Forum Organization

Dear Fire Society Creators,

 One thing I've noticed about your forums, that seems somewhat typical of other similar forums, is the difficulty in following the particular threads.  Some posters don't seem to even be aware of how they need to use the tools you provide so that others can follow their replies to other posts, because they fail to apply the quote icon you provide for them to do so.

Among the best forums that I have witnessed are those that isolate the threads, and allow replies to those in particular via a tree-like directory structure.

 For example, suppose there is a thread called, "Follow the money":

    It would appear as follows:

    "Follow the Money"

         Author's posting: xxxx

                 Reply to Author by Poster 1: xxx

                       Reply to Poster 1: xxx

               Reply to Author by Poster 2: xxx

                      Reply to Poster 2 by Poster 1: xxx

Employers, Employers... said: Dear Fire Society Creators,  One thing I've noticed about your forums, that seems somewhat typical of other similar forums, is the difficulty in following the particular threads.  Some posters don't seem to even be aware of how they need to use the tools you provide so that others can follow their replies to other posts, because they fail to apply the quote icon you provide for them to do so. Among the best forums that I have witnessed are those that isolate the threads, and allow replies to those in particular via a tree-like directory structure.  For example, suppose there is a thread called, "Follow the money":     It would appear as follows:     "Follow the Money"          Author's posting: xxxx                  Reply to Author by Poster 1: xxx                        Reply to Poster 1: xxx                Reply to Author by Poster 2: xxx                       Reply to Poster 2 by Poster 1: xxx

Huh?  I'm confused already........

employers

I'm a Blogsphere newbie - joined Firesociety because I've been following Steve Elliot's work ever since Grassfire put a "Stop the Invasion" billboard in front of my office building.  I had to get involved with the movement!

There's probably a lot of members like myself - that never felt inspired enough to join a group until now because they didn't feel represented. Yeah sometimes I have scroll up or back a page in order to jump into the thread but that doesn't bother me. Because I can tell there's a lot of grayhairs in here and I'm happy to exchange ideas with them and thankful that they're using these fandangled devices for more than QVC and email.  

The only problem (annoyance really) I've run across is the cross-posting.  Sometimes these Forums get way, way, way off track - You hit the Ann Coulter page and people are talking about the Border Agents. Firesociety includes posting posting policies - but you can't force people to follow them.

I dig it - don't change a thing.

FireWing said:

Employers, Employers... said: Dear Fire Society Creators,  One thing I've noticed about your forums, that seems somewhat typical of other similar forums, is the difficulty in following the particular threads....

  Huh?  I'm confused already........

=================================================

"Follow the Money"  

-Author's posting: ("Follow the Money"):

|          Author’s comments….

|       

|-------- Reply to Author by Poster ("Follw  Money"):

|                     Poster 1’s comments…

|       

|-------- Reply to Author by Poster 2: ("Follow the Money")       

           |             Poster 2’s comments…

           |-------Reply to Poster 2 by Poster 1: ("Follow the Money")

                                        Poster 1’s comments…

****************************************************

I Hope that helps! This was exceedingly difficult to display as I wanted, so I hope you can understand the limitations.

Using this technique individuals can reply in particular to anyone who posts on a particular thread by using this more graphical style of forum posting.  The thread can go to any length without the reader losing their place in the thread.  This style is more driven by content than by chronology, which is the current method.  Using chronology the reader either has to rely on the poster inserting the quote of the thread they are replying to, or, missing that, the reader has to read through the whole topic in order to know who the reply refers to. Capisce?

Employers....

I do understand how the method you describe works,  I've run across it in other forums.  Sometimes chronology can work also if it is set up to return to the post responded to.  It helps if the posts are numbered also.  The Free Republic forum is a good example.

FireWing said: Employers.... I do understand how the method you describe works,  I've run across it in other forums.  Sometimes chronology can work also if it is set up to return to the post responded to.  It helps if the posts are numbered also.  The Free Republic forum is a good example.

FireWing,

I understand organizations like this are run solely by volunteers.  I tried posting my suggestions to another such forum which is a LOT more primitive in allowing the poster to format properly (paragraphs, etc.).  One example of this is:

http://www.wehirealiens.com

It is IMPOSSIBLE to paragraph a post on this forum.  Everything get runs together, and it is such a pity, because the content totally loses its impact in the process.  The information on the above site could easily form the basis for large scale raids on businesses that are breaking the law by hiring illegal aliens.

Currently over 3000 employers have been reported in 47 states, or over 60 in every state.  Many of the posts report abuse on the illegal aliens that takes various forms.  Many of these employers behave much like slave owners in the Old South.  If these conditions are allowed to persist, over time employers will feel they have the power to treat ANYONE in this manner who works for them.

SoCal Native said: I agree, EE - the easiest forums to read are those that use "Display Mode" - and the mode your referring to is the "Threaded Mode."  We need to ask Steve Elliott if they could reformat this forum so we could use this feature.

It is a little bit difficult to interpret the above response, as it seems to indicate a comibination of both.

However, it is becoming obvious that some reorganisation needs to take place.  In particular, those who use the "Breaking News" category tend to bury other threads in the "Active Threads" menu category.  This may, or may not be, deliberate.  But the capabiliity to do so exists.

Of course the "Go To Forums" menu could be the entry point instead.  The problem with this menu is that some threads go on for some time, and are therefore no longer "Breaking News".  This makes them difficult to find, and also more easily buried.  This could be addressed in a couple of ways:

1.   Go to a "Threaded Mode", as suggested by SoCal Native, that also incorporates a "Display Mode".

2.   Categorize the "Active Threads" by Forum Categories.  This would make it more difficult to bury threads, and more obvious that it was deliberate.

3.   Get rid of the "Breaking News" category entirely, and categorize such posts by the others that currently exist, such as:

    The FireWire:

          Liberal Media Alerts

          Inside the Beltway

          2008 Election

   Border Fires:

          Where Senators stand on Amnesty

          Etc.

          Etc.

          ...

          ...

4.   Provide search capabilities for threads that are at least comparable to what Internet search engines provide.  This would help mitigate the problem of "buried" threads.

It certainly seems obvious that "Breaking News" is such a catch-all for what can easily be interpreted as breaking news within all the other categories that it would not be missed.

Since there was a recent notice that Fire Society Administrators are mounting an effort to redo the web site, hopefully this suggestion could be looked at and commented on by others.

As there would likely be some effort required to re-organize the "Breaking News" category into other categories we could as a group extend our efforts to do so as a group, if that would make a difference.  Perhaps Sean Ivy, or other Administrators could speak to how this voluntary effort could be utilized.

blaze77535 said: My word EE created a problem and came up with a solution all by himself. I am sure glad you realize it is a problem because I never did.

You appear to be making a number of assumptions, none of which are true.

And, for example, did you say the following?

 02/25/08 ~ AGENTS RAMOS AND COMPEAN

blaze77535 said: ... This thread should never be allowed to leave the main screen Remember what the original focus of this forum was.

YES!

blaze77535 said:

YES!

OK!

And does that mean your answers are "Yes" to the following?

1.   Go to a "Threaded Mode", as suggested by SoCal Native, that also incorporates a "Display Mode".

2.   Categorize the "Active Threads" by Forum Categories.  This would make it more difficult to bury threads, and more obvious that it was deliberate.

3.   Get rid of the "Breaking News" category entirely, and categorize such posts by the others that currently exist, such as:

    The FireWire:

          Liberal Media Alerts

          Inside the Beltway

          2008 Election

   Border Fires:

          Where Senators stand on Amnesty

          Etc.

          Etc.

          ...

          ...

4.   Provide search capabilities for threads that are at least comparable to what Internet search engines provide.  This would help mitigate the problem of "buried" threads.