Forum updates to come - your thoughts?

Alan,

As I'm sure you are aware, you can't please everyone in an endeavour like this...

That being said, I prefer the simpler structure - PROVIDED the Threads view is retained, which looks to be the case

The only suggestion I'd make is to move the "Welcome section" to the top

Tim

It is a tough one.

Putting their threads in the dumpster is not exactly a welcoming message.

An unfortunate fact of society today is that many want instant gratification and don't want to have to read or learn how to do something. How to accommodate those people and still make it work?

No matter what you do there will always be some that manage to post in the wrong area.

My answer is to attempt to make things as clear and unambiguous as possible.

This is in part why I think threaded view is imperative. An expandable / collapsible view allows one to see the active threads below a category. In that scenario, it could be made so one can't post to an upper level category - need to select a relevant sub thread first.

I think everyone needs to see the bigger strategy here.
We need new members. The changes being made are designed to support a recruitment plan that will take place in several stages.
The new Landing/Web page
webserve4-nas.synology.me/Dprlanding-dev2/
is critical. It explains what we are on about that makes us different to other sites. It gets new arrivals rapidly to areas that might engage them. The weekly threads are part of the strategy. They ensure that people see plenty of fresh activity.
The Forum Index page is fine for those of us familiar with The Photo. It's a mess for anyone new to the site- full of links to barely used threads. Try looking at the old Forum Index page through the eyes of a new arrival. On average, a visitor to a new site will make two clicks. If they don't get engaged by what they find, they leave, never to return.
If a new arrival likes what they find and becomes a member, they will learn their way around the Forum Index page and, like everyone else, use Threads, when they sign in.
We need current members to have a look at the new Landing/web page and what it is saying about this site.

Yes, I know that is what we are going to do. I wrote the above because I don't think the bigger picture is clear to current members in the initial announcements. I think everyone has to have some understanding of the bigger picture to grasp what the new structure is doing.

I like the idea of the prospective new landing page with the shortcuts to weekly image threads. Upon clicking through it appears then that it has its own forum as you describe. And it appears that at a higher level the image threads will be a category of image discussions. If I understand that correctly I think that will work for the Sunday Cat! It never felt to me that it quite belonged in another category, so I kept it where it has always lived, under Olympus. I would however like the name to simply be "Sunday Cat!" as a direct reference to its founding post from 2007. I also have a question about back linking. I always provide a link to the previous week's post at the start of each week. Will those links still work after a move?

Myself, I like the new look. However, I would have a "Galleries" link that would link to a galleries page which would have links to all photos that have been uploaded to the site. For example, there would be a link to "Photo of the Week Winners", a link to "Photo of the Week Entries", a link to "The Weekly Landscape" entries, "Today's Uploads", etc., where the photos on each category would be linked to the thread they were posted in. In addition, there should be a link member galleries. Would also be cool to have a link to "Random Assortment of Uploaded Photos" which would take you to a page of a random assortment of uploaded photos, where the user could choose the time interval of the photos (i.e., "Today", "This Week", "This Month", "This Year", "Since the Beginning").

Of course, I realize that this is probably a bit of work, so, for sure, it can wait until threaded view is completed. 😉