thoughts of having sub forums in Off topic

[pas008]

Im not sure if would be great idea like to hear others input if it would be used?

I know there is other forums dedicated to them but not everyone here uses those

 

I know this is a tech site but there are many knowledgeable people here that are enthusiasts and work in other areas also

 

general off topic

health diet and exercise  (used this cause in process of setting up home gym) kinda self explanatory but hearing others workouts and diets would be helpful

vehicles for anything related to motorized even repair maintenance etc

fashion or apparel  im sure there are some sneakerheads here etc and even deal hunters on certain things and could lead to ltt stuff lol

home improvement landscaping appliances and gardening, tips tricks and etc for

Pets

toys board games

could be more of course but giving examples

[dj_ripcord]

I think off topic is already designed to be a catch-all for anything already not accounted for. I don't see a reason to subdivide it. It would easily get far too complex and complicated for no real reason other than organization of topics that don't need to be organized.

[LogicalDrm]

Are any of the said categories receiving threads now? Also, would posters find them? We currently move some 100 threads from General Discussion daily.

[pas008]

3 hours ago, dj_ripcord said:

I think off topic is already designed to be a catch-all for anything already not accounted for. I don't see a reason to subdivide it. It would easily get far too complex and complicated for no real reason other than organization of topics that don't need to be organized.

its not complex it keeps things separated and people with similar interests here on ltt

I guarantee i'd be in checking those that have my interests daily cause i know I dont have to read through all the non interesting topics that go pages deep

i honestly dont check off topic here mainly cause its a catch all and filled with things that arent my interest

also read below

 

2 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

Are any of the said categories receiving threads now? Also, would posters find them? We currently move some 100 threads from General Discussion daily.

yeah its a catch all but no one isnt going to post if there isnt sub category

actually I would be reading about exercise lifting techniques and diets if there was one prolly even posting

 

i belong to another forum that was just for diablo 2 that community grew to everything including other games

 

d2jsp.org check that out and you will see that once available it prolly be used considering they are going to attract people with similar interests and not just move pages away in matter of hours and then forgotten

think about it it

if all computer hardware (cpu, gpu, psu, etc was just one category) would  you really be using it considering you be on page 10 in like 10 mins?

 

i'm not sure but once a community gets big enough sub categories are going to be needed if you want to offer those things

 

I know most pet owners prolly would check out a pet sub forum if thats all it was about lol

 

do you think i'm going to post up questoins about my car pet or exercise or share my input if its going to be so easily forgotten?

[LogicalDrm]

26 minutes ago, pas008 said:

yeah its a catch all but no one isnt going to post if there isnt sub category

actually I would be reading about exercise lifting techniques and diets if there was one prolly even posting

The bolded part is the key. The way we have (so far) seen subforums is that there needs to be discussion first, and lots of it, before new subforum is justified. Hence why we have Hobby Electronics for example and why Smart Home or IOT could be next. Those are both something that can't really find fit in other categories, but do see weekly topics. Some other suggested subforums in past have been Apple, Steamdeck, VR, (Cyber)security etc. So for us, if there's enough discussion, we will think about it. Thats why I asked if there was surge of those topics. Currently, the most posts that could be widen to subcategories are cars, guns and anime (with possible movies/TV being one).

 

Problem with your way of thinking is, would subforum get activity and enough of it weekly/monthly to have it up and worth it.

 

26 minutes ago, pas008 said:

d2jsp.org check that out and you will see that once available it prolly be used considering they are going to attract people with similar interests and not just move pages away in matter of hours and then forgotten

think about it it

if all computer hardware (cpu, gpu, psu, etc was just one category) would  you really be using it considering you be on page 10 in like 10 mins?

I don't get the point of this argument. LTT forums is 10 years old. Its tech-focused forum. While we might have seen decline of activity, thats imo more about change in internet culture as whole. With social media, Discords and Reddit style one-sentence posts in rapid pace being way to converse online. So here, demanding you actually put some thought in posts might be what is holding people back. Not pages upon pages of discussion centered around common hobby.

 

26 minutes ago, pas008 said:

i'm not sure but once a community gets big enough sub categories are going to be needed if you want to offer those things

After all, this is tech forum. Tech subforums is what we want to offer. We aren't going to be next Reddit. As forums don't have any real business models of gaining profit (in fact, forums are the single biggest negative number for LMG). What would be the incentive to bring in people that are mainly for other things than what forums are originally for?

 

26 minutes ago, pas008 said:

I know most pet owners prolly would check out a pet sub forum if thats all it was about lol

 

do you think i'm going to post up questoins about my car pet or exercise or share my input if its going to be so easily forgotten?

Thats odd way to think about anything. If you think all other subforums, your one post you make today will be forgotten in couple of weeks. So, whats the point if you are posting only to be remembered by single posts?

[pas008]

13 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

The bolded part is the key. The way we have (so far) seen subforums is that there needs to be discussion first, and lots of it, before new subforum is justified. Hence why we have Hobby Electronics for example and why Smart Home or IOT could be next. Those are both something that can't really find fit in other categories, but do see weekly topics. Some other suggested subforums in past have been Apple, Steamdeck, VR, (Cyber)security etc. So for us, if there's enough discussion, we will think about it. Thats why I asked if there was surge of those topics. Currently, the most posts that could be widen to subcategories are cars, guns and anime (with possible movies/TV being one).

 

Problem with your way of thinking is, would subforum get activity and enough of it weekly/monthly to have it up and worth it.

 

I don't get the point of this argument. LTT forums is 10 years old. Its tech-focused forum. While we might have seen decline of activity, thats imo more about change in internet culture as whole. With social media, Discords and Reddit style one-sentence posts in rapid pace being way to converse online. So here, demanding you actually put some thought in posts might be what is holding people back. Not pages upon pages of discussion centered around common hobby.

 

After all, this is tech forum. Tech subforums is what we want to offer. We aren't going to be next Reddit. As forums don't have any real business models of gaining profit (in fact, forums are the single biggest negative number for LMG). What would be the incentive to bring in people that are mainly for other things than what forums are originally for?

 

Thats odd way to think about anything. If you think all other subforums, your one post you make today will be forgotten in couple of weeks. So, whats the point if you are posting only to be remembered by single posts?

bolded ok that explains enough, dont want to get carried away with off topic, just keep it on tech mostly i get that

 

why does activity matter at times it'd be just more organized for ltt users with similar interests instead of reading through a catch all

but I get it you dont want the ltt users to get off topic of tech

 

 

[LogicalDrm]

17 minutes ago, pas008 said:

why does activity matter

Activity breeds more activity. If you would go to subforum and see that last thread has posts from 2 months ago, would you feel like you would be getting interactions on your thread?

[pas008]

36 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

Activity breeds more activity. If you would go to subforum and see that last thread has posts from 2 months ago, would you feel like you would be getting interactions on your thread?

yes

and you know how many threads get necro'd in any other sub forum

people browse but people dont like to go elsewhere at times they stick to a place they know feel safe and comfortable

community mentality

[LogicalDrm]

12 hours ago, pas008 said:

yes

and you know how many threads get necro'd in any other sub forum

people browse but people dont like to go elsewhere at times they stick to a place they know feel safe and comfortable

community mentality

It's hard to say how many are brought back up by just browsing. Most that I see come from Google searches. Anyway, that doesn't counter my argument...

[Guest]

If we do have off topic subforums, we need some for talking media. Have a music subforum, one for movies and TV, and maybe even one for discussing video games as a medium (though that most likely wouldn't be on the off topic forum).

[LogicalDrm]

7 hours ago, bluraydisc said:

If we do have off topic subforums, we need some for talking media. Have a music subforum, one for movies and TV, and maybe even one for discussing video games as a medium (though that most likely wouldn't be on the off topic forum).

If we had subforums, making them too sparse and long list will not bring good results either. So adding all entertainment as one (TV, movies, books, music, arts), vehicles (motor vehicles and cycles), sports, lifestyle (exercising, food, clothes, non-tech furniture). Discussion about video games is tech and is already discussed within 5 subforums.

 

If one needs to think longer where to post, they will just dump it. And then it's issue for moderation.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

If we had subforums, making them too sparse and long list will not bring good results either. So adding all entertainment as one (TV, movies, books, music, arts), vehicles (motor vehicles and cycles), sports, lifestyle (exercising, food, clothes, non-tech furniture). Discussion about video games is tech and is already discussed within 5 subforums.

 

If one needs to think longer where to post, they will just dump it. And then it's issue for moderation.

Fair enough, but we do need at least 1 entertainment subforum.

Generally though, I really like the idea of off-topic subforums, so it's got my vote!

[IkeaGnome]

1 hour ago, bluraydisc said:

Fair enough, but we do need at least 1 entertainment subforum.

Generally though, I really like the idea of off-topic subforums, so it's got my vote!

Something to keep in mind about where them mods are coming from. There are already "master topics" for those topics and even a whole sub forums for video games. The "master topics" don't get a whole lot of conversation though so by nature of forums the movie club goes away from the first page. If more people were active in it, it would stay on the front page.

14 hours ago, bluraydisc said:

music subforum

Has a stickied post.

 

14 hours ago, bluraydisc said:

one for movies

 

14 hours ago, bluraydisc said:

maybe even one for discussing video games

https://linustechtips.com/forum/56-video-games/