Organizing the Forum

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

So I'm having a hard time figuring out what topics to add here to help people find things. I created an Off-Topic, and we have a default "vaginal Fantasy" category that is super vague. What topics should there be for everyone to navigate well? I'm trying to keep the top "general" just with official stuff and people connecting with each other? Maybe a "Book Suggestions" thread? I dunno, am I overthinking it and it's fine the way it is? Lol.

[Neko]

Perhaps have thread areas that are a little more specific. Like Sci-Fi area then all books that fall under Sci-fi can be talked there. If there is enough maybe make an area for books that don't have tuns of 'sexy' time but still have a strong female lead and people want to discuss those books since they seem to still fit under the category (in some ways).

But otherwise I think it's pretty easy to navigate through.

[Kristen]

I think it's fairly easy to navigate (this coming from someone who rarely keeps up with following forums). I'd like to see the "other" stuff kept more together, so that when trying to find a topic/thread pertaining directly to the group, it's easier to find. But I've had no problems so far, and I'm new-ish here :)

[Vicky]

I also think things are pretty easy to navigate. My only suggwstion would be to have a separate folder for book discussions (like S&L has the "What else are you reading?" folder). That way book specific discussions (outside of the monthly reads of course) can all be in one place for easy reference and the vf folder can be for general genre topics.

[Mel (booksandsundry)]

Vicky wrote: "I also think things are pretty easy to navigate. My only suggwstion would be to have a separate folder for book discussions (like S&L has the "What else are you reading?" folder). That way book spe..."

I agree with that but otherwise think it's pretty easy to get around in here. :)

[Renee]

I am just glad its getting organized. I have a hard time figuring it out. I am someone who gets muddled very easily

[Samantha]

I just read based on "unread" so its all good =)

But yes organized is better!

[Aivien]

Laura wrote: "Perhaps have thread areas that are a little more specific. Like Sci-Fi area then all books that fall under Sci-fi can be talked there. If there is enough maybe make an area for books that don't hav..."

I agree with Laura here. Categories for the different genres would be nice and make it easier to navigate around. Other than that it's al right, I think. (Have to get used to the good reads website in general, but that's just me.)

[Vicky]

I just noticed that we had book discussions and recommendations threads going on in the General, Off-Topic and Vaginal Fantasy folders - so I consolidated them into the new Book Discussion & Recommendation folder so we can keep all those kinds of discussions in the same place and easy to locate. :)

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

Vicky wrote: "I just noticed that we had book discussions and recommendations threads going on in the General, Off-Topic and Vaginal Fantasy folders - so I consolidated them into the new Book Discussion & Recomm..."

THANKS VICKY!!!

[Lisa]

Not sure if this is possible.. I visit the forums on my phone a lot, and now that we're up to the 7th?? book, with different sub-forums all on the main page, it's getting a bit too big to fit on the one screen.

Can we move all past book/month books into one folder? And just have the current months book in the main page?

[Vicky]

I wouldn't want all the discussions from different books put into one folder. A lot of threads from past books aren't marked in anyway except for being in a book's discussion folder - it would be difficult for new members to read out discussions on a certain book or for a member to go back and reference a thread about a book later.

The folders are ordered so that past month's discussions are at the bottom. Even if they don't all fit on one page, you can know that once you start seeing old book discussions you can stop scrolling.

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

Lisa, I think you have a good point actually, I wish there were a way to "archive" books. Lemee talk to Goodreads to see if there's a way to do it. Would help info managing for sure.

[Vicky]

If you go into group settings, there is a "show advanced options" link at the bottom of the page. One of the options is "Display [X] folders on the group home page." It defaults to 100.

The top [X] folders in the list will show on the page. "General" is excluded from the count.

If you set it to 7 only the general topics and the most recent book folder will show on the home page. The homepage won't be overwhelming, but the discussions and folders will still be available from the "discussions" page if anyone wants to pick up a discussion on a book later. If you set it to 8, the directly past book will remain on the homepage as well, which might be nice for stragglers!

[Jane]

I'm a goodreads librarian and also LOVE this group so anything I can do to help keep us organised let me know :)

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

EXCELLENT! That worked! We also have groups wanting to have more in-depth local forum topics. I'd kind of rather keep splinter local VF groups centralized here so new people can find them, but if I create a whole forum for EVERY ONE it might be too cluttered? Still thinking of an organization solution that works for everyone.

[Necrophidian]

Could 'General' be renamed to something like 'Official' or 'Announcements' to avoid confusion w/ 'Off Topic'?

Also, given the number of geeks and gamers in this community, would a 'Geek & Sundry' forum be appropriate and helpful? (see what I did thar?)

[Necrophidian]

Another thought: maybe merge the VF video category into Vaginal Fantasy?

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

DJ Enigma wrote: "Could 'General' be renamed to something like 'Official' or 'Announcements' to avoid confusion w/ 'Off Topic'?

Also, given the number of geeks and gamers in this community, would a 'Geek & Sundry' ..."

We are launching TOTALLY NEW forums on Geek and Sundry next week, so I think maybe we can create something over there for this group? it would certainly be easier to use that chat program instead of our cobbled together download/Tumblr embedded thing.

RE the videos, well we have them embedded already in a "videos", maybe we can get rid of that forum topic entirely because the last two videos will always be embedded in the top of the page anyway.

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

DJ Enigma wrote: "Could 'General' be renamed to something like 'Official' or 'Announcements' to avoid confusion w/ 'Off Topic'?

Also, given the number of geeks and gamers in this community, would a 'Geek & Sundry' ..."
And I think "general" is a default catch-all we can't change.

[Lisa]

I guess I made an assumption that this was similar to UVB boards, where you could have forums, sub forums and subsub forums all containing their own threads.

It's okay, I'm happy to scroll and navigate around on my phone, probably could do with the practice :)

[Vicky]

Unforunately, "general" is a default catch all when a poster doesn't select a folder for their topic. If we moved all the threads out of "general" and into "off-topic" the "general" heading would disappear from the homepage - but unless everyone selects a discussion folder for every new thread, we'll always be moving threads out of "general" to keep it empty.

I split up the VF Videos into their respective book folder and stickied them for reference in case anyone is looking for them. I agree it's a bit redundant to have them embedded at the top of the page and in their own section, and it helps keep the clutter down! :)

[Chloe]

Overall the forum isn't terrible to navigate, nothing that a few seconds of browsing doesn't fix. Mobile to me is a bit more challenging but that's only as good as the app.

The only thing that might be helpful with the always growing number of new members is a standing page or post that acts as a "Start Here" kinda thing. It could have a guide to the forum layout, how the vids/chat work, encouragement to say hello on the introductions thread, quick moderator bio etc..

It also could help to clear up a few common questions and provide a solid understanding of what each forum is for, which would help prevent mis-categorized posts.

[Necrophidian]

Felicia wrote: "We are launching TOTALLY NEW forums on Geek and Sundry next week, so I think maybe we can create something over there for this group?"

Hooray! \o/ That would be spiffy for me, and likely a compounded horror for my finances... >.>

For years I've instigated the purchase of much music. I would laugh gleefully when people sobbed about what I was doing to their wallets...

But now, between S&L, VF and TableTop...

Well, let's just say karma's a bitch.

*sobs while playing Small World (w/ expansions) as yet more book orders arrive*

Yah, a VF forum over at G&S would be... really great, Felicia. Just... great.

*sob*

[Felicia, Grand Duchess]

Ok good call, Vicky, if you have time maybe just get rid of that folder and dump anything in it into General? That way it will just disappear.

Also I think a "START HERE FAQ" would be great. I'll add it to my list, or maybe you guys could start a thread to crowd-source what should be on it?
And at the bottom of that FAQ could list the larger local threads and link to them, that would be great to direct people to them too!

[Vicky]

Felicia - I thought about starting a Welcome FAQ, but I felt like it was something that you should have the first post in!

If you start a thread with a general welcome and lock it to new posts so no one else gets to it first, I'll grab the next couple posts and save them so we can keep information at the top and then open it for people to ask questions in/comment on?

I'll work on moving the general threads, it will probably be a few days... unless I get in a procrastinating mood tonight, which will probably happen with the projects I'm working on now. lol Yeahh... I already got bored of what I'm supposed to be doing. General is now gone! :) I moved the Vaginal Fantasy Folder up to to the top. I think it makes more sense for the about the group/welcome stuff to be first and the current read second.

[Sean Lookielook]

Felicia wrote: "Ok good call, Vicky, if you have time maybe just get rid of that folder and dump anything in it into General? That way it will just disappear.

Also I think a "START HERE FAQ" would be great. I'll ..."

I made a FAQ (better late than never) and will edit it as necessary based on any feedback. Since I'm stuck at home with a swollen ankle this weekend, I'll be doing spring cleaning on the folders while watching the G&S marathon. The general folder has over 200 threads in it which can be moved elsewhere. I'm not deleting anything, just moving them around a little. I did add one additional folder for meta-discussions about the group itself (like this one). I'll try to keep up a more regular maintenance schedule going forward too.

Update:
Renamed Off-topic to Tangents/Off-Topic Discussions for clarity.
Created new folder - Games, Humor, & Fan Art and moved relevant threads.
Created new folder - Group Feedback and moved relevant threads.
Vaginal Fantasy General reduced to FAQ and introduction thread only because they should go first.
Tweaked settings to show new folders on the home page.
Tweaked settings to show current poll on the home page.
Updated FAQ based on suggestions from old post and new changes.

[Sean Lookielook]

Added poll FAQ.
Revamped the Home page to hide ugly URLs.
Changed the playlist link to VF channel. It was still pointed at G&S.
Edited text for bad grammar. (Sorry. I couldn't help myself. It was just one comma and a run-on sentence.)