do we have too many forums and sub forums?

[phil]

On the topic of navigation I find that when I go to CVRS forums I have two choices , “Forums List” or “All forums” right away it seems a bit confusing as to which one should try to use.

If I pick the first selection ” Forums List” it leads me to other selections , the first is “cvrs forum” when one goes into that, there arent’ a lot of posts and it is intended as a place for people to discuss the forum rather than being in the forum itself.

The next choice down the “forums list page” is “suggestion box” which again is another place for people to comment on the forum and the website , but they still aren’t in a place where they can read most of the posts. it seems redundant to me and I suggest that we combine some things. perhaps we could not use the name “CVRS Forum” as it leads one to think they are entering the forum when they can’t read and post without realizing it and backing out.

If you go further down the forums list and look at the number of posts in each forum and sub-forum you can see which are used and some that are not being used enough to warrant there being yet another forum or category. If one has the smarts to go into one that is well used like “electronic restoration” it gets us into where we can actually do some reading and posting.

We could assess which forums haven’t been really used and eliminate some and perhaps only have one link from the first two choices. The readers would be less confused with less categories, or at least to have all of them under one page rather than having too many dead end roads to go into and back out of.

I also noticed that since we all service radios, we could have a heading for “test equipment” Many of us seem to get into collecting old test equipment as well as radios.

We may need a number of categories to help find things easily and keep things organized but also I think we could eliminate some which haven’t been used much for the past couple of years.

[Dan Walker]

I think you are right Phil. Just have a look at how often the forum is used in comparison
to other radio forums.. I think we all have an interest in Canadian radios and if the forum was easier to use more people would be on it. A lot of times when I want information about Canadian radios the other forums [mostly American] don’t have the information, and we have members who do but because it is difficult to navigate they don’t answer..I do find it very difficult to navigate.
I would like to see something where we could look at our own posts I am not good with computers but I manage quite good on ARF and the Philco phorum

[phil]

Less forums would be simpler. I think we have very little worry about people posting in the wrong place and that anything we can do to simplify the forum could pay off in a higher post count. Bear in mind that the radio collecting community in general has a lot of seniors that aren’t as tech savvy as the younger generation, so the website and forum should reflect that fact.

if you want to see your past posts, That is really easy, just click on your name or the little mug shot of the “snowman” above it.

My suggestion is to get rid of all of these places to seek help with the forum and the website and just reduce the forum to about three simple forums with no subforums.

Restoration Of Radio and related items, this could include old ham equipment and telephones and whatever, it could also include cabinet restoration.

for sale / wanted – this section has need for a separate forum.

Info – this could include upcoming events, links to other websites, and any technical data or submissions to the newsletter, as well as any feedback about the forum or website. I don’t think we should use any sub forums at all.

The result would be that these three forums would get busier. Yes we may all skip a few posts that are not of interest to us but I think the number of forums is causing grief and people tend to just go elsewhere rather than trying to figure it all out. Remember a lot of these posters are in their 70’s and don’t have a huge amount of patience for this sort of stuff. we need to make it easy. every forum is just another wall. We can always grow if the post count supports this and after people are more used to the software. That’s my opinion.

In reality we are at what? somewhere around one post per day if we are lucky? we need more posts to make it interesting. The web developers see it from a very different light than the elderly users, and it is the elderly users that have the most experience to offer.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by phil.

[Bruce Winter]

At first glance, the forums list and forums topics is confusing – what is the difference supposed to be?
As we are into the “enjoyment of antique electronics” , to my thinking the list would be Radio, Television, Audio, Test Equipment, Amateur, Broadcast, Military. You could have sub headings under those for more specific aspects of the area of interest.

[dwhite]

Hi all:
My apologies for not replying in a timely manner to this important topic. I found myself suddenly committed to moving to Vancouver Island a few months ago, and the chaos resulting from that decision has only just begun to ease.
Correcting the forum functionality and ease of use is a top priority and one that is now going back on the front burner. We will be going through all of your comments and taking them into consideration. So thanks for participating in this thread, and please keep the comments coming.
I hope to get back to you soon with more news.
Cheers,
Don

[dwhite]

Hi All:
Sorry for the protracted delay in implementing forum changes! (I wound up moving to Vancouver Island and am still unpacking! 🙁

We want to get started restructuring the CVRS forum to make it more member-friendly. So this is the time to post your suggestions, pet-peeves, advice on how to make the forum better!

Looking forward to hearing your ideas.

Don

[Dan Walker]

I believe that some of the categories we would use are
Transistor radios
Electrical/ Mechanical restoration
Cabinets
Classifieds
Phonograph
Tips and ideas
Show and tell
Tvs
Communications Receivers
A Conversation area
I Would also like to be able to go on the forum and go to the post of that day, and also to go to”My posts”.
If I am not looking at my screen exactly at the right angle. can’t see where the faint lines are; outlining
the areas where I should type my reply. The background is too light of a color.
If the forum was more like ARF it would be easier to navigate, or even like The Philco Phorum.

[dwhite]

Thanks, Dan. I hope to be in touch with Karla tonight and will go over your suggestions with her. A lot of your suggestions make good sense. I’m wondering if people would find it easier if there was a tree-like directory available, e.g., Electronic Restoration/Circuits/AGC or something. I’m not sure if the problem is too many forums or simply difficulty finding the way through them.

One way to see the posts of the day is to go to the footer at the bottom of the page, click on Recent Site Activity and all the posts are listed from most recent down. This is the first thing I do when I sign on. As to seeing your own posts, if you go to your account page, all your posts are listed. Does this solve either problem for you?

Don

[dwhite]

Although I just noticed that going to your account page doesn’t appear to list the replies to you latests posts. I’ll check on this feature.

[Karla Wakefield]

Don & Dan,

From your account page you can see both topics and replies that you’ve created, however they’re showing separately. Once you’re looking at the topics you’ve created you should see some links (listed as a second level menu just below your large main profile photo) that include ‘Topics Started’ and ‘Replies Created’.

Karla

[phil]

If we delete most of the categories and simply have one or two that is enough to support the traffic we have. there is no need for users to stumble over forums and subforums or to use a different forum for a question about a TV for example.

If we had the post frequency to support multiple forms then yes it would make sense to separate topics but as it stands the forum has so little use that many arent’ even used yearly or ever.

We have some serious issues now because members are being limited to what they can do based on the type of membership. I paid up to date several months ago but I am still unable to view where other people are because their area wont; show and if I click on their name I get some stupid popup about buying a national membership

No one is monitoring the questions on a timely basis. It would be best if the forum were being run by someone that actually reads the forum on a regular basis and can make adjustments.

this forum emails me when there are new messages. I tried to turn this feature off because it fills my inbox with garbage It won’t; even allow me to change my own settings.
Of course most will throw in the towel if they can’t get it to work properly and strongly recommend that we make the forum free to use. this national membership idea is just going to kill the forum.

in my case I had to change an email setting to reject email from the CVRS as spam to stop the thing from littering my inbox.

Intentionally making the forum NOT WORK properly is of no benefit to the CVRS or it’s members. Access to the forum is the first experience many have with the CVRS and for members who are not near regular meetings it is their only means of utilizing CVRS resources and speaking with other CVRS members. To make it not work properly is not benefiting anyone. We want to encourage new members not push them away in frustration.

who is in support of members intentionally not being able to use the forum properly? is this supposed to encourage membership? can we please re-think this strategy?
Phil

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