7mm+ forum move

[MarshLane]

Hi Andy,

Please don't take this as a complaint in anyway, its not - just a query and info that might be useful. Can I ask why the 7mm+ modelling forum has been moved out of the Layout Content area? Confused me this morning lol!

 

Serious reason for asking however, is that once the 7mm forum was moved from Specialist Interests to Layout & Workbench Content, I did see an increase in the number of people finding the threads, commenting and rating - it was almost like they found something that they didn't know before - it's also noticeable that there appears to be a higher number of threads and activity on that forum since the move. I fear that moving the forum to this new Scale Specific heading is going to reverse that trend. Also, it is kind of saying that the main interest for rmWeb is in OO gauge modellers (as there is no OO gauge thread in Gauge Specific) and everyone else is pushed lower down? Although I appreciate that OO gauge is the dominant area because of the level of interest.

 

Like I say, not a complaint or winge in anyway, just putting a viewpoint forward that you may, or may not agree with!

 

Cheers

Rich

[Jintyman]

Hi Andy,

Please don't take this as a complaint in anyway, its not - just a query and info that might be useful. Can I ask why the 7mm+ modelling forum has been moved out of the Layout Content area? Confused me this morning lol!

 

Serious reason for asking however, is that once the 7mm forum was moved from Specialist Interests to Layout & Workbench Content, I did see an increase in the number of people finding the threads, commenting and rating - it was almost like they found something that they didn't know before - it's also noticeable that there appears to be a higher number of threads and activity on that forum since the move. I fear that moving the forum to this new Scale Specific heading is going to reverse that trend. Also, it is kind of saying that the main interest for rmWeb is in OO gauge modellers (as there is no OO gauge thread in Gauge Specific) and everyone else is pushed lower down? Although I appreciate that OO gauge is the dominant area because of the level of interest.

 

Like I say, not a complaint or winge in anyway, just putting a viewpoint forward that you may, or may not agree with!

 

Cheers

Rich

 

 

I do actually agree with pretty much all of what Rich is saying, and I also think that the recent RTR releases in 7mm have increased the footfall somewhat.

 

I'd also like to add that if it's going to be in a scale specific, wouldn't you need to remove the '+' from the thread title, and open other areas like G, SM32, 10mm, Gauge 1, 5", 7.5", etc, as that would actually make it 'scale specific'.

 

Jinty

[Andy Y]

Hi Andy,

Please don't take this as a complaint in anyway, its not - just a query and info that might be useful. Can I ask why the 7mm+ modelling forum has been moved out of the Layout Content area? Confused me this morning lol!

 

Serious reason for asking however, is that once the 7mm forum was moved from Specialist Interests to Layout & Workbench Content, I did see an increase in the number of people finding the threads, commenting and rating - it was almost like they found something that they didn't know before - it's also noticeable that there appears to be a higher number of threads and activity on that forum since the move. I fear that moving the forum to this new Scale Specific heading is going to reverse that trend. Also, it is kind of saying that the main interest for rmWeb is in OO gauge modellers (as there is no OO gauge thread in Gauge Specific) and everyone else is pushed lower down? Although I appreciate that OO gauge is the dominant area because of the level of interest.

 

Like I say, not a complaint or winge in anyway, just putting a viewpoint forward that you may, or may not agree with!

 

Cheers

Rich

 

Sensible points Rich.

 

The reason the move arose was to bring the 2FS sub-forum in particular out of the Special Interests area (where 7mm used to be too) as traffic had dropped in that area a little after I'd had to fiddle around with some other bits a few months ago.

 

It then looked sensible to move anything relating to other scales (3mm and S) into that area too, as the 7mm has more stock projects than layouts it's arguably more appropriate in that area than Layouts. Previously I may have argued against segregating scale/gauge in the Layouts section under the good modelling is good modelling mantra and that people shouldn't just stick to their own chosen disciplines for inspiration but now I'm tending towards (with increased content) better organisation to find relevant material and maybe there's a case for N, EM and P4 sections?

[MarshLane]

Hi Andy,
Yes see your point. I think there are perhaps arguments both ways? It's that awkward fine line between making it easy for people to find what they want, and also having so many different areas it gets confusing! I must admit that I was not sure whether my thread initially should be in the 7mm thread because it was O gauge, or under Layout Topics because it was a layout? I went with the former in the end.

I think too many people don't progress beyond the layout topics, but yet splitting that forum into different headings for each scale would be unrealistic and confusing. I also tend to agree with Jinty that given the increased activity, maybe the 7mm thread should be just for O gauge if your keeping the Scale Specific thread, perhaps with a larger scales forum for anything above 7mm?

The one comment I would make is that any forums that are not OO gauge seem to be outside the remit of those contained under the Layouts and Workbench heading, so could it make sense to almost dedicate those to 4mm (HO, OO, EM, P4) and then put the Scale Specifics headings directly as the next section?

Rich

[Jintyman]

Jinty, I was not really treading on eggshells, just didn't want the post to be seen as criticism. I don't own or run it, so I take the view that while I can make my view known, it shouldn't be in an I'm right, your wrong kind of way!

 

Rich

 

 

I know, that's why I edited it out after pressing 'Post' (pretty much immediately realising my mistake, clever little sods these cookies!), I knew where you were coming from,  agreed with it and didn't want to see the footfall in the 7mm section fall back again.

 

Looking at Andy's response, it must be a logistical nightmare to guess where things are placed where interest groups in specifics can be found easily. Maybe there is too much thinking, maybe a step back and look at it from a simpler perspective could help?

I do agree that a lot of the threads in the 7mm section are WB related, I have both a layout one and a WB one, but I think that the 7mm section works in the main.

 

Jinty

[Andrew P]

Interesting questions and answers above.

Back a few years ago I built St Budoc in O Gauge, but it was in the Layout Topics Section, I had lots of hits and many NORMAL OO modellers looked in, passed comments, gave advice and drew inspiration, I then did Trebudoc in O and again it was in the Layout Topics section and as before much support. I feel that from my many OO Layouts, those like Pencarne and a few others that have been successful and some like Whittaker St that have been failures have all draw support from my followers with helpful advice etc.

Now that Beale St is in the 7mm Section I feel I have lost a large following of people who like to watch what I'm up to, and offer both good and bad advice in equal measure.

 

It's a quandary for Andy Y to contend with.

[MarshLane]

Hi Andy,

Thats an interesting point ... and given Jinty's comments about the number of workbench threads ... should it be more us as users that are helping to define how the different topics are used, by putting our threads about actual layouts on the Layout Topics piece, perhaps marked with the gauge in the title, and keep the 7mm forum to more workbench, modelling, kit building, scratchbuilding etc?  There's always going to be crossovers, but would that help people to find what they are looking for?  

 

or should I just shut up and stop trying to complicate things! Sorry Andy Y!

 

Rich

[Andy Y]

should it be more us as users that are helping to define how the different topics are used, by putting our threads about actual layouts on the Layout Topics piece, perhaps marked with the gauge in the title, and keep the 7mm forum to more workbench, modelling, kit building, scratchbuilding etc?  There's always going to be crossovers, but would that help people to find what they are looking for?  

 

or should I just shut up and stop trying to complicate things! Sorry Andy Y!

 

 

No need to apologise; you raise a fair point which shows that many people do not make their topic titles sufficiently explanatory (Layouts or not!) to encourage the right kind of readers rather than accidental acquisitions.

[HSB]

I tried to find it on my phone yesterday and gave up after a couple of minutes! 

[Andy Y]

I tried to find it on my phone yesterday and gave up after a couple of minutes! 

 

Can't blame me for that one guv; I only did it this morning.

[MarshLane]

Andy, as a possible solution to the conundrum, can you (invisibly) link the various forums from different places in the forum tree? That way a particular forum can be found in more then one place, but still have the info centralised.

 

Just me tuppence Guv!

 

 

 

I like that suggestion, but do wonder if it may confuse people?  Andy, as a short-term fix, could I suggest perhaps moving the 'Scale Specific' section, directly underneath 'Layouts and Workbench Content'?  It might make it more obvious to people - especially those on small screens who might not scroll down that index list?

 

Rich

[Andy Y]

Andy, as a possible solution to the conundrum, can you (invisibly) link the various forums from different places in the forum tree? That way a particular forum can be found in more then one place, but still have the info centralised.

 

 

Perfectly sensible but unfortunately not possible with the software; I have looked at it many times but it's the way the database is constructed, a topic can only exist within one forum area.

 

Andy, as a short-term fix, could I suggest perhaps moving the 'Scale Specific' section, directly underneath 'Layouts and Workbench Content'? 

 

I can't integrate it into the same area without losing the visibility of the hierarchy on the index but I have moved it up so that Scale Specific sits beneath the Layout and Workbench area.

[BG John]

The location of topics doesn't bother me when I'm looking for new posts, as I always use VNC, where I don't even notice what forum it's in. But as I currently work in OO, EM, P4 (broad and standard gauge), O-16.5 and O, I'm never sure where to start new topics. I've tended to put all O gauge stuff in "7mm+", as I'm new to it, and that's where I'm most likely to get the right sort of advice, but it's often not clear where the best place to start a new topic for one of my varied interests is.

[Grasshopper John]

Personally I always use 'my content' under my user name and then view 'New Content' that covers everything for me, rather than scroll through all the different subsections that exist.

[MarshLane]

I can't integrate it into the same area without losing the visibility of the hierarchy on the index but I have moved it up so that Scale Specific sits beneath the Layout and Workbench area.

Hi Andy,

Sorry my poor explanation, what you have done is what I was meaning!

 

Thanks

Rich

[Donw]

One thing Andy . I usually opt for my content which brings up the threads I have posted on in order of their latest entry I then take the view first unread post of whichever one I am interested in. As a result of the move it seemed to lose track of which posts I had read. No big issue but it did set me wondering whether it had affected any links?

 

Don

[MarshLane]

The location of topics doesn't bother me when I'm looking for new posts, as I always use VNC, where I don't even notice what forum it's in. But as I currently work in OO, EM, P4 (broad and standard gauge), O-16.5 and O, I'm never sure where to start new topics. I've tended to put all O gauge stuff in "7mm+", as I'm new to it, and that's where I'm most likely to get the right sort of advice, but it's often not clear where the best place to start a new topic for one of my varied interests is.

 

 

Hi John,

This may be a basic, stupid question - but what is VNC?

 

Rich

[jcm@gwr]

_{VNC = View New Content}

[BG John]

Hi John,

This may be a basic, stupid question - but what is VNC?

 

Rich

 

 

_{VNC = View New Content}

The option on the right hand end of the menu on the page header. I skip all the topics I'm not interested in, which takes a bit of time, but an advantage is that I pick up any new topics that look interesting. I've recently discovered how to hide topics I don't want listed, although I tend to just hide the ones I'm likely to waste time and energy posting on, that don't actually contribute to my modelling (like most of the new RTR products ones!).

[Grasshopper John]

Another option Rich, at the top of the topic page you can 'follow this topic' for all the ones you are interested in then in the drop down box under your user name just click on

'Content I Follow' that lists all the threads you are watching.

[MarshLane]

The option on the right hand end of the menu on the page header. I skip all the topics I'm not interested in, which takes a bit of time, but an advantage is that I pick up any new topics that look interesting. I've recently discovered how to hide topics I don't want listed, although I tend to just hide the ones I'm likely to waste time and energy posting on, that don't actually contribute to my modelling (like most of the new RTR products ones!).

 

Thanks John - do you know Id never seen that!!

 

Another option Rich, at the top of the topic page you can 'follow this topic' for all the ones you are interested in then in the drop down box under your user name just click on

'Content I Follow' that lists all the threads you are watching.

 

 

Hi John, equally many thanks - I knew about following topics, and generally catch up with them as the email comes to my phone, but didn't know about the 'Content I Follow' option. I do now!

 

Cheers

Rich