Let's discuss the potential reopening of the Off Topic Forum.....

[froglips]

Wanted to share an idea that came up in the admin call this week.

I think its possible to change how Off Topic posts are displayed.

Such that when you look at our home page and/or New Posts, Off Topic threads would not part of the list of threads.

I think this would meet the interests of the group who like OT and the other group who doesn't.

I realize this opens us up to subscriptions or filtering, but I think in this specific context, its "All of Woodworking" and "Off Topic", not subsets of woodworking.

Just more to think about ;-)

Jim

 

[Bas]

Jim's post reminded me of the other thing we discussed. We could let people opt-out of the Off Topic forum. I like that a bit better than making peope opt-in, because (a) new people wouldn't be aware there is such a forum to begin with and (b) it helps remind people that the OT forum is just like any other forum: Policy applies, and behave.

 

[Trent Mason]

Jim's post reminded me of the other thing we discussed. We could let people opt-out of the Off Topic forum. I like that a bit better than making peope opt-in, because (a) new people wouldn't be aware there is such a forum to begin with and (b) it helps remind people that the OT forum is just like any other forum: Policy applies, and behave.

The "opt out" thing is a fantastic idea. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up

 

[TracyP]

I personally love the opt out option. Once the person decides to opt out it is important that we give them the option to opt back in if they change their mind. That part in my opinion should be if they want to opt back in they have to contact an admin person to do so. There will be the member that opts in, then opts out, opts in, then opts out. That will also give the staff a control feature for the violators. "A staff member must opt someone in. Regular users cannot opt in" Am I over thinking this:dontknow::dontknow:

 

[Gotcha6]

If a staff member has the ability to opt in someone on a request, the ability to opt in/out a member as a disciplinary action should be at the behest of...:eusa_thin Who/what group would have the final authority insofar as these actions? I feel it should be a tier of control apart from the Mods. We're the cops, not the judges here, IMO.
As to opt in/out option, if there is a subject I don't feel interested in as a member (moderation notwithstanding), I don't open the thread.

 

[Douglas Robinson]

This will address the issue of clutter or as I call it "static." In other words users that opt out will be able to filter out the non-woodworking stuff. If we go this way I would like to have a way to track the number of people opting out.

 

[Gotcha6]

It may be interesting to see if data would show any significant (~5%) change in site activity over the past month versus 1 year ago, adjusting for membership changes. I know this wouldn't be rocket surgery, but it would show if the OT is really missed or not. I realize that a vast amount of our site posting traffic is generated by a small percentage of our members, but it might be interesting to see the results.

 

[Trent Mason]

It may be interesting to see if data would show any significant (~5%) change in site activity over the past month versus 1 year ago, adjusting for membership changes. I know this wouldn't be rocket surgery, but it would show if the OT is really missed or not. I realize that a vast amount of our site posting traffic is generated by a small percentage of our members, but it might be interesting to see the results.

+1 That would be interesting to see the change. I bet it would start off slow and then pick up somewhat...