topic size

[Ken S]

Mark Reich recently suggested that a new topic be started instead of continuing the malleability of burrs topic. I agree with this. Looking at the forum stats of the forum I moderate, the top ten topics by number of replies range from 166 to 87 replies. This many replies is far too many to be efficient. I would be the last to discourage anyone from posting. Long topics tend to meander from topic to topic. I would rather see more topics of around ten to fifteen replies. I think they would be more apt to stay on topic and be a more readable length.

I applaud Mark for making the suggestion. Bessex has much valuable content. Let's keep it well organized.

Ken

[admin]

Most excellent suggestion Mr. Ken!   

Like thoughts, threads tend to meander naturally, but with a little help from everybody we can keep our BESS Exchange well organized.

As an aside, we have given a lot consideration on what to name the various forums in the Exchange with a goal of keeping the number of posts evenly distributed across the different forums.  Currently, Relevant General Discussion has 3X the number of posts as the rest of the forums, but we think that is not too out of balance yet considering it is a general topic forum.

As always, we are more than happy to receive, and encourage everybody to offer any suggestions you may have to improve our BESS Exchange!  There is always room for improvement as the Exchange grows.

...Your friendly admin.

[Mark Reich]

Here are a couple things I Know.

First, we are blessed with very astute, flexible Administration here. As everyone can see, the Forum is growing, we seem to attract kind and generous members, and I see precious little room for improvement. At the same time, Constant quality improvement is de rigueur! 

Also, we have a forum Leader, of considerable experience in this department, in Mr. Ken, and I would think long and hard before dismissing his advice.

Keeping track of the number of replies to a thread would Certainly be a break from average forum procedure, but that may be just because no one else has thought of it! 

I'm not sure if putting a hard cap on number of replies to a thread would be necessary, but it Definitely could be a leading indicator of stale topics!

I'm very proud of the way everyone keeps their thinking hats on. I'm looking forward to being part of this forward seeking team.

[admin]

Agreed, Mr. Mark. 
 
We don’t think it’s so much a matter the number of posts in a thread, but rather that the posts in a thread relate to the OP’s original subject matter.
 
Our members have made the BESS Exchange a unique and friendly forum. With everybody’s participation we can also keep it a valuable and easily searchable resource, as well as an enjoyable read.