Instead of a Whisky Group how about Sub forums?

[firedogut]

DE Shaver asked the question about starting a Whisky group. http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=162008


however I would like to propose the idea of doing sub fourms first.
there could be a few Sub-forums for the most talked about items such as Scotch/Whiskey, Alcoholic drinks, Cigar/Pipe, etc)

The Speakeasy
--------Sub-forum: Scotch/Whiskey
--------Sub-forum: Cigar/Pipes
--------Sub-forum: (Anything else you can think off)

This still allows everything to be public and keep new users wanting to ask questions. I also think it might help encourage people to post more question and post reviews and insites.



So please Vote and you can select multiple choices. If you want a Scotch/Whiskey and a cigar/pipe then select both. if you only want a scotch/whiskey then only select that one. Just please don't select a Yes and a No........


This is not a new thing for Badger and Blade as many forums have Sub-Forums.

Barber Shop (1 Sub forum)
------ Sub-forum: The Clown House

The Cafe (1 Sub forum)
------Sub-forum: Coffee and tea, buy sell trade

Shaving Brushes (1 Sub forum)
-------Sub-forum: Brush Wars

General Shaving Discussion (3 Sub forums)
-------Sub-forum: Method Shaving,
-------Sub-forum: Hall of Fame,
-------Sub-forum: Merit Award Winners

Safety Razors Safety (1 Sub forum)
-------Sub-forum: Razor Blades

General Straight Razor Talk (4 Sub forums)
--------Sub-forum: Restoration & Razor Making How-To's.....,
--------Sub-forum: Straight Razors
--------Sub-forum: Hones/Honing
--------Sub-forum: Strops

Shaving Mall - Buy/Sell/Trade (1 Sub forum)
---------Sub-forum: WTB - Want to Buy...

Site Announcements (1 Sub forum)
----------Sub-forum: Front Page Articles

 

[LinuxMintyFresh]

I don't think we need it. The speakeasy works well the way it is. It'll just be another step between me and the threads.

 

[pastafarian]

I like this idea. As you say, these topics are so popular they could become a important part of the site, I for one am starting to become more interested in good drinks. Perhaps an alcoholic drinks sub-forum instead of a specifically whiskey based sub forum would be better though. Real men drink martinis!

One other suggestion I would have is a gun sub-forum. Gun related topics are sometimes put off-track by people talking about whether guns should be allowed so it might be good if they were sandboxed slightly, and those who don't want to see gun related topics can avoid them easily.

 

[csmorris]

Prefer the all-in-one for the Speakeasy. Do not feel the sub forum is required.

 

[firedogut]

Another good thing about a subforum would be you can set it up so that when ever a new topic is made you get an email. If I did that now I would emails about pipes, pens, and other items I have no background in or intrest in.


I do thank everyone for your input. Keep it up.

 

[Pumpkin]

I've voted yes. It would certainly make such a broad topic a bit easier to navigate.
I know that there are specific social groups (such as the excellent Brotherhood of the Briar), but the main forums give a much better interactivity...quoting comments, adding photos without having to upload to members' gallery first, easier to search.

 

[DE Shaver]

I have no problem with subforums, as they are used throughout the site. A little focus isn't harmful and can actually be helpful for those with particular interests.

 

[castlecraver]

Prefer the all-in-one for the Speakeasy. Do not feel the sub forum is required.

Agreed. We've discussed this a bit behind the scenes and honestly don't think the Speakeasy gets enough traffic now as it is. This precipitous drop has come as a result of the spin-off forums and my own negligence. For example, the SotM thread used to get pages of replies ... now we're at 5 halfway through the month. For my part, I'll apologize for not participating as much as I should -- I just recently got settled in a new job in a new city and haven't been as active on B&B as I should be. Usually the time I can spend here is tied up with backend admin stuff and mod discussions and this is regrettable. I'm remedying this situation as best I can now that things have calmed down, and hopefully we can get the speakeasy bouncing again.

That said, although I don't think a whisky club subforum is really in the cards for the near future, would you like to see the SotM become a WotM? (Whisk(e)y of the month?). Those of us writing it have no problem whatsoever focusing on the brown stuff. Would that encourage more people to participate?

Another good thing about a subforum would be you can set it up so that when ever a new topic is made you get an email. If I did that now I would emails about pipes, pens, and other items I have no background in or intrest in.

There are a thousand ways effectively to do this without a subforum, just FYI. You can set up your RSS reader to filter what you want, or your email (Gmail works great, I do this all the time) to filter as well. I think there is also 3rd party forum aggregator software that will do the same thing.

 

[DE Shaver]

That said, although I don't think a whisky club subforum is really in the cards for the near future, would you like to see the SotM become a WotM? (Whisk(e)y of the month?). Those of us writing it have no problem whatsoever focusing on the brown stuff. Would that encourage more people to participate?

Certainly it would. All sorts of spirits are of interest to myself but I have a strong preference for whiskies and, I would guess, as so do many others. I think there is a strong whisky following here on the B&B and that would go far in meeting what I think is an area of interest. It doesn't have to displace SoTM but I think it can supplement it.

There are a thousand ways effectively to do this without a subforum, just FYI. You can set up your RSS reader to filter what you want, or your email (Gmail works great, I do this all the time) to filter as well. I think there is also 3rd party forum aggregator software that will do the same thing.

Please pardon me for a little forwardness for a moment but what works for you doesn't necessarily translate well to everyone else's experiences. My personal experience with filtering, RSS or otherwise, that it is problematic at times. It requires setup and monitoring by the end-user and certainly not as user friendly as a subforum or social group. Additionally, I access B&B through various methods and not all permit me the use of 3rd party software. Such software cannot be installed on some computers I use for varying reasons.

However, I don't think everyone is married to the idea of a subforum or social group but I think that compromise is possible if B&B is dead set against subforum creation. I appreciate the purpose of the B&B is for shaving but that doesn't preclude expanding the breadth of secondary forums.

 

[firedogut]

I would like say a few more things. A sub forum is not a "group" or a "club" or anything else like that. Those tend to be more private and if you don't know about them you can't join them.

Right now if i want to ask a question a rear spirit or something else there is decent chance that it will get lost before someone replies because of newer topics.

the Sub-forums will not take away from the speakeasy, in fact it should add to it by encouraging more topics and more replies.

We've discussed this a bit behind the scenes and honestly don't think the Speakeasy gets enough traffic now as it is.

I think part of the issue is that everything is in one forum. New users have to read pages and pages of topics to find one they may want to reply to. Current users might not check Speak easy for a few days and unless they review a few pages of topics they might miss that topic about pipes or whisky that they would love to reply to.

There are a thousand ways effectively to do this without a subforum, just FYI. You can set up your RSS reader to filter what you want, or your email (Gmail works great, I do this all the time) to filter as well. I think there is also 3rd party forum aggregator software that will do the same thing.

There are many issues with this. Unless i use thousands of keywords i can miss topics that would have of interest to me. If i use to broad of ones i will get to much. Also the issues as noted by DE.


Many other Forums on this site uses the Sub-forums to enhance the Forum however it seems that some people think it will hurt Speakeasy. I don't get how it will hurt Speakeasy.


Maybe i want the Speakeasy to get bigger then what others want. As it stands now the Speakeasy is self limiting on how large it will become.

I hope the Mods keep an open mind about this. As it stands now 55% of users want Sub-forums and 45% don't want them. (6/11 FOR and 5/11 Against). Right now only 11 people have voted, maybe as more people vote we can see what the users want and hopefully the mods will agree to this. If the users don't want sub-forums then i agree the Mods should not set up sub-forums. However if the users vote for sub-forums i hope the mods respect this.

 

[Mazeman]

Prefer the all-in-one for the Speakeasy. Do not feel the sub forum is required.

Exactly. It's not like there are *that* many threads here. Subforums just means more places to check, or worse, more places for threads to never be seen.

 

[Mazeman]

I hope the Mods keep an open mind about this. As it stands now 55% of users want Sub-forums and 45% don't want them. (6/11 FOR and 5/11 Against)....

That may not be true, since I believe the poll allowed multiple votes. So, all 5 "NO's" simply meant NO. But the 6 "YES's" may have come from people who each voted YES for more than one forum; so fewer proponents could have created more votes.

 

[Gruder]

FWIW, I agree with the idea of further developing the existing speakeasy before going the subforum route. From the mod angle, please understand that more subforums also = more to moderate. We're also concerned about keeping B&B one community, as opposed to lots of different insulated communities. Not saying a subforum will never happen, but it doesn't strike me personally as a good move at present. What I do very much appreciate, though, is member interest in making B&B better and better through threads such as this one.

 

[DE Shaver]

I think part of the issue is that everything is in one forum. New users have to read pages and pages of topics to find one they may want to reply to. Current users might not check Speak easy for a few days and unless they review a few pages of topics they might miss that topic about pipes or whisky that they would love to reply to.

Exactly. It's not like there are *that* many threads here. Subforums just means more places to check, or worse, more places for threads to never be seen.

This is the problem of a all-in-one forum. Threads on a subject do get lost or unanswered as they are bumped by other newer threads or there is such a lack of draw, that participants do not feel a need check on the forum. An active forum will generate more interest and is self feeding, while one on the decline will go into a "death spiral". So what is the current state of The Speakeasy? If the Speakeasy activity is in decline, as it has been suggested by one of the moderators, it will get worse in time as it stands. If you want an active forum then something has to change, which can be anything from promoting events like the SoTM, to reviews, adding subforums and so on, all to spark new interest and renew older ones.

On the other hand, if we want a focus then going to another specialist website might more appropriate rather than make B&B an "all-inclusive" website. The problem is that if a person decides to post elsewhere, that means the B&B loses the contribution and maybe even the member for the day as there is only so much time a person can spend online. I guess the question I have is does the B&B want to remain mostly about shaving or is there room for expanding into other "gentlemanly" pursuits? If not, then I can appreciate the reticence of the administration to subdivide further.

I'm sure there isn't a pressing need to expand/subdivide the current forum offering as there is currently a healthy, active membership. Maybe, however, it's something that could be considered in the future.

 

[firedogut]

That may not be true, since I believe the poll allowed multiple votes. So, all 5 "NO's" simply meant NO. But the 6 "YES's" may have come from people who each voted YES for more than one forum; so fewer proponents could have created more votes.

I'll explain how these polls work. first toss out all those % that the poll makes. Because I allowed multiple choices it does not provide a real % count. that's why its adds up above 100%.

Does not matter if you pick 1 choice or 4 choices it still only counts as 1 Voter.

i only had one "No" choice so we could look at the results correctly.

If you look at the bottom of the poll you will see something like
"Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 13. You have already voted on this poll"

so 13 people voted. and at the time i'm posting this 6 people said NO. that means 7 people voted Yes to some kind of a sub-forum.

so now its 46% for No and 54% yes for some kind sub-forum.

13 people are not enough to get a good feel we need more voters. (and again please don't pick yes and no as this will screw it up)

 

[firedogut]

This is the problem of a all-in-one forum. Threads on a subject do get lost or unanswered as they are bumped by other newer threads or there is such a lack of draw, that participants do not feel a need check on the forum. An active forum will generate more interest and is self feeding, while one on the decline will go into a "death spiral". So what is the current state of The Speakeasy? If the Speakeasy activity is in decline, as it has been suggested by one of the moderators, it will get worse in time as it stands. If you want an active forum then something has to change, which can be anything from promoting events like the SoTM, to reviews, adding subforums and so on, all to spark new interest and renew older ones.

Well said.......

On the other hand, if we want a focus then going to another specialist website might more appropriate rather than make B&B an "all-inclusive" website. The problem is that if a person decides to post elsewhere, that means the B&B loses the contribution and maybe even the member for the day as there is only so much time a person can spend online. I guess the question I have is does the B&B want to remain mostly about shaving or is there room for expanding into other "gentlemanly" pursuits? If not, then I can appreciate the reticence of the administration to subdivide further.

I would like B&B to expand to other "gentlemanly" pursuits. However i think the the main part of the site will always be shaving. That's why Speakeasy is under "Everything else"

If need be i'll just go to another site that is already broken down but then i won't be posting in Speakeasy........so is this why we are in decline?

 

[castlecraver]

Right now if i want to ask a question a rear spirit or something else there is decent chance that it will get lost before someone replies because of newer topics.

Really? As I write this, there are only 5 not-stickied threads on the speakeasy front page that were replied to today.

I think part of the issue is that everything is in one forum. New users have to read pages and pages of topics to find one they may want to reply to. Current users might not check Speak easy for a few days and unless they review a few pages of topics they might miss that topic about pipes or whisky that they would love to reply to.

The search function works. We have 3 days worth of threads on the front page currently. Also, we've had innumerable duplicate threads, and we've not ever been terribly bothered by it.

If you want to discuss something -- just start the thread.

However if the users vote for sub-forums i hope the mods respect this.

We respect it. We've discussed it, and we don't think it's the best idea at this time. I'm sorry you don't agree, we may revisit the issue in the future, but there are other issues at play here, some of which Chad brought up.

If need be i'll just go to another site that is already broken down but then i won't be posting in Speakeasy........so is this why we are in decline?

No, this has little to do with the so-called decline. It's to be expected with off-topic forums. If you've seen the stats (and I have), you'd know that our spin-off forums accelerate in popularity in their first several months of existence, then tail off a bit. It's not because of anything having to do with the threads or the organization, it's simply "new toy" burnout. Having a whisky subforum would do little to bring people back into the speakeasy who don't already come here to post about liquor. A few people would get into it, some newbs would be confused about where to post, and the speakeasy would be further diluted. Just about everything outside the Barbershop under Everything else used to be included in the speakeasy, which is another reason for the declining activity here. In fact, it's just alcohol, tobacco and firearms (with some gun threads in the clubhouse) for the most part around here now. Adding a whiskey subforum would not be "expansion" in any sense of the term, rather just inadvisable subdivision.

This is where we stand at this time. Again, I'm sorry that this isn't going to happen right now and if you need to go someplace else to get your whiskey chat fix, I still fail to see how the forum here fails to meet your needs, but by all means...

 

[richmondesi]

It's absolutely incredible that such a thing as The Speakeasy existshere in the first place. This is a wet shaving site (moving more towards a general "gentlemen's" site. It should be expected that such an off-topic forum isn't as specialized as a site would be that is dedicated to that topic.

The mods aren't unresponsive to the wishes to the majority.... Considering the size of membership of this site, it's hard to say this poll or the opinions expressed in this thread represent the majority (except where the mods chimed in and shared the majority view of the mods )

 

[firedogut]

Really? As I write this, there are only 5 not-stickied threads on the speakeasy front page that were replied to today.

case in point...Now we need to try and figure out how to fix this.......

No, this has little to do with the so-called decline. It's to be expected with off-topic forums.

The "so-called" declined was stated by you as a decline....so are we not in decline?

This is where we stand at this time. Again, I'm sorry that this isn't going to happen right now

ok, you are a mod and i am not. If i can get more users over here i will try. however I believe you closing this poll was in bad taste . leaving it open does no harm and gives people to state their opinion with out having to reply. I didn't think anyone was mean or rude to anyone else. no name calling or anything. just a friendly discussion about speakeasy...

 

[firedogut]

The mods aren't unresponsive to the wishes to the majority.... Considering the size of membership of this site, it's hard to say this poll or the opinions expressed in this thread represent the majority (except where the mods chimed in and shared the majority view of the mods )

You are correct.....that is why i felt the poll needed to be left up for a while. Maybe we would have received a few hundred votes maybe not. 10-20 people voting is not enough of a population sample to really mean anything unless the total population is small.

But it seems a discussion over this is over after just over 24 hours and talking........