All My Pavlina Forums Suggestions here

[jamestl2]

OK, I decided it'd be easy for me to give all my forum feedback in one place here, so it isn't overlooked in various threads, post hijack, etc. So here:

First I wanted to add a couple of suggested forums:

Personal Development

* Health & Fitness
* Personal Effectiveness
* Emotional Mastery
* Character & Contribution
* Business & Financial
* Technology & Technical Skills
* Social & Relationships
* Spirituality, Consciousness, & Awareness
* Intention-Manifestation
* Psychic & Paranormal
* World Affairs


Steve & Erin Pavlina

* Steve Pavlina
* Erin Pavlina
* Forum Feedback & Suggestions


General

* Fun & Recreation
* Local Groups
* Introductions
* Miscellaneous Discussions(Anything unrelated to the Pavlina forums)

I think having a Forum feedback forum would be useful so everyone could give there input on what they like about it, areas for improvement, etc.

Also, I think it's a good idea to rename general and introductions, so you could have a "miscellaneous" general forum, for talk on everything unrelated to the PDFSP forums.

Lastly here, I moved the F&R and Local Groups to General, as they don't really seem to fit in with PD.


Also, I mentioned the Recent blog for our posts (so everyone can see what other members have been blogging about easily). I'm suprised the idea didn't even receive one comment :
Latest Blog Post for forums via RSS


Everyone also knows about my forum theme thoughts, so I won't go into detail with that one:
Why do the forums use the default theme?


One final idea I had was giving members some more customization. I'm not sure how the staff feels about avatars, or a new user-field (for something like "Real Name" or "Website" etc. to be placed in our postbit). Not saying I'd want them specifically, but these could add a more of a personal touch to the posts we make.

[Brutha]

I think having a Forum feedback forum would be useful so everyone could give there input on what they like about it, areas for improvement, etc.

I don't think that this topic needs it's own forum. Having those topics in the general forum works fine.

One final idea I had was giving members some more customization.

In general I think simplicity of featues is more important than customization.

[jamestl2]

Thanks for the Feedback Brutha

Originally Posted by Brutha

I don't think that this topic needs it's own forum. Having those topics in the general forum works fine.

So you think we should have all those things mixed together? Doesn't it seem not very organized that way? It could be hard to distinguish Forum suggestions, introductions, AND off topic threads ALL in one place.

Originally Posted by Brutha

In general I think simplicity of featues is more important than customization.

I suppose I do agree to a degree, maybe it's just because I'm just not a big fan of "General Themes".

Offering some customizations give the forums a more personal touch IMO, and I believe that uniqueness could also lead to more members and registration rates, which would be good business for Steve .

[Brutha]

So you think we should have all those things mixed together? Doesn't it seem not very organized that way? It could be hard to distinguish Forum suggestions, introductions, AND off topic threads ALL in one place.

Having more Forum suggestions isn't a goal.

I suppose I do agree to a degree, maybe it's just because I'm just not a big fan of "General Themes".

There is nothing wrong with "General Themes" when the theme does it's job.

Offering some customizations give the forums a more personal touch IMO, and I believe that uniqueness could also lead to more members and registration rates, which would be good business for Steve .

Not having avatars and not having User titles that a user gets when he reaches a certain amount of posts rather makes the forum more unique.

Offering some customizations give the forums a more personal touch IMO

The downside of the increased personal touch through customizations is that it makes it harder for new members to come into a community.
It also distracts from the actual content. The goal is that the forum is a meeting of the minds, where thoughts get shared.
We want that people join for the content.

You don't build communities by enormous amounts of complicated features.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Brutha

The downside of the increased personal touch through customizations is that it makes it harder for new members to come into a community.

Wow, that is so true.

ps. Since we're on to forum suggestion - I'd love to be able to add "reputation" to someone more then just once per lifetime. I'm not talking about the points (as I don't care about that), but I love being able to give positive written feedback via an anonymous method without getting involved in a thread, or taking it to a personal message. Right now you can only do that once per person.

[jamestl2]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Having more Forum suggestions isn't a goal.

Why not? Isn't it nice to get feedback from the members who participate and make up the community?

Originally Posted by Brutha

Not having avatars and not having User titles that a user gets when he reaches a certain amount of posts rather makes the forum more unique.

The downside of the increased personal touch through customizations is that it makes it harder for new members to come into a community.

How? (Not saying I don't believe you, it's just that I originally thought features would attract more people, not push them away.)

Originally Posted by Brutha

It also distracts from the actual content. The goal is that the forum is a meeting of the minds, where thoughts get shared.
We want that people join for the content.

I don't think it "distracts" from the content. (Except for when going overboard)

I'm not suggesting now that the staff goes "all-out" and completely redesigns the forums, it's just that it can grow a little dull when nothing changes in the forums over the years it's been around.

Originally Posted by Brutha

You don't build communities by enormous amounts of complicated features.

I agree, but isn't the community already "built"? Just by looking at the stats:

Threads: 14,215, Posts: 153,476, Members: 12,142

Originally Posted by seeker5

I'd love to be able to add "reputation" to someone more then just once per lifetime. I'm not talking about the points (as I don't care about that), but I love being able to give positive written feedback via an anonymous method without getting involved in a thread, or taking it to a personal message. Right now you can only do that once per person.

What do you mean? (You're not talking about the clicking the scales to give rep, right?) Do you think there should be some sort of "Thanking" system or something for great posts? Because you could always use the PM (Private messaging) system to tell a person that.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by jamestl2

What do you mean? (You're not talking about the clicking the scales to give rep, right?) Do you think there should be some sort of "Thanking" system or something for great posts? Because you could always use the PM (Private messaging) system to tell a person that.

Yes, exactly that - I'm talking about the scale. The problem with a PM is that it builds a relationship with someone. Sometimes I don't want to build a relationship, but I just want to extend my appreciation anonymously. So, I was just suggesting perhaps increasing the limit from 1 per person to more, say 10 or 20.

I don't need my proposal to have a great time here, just thought I'd bring it up.

[jamestl2]

There is a mod that does that sort of thing. Check this one out:
[AJAX] Post Thank You Hack - vBulletin.org Forum

[seeker5]

I'm not suggesting now that the staff goes "all-out" and completely redesigns the forums, it's just that it can grow a little dull when nothing changes in the forums over the years it's been around.

Personal Development growing dull?

[Brutha]

Why not? Isn't it nice to get feedback from the members who participate and make up the community?

I'm not suggesting now that the staff goes "all-out" and completely redesigns the forums, it's just that it can grow a little dull when nothing changes in the forums over the years it's been around.

The main substance on which a forum is build isn't software but the conversations that happen, the people that take part in them and the culture.
I think those change a bit over time.

How? (Not saying I don't believe you, it's just that I originally thought features would attract more people, not push them away.)

1. If you make something more complicated fewer people sign up. That called the Paradox of Choice (there is a good TED video about the topic).
2. It creates some sort of closed group with avatars that every one in the forum knows. (both are relativly small effects in this forum context)

There is a mod that does that sort of thing. Check this one out:
[AJAX] Post Thank You Hack - vBulletin.org Forum

That thing has a different purpose, not having thank you posts. While I personally don't like those oneline posts. I don't see them getting replaced by a thank you feature because other moderators think they are completly okay.

I agree, but isn't the community already "built"? Just by looking at the stats:

Building and improving is a continues process that doesn't stop.

Why not? Isn't it nice to get feedback from the members who participate and make up the community?

I'm all for feedback, but feedback is something different from discussion.
In addition feedback is best when it is targeted at a specific event.

Strategic decisions that have the target of pushing the culture in a certain direction are also seldom completly understood by users.

Discussing publically when people are very passionate against a certain forum rule or the banning of a member only creates front within a community which isn't that good.
It better to have those discussions per PM.

In addition Steve already gets more feedback than he can handle and has shut down comments as a way to get less feedback.

In general that doesn't mean that there shouldn't be thread like this, but I don't think that we need more of them.
On the other hand we always need high quality discussions about personal development.
That should be the test of every chance to the forum: "Does this lead to more high quality discussions about PD?"

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Discussing publically when people are very passionate against a certain forum rule or the banning of a member only creates front within a community which isn't that good.
It better to have those discussions per PM.

Brutha, while I agree with pretty much most of the rest of your post, there was something about the above I wanted to reply. To keep people happy, and feel included, some of the above stuff have to be done publicly. Whenever Steve has banned a high-profile poster, it is precisely because of the public discussion that occurred that I could understand what happened and why, and thus respect the decision.

Even with some forum rules that I disagree with (or features such as the World Affair forum), having the public discussion helped me see the other people's point of view and respect that, even if I disagree with it.

My respecting the decision of the banning and of the rules/decisions helps me stay here. I've left other forums when you couldn't discuss simple things like that, or get clear answers and there was no respect of non-mods' desire to understand and help influence the policies.

As someone who's helped build and set the policies for an online gaming community and thus has had to make very hard and sometimes controversial decisions regarding who and how to ban people, I agree, not everything needs to be public. There is a strong need to keep some stuff private, and out of the public eye for many reasons. But there is also a strong need to keep certain things in the public. It's a hard balance, but I feel that this forum has done a great job in balancing the two needs.

[Brutha]

It's a hard balance, but I feel that this forum has done a great job in balancing the two needs.

Thanks, I also think that we should continue on that front the way we did in the past.

I think that Forum Feedback & Suggestions Forum (what a term) might negativly effect that balance.
When there is an event that has to be adressed publically, you will get a thread about it regardles of whether you have a specific forum for that purpose.
Then it is important to give clear authentic answers.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Brutha

I think that Forum Feedback & Suggestions Forum (what a term) might negativly effect that balance.
When there is an event that has to be adressed publically, you will get a thread about it regardles of whether you have a specific forum for that purpose.
Then it is important to give clear authentic answers.

Yeah I tend to agree with you here Brutha. There's plenty of ways to give feedback without resorting to a special forum for it.