Feedback on Proposed Forum Reorganization

[innov8ion]

I'm certain most agree that forum organization should be simpler. Your feedback on this proposed structure will be appreciated by all. Remember, this is your forum.

Note that all topics other than "Urbanism Elsewhere" would apply to both St. Louis City and County. Do you like it or what would you add, remove, or change?

General Urbanism
• Urban Living
• Politics and Policy
• Architecture, Planning, and Design
• Transportation
• Sustainability

Development
• Residential
• Restaurants and Retail
• Business, Industry, and Technology
• Preservation, Rehabs, and Demolition

General Topics
• St. Louis in the News
• Parenting and Education
• Photography Showcase
• Music and the Arts
• Sports
• Events

Urbanism Elsewhere
• Metro and State
• National
• International

[stlgasm]

Just a couple thoughts on a couple categories...

Sustainability - Not sure if this needs its own sub-category. Can you give us examples of what topics would go here that couldn't also fit in other categories (rehabs, transportation, planning/design, etc).

urbanSTL - ???

Metro and State - These are two very different animals. For instance, would a subject about Clayton go here, as well as a subject about Sedalia? Seems like Metro should have its own category, and I'd get rid of State altogether, because it seems way too limiting. For instance, a topic about Kansas City could just as well fit in National.

[innov8ion]

Sustainability - Not sure if this needs its own sub-category. Can you give us examples of what topics would go here that couldn't also fit in other categories (rehabs, transportation, planning/design, etc).

In a perfect world it'd be nice to be able to apply tags to threads so they can show up in multiple sub-categories. As you mention, sustainability may apply to multiple. Unfortunately, the software doesn't provide that luxury other than manually moving a topic to a new sub-category and creating a shadow topic in the original sub-category. This isn't really a good solution.

Does sustainability deserve it's own category? Maybe, maybe not.

urbanSTL - ???

The intention was for a feedback mechanism regarding the forum itself. It might be best to just create an announcement thread in Urban Living for this means instead.

Metro and State - These are two very different animals. For instance, would a subject about Clayton go here, as well as a subject about Sedalia? Seems like Metro should have its own category, and I'd get rid of State altogether, because it seems way too limiting. For instance, a topic about Kansas City could just as well fit in National.

All categories but "Urbanism Elsewhere" would apply to both St. Louis and St. Louis County. This fits with the push toward regionalism and simplifies things a bit.

- Metro (Within the St. Louis metropolitan area, yet outside of St. Louis City & County)
- State (In Missouri, yet outside of the St. Louis metropolitan area)

There's no perfect solution and perhaps this can be honed a bit in order to come to a general consensus fairly soon -- perhaps within a week or two. Overall, I'm hoping you'll find the forum restructuring will help make it easier to interact with.

[framer]

I'm all for the spirit of regionalism, but I think this is going to be a bit confusing. When I think of the term "Metro", I think of the City, County, and Exurbs all combined. Certainly the East Side is part of the Metro Area. I think we need clear categories, such as "St. Louis City and County (combined)", "Metro East", and "Outer Suburbs".

"Urbanism Elsewhere" could consist of "State", "National", and "International", and just let Original Posters decide where to place their new topics.

[MattnSTL]

Honestly, I'm fine with the forum as it is currently set up.

[xing]

I like it as it is, as well.

I do like the new look, and logo, and the return to the original name.

I only think we should change the banner at the top so that it's actually St Louis, if possible.

[innov8ion]

I like it as it is, as well.

I do like the new look, and logo, and the return to the original name.

I only think we should change the banner at the top so that it's actually St Louis, if possible.

Working with a talented photographer for a St. Louis header graphic. It's just taken a bit longer than I would have expected.

[moorlander]

I like the new forum setup aswell although I always first sort to "unread messages." Great job as usual David. Thanks for making this forum possible.

[roger wyoming II]

^ +1

[DogtownBnR]

I know this is unrelated to the forum reorganization, but I'd love to see more emotionicons. I would love to have variety like the skyscraper page does. That page has an endless array of cool icons. Just a thought.... Thanks!

[innov8ion]

Thanks for the compliments. I think it'd be helpful to hear comments from proponents seeking forum reorganization as well as those that prefer the status quo.

Can look at more emoticons, Dogtown...

[framer]

One thing that's been bothering me is how Cortex topics have become spread out. Seems to me that threads covering construction within Cortex should be in the "Central Corridor" section, while news about companies should be in "Technology" (or should it be "Retail, Restaurant, and Business"?).

Not sure how to fix this, but I just find it confusing.

[dweebe]

Give Northside Neighbor his own forum area to treat as his personal blog.

[innov8ion]

One thing that's been bothering me is how Cortex topics have become spread out. Seems to me that threads covering construction within Cortex should be in the "Central Corridor" section, while news about companies should be in "Technology" (or should it be "Retail, Restaurant, and Business"?).

Not sure how to fix this, but I just find it confusing.

It isn't new that a topic can only be placed in one category. Some topics, like Cortex, could be related to the Technology or Central Corridor threads.

[rbb]

My confusion is re: the 'Preservation, Rehabs, and Demolition' section. I like breaking the the news down by area of town. IMO - and it's only one opinion - I'd fold that news back under the neighborhood section. It can be kind of confusing looking for updates on a specific building, say in the CWE for example, and not knowing whether to look under 'Preservation, Rehabs, and Demolition' or \Central Corridor\Projects and Construction. Maybe you could add a third sub-forum under the physical locations?

Perhaps major long-term projects could have their own subforums like you've done with C+A+R under downtown? Maybe Northside Regeneration under North St. Louis or Cortex under Central Corridor?

I also believe less active sub-forums under St. Louis Urbanism could be can be folded into the Urban Living forum. for example, the "St. Louis in the News" forum; worthy of it's own thread? Sure. It's own forum? Eh.

My proposal:

Code: Select all

St. Louis Urbanism
     Urban Living
          <---('St. Louis in the News' becomes a stickied thread here)
          <---('Events and Fun Things to Do' becomes a stickied thread here)
     Retail, Restaurant, and Business Developments
          <-----('Technology' becomes a stickied thread here)
     Transportation

General Topics
     Parenting and Education
     Photography Showcase
     Sports

     
Downtown St. Louis
     Projects and Construction
     Residential Development
     Preservation, Rehabs, and Demolition
     City + Arch + River Competition

Central Corridor
     Projects and Construction
     Residential Development
     Preservation, Rehabs, and Demolition
     Cortex District News and Updates

South St. Louis
     Projects and Construction
     Residential Development
     Preservation, Rehabs, and Demolition

North St. Louis
     Projects and Construction
     Residential Development
     Preservation, Rehabs, and Demolition
     Northside Regeneration News and Updates

Metro St. Louis
     St. Louis County
     St. Charles County
     Metro Eash
     Outer Metro Suburbs

Urbanism Elsewhere
     Elsewhere in Missouri
     Elsewhere in Illinois
     Elsewhere in the Nation
     Elsewhere in the World

Just my two cents.

-RBB

[hebeters]

Change the banner at the top!!

[Northside Neighbor]

Give Northside Neighbor his own forum area to treat as his personal blog.

Great idea!

[arch city]

How about a St. Louis Music Scene Forum?

With the new Jazz Center, National Blues Museum, BB Kings, TBeats Studio, Ex'treme Institute by Nelly, the national music festival planned for downtown, LouFest, Howl at the Moon, Tunespeak etc. etc., seems like a good time for a forum that would focus on the local music scene, emerging artists, national artists etc.

It could also be a lure for more members.

[innov8ion]

^ How about, "Music and the Arts" ?

[dmmonty1]

It's 2015 - any way we could get a picture that is actually St. Louis on the banner?

[ImprovSTL]

agreed! ^^

[rbb]

I don't know if you're in control of the ads on your site or not, but one of them this morning is auto-forwarding me to http://opendownloadmanager.com/ to install a video-downloading application. When I press the back button to get back to the site I'm prompted with an 'Are you sure? Click here to download!' pop-up. I don't think it's anything local to my PC, as it's only happening on urbanstl.com.

Aside from a popup blocker (which I can't install on a work PC) any way to get around that? I completely get that the board needs ads for financial support, but I'm really not a fan of this particular ad's hijacking my browser.

-RBB

[chaifetz10]

I had the same auto-forwarding issue twice yesterday and just got hit with it today as well.

[MattnSTL]

Good to see I'm not the only one getting that, but not exactly good to see. (I have no control over that, so don't ask me.)

[jstriebel]

I've had it too, though to a different URL. I've been trying to figure out if malware somehow infiltrated my Mac, but perhaps it is just one of the ads here causing troubles.