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[Dem]

BTW - did this conversation come up now because there's a move planned or did it just emerge as a bit of wishful thinking?

Not sure which part of the conversation you're referring to.

If you mean moving this forum, that was a suggestion I made. However, I doubt any such move is even being considered at this time (and I rather hope not), since they're concentrating on the main websites for the podcasts. And in fact, it wasn't my intent to spur such a move immediately, but simply to plant the seed of an idea for the future, as perhaps the (or at least a) next logical step once the website renovation is complete.

That's the one - just wondered if I'd parachuted into something and missed the beginning. I think seeding the idea is right, but until there's a better solution things can stay as they are for me. Updating the websites is much more of a priority because they're front facing. This is behind the scenes for people who like to shove the scenery around a bit

[SonofSpermcube]

Re: it being awfully quiet:  That might be fixable.  

The forum links aren't in any obvious permanent location.  The ideal place to put a link to the forum would be at the very top of the page, in the nav bar.  Before my browser started autocompleting it for me, I ctrl-Fed it.  Make the forums easier to find and more people will use them.

Another thing you could do is consolidate the discussions.  I go to a forum and find two new posts in the past week, I leave and I don't come back, and the forum stays dead.  I've seen this happen in online classes, too, with teachers dividing discussion up so much that people don't find anything to do.  (AND THIS WAS LIBRARIANS DOING IT WTF...) You might consider consolidating the genre discussion subforums and the about subforums into one, rather than one for each podcast.  Or you might just have a single subforum for each podcast.  The idea is that someone coming to comment on this week's show sees the thread about how Alasdair has the best voice or whatever and jump on that one, too; while if it's shut away in another forum they'd never see it.

The only ones that have a volume of threads high enough to really warrant being separate are the episode comments forums, but even then the volume of posts is manageable if they're consolidated.  

I'd set it up kind of like this:

Escape Artists:
-  Escape Pod Episode Comments
-  Podcastle Episode Comments
-  Pseudopod Episode Comments
-  Escape Artists Consolidated Podcast Metadiscussion

Misc:
- Genre Discussion
- Writing
- Contests
- General Podcasting Discussion

Administrivia/Support consolidated into a single subforum.


Finally, if this isn't already the case, having the text of the story in every instance where it's possible to do so would be nice.  I sometimes inflict these stories on my English-studying wife, and having the text helps a lot. 

So basically:  
Big fat forum links at the top of the page
Consolidate the forums into no more than about 1/2 what you've got now.  
More story text, if possible

[Scattercat]

Consolidate the forums into no more than about 1/2 what you've got now.  

This is a very solid idea which I also support and endorse.  I know how pleasant it is to sort things into small categories, but there are times when that impulse is less helpful than others.

[matweller]

While I don't think it would bring in more people, I do think that having just EP forum, one PP forum, one PC forum and an "other" section could potentially stir more discussion amongst the ones that are here. Good idea.

And you're right, there should be a forum link in the nav. I'll get on that right now.

[Devoted135]

I would like to be able to "Like" a Page for Podcastle and Escape Pod (and maybe Pseudopod - I like reading for you, but I'm not a horror fan myself), the way I can (but wouldn't) "Like" Coca-Cola or Target or I Fucking Love Science or Being Liberal The Maple Leaf Singers (okay, those last two I do "Like" - and I put that last one in there to show that even a small entity can have a page - but then, we aren't big enough to have an "Interest" page that we would apparently have to compete with).

Perhaps a listeners' Group for each podcast is what EA will decide it wants to go with, rather than a page (though the two aren't mutually exclusive). However, I'd rather have Pages, myself.

I'd like to ditto the request for Pages that I can like.

[matweller]

And you're right, there should be a forum link in the nav. I'll get on that right now.

One down...

[Wilson Fowlie]

And you're right, there should be a forum link in the nav. I'll get on that right now.

One down...

Or 1/3 of one down, for those of us counting all three sites...

[matweller]

And you're right, there should be a forum link in the nav. I'll get on that right now.

One down...

Or 1/3 of one down, for those of us counting all three sites...

Of course, I apologize. I got excited that there was a suggestion that I could actually influence for the site I help handle.

The other two sites would actually be easier to add forum links if the people that handled them wanted to or wanted to give me temporary access to do it for them.

[Wilson Fowlie]

Of course, I apologize. I got excited that there was a suggestion that I could actually influence for the site I help handle.

No problem. I should have put a smiley - I wasn't intending to carp.

[Unblinking]

I like the idea of cutting down the subforum count.

Also, for people catching up on the backlog, some other podcasts compress a 50-pack of episodes for one easy download that can be uncompressed on my computer.  A much faster affair than doing each by hand when a person is trying to catch up on backlog.

[eytanz]

The mods have discussed the idea of streamlining the forums, and we all agreed it's a good plan. We're still debating some details, and once we do we'll decide on a schedule and notify the forum at large. I don't think we'll do anything before the end of the PC contest - we don't want to interfere with that, if we accidentally screw things up and have to restore the forums from a backup or something.

[Unblinking]

The mods have discussed the idea of streamlining the forums, and we all agreed it's a good plan. We're still debating some details, and once we do we'll decide on a schedule and notify the forum at large. I don't think we'll do anything before the end of the PC contest - we don't want to interfere with that, if we accidentally screw things up and have to restore the forums from a backup or something.

Woot!