Fellow forummers, what boards do we want?

Lester

As there are around 18,600 topics all in Guitar Forum I was about to suggest a few board names we need but it would, of course, be far better that we agree what is needed and then ask Richard together.

Here are some of my thoughts and observations to get the discussion going:

From the old forum we had a busy board about new builds and modifications.

Maintenance and Repairs; should these be grouped with new builds or given a board of their own?

Quite a few posts are of performances, mostly on YouTube, and audio recordings. Should we ask for one board, Performances and Recordings, or would videos of live performances be better separated from audio which could be described as home recording?

Should there be a board about effects? If not, where would topics about effects go?

Should what used to be personal diaries have their board back or should they go in Introduce Yourself or General?

Which forum should be the catchall: Guitar Forum or General?

What else comes to mind regarding boards we would like?

Lester

Here are my thoughts, main boards and their child boards

Richard's Guitars
- Forum Announcements
- Community Feedback

Forummers
- Introduce Yourself
- Personal Diaries
- Perfomances (eg. links to YouTube or Souncloud)

Equipment
- Guitars
- Amps
- Effects
- Accessories (eg. stands, straps, strings, cases)
- Computers & recording gear

DIY
- Guitar Builds & Modifications
- Repairs & Maintenance

Other
- General guitar and musical topics
- Totally Not Guitars (ie. non-musical topics)

Classifieds
- For Sale
- Wanted
- Tuition
- Notices (eg. upcoming concerts)

What else is there that I have missed?
What have I included that needs a better name or location or needs removing?

Jocko

Don't know if we need so many sub sections. Amps and Effects could be combined. Recording gear and accessories, Builds and repairs.

Just Tel

Have to agree with Jacko. Don't know if its just me cos the forum is new but i am finding it a little difficult finding my way round it so I think it needs more boards but not so many as to make it more difficult if that makes any sense.

Lester

Okay, how about this? In my thinking the headers do not need to be boards, they are more for grouping boards.

Forum Reception
- Forum Announcements
- Community Feedback
- Introduce Yourself

Guitars
- Guitars
- Amps, Effects, Accessories (eg. stands, straps, strings, cases)
- Guitar Builds, Modifications, Repairs & Maintenance

Other
- Personal Diaries
- Perfomances (eg. links to YouTube, Souncloud, etc.)
- General (ie. musical topics inc. computers, recording gear, tuition)
- Totally Not Guitars (ie. non-musical topics)

Classifieds
- For Sale, Wanted
- Tuition
- Notices (eg. upcoming concerts)

Jocko

We could do with the Diaries in beside Others, but as a separate sub heading. Personally I find the Diary section great for posting what is relevant to me.
I won't start moving stuff until we have the sub sections set up.

Lester

I have added it to my post above. I managed to lose Personal Diaries entirely. Well spotted, Jocko.

Just Tel

Looks good to me Lester.

Lester

Thanks, Jocko and Tel. What about the other regulars: Megi, Reg, Derek, Mark P, Markblues, Kevin, Hobbio, DaveBass and all the others that I have just insulted by not remembering them? What do you think we should be asking Richard to add?

martinsmith99

I'm all in favour of fewer boards. If things get busy you can always split them later.

And, although not as regular as the folks mentioned above, I only seem to have 2 posts assigned to me.

Lester

Fewer is good but could you be more specific? For example, which in the above list do you think are unecessary? Which could be combined? Bear in mind there are 18,000 posts from the old forum that will be looking for a home.

By the way, Martin, when I look at your profile I can see 327 posts of yours. Maybe the forum software hasn't counted them as all the posts from the old forum will just have been imported, bypassing the counting mechanism. That's my guess.

Lester

From the topic Wow!!! Its all happening now - ALL original USER ID and PASSWORDS are now imported. we have a list of some of the boards from the old forum. Let's check we have catered for them in our new proposed list of boards.

http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/electric-guitar-forum
http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/acoustic-guitar-forum

In our new plan we have one combined topic for guitars regardless of their type.

http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/category/totally-not-guitars

We have Totally Not Guitars.

http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/technical-questions

I am of the mind that these can be in the guitars or amps or builds & repairs boards, based upon what the subjects of the technical questions are.

http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/guitar-building-and-repairs

We have builds, mods, repairs and maintenance all clubbed together. At the moment these topics are in the General section, waiting for the board to be created.

http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/guitar-amp-forum
http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/guitar-effects-forum

We have an amps, effects and accessories board in the new list above.

http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/used-guitars-for-sale

Historically there are a fair few For Sale topics, I suspect Richard would prefer that we only use www.usedguitars.co.uk as there are places there to offer guitars, amps, other products and serviced such as tuition, servicing and repairs. Whether we need a home for the old classifieds or we delete or hide them is a strategic decision that I guess Richard needs to make and explain.

http://forum.rguitars.co.uk/forum/guitar-tuition-forum

I notice two types of tuition posts: first, explaining something that is either in response to a question or because we have organised and written our thoughts on an aspect of playing; or second, adverts from guitar teachers or teaching organisations. The first we have covered in General in our new list and the second would be covered by Classifieds or www.usedguitars.co.uk, however Richard decides.

Others we have in our list are repeats of other boards from the old forum, eg. Introduce Yourself, others are on the list simply because we have so many posts that they warrant a place of their own, eg. Performances, and others are on the list to make life simple, eg. Forum Announcements.

Regarding the last one, I have already come across the problem that no one can reply to any topics in Forum Announcements. That, to me, means that replies have to be created and placed elsewhere (Community Feedback, perhaps), making replies dislocated from the topic being replied to. Is it just me or should we ask Richard to change the permissions on this board so that we can reply to his announcements?

Are we ready to formally ask Richard to create the boards in our list? Is there anything else to add or subtract before we do?

Just Tel

It all sounds reasonable to me. Re the reply problem to Forum Announcements I think we should ask Richard to change permissions.
Go for it, The sooner it's sorted, the sooner the forum might get used.

Lester

So, Richard, we would like to request the following headers and boards. Boards with a + are already in existence; boards with a - need creating. Could you or Enam group them under their respective headings? Many thanks.

Reception
+ Announcements - with permission changed so that we can reply to your posts here.
+ Feedback
+ Introduce Yourself

Guitars
+ Guitars (currently entitled Guitar Forum) - Richard, please read my PM about all the old data in this board.
+ Amps, Effects, Accessories (eg. stands, straps, strings, cases)
- Guitar Builds, Modifications, Repairs & Maintenance

Other
- Personal Diaries
- Perfomances (eg. links to YouTube, Souncloud, etc.)
+ General (ie. musical topics inc. computers, recording gear, tuition - not adverts)
+ Totally Not Guitars (ie. non-musical topics)

Classifieds
- For Sale, Wanted
+ Tuition (adverts)
- Notices (eg. upcoming concerts)