Merging forums… fishing for opinions and ideas – Page 2 – RPLS.com

#11 · June 10, 2022, 1:31 pm

My bookmark goes to the main page, from there I bounce between unread and recent, unread being the primary "go to".

#12 · June 10, 2022, 2:19 pm

Count me in as one who has my bookmark to go straight to the "Recent" page. The sub-forum doesn't matter at all to me.

#13 · June 10, 2022, 2:59 pm

1. All of the forums under the "Marketplace" heading could be amalgamated. Same with "Help & Information".

2. All those under "Non-surveying" could be as well except Computers and Tech, which I'd move to under "Surveying and Related". I'd then rename that forum "General Discussion" or something like that.

3. I'd amalgamate "Memes for Surveyors" and "Today's Office" into the "General Discussion" forum.

4. Finally, I'd amalgamate the "Precision Ag", "Forensic Surveying" , "Bathymetric Surveying" forums to a "Specialized Surveys" forum.

For the record, I'm going for "Recent" 99.9% of the time.

#14 · June 10, 2022, 3:06 pm

I'm recent, or at least my "go to" is : less said about my age the better!

#15 · June 12, 2022, 2:06 am

Quote from Wendell on June 12, 2022, 2:06 am
Today I've taken the first steps toward consolidating the various forums. For this first phase, I've taken it down from 29 forums to 17.

"For Sale" and "Want To Buy" forums were merged and changed to "Classifieds: Buy, Sell & Trade". I created prefixes so that when you post in the new Classifieds forum, you can select the kind of post from a dropdown next to the title field (for sale, wanted, etc.).

Several low traffic surveying-related forums were merged into "Surveying & Geomatics".

Most of the Non-Surveying forums were merged into the "General Chit-Chat" forum. I haven't decided what to do with Humor yet, but I'm leaning toward merging it as well. If I do merge it, I may create a "Humor" prefix.

"Looking For Work" was merged into the "Surveying Jobs" forum. I've added appropriate prefixes there as well.

I've added a "Sponsored" prefix to the "Surveying & Geomatics" forum, then moved all the "Vendor Showcase" posts there.

"The Playground" went bye bye.

I think I'm going to remove News & Announcements from the forum altogether and put them into a blog. The FAQ forum may go along for the ride.

Also thinking about moving Support-related topics out of the forum and creating a separate place for support (much like a support ticketing system like I use for my web design clients).

I think the "Ask A Surveyor" forum pretty much needs to stay -- it's a place for landowners and other non-surveyors to ask questions. It seems appropriate to keep it separated.

As for "Education & Training", I'm seriously considering setting up an "Upcoming Events" section (not in the forum) where I'd allow event submissions. If we could collectively get people to submit events, we could have a pretty awesome calendar system to help everyone find and attend conventions, webinars, workshops, etc. General discussions about education could continue to take place in the "Surveying & Geomatics" forum.

?ÿ

This is just what I've done so far, and it's amazing to me that I managed to nearly halve the number of forums. It's already less complicated. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about merging the remaining surveying-related forums -- it's a tough one for me. Once they are merged, there's no good way to pull them back out. So once it's done, it's really, really done.

I really appreciate your feedback! Wondering how you feel about it now that I've thinned it down so much. 🙂

Today I've taken the first steps toward consolidating the various forums. For this first phase, I've taken it down from 29 forums to 17.

"For Sale" and "Want To Buy" forums were merged and changed to "Classifieds: Buy, Sell & Trade". I created prefixes so that when you post in the new Classifieds forum, you can select the kind of post from a dropdown next to the title field (for sale, wanted, etc.).
Several low traffic surveying-related forums were merged into "Surveying & Geomatics".
Most of the Non-Surveying forums were merged into the "General Chit-Chat" forum. I haven't decided what to do with Humor yet, but I'm leaning toward merging it as well. If I do merge it, I may create a "Humor" prefix.
"Looking For Work" was merged into the "Surveying Jobs" forum. I've added appropriate prefixes there as well.
I've added a "Sponsored" prefix to the "Surveying & Geomatics" forum, then moved all the "Vendor Showcase" posts there.
"The Playground" went bye bye.
I think I'm going to remove News & Announcements from the forum altogether and put them into a blog. The FAQ forum may go along for the ride.
Also thinking about moving Support-related topics out of the forum and creating a separate place for support (much like a support ticketing system like I use for my web design clients).
I think the "Ask A Surveyor" forum pretty much needs to stay -- it's a place for landowners and other non-surveyors to ask questions. It seems appropriate to keep it separated.
As for "Education & Training", I'm seriously considering setting up an "Upcoming Events" section (not in the forum) where I'd allow event submissions. If we could collectively get people to submit events, we could have a pretty awesome calendar system to help everyone find and attend conventions, webinars, workshops, etc. General discussions about education could continue to take place in the "Surveying & Geomatics" forum.

This is just what I've done so far, and it's amazing to me that I managed to nearly halve the number of forums. It's already less complicated. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about merging the remaining surveying-related forums -- it's a tough one for me. Once they are merged, there's no good way to pull them back out. So once it's done, it's really, really done.

I really appreciate your feedback! Wondering how you feel about it now that I've thinned it down so much. 🙂

#16 · June 12, 2022, 2:30 am

I've argued with myself several times on whether to put something in Humor or Chit Chat. Merging them will be fine.

#17 · June 12, 2022, 1:59 pm

Posted by: @holy-cow

I've argued with myself several times on whether to put something in Humor or Chit Chat. Merging them will be fine.

Yeah, a lot of stuff in Chit-Chat is already humor anyway. LOL ???

So I went ahead and merged them.

#18 · June 13, 2022, 3:27 pm

@wendell

To further simplify things, you could combine "Surveying & Geomatics", "Software, CAD & Mapping", "GNSS & Geodesy", & "Photogrammetry, LiDAR & UAS" into one topic. If you wanted a simplified name for the consolidated topic, you could call if "Trade Talk". To further consolidate topics, you could put "Buy, Sell & Trade", "Surveying Jobs", & Lost & Stolen Equipment" all under the "Classified" banner.

As long as you keep the "Recent" & "Unread" buttons, you'll have no complaints from my direction.

#19 · June 13, 2022, 3:52 pm

Posted by: @kevin-hines

@wendell

To further simplify things, you could combine "Surveying & Geomatics", "Software, CAD & Mapping", "GNSS & Geodesy", & "Photogrammetry, LiDAR & UAS" into one topic. If you wanted a simplified name for the consolidated topic, you could call if "Trade Talk". To further consolidate topics, you could put "Buy, Sell & Trade", "Surveying Jobs", & Lost & Stolen Equipment" all under the "Classified" banner.

As long as you keep the "Recent" & "Unread" buttons, you'll have no complaints from my direction.

Yeah, I'm still considering further consolidation. But it does make me nervous, because once it's consolidated, there's no bringing it back out again. I'm sleeping on it for a few days.