Moving Threads / Reorganization?

[kq76]

We're going to be moving old threads from this main board into their appropriate sub-boards over the next while, but it might be a bit confusing with all the different sub-boards so if someone thinks a thread got moved to the wrong board or if you'd like a particular thread moved sooner rather than later, then please just let us know in this thread.

And if you have any other requests to make the mods section better, please post those as well and we'll see if we can get them implemented.

[kq76]

So after moving several hundred modification threads (search and mass select help tremendously) I've come to the realization that this place needs serious re-organization, more than I previously thought. Although there are probably many more, a few observations of the current system that make very little or no sense are:

-too many different kinds of graphics mixed together
-ballpark and player photos mixed with rosters and quickstarts
-databases are included with database utilities
-html mixed with graphics
-there are several fairly common types of mods that have no board, many of which probably warrant a dedicated board

Below you will find my first draft of the reorganization I'd recommend to Andreas. I'm sure I don't know this section nearly as well as some of you however. So, before I go to Andreas with a recommendation, I'd like to get your input on how things should be organized here. If your recommendation is at all complicated, please do try to do your best to make it as simple as possible to understand.

Since Padresfan has probably thought about the organization of mods as much as anyone I figured I'd take a look at his site for some tips. Overall, it seems like he's followed a similar system. In particular, he breaks up graphics more like I think we should go with. His misc section is more encompassing, but I figure it's probably best to break that stuff up a fair bit as well.

A question I have is should all these links to sub-boards be thrown together in one big list (like we have now, but more) or should they be separated into a "graphics" section and an "other" section? I favour the latter since I believe it would look like the mods board does from the index page: a bunch of sub-boards just listed underneath that board's title and description. Only thing is I don't know if vbulletin supports grandchild boards (sub-boards within sub-boards). Going with the former (just listing a dozen or so sub-boards here, like what we have now, but more) would waste a lot of space and necessitate scrolling further down to get to the general mod threads.

Here's the first draft:

Mods Board:
Links to Sub-Boards:
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-Graphics
|--logos (requests, templates, and general)
|--uniforms/jerseys/caps (requests, templates, and general)
|--ballparks/stadiums (images and factors)
|--facegen/player photos
|--cards
|--misc (skins, tie images, background images, etc)
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-Misc
|--rosters
|--databases
|--quickstarts
|--world_templates
|--schedules
|--database utilities (e.g. Getch and Statslab)
|--audio/sound
|--report_templates
|--text and PbP
|--names, nations and ethnicities
|--misc
|-----------------------------------------------------------
General Mod Threads:
...

Hopefully that makes sense. If not, the "General Mod Threads" part is just a listing of general mod threads like any other regular board, but above that would be two boxes and inside those boxes would be links to several different grandchild boards. Like on the index page, those links would be separated by commas, however, not on separate lines as in my illustration above.

Does all that sufficiently cover all the different types of mods? For the mod types that are rarely posted about they can go into the appropriate misc section, but is there a mod type in your opinion that isn't so rare, that should have its own board that I haven't listed?

I just quickly listed them as they came to me, but is there a particular order you'd prefer them: most common to least common, alphabetical, or something else? Either of the first two makes enough sense to me.

One last thing: don't anticipate this to happen right away. I do think a reorganization is badly needed here so I will ask for it, repeatedly if need be, but I'm sure patch items will be much higher on their priority list so it might be awhile before they decide to look at this.

[kq76]

A few other things:

Yes, they have said they intend on updating the board's skin (someone asked me). Personally, I don't see it as that important, but I'm sure they'll get to it eventually.

All those thread redirects you see on the main mods board, well, they should disappear in a week after its thread was moved. I just left 1 week redirects for now just in case people have trouble finding where their thread was moved to, some soon after they posted it.

Lastly, we're not done moving threads, not even close. There's so many and with how non-descript some thread titles are we might never move them all to their proper places, but I also think it would make much more sense to wait on the more difficult to determine ones and move them after we reorganize things.

[kq76]

No one have an opinion? Honestly, asking for board changes like this can sometimes be like pulling teeth so if it does get changed, which I think it might this time, it might stay that way for awhile. So if you do have suggestions for improvement, hopefully that just tweak my above proposal, then now is the time to make them.

[Bigrod]

It's looking good I think. Doing a great job.

[Captain Walrus]

Rosters & quick-starts should be one forum. There isn't much difference between the two, just how it is saved. Templates could be thrown in there too.

[kq76]

A couple weeks ago I sent Andreas the below revised proposal (thanks CW, your recommendation made a lot of sense), but I have not heard back. If anyone would like to see some changes to this section (by seconding mine or proposing your own), you may want to give him a nudge.

Mods Board:
Links to Sub-Boards:
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-Images & Related
|--logos
|--uniforms/jerseys/caps
|--ballparks/stadiums
|--player/facegen photos
|--misc (cards, skins, background images, etc)
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-----------------------------------------------------------
|-Other
|--rosters/databases/quickstarts/world_templates
|--database utilities
|--schedules
|--audio/sound
|--text xml (PbP, news, storylines, etc)
|--text databases (names, nations, hints, etc)
|--misc
|-----------------------------------------------------------
General Threads:
...

[Captain Walrus]

Any progress on this?

[kq76]

Nope. I would have done it myself a long time ago, but we don't have board making powers. And I imagine they're too busy right now to bother.