Sub forums

[nickwood]

Seems odd that we now cannot access the popular sub forums of Special Interests and Continental/Overseas without more clicks and scrolling to find what we want but there can be entirely new forums, Garden Railways and the Model Engineering with subforums that can be accessed direct by a single click. 

 

Can we have our sub forums for Special Interests and Continental/Overseas back on the main page please.

 

[Jub45565]

This was discussed at the time of the change.

 

Edited to link:

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113394-sub-forums-gone/

[nickwood]

Perhaps, but I don't think the two other forums I have mentioned were there at the time. One of the reasons given for not showing the sub forums on the front page anymore was the amount of space they took up. To then introduce new sections with sub forums seems to be a little odd, particularly as they seem to be little used and it could be probably said, more niche.

 

Just saying.

[Reorte]

Nothing wrong with having a bit of a tidy-up and reorganisation every now and then, and the special interests area was rather large. If that space can be used for other areas that really deserve more front page prominence then I don't think that's unreasonable.

[Andy Y]

The reason for the Narrow Gauge, Garden Railways and Model Engineering sections is to align that content with the other magazines in the group to  provide areas for the readers of those magazines and home the relevant content within the existing membership. I appreciate they're largely empty at present but as they've just been created for expected traffic that's to be expected.

 

Some of the well-used Special Interest areas have been 'promoted' to more visible areas of the site (such as 3D printing, laser cutting etc).

[Jub45565]

Some of the well-used Special Interest areas have been 'promoted' to more visible areas of the site (such as 3D printing, laser cutting etc).

 

So, if we want our Special Interest of interest to be made prominent, we need to create lots of (hopefully useful...) traffic in it!

[nickwood]

The reason for the Narrow Gauge, Garden Railways and Model Engineering sections is to align that content with the other magazines in the group to  provide areas for the readers of those magazines and home the relevant content within the existing membership. I appreciate they're largely empty at present but as they've just been created for expected traffic that's to be expected.

 

Some of the well-used Special Interest areas have been 'promoted' to more visible areas of the site (such as 3D printing, laser cutting etc).

 

I understand the first bit but some of the special interest subjects have more traffic than the 'well used' example given. For example, USA and Canadian has almost 5 times the number of pages and regular traffic, the GWR rolling stock: model and prototype has very similar traffic to 3D etc. This change has had a negative impact on my use of RMweb as I am now less likely to spot or happen across some of the threads that contain stuff that might interest me. There must be plenty of others who feel the same.

 

Edit to mention that I've just noticed we now have two 3D printing sub forums, one in the Skills and Knowledge Centre and another in the Model Engineering Forum.