posted
You probably know I opened a forum, I agree - there have been attempts for substituting Hatrack, and there have been spinoff forums - but I do think there's something special about mine.
I have 21 forums that aren't staff-only.
Why 21? Because I think that if we have two forums here with giant archives (and one is regarding the site - regarding OSC) we can lose our hands and legs. On my forum I have a lot of space and room for everything. I have four categories and fluff is not censored or anything.
Right, I need hundreds on - and the forum will start rolling; but we have hundreds here! You will enjoy it, if you're very powerful and full of poise you get moderating jobs, and the rest included. The more saff we have, the more can people join, and the word spreads. The forum is all ready for you, and I really think you should join.
You have nothing to lose! We can start rolling, and have the fun that we have here. I am still here, and so should you be; but "Hatracking" does not have to be limited specifically to the yellow-and-grey shades of these two forums.
I built the forum specifically for you, and so it will remain. We have space, we have a framework: all has been prepared for your entry. If you just join, you have the package there for you. I check out the site very often, and I post much to keep it running.
But if you want a nice place - you must help, as I can't manage alone! People, this isn't about me, it's about you (whatever Tom says about my need for 'attention'), so why not join a Hatrackingly structured place where we can all enjoy?
Jonathan Howard / Haloed Silhouette
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
One suggestion that is implied by Hatrack's forum is to not make your categories so defining. You'll probably get more posters and more active threads if you have an area that is just "Arts & Science" instead of expecting people to post their sculpture topics in the sculpture forum and their music topics in the music forum.
I think one thing that makes Hatrack such a successful forum is that Books, Film, Food, and Culture covers so much and attracts such a variety of posters that there is ample opportunity for synergy of topics and cross pollination of ideas.
If I had to go to a separate section to post for each topic, I'd probably know quite a bit fewer Hatrackers and would probably not post much here at all.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Of the other forums, the most popular and fast-moving topics are the general discussions.
The thing is I think we already have "a Hatrackingly structured place where we can all enjoy" - ie, *this*.
If you want to make a new forum, and you want it to be succesful, you need to offer something that Hatrack doesn't. I'm not sure more categories will achieve that.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
First, I'm not commenting on ways to "replace Hatrack". I don't think that's possible. I'm simply commenting on what I find to be a better method of forum organization. YMMV.
If the point of your forum is to be a place where I can go when I have a topic in mind and want to discuss it and it alone then perhaps having a very defined subject for the forum is the way to go. Or if you are going to have specialists moderating each topic, maybe that's another benefit of your method.
However, as a personal choice, I find it much easier to post "Help with computer question" in this general forum at Hatrack, knowing that there are dozens of fellow Hatrackers who know computers who will see my topic regardless of whether they are actively discussing computers at this time. Additionally, "East Asian Politics" as a topic seems at face value extremely boring to me most of the time. However, if someone posted "North Korea Announces Intent to Test Nukes" in this forum, you'd bet I'd poke my head in to find out if the thread is interesting or if there was something I could add. I'd never see that thread if it were in a forum exclusively for East Asian Politics.
Part of the charm of this forum for me is the generality of topics discussed.
I can understand how seeing the annual "stop the fluff" topics a fluff (or any other specific) category may seem desirable - but in the end I don't think it would work so well.
/my 2 cents which added to KarlEd's make 4 cents. Look after the pennies...
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Some people call them spin-offs because it's easier than "forums of people who also post or used to post on Hatrack". Spin-off is a misleading name, though, and to be avoided.
Posts: 5700 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
But the other questions is why would we go there when we like it here so much and we don't know you or otherwise have a reason to go there? You say it's for us, but really, why substitute this place with yours when this one does the job so nicely?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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And she is the last, best authority on this issue? I like Raia as much as the next jatraquero, however, one person's opinion does not a fact make.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Sigh. Then why post with yet another user name instead of the one which makes it easy for us to know who he is? Deliberately adding to confusion?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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It's at the end of his first post in this thread. And he used to sign his posts under the Haloed Silhouette nick with JH, so no, he's not trying to confuse us in any way.
As to why exactly we should go to his forum... well, that's entirely another thing. Personally I only check frequently Hatrack and a little bit Sakeriver lately. And I don't feel the need to search for interesting topics on n forums, thank you. You (JH) say that your forum has more cathegories but others here have already indicated it might not be a better thing after all. (it seems waaaay to cathegorized for my tastes...) Anyway, who knows, your forum might attract people totally unrelated to Hatrack and it might get interesting in its own way. I wish you good luck with it! Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Thanks... I just think that Hatrack provids a certain style of conversation, and I'm aiming for another type - and I hope my forum develops from a very wide framework.
Whoever wants - join; I say it's worth a try... And I don't sign in as "JH" anymore because I'm too lazy to sign out and in.
Posts: 358 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
My other forum is "successful" because it exactly fullfills it's purpose. Actually I've had it before I started hatracking. I use it to keep in touch with friends and for us to all talk to each other. I don't know that making more general purpose forums makes sense if the one you're using works well for you.
Posts: 872 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I'm going to look into it more when I have more time. Right now my only thought is that if a lot of people join, and post counts start getting heavy.. with all those catagories.. THERE WILL BE MADNESS!!
but hey, i'm no expert on madness. Posts: 925 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Either I underestimate your personal charisma and/or financial resources, or you dramatically over-estimate the ambition of unpaid volunteer moderators/admins. You're going to have a hard time finding and keeping a multitude of admin/moderators, especially if the site grows and especially if it isn't a revenue producing site and can thus afford to pay them. But who knows, maybe you'll get lucky.
I do wish you luck, though.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote: It seems logical, then, to look for recruits somewhere else, doesn't it?
It is, and so I am. Not only, though, and it's still worth a try here as well. But thanks for the thought.
KarlED, I probably am overestimating the ambition of unpaid mods; I guess Papa Janitor gets some money for his work, and I should probably get some money through all sorts of ads on a link page or something. But how does that work?
Oh, Karl, he's overflowing with it, donchaknow? Why, when he asked for pictures of women's hair, oh, they were just falling at his feet. Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
I think I might have missed how this is about me. From what I can tell, it, like most of what you write, Jonny, is all about you.
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I must admit (well, I mustn't, but I'm going to anyway) that I agree with Squicky here. It's all about you, Jonathan. Naming it "Jonathan Howard's Forum," for example, in my opinion evidences your desire to be rather central.
As to the "ambition of unpaid mods" -- if ambition comes into the picture, I'd say you're already in trouble. Long before I became janitor, I offered to assist in moderating this board at times when Kristine or Kathy were away. And it had nothing to do with ambition. It had to do with a feeling of belonging to, ownership of, and repsonsibility for a community.
There's nothing wrong with inviting people to take part in your forum. But each time you've mentioned it I've gotten the sense that (a) you think it's empirically better than this, rather than just different, and (b) anyone who doesn't excel specifically at your forum just isn't trying.
I personally have no problem with you thinking that your forum setup, or your forum itself, is better than this. If you didn't think the setup was better, you wouldn't have set it up that way. But you've done nothing to convince me (or anyone else, it seems) of the claim.
The other forums to which you refer as spinoffs (I believe "satellite" is the preferred term, and it may not be applied to GreNME please) simply are what they are. They grow through attraction, rather than promotion. At first, yeah, I guess you need some promotion, or nobody would know your forum existed. But this is the third "promotion" thread you've posted here -- perhaps you've gotten all the bites you'll get by this method.
posted
Papa, "ambition" was my word and I think I may have offended you in using it. For what it's worth, I meant it in the "energy; desire for activity" sense and not the "desire for power" sense. Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Ok, then I'll reference instead his "if you're very powerful and full of poise," and say that this will still likely draw the wrong crowd.
I wasn't offended, but I can see that JH was responding to you, which changes the meaning somewhat. I still get the feeling that Jon feels that being a "moderator" is a badge which people will desire to attain, and I think that's an unhealthy way to approach it.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
No, I didn't say it would be hard. Lots of unqualified people would love to moderate a forum.
I said you would be better off looking for recruits somewhere other than Hatrack if you want your forum to be significantly unlike Hatrack.
Even those Hatrack spinoff forums which are least like Hatrack are darn similar to Hatrack, and colored only by the specific personalities of the people making up the smaller audience there. Sakeriver is, for example, Hatrack with Slash and RPGs and without OSC; GreNME is Hatrack with Leto, angry Canadians and a lot more Kama; MadOwl is Hatrack from mack's point of view; and GalacticCactus is like Hatrack with the dial turned to "BYC/Provo grads, grammar, and observant Jews."
And some of these sites aren't even spinoffs, mind you, and would take exception to being referenced in that way. But they still feel a lot like Hatrack -- or, more accurately, a small room off of Hatrack where cliques can gather when they don't want to put up with the noise and crowds and tone in the main hall -- because the visitors to each of those forums are also many of the people who have made Hatrack what it is today. It's inevitable that they'd feel like Hatrack, because they are populated overwhelmingly by Hatrackers and former Hatrackers.
Is that what you want for your forum? If not, don't focus your recruiting efforts on Hatrack.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Jonathan. I just clicked on your forum. All of the subdivisions are highly intimidating. It feels like college, or like I'd need to read an entire encyclopedia section on that topic before having anything to post on the sub forum.
posted
Corwin - thanks for pointing that out. I missed JH signing his name at the bottom of the first post, obviously. I haven't slept much the last few weeks. . .
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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