the new forums?

[ETwhat?]

Having seen the arrival of the new forums for navigation/engineering rather than having created a whole new category,
fourms>engine and electro tech> subject

but instead to place it under the current cadets as an array of sub categories
forums>current cadets> engine and electro >subjects

it would mean that from the home page the main sub groups would be updated more often making the site seem more active, whilst also making navigation easier in that you dont have to go into as many sections to see what has been updated.

[Randomist]

I see, so making the forums additions to the cadet forums, if this seems better then I'll swap it around. You think that would benefit usage then?

Looking at it, I can see this could be a better idea

[CharlieDelta]

I might look at some forum consolidation over the next few days to simplify the home page. Little things like just having a media forum rather than separate image/video forums, and so on.

On the plus side, every forum apart from the rules one (closed to public posting), the "Other Training Centres" forum and Pictures forum have had posts in the last week, with 14 forums having posts in the last 24 hours.

Also, on a side note, we're nearly at 2,000 threads, 20,000 posts, 800 members. We've been going for 15 months (wow, where's the time gone?) so those figures aren't bad for a very niche site.

I'll be making a post this evening to solicit ideas for further promotion and generating activity within the forums, so any input would be welcomed - keep an eye out for the thread. My main hope is that we'll see more subject-based discussion since many posts at the moment are the usual pre-joining or pre-sea questions.

[ETwhat?]

from my view it would mean that any posts in the main or subject cat for the discipline would update the 'newest post' which is a good thing as it saves having an area that may not move very often. If im interested in engineering i want one main area to go to and not several.

on the whole the site works well and i agree with you (CD) that its a very niche area and also that a certain amount of activity is going to be very seasonal, which doesnt help much.

[CharlieDelta]

Righty, have done some tidying!

Changes:

• New sidebar showing new posts and new threads on main page. Can be minimised according to user preference.
• Support and suggestions moved to subcategory of Forum Information.
• Forum information contains our updated site guidelines - relaxed rules in some ways and explain infraction system.
• Questions and Discussions category set up including aspiring cadets, current cadets, anonymous and college specific
• New guidelines for the Anonymous Forum
• College specific forums no longer on main page
• New subject specific category including Deck and Engine/ETO. Randomist's new subforums moved here under the appropriate heading
• Qualified Officers section removed as not very busy and outside the current scope of the site
• News and Multimedia merged into one category

Overall, everything's a bit tidier and all of the forums displayed on the main page are active - no empty or quiet forums except for the subject specific which should hopefully take off soon!

Thoughts?

[stronglead]

thw side bar is handy to see whos been posting where and whats been said at a glance rather than looking it out as such and the tidy up is good was getting a tad confuseing

[Lewis]

Liking the new streamlined look was getting a bit crowded before.

[CharlieDelta]

Hoping to have the blogs section back soon too.

Announcement about new Facebook features: http://www.officercadet.com/announcement.php?f=69

And a bit of an update: http://www.officercadet.com/showthre...ant-your-input!

[Randomist]

Looks great CD, nice job!

I'm a big fan of the new sidebar