Discussion Thread for new Community Forum Structure
The problem with sub-forums was not the sub-forums but that posts were allowed in the parent forum (something that is very easy to change in SMF). This meant scrolling down past the list of sub-forums to find the posts in the parent forum and is the main reason people dislike them. If posting in the parent was blocked there would be no need to scroll down.
Look forward to seeing the new layout.
Quote from: Matt Well as Be3G stated at present there's no sub forums in the proposed layout. This has been emailed round for checking and while I don't expect us to talk about it much today (Mondays are always busy) I do hope we'll have something we can show you later on this week.
Matt how many days are there in your weeks? It's 20 days since you made that post and we've still seen nothing.
It's pretty obvious that somebody isn't responding to the email - is it Plusnet or the moderators? Perhaps we could start by each of the moderators stating whether they have responded.
Quote from: Matt It's a bit early to say for sure at the moment though, but rest assured we're on top of it and I won't let it drop.
We'll keep you posted.
Looks like your assurance is worth just as much as all the other assurances we get from Plusnet.
Quelle surprise!
It's Plusnet delaying it again.
It's Plusnet delaying it again.
Quote from: poppy Am wondering if there is any real desire to sort out the forum. As jelv has pointed out, this has been going on for such a long time.
The moderators are certainly keen for this to happen but we're currently at the behest of Plusnet – they need to check they're happy with it before we can move on to gaining feedback from the Community and so forth. Unfortunately, it's that checking-they're-happy-with-it bit that's taken about three times longer than expected so far. I personally am not letting it out of my sight though, for whatever that may be worth.
I'm one of the more 'laid back' people with regard to the revamp of the forum but even I am becoming keen to see it fulfilled.
It's like a birthday present that's delayed in the post
It's like a birthday present that's delayed in the post
How about a response from someone at Plusnet please!
This getting flaming ridiculous! If someone from Plusnet doesn't post a statement about what is happening to this by the end of today I will be sending an email to AV specifically commenting about yet another worthless Plusnet assurance.
The content of the email will be made public (and probably not just on here).
Quote from: Matt but rest assured we're on top of it and I won't let it drop.
The content of the email will be made public (and probably not just on here).
Guess who wondered why an email to AV Forums would do any good 
I'm getting a very nasty feeling that there is some sort of disagreement between the moderators and Plusnet about this restructure. In the past Plusnet have made a big thing of how the forums are the users forums and we have a big say in how they are run including them being moderated by users, not Plusnet staff.
There was a big blow up in October 2008 when Ian Wild overstepped the mark and started modifying the titles of topics in the Web Hosting (including PAYH) forum to reflect which platform the topic related to, and while it was a perfectly good idea, he did not have the authority to take the action he did. Some quotes from that topic:
It was clearly established that the users through the moderators have prime responsibility for how these forums are run, but with Plusnet having a veto if something was unacceptable.
I posted to that thread a quote from the FAQ published to the Community blog when the Community site and forums was launched. It bears repeating - I've emphasised the relevant part:
Has this policy now changed? I sincerely hope not!
There was a big blow up in October 2008 when Ian Wild overstepped the mark and started modifying the titles of topics in the Web Hosting (including PAYH) forum to reflect which platform the topic related to, and while it was a perfectly good idea, he did not have the authority to take the action he did. Some quotes from that topic:
Quote from: Ian I (we) believe as strongly today that the communtity should be running these forums as we (you) always have. I just hope the next mod recruitment exercise will result in some more willing volunteers, cause anything I reckon we would do is simply because those guys have been a little thin on the ground recently at times.
Quote from: Ian Hi Guys,
My access has been restored (I didn't just get my admin removed, the login went as well - thanks Kelly) and while I wanted to exercise my right to reply I think this has been a really great thread and I should probably just want to leave it with my lesson learnt and feeling a bit silly.
That said...
Just for the record on the subject line thing that I had asked the mods at lunchtime on that day to tag the subjects, as we were just sending the newsletter and I felt it was very confusing as it was, especially as the newsletter had a link straight to that forum. Everyone from the mods team was clearly busy and by the evening they hadn't come back to me, so I decided to do it myself to see how it looked and try to stop any confusion spreading. I absolutely shouldn't have done that without at least putting a note on the posts and I agree that it's wrong for staff to get involved in such things anyway.
What I do hope is that in the future, if there are more mod elections, that people will feel they can stick their hand up and get involved in the running of the forums - without you lot there isn't a community, and it can be a very thankless task running these boards. I think this highlights why having enough responsive mods is important, even though that's really only a silver lining on a bit of a cloud for me.
Ian
It was clearly established that the users through the moderators have prime responsibility for how these forums are run, but with Plusnet having a veto if something was unacceptable.
I posted to that thread a quote from the FAQ published to the Community blog when the Community site and forums was launched. It bears repeating - I've emphasised the relevant part:
Quote - What is the Moderation Policy on the community site?
Our existing moderators have kindly agreed to continue moderating the forums, using the same policies as applied on the Portal Forums. You can find these rules posted in the forums. The moderation policies may change over time, but as with any decisions like this it will be left to the moderators to decide how the forums are moderated. PlusNet goes to great pains not to interfere with the day to day of the forums and it’s important to us that the community site is run by the community even though it is provided by PlusNet.
Has this policy now changed? I sincerely hope not!