Well, after having the subforums for over a year now, I can't help but feel that they've taken away from the Fashion & Crafts forum rather than enhancing it. I'm not necessarily suggesting that we get rid of all sub-forums in here, but what about the possibility of re-thinking and condensing some of them, and maybe even getting rid of others completely? Some of my thoughts: -The Holiday Crafts subforum has had only 19 threads posted in the past year (as of me posting this), and while the idea was a great one, the reality is that people on here are simply not very interested in posting there. -Do we really need a Clothes subforum when Fiber Arts and Show it, Sell it, Swap it can both easily accomodate? -I think the Body Care and Household Tips subforums could successfully be combined into one "Home and Body Care" section. In my mind, an ideal revised directory of subforums would be something like this: -Home & Body Care -Fiber Arts -Jewelry -Show it, Sell it, Swap it It just seems that having the seven different subforums has separated all of us crafters up a bit too much, and as a result the Fashion & Crafts Forum as a whole just doesn't carry the same energy, success, and community spirit as it used to. I am honestly not in any way trying to complain, but rather contribute to a better forum for all of us. Feedback would be appreciated.
lace, by all means put in all the suggestions you wish! I don't take it as a complaint. As the moderator of this forum, I'm absolutely open to any and all ideas. I've posted this on a number of occasions. Everyone's free to either post in here or pm me with their thoughts, input, and complaints. I'll look into what we can do to fix it up a bit, and maybe there'll be a change or two soon! Thanks for the input!
Thanks cerridwen. I guess I mainly just wanted to put some ideas out there to see if other members felt the same or had other ideas to add.
I like your suggestion lace_and_feet. I find that the subforums separate everything a little bit too much and think a simpler approach would suit better.
I have to agree. I spend a lot of time clicking around to try and see what everyone is up to, and less subforums would definitely help me out. Simple is definitely better.
I think that the thinking behind the subforums is that way, some things or ideas don't get 'lost' off the main page for others to check out. But I do agree that in many forums, including this one, there are a few too many subforums and things are being spread a bit thin. I've pm'ed the idea to Skip, it's ultimately up to him how the layout gets put, so we'll see if some things get merged together or get moved around.
hum, I hope skip considers it and does something I wasn't really a fan of the subfourums in the first place....still don't care for them. I spend most of my time in the show, sell, swap forum anyhow...I just miss when it was all one big community. I understand why it was done in the first place, but I think it really took away from the awesome atmosphere we had in here, too. Just my humble opinion...but I wish the subforums were just wiped out and it was put back to the way it was before. I don't think this forum is as busy as some other ones that genuinely need the subforums, anymore, and they've become more of a nusance (sp?) than anything.
i guess i'm in the minority here, but, as someone who doesn't check in here every day, i like them. there have been times when i've come here specifically to find info on something, like say tie dye. and it has been much easier to find what i'm looking for. that said, i believe a couple of the subforums aren't getting much traffic. i think maybe reorganizing them now that we know where the traffic is would work good.
Sarahstar, you're definitely not in the minority--most who have posted have agreed that the subforums just need to be simplified, not gotten rid of completely.
To be honest, at first I didn't like subforums anywhere, because my initial reaction was that it drastically decreased traffic to the personal forums. But, I must admit that I agree with you, it does lay out the posts in a more organized fashion in each forum, allowing more attention to be given to certain threads. But it's true that there are some subforums that get less attention, and less traffic, and you don't know that until after that particular subforum has been around for a while. I agree that two or three subforums can be combined into one. We'll see what happens.
