

[pete]

The suggestion of creating the Studio V forum seemed a very worthwhile idea to me & it seems so far to be proving to have been worthwhile.

Points:

Merging this concept into the screenshot forum would mean virtually useless posts due to them being diluted by the other posts. RTemember there are always a lot more people reading posts & using the forum than actually ever post.

As Felix says - merging any 2 existing forums is not going to happen due to the logistics ....

Future may well blend older versions of FS.

Merging freeware & payware is definitely not on. There is a clear divide between the 2.

Your Site/Other sites -- again maybe for the future.

The forums will be upgraded in due course. The main problem lies mainly in user profiles but these should not matter too much to most people. Who ever looks at them anyway? No complacency here - like I say an upgrade, probably to a php based forum, is on the books in the not too distant future.

[Craig.]

Hi Pete,
Its not so much a criticism just a slight worry as to the ever increasing number of forums when they seem unnessicary. Just my POV. I know your a busy man:)

[Airshow_lover]

Firstly why not a joint FS98 and FS2000 forum?

You mean, 12 topics is not enough for it's own forum(2000)?

[Craig.]

I remember airshow when FS2002 forum was in its infancy because the game was still unreleased, the 2000 forum was the place with so many posts at the time. Considering how many members there were.

[Felix/FFDS]

Hi Pete,
Its not so much a criticism just a slight worry as to the ever increasing number of forums when they seem unnessicary. Just my POV. I know your a busy man:)

You do bring a point.  However the current script we're using (yaBB) is not conducive to easy board/forum merges etc., which is why once a board is set up, it's a "pain in the seating area" to consolidate if after some use it decays.

For example - just to "fix up" the Screenshot Contest" board to get it ready for the next month's contest involves time-consuming deletion of all the messages, saving just the winning entry, etc. etc.

As soon as I dare, I'll convert the FFDS forum to php , and it that goes well, we could see the Simviation Forum changing format.