13 replies to this topic

[lourdaud]

Wouldn't it be a good idea to implement stricter in the nootropics section of the forum? Like, not allowing new threads on topics that already have multiple threads? 
As it is now, the forum is really hard to navigate, when 9 out of 10 threads are made from new users coming in with questions about the same old racetams etc. 

[YOLF]

We can merge/move old threads if it becomes necessary. If you see it happen, please let us know.  Can you link to some examples?

[lourdaud]

We can merge/move old threads if it becomes necessary. If you see it happen, please let us know.  Can you link to some examples?

 

What I meant was that there's a great number of threads for every well-known substance. A main thread for each substance would be preferable, in my opinion.

[YOLF]

Perhaps adding a forum such as "Racetams Related" would work?

[normalizing]

laurdaud doesnt have enough seniority to tell mods what to change on this great forum. so far it has been working fine i dont see what the problem is and the need for a change. if laurdaud has such a big problem with the forum, free to leave

[lourdaud]

Perhaps adding a forum such as "Racetams Related" would work?

 

I think the best thing would be a "questions" forum where (new) users could go and ask question such as why piracetam is causing brain fog etc. This would to a certain extent overlap with the nootropic stacks, maybe it could be merged with that one? 

 

laurdaud doesnt have enough seniority to tell mods what to change on this great forum. so far it has been working fine i dont see what the problem is and the need for a change. if laurdaud has such a big problem with the forum, free to leave

 

Lol, wtf?

But well, of course I don't - I was only making a suggestion. And why would I want to leave? I like this community a lot, I just think there's a slight room for improvement in the nootropics forum

[YOLF]

He can't answered, I gave him a temporary ban for being abusive and thinking he could speak for us. We certainly do want to hear from you. That's why we have this forum

 

In point of fact, I've only been an active registered user here for around 1.5-2 years and signed up as a member in January. 

 

Anyways. I think the questions forum is a good idea and it makes sense from a marketing stand point. The Nootropics forum advertising is pretty popular and has a waiting list. So starting a new subforum will give us more advertising revenue to spend on science etc. I just wonder if it will conflict with the Rate My Stack feature that we'll me hatching soon. I think it would go great with it, though what the feature is going to be is still largely a mystery to me.

[Mind]

lourdaud is correct that there are too many threads for each noot. There are probably hundreds of piracetam threads. It would be nice to merge many of them that are related or created subforums to categorize the things (stacks, method of action, science, side-effects) that people are talking about. The best way to do this IMO would be to get a couple of moderators, give them a small grant/stipend to clean things up. The job is probably too big for a handful of volunteers working a few minutes here or there. 

[Absent]

I've thought about this before but have figured it is a decidedly bad idea.

 

Merging all threads might sound like a nice and fancy idea but it is important to take into account the nature of which people reply to threads. To be more specific, how they decide which threads they will reply to. Merging all threads together will mix up initial post dates. It is generally considered bad forum etiquette to post on threads that have since "died", and generally posting on old threads does not bring many of the people previously involved in the discussion back. Merging similar threads together might only increase the levels of confusion in this realm. Threads with similar titles might have unique internal discussions, which, is another quality that would be disturbed if similar threads were merged together. I have often thought of this idea in the past, to merge similar threads about same-substances together. While it might sound good in theory, it has it's flaws, as mentioned above. 

 

Merging threads together would also mix up thread-specific discussions and generate more confusion. It's important to remember that not all threads are people just sharing their experiences. There are a lot of back-and-forth talking that would ultimately get jumbled up in merged threads.

 

So, merging threads together might sound like a good idea for archiving purposes, but ultimately doing so would do the opposite of facilitating discussion, which is after all the entire point of a discussion forum.

 

A better idea would be to great a sub-section of the board that categorized threads. For instance, all threads with a piracetam tag might appear in the piracetam sub forum, but if that thread also had an "aniracetam" tag, it would appear in the aniracetam sub forum. This would be more of a general site-organization feature. Doing this, would not take away from discussions, it would keep threads were they are, but provide a more facile route to accessing threads of a specific topic.

 

[chemicalambrosia]

I agree with Siro.  Both the existence of "mega threads" and the merging of active discussions both stifle discussion and destroy conversations that were in place. When you end up with 60+, or 100+ page threads, they become impossible to navigate. You end up with a dozen disjointed discussions with people talking past each other. Also, very interesting points, questions, or replies can get buried without being noticed. All of that gives people a disincentive to put time and energy into a good post.

 

 

 

I think the best thing would be a "questions" forum where (new) users could go and ask question such as why piracetam is causing brain fog etc. This would to a certain extent overlap with the nootropic stacks, maybe it could be merged with that one? 

 

I like this idea, and I think it could go even further by moderators moving routine questions or threads to this "noob" or "questions" forum if they are clearly repetitive and are unlikely to bring up new or interesting discussion. That may leave some pretty subjective decision making to be made and be tough on the moderators, but it would allow deeper discussion on a lot of other threads without them being pushed off of the front page by routine questions. A FAQ thread can cut down on some repetitive threads too.

[YOLF]

Good points. I think it would be best to just reorganize the forum and move similar topics into their own archive forums. For instance, we could have a Piracetam or just racetam experiments subforum or something like that.

 

Part of what ensures that our community evolves is that these new discussions occur. Even if they are rehashed, they new for all those involved and each is somewhat different. People 1 (topic starter/experimenter), 2 (someone who is on the fence about it), 3 (someone who is just learning), 4 (someone who had a good experience), and 5 (someone who had a difficult experience), may have discussed Piracetam before, but their roles change as they gain experience. 1 is now an quasi-expert, 2 is now experimenting, 3 is now on the fence, 4 is now comparing Piracetam to noopept and sulbutiamine, and 5 figured out that choline bitartrate gives him brain fog while citicoline and Pira are great! Eventually, some of these people will become inactive and people will take their place. It's a community. It's all about the growth of our members!

 

I think a reorganization will work out just great, we just need to ensure that the subjects are broad enough to attract people of all different experience levels so our members still experience growth. Segregation of our experts from our newbees will only create a disconnect and can therefor not be permitted. We must ensure that maintain our appeal!

[caliban]

 

As it is now, the forum is really hard to navigate, when 9 out of 10 threads are made from new users coming in with questions about the same old racetams etc. 

This has been a problem for many years. The way to tackle this is to have good introductory/overview articles. 

 

 

LongeCity uses a 'tags' system that helps a lot in organising topic clusters. If more Members would participate in editing thread tags, the system would be even more effective. 

Members are also invited to apply to become moderators if they can see angles for better hands-on moderation.  

 

There will be no archiving or similar large-scale reorganisation. However, the new 'stacks' feature, if embraced by the community may shake things up a bit.    

 

[Absent]

With the tags feature already in place, I can't imagine it would be too difficult to create a system that can fetch all threads of certain tags and display them in an organized/usable fashion; one that doesn't require users to use the search feature. Imagine a subsection of the forum that automatically displays dynamic sub archives of the most popular tags (like piracetam). I'd be willing to help out in adding the proper tags to threads that need them when I have the time.

[caliban]

http://www.longecity...rums/piracetam/