Okay, we are getting some suggestions that the forums need to be reorganized a little better. The admins agree that this should be done. Before we make any changes it will be helpful to see what you, the users of this forum, would like to see changed in order to make it easier to find topics, have better descriptions, and whatnot.

Please put any organizational changes in this thread. We will probably keep it up for a period of time, look over the suggestions and implement the ones we feel would be helpful.

Preliminarily, it looks like the major changes will be focused on the Lounge and Convention organization.

Thank you for your time and input. :)

Took these from our conversation a while ago :)

Problem: The forum seems so small when its actually not, since threads are too piled up in certain places.

The Lilian Convention is fine as it is IMO, just move the other more serious and non-spam threads into the Lounge or somewhere more appropriate (ex. Complaints and the Oh, I'm so happy! threads)

For The Lounge, I think this can be a whole new section since it's the broadest forum around. Forums inside the Lounge can be taken out this way so it'll be easier to see, then add a Debate subforum for serious discussions or something. Perhaps we can also separate RL discussions from non-RL discussions.

I think the quotes thread can actually be moved to the Convention due to the amount of spam it gets, or... we can make a whole new thread for cbox quoting just remove those posts from the thread we currently have. (could get a bit tedious for mods though)

Oh and if it's possible, is it alright if we had a link to the subforums on the main page for each forum? I just noticed that there weren't any links or heads-up to members as to what are inside each forum besides a number of threads. And perhaps we can move/make Getting to know you topics within the Introduction forum so it can have more than 4 topics? :)

Well, that's it for me I suppose.

EDIT1:
OH! Btw, if we get a forum for RL matters, maybe the Happy Birthday! thread can be moved there instead of leaving it in the Bulletin Board for Forum Updates / Admin Annoucements.

EDIT2:
Here's the log from earlier, I just reorganized and uploaded it if anyone wants to see:
8/21/08 cBox conversation Log

ok im pretty much the same with mitski.. but i want to add something.. :unsure:

about u guys making a sub topic on serious disscussion categories.. like mitski say to add Debate subforum for serious discussions and seperate the real life issue and not real life issue in it..

i find a lot of people here have a personal problem and yet the only thread they can put it in is diary log or girl love thread. i think if u seperate the serious disscussion into each of the chatagories perharp people will be more welcoming to opened up and it will add more potential thread focusing on forum member personal life. after all i remember steph once mention one of her purposed making this forum was to help people with some issue. i think if that can be done.. it will be a major lot difference since most of member here are growing teenagers with variety background and believe. :rolleyes: so it will definately bring some positive athmosphere and add more welcoming feeling to every member here.

yeah u guys should make it more clear what should be contain in lounge and convention.. <_< and add more "CHI" -->not chihaki though ^ ^on ur main page so it will felt more like home and people wont goes like this /hp /? @__@ just to find what they need... the describtion should be more clear and im totally agree with cbox quote thread as it will prevent people from spamming.

i think that's all i had from now..i will add more later if i manage to compose my brain but right now... i should thanx mitski for her posting..all her saying was almost the same what i had in mine.. so good luck to all the admin and yeah cant wait to see the new marimite forum. i love this forum too much.. XD so i should give my /thx /thx to all the admin that will soon busting their ass on fixing this forum we all love.. thank u once again.. :lol:

Reading along, I do agree some of the serious topics in Lillian Convention should be moved to The Lounge.

Hmm, about the subforums in 'The Lounge', if we put too many categories out in the open, I think it'll be too many topics to look at (but that's just me though, you guys decide if it's not really) that's why I put them inside 'The Lounge' as a Subforum, but you guys have a better suggestion, go ahead! ^_^

I would move Quotes topic to 'Writer's Portfolio' and not really into Lillian Convention.



Recently:
~Moved "Oh so Happy" and "Complain" topic in The Lounge.
~Quotes in Writer's Portfolio.
~"Perviest" in Soeur/Frere (since all other polls are there)


I noticed we have over 102 topics in The Lounge, most of them are good topics to keep having discussions about, but however were overthrown by newer topics, so they end up in other pages.

I don't understand why the "perviest poll thread" should be moved to the Soeur/Frere Ceremonies forum

I just noticed the description now, I think the threads found there that have no connection whatsoever with looking for a soeur/frere, declaring or whatever should be moved to The Lounge (ex. Hottest Girl/Guy, Boy/Girl threads)

As for the Quotes thread, I don't think it should be placed in the Writers Portfolio forum. Why? Well again the reason lies in the forum description *points down*

From what I understand the Writers Portfolio is a forum for original works by respective members, not those taken from someone else.

The reason why I suggested the Quotes thread to be placed in the Lilian Convention is due to the amount of spam it gets since majority of the quotes placed there are taken from what members say in the cBox.

As I suggest:
Quote thread > The Lounge
create new thread which could be called cBox Quote thread > Lilian Convention

But mods would have to remove some of the posts from the original Quote thread to do this.

The polls (considering the topics in The Lounge) I think is best in Soeur/Frere Ceremony, because I think it's the thread dedicated to know more members.. The Lounge became an overall discussion about different stuff, that's why I moved it there.

True, now that I think more about it, I think topics are scattered everywhere. :lol:

Quote thread was moved there because "Quotes" fall under literature. Even in "Poetry" thread, some of the poems there are not entirely written by members themselves. That's why it's in Writer's Portfolio. (It doesn't necessarily mean all the writing has to be from members themselves)

Perhaps we should make of more use to the Introduction forum then? It can serve as a "Getting to know you" forum besides from just welcoming new members.

I still think that putting the polls in the Soeur / Frere Ceremony strays from the forum's purpose. It would be better if we could focus more on the individuals (ex. Discussion / Hotseat threads), if we leave the poll there those threads might go by unnoticed o.O

I suppose members would just have to be restricted from posting cBox comments, then.

Yes, I would have to agree with this, I myself saw the thread myself full of Cbox quotes. I'll start a thread then put all cbox quote there.

Okay, I've been looking at this forum, and also at other successful forums, and also the feedback in this thread.
Rather than discussing current individual threads, and where they should / shouldn't be, it's better to just think about which forum categories, forums, and subforums we want.

I think it's the lounge which needs re-organising.
Some people may not like this way, but here's my suggestion.

Current System:

-Yamayurikai Chat Room
----Sœur et Frère Ceremony
---------Hot Seat
---------Discussion Threads
---------I wonder, I wonder..
----Introduction
----The Lounge
---------Anime Discussions
---------Game Thread
---------Music
---------Language
----Lillian Convention

For me, the problem is mainly with the lounge: it has so many more threads than the other forums. I think it needs to effectively be a category rather than a forum.

I think that like steph says, the Soeur et Frère community is for getting to know other members, so that should be used more for "personal" type threads, like diary, etc.
This is how I'd re-arrange it.

It looks quite complicated, but it's so much more logical. Some people might not like it though.

Suggested System:

-Sœur et Frère Community
----Introduction [keep just the introduction thread here, the other 3 can go to member discussions to keep it cleaner]
----Sœur et Frère Ceremony [Just declaration threads, and soeur system discussions]
----Member discussions [Things like hotseats, hottest girl etc, other threads about members, like diary]
---------Hot Seat
---------Discussion Threads
---------I wonder, I wonder..
-Yamayurikai Chat Room
----Current Affairs [topical issues and news]
----Lifestyle [Fashion, Hobbies, Food & Drink...]
----Entertainment [Music, TV programmes, Cinema, DVD's, Films, etc]
--------Other Anime Discussions
--------Sports
--------Gaming
----Lillian Convention

^Agreed.. Go right ahead :)

Ahaha, that was a quick reply, I'll see what the others think first :D

Ah, not bad.

But I think we should make a separate subforum for Anime/Manga... it just feels weird for it to be grouped together with the others o_O

In my opinion, I think Anime is ok under entertainment.. It falls under TV programs and stuff :3

Maybe introduction should have it's own little separate thing period and not grouped together with the soeur community part so it can stand out.

I think the separation of discussions and soeur stuff is okay. That way we can have the pairings viewable for the public to let people know we do something like this but anything personal or has a lot of info on the members themselves only members can see.

Other thing is that for the anime part of the forum, it's pretty big itself. It has 4 pages of topics and subforums in itself. It's just as about as extensive as the current lounge. I kind of agree with mitski that it might need it's separate place like Marimite got it's own separate forum. Majority of the fans here like other anime as well and so we can hold a lot of discussions too.

The convention can possibly be divided into regular games and maybe super spam but that can be decided later. The lounge needs to be focused on 1st.

I see what you mean, but having a category which has one forum, which has one thread inside it would be a bit odd.
Perhaps another idea would be to have Introductions as a forum within the announcements section. That would mean it's near the top of the page, like on most other forums. For example, above or under the "Suggestions" forum.

I don't understand. The anime section doesn't have any subforums in it, it's a subforum itself.
However, I think I see what you mean, it's got over 60 topics in it, and it's massive.
Perhaps then it would be better to do this:

-Sœur et Frère Community
----Introduction
----Sœur et Frère Ceremony
----Member discussions
---------Hot Seat
---------Discussion Threads
---------I wonder, I wonder..
-Yamayurikai Chat Room
----Current Affairs
----Lifestyle
----Entertainment
--------Other Anime Discussions
--------Sports
--------Gaming
----Anime / Manga [Discuss other anime / manga than Marimite]
----Lillian Convention

i mistook the stickies for subfourms lol

I guess I'll be the lone voice of dissent, and say that I liked everything as it was. I can't stand forums that have umpteen-gajillion sub-forums because it makes it harder to read everything. Oh well, it's not like I come here enough for my opinion to carry any weight anyway. :lol:

I wouldn't mind seeing the personal issues/drama threads moved into their own category though..

And I assume the general discussion threads (like the "Milk Hall" thread), and everything else (like RL stuff and whatnot, anything else besides animé, entertainment, current affairs, and lifestyle) will be under Lilian Convention.

Is it?


Or will there be another place for that, making the Lilian Convention dedicated to for-fun-only threads?



But I agree with moto /ok

Subforums will make some threads a bit more tedious to access.

It'd be nice if there were no subforums. Well, at least I think it will. You just open up a forum and you'll see every thread under it right away.



I propose scrapping subforums. Instead we just make forums, and group related forums - like the way the "Bulletin Board" and "Suggestions" forums fall under "Lillian Jogakuen Announcements".

No. I hadn't thought about the Milk Hall, but I was planning for personal threads like diary, and complaining thread, going into Member Discussions.
I think convention should always be for spam/games.

I suppose there could be a "random" forum for anything else which doesn't fall under those categories, such as Milk Hall - but then again, I don't really like that because it just makes things more and more complicated.

People are calling categories and forums different things. Just to make it easier for everyone to understand, the proper name for the Yamayurikai Chat Room is a Category, the name for the lounge is a Forum, and the name for Music is a subforum. Like this:

-Yamayurikai Chat Room [Category]
----The Lounge [Forum]
---------Music [Subforum]

The problem with getting rid of subforums, like you suggest, is that the home page of the forum would be very long if the Subforums were Forums.
I personally don't like Subforums too much myself, but I doubt removing them here would be a good idea.

I got mixed up with my terms. But yes, I think subforums part should be removed.

I got mixed up with my terms as well :lol:

I think I have something in mind, what ely's suggesting looks like how it was in my old RO guild forum. I'll post it later.

I'm not too sure I'd like to see a "No SubForum" thing.. First of, browsing too many topics in the main page... Is a head-ache..

Well, at least, for me.

ely's Suggestion: Remove subforums

My Proposal:

-Sœur et Frère Community
----Hello / Goodbye [For welcoming new members, and informing current members if someone's leaving/taking a break] *can't think of a name for this, suggestions?
----Sœur et Frère Discussion [Declarations/Soeur/Frere hunting]
----Member Discussions [For discussing members / polls for & about members]
---------Hot Seat
---------Discussion Threads
---------I wonder, I wonder..
----Lillian Convention [Place to have fun]

-Yamayurikai Chat Room
----General Chat [RL / Non-anime Discussions can go here (ex. Dream thread, Tid-Bitz, Diary)]
----Love Life (?) [Dedicated forum for "Love" discussions] *this
will help us see and focus on members' problems if they'd want advice on love an whatnot.. instead of it being clumped up in a single thread
----Debate (?) *would anyone want this?
----Current Affairs
----Lifestyle
----Pictures and Links [Members Photos, YouTube videos, etc.]
----Rants and Raves (?) [Dedicated forum for "Rants and Raves"] *same reason as Love Life

-The Lounge [Discussion regarding hobbies, etc]
----Anime / Manga
----Television / Movies
----Music
----Sports
----Games

-The Artist's Log ~> The Library
----Writer's Portfolio [Original works/Fanfics]
----Literature [Non-oringal works, references]
----Role Playing
----Art Gallery


Argh, my brain x_x :wacko: Is it too mixed up?

This is how my RO guild forum looks like, no subforums.. and we haven't really had any problem with it for years. *points down*



EDIT:
Oh damn, I didn't notice the image was too small o_O; just download the one HERE and zoom in to have a better view.

Exactly what i had in mind.

Category > Forum > Threads


With subforums, we'll have threads being hidden, or at least, not as easy to access as those threads outside subforums.

Pictures of our forum members should be in members sections. I don't want the general public to be able to snatch one of our images and do who knows what to it. If it's members only I'd feel better about that in a sense that it would have to be a member to get it.

Actually, why don't we make log-in mandatory? /?

No approved user account means you can't get in at all...


Or maybe just hide all other Categories and/or forums to guests save for one - one that would sort of tell them what's in store for them if they join here and stuff.

ely has a point :3 it would be better if non members and those who aren't logged in can't see non-Marimite discussions by members. I think it's safe to leave the Lillian Jogakuen Announcements, Maria-sama Discussions, and Our Neighbor categories out in the open ^^

^Actually, that is what happened :3 though it's not a log-in mandatory, guest can only see things that doesn't reveal any member private informations.

Looking at what Mitski made, I guess it's alright :3

a whole lot can still be seen bout the forum tho, i just noticed it since i didn't realize i wasn't logged in a while ago when i was reading threads XD

Gumba went through the entire lounge and made an excel file of the threads, and which topics they fit into. This has let me change my suggestion. I'll explain the changes and their reasons below.

-Sœur et Frère Community
----Introduction
----Sœur et Frère Ceremony
----Member discussions
---------Hot Seat
---------Discussion Threads
---------I wonder, I wonder..
-Yamayurikai Chat Room
----Current Affairs & Debates
----Lifestyle
----Entertainment
--------Gaming
----Anime / Manga
----The Lounge
----Lillian Convention

Okay, the sport subforum isn't needed because there's only 1 sports thread.
There are a lot of debate threads, so they can go in with current affairs.
There are lots of random threads which don't fit anywhere else. So The Lounge still would have a place... but it won't be a huge dinosaur like it is now... just a trimmed down place for miscellaneous stuff.

I'm not sure if this would be too many forums... remember that making people scroll down too far to the cbox is not a good thing!

Symmy edit: oops, I accidentally killed your post trying to get the formatting by editing... sorry! I tried to remember how you'd done it!

-Lillian Jogakuen Announcements
----Bulletin Board
----Suggestions
-Maria-sama discussions
----The Anime
----Light Novel & Manga
-Sœur et Frère Community
----Introduction
----Sœur et Frère Ceremony
----Member Discussions
---------Hot Seat
---------Discussion Threads
---------I wonder, I wonder..
-Yamayurikai Chat Room
----Current Affairs & Debates
----Lifestyle
----Entertainment
--------Gaming
----Anime / Manga
----The Lounge
-Lillian Convention
-The Artist's Log
-----Writer's Portfolio
---------Maria-sama Fanfics
---------Role Playing (should we even keep this?)
----Videos
----Art Gallery
-Our Neighbors
----Mariasamagamiteru.com
----Maria-sama by RightStuf
----Garden of Roses
----Maria-sama in AnimeSuki

i'm getting confused nao x_x

i'll just go with whatever gets done lol

Not a bad idea, gumba, here's a couple of tweaks I'd make:

-Lillian Jogakuen Announcements
----Bulletin Board
----Suggestions
-Maria-sama discussions
----General
----The Anime
----Light Novel & Manga
-Sœur et Frère Community
----Introduction
----Sœur et Frère Ceremony
----Member Discussions
---------Hot Seat
---------Discussion Threads
---------I wonder, I wonder..
-Yamayurikai Chat Room
----Current Affairs & Debates
----Lifestyle
----Entertainment
--------Gaming
----Anime / Manga
----The Lounge
----Lillian Convention
-The Artist's Log
-----Writer's Portfolio
---------Maria-sama Fanfics
---------Role Playing (should we even keep this?)
----Videos
----Art Gallery
-Our Neighbors
----Mariasamagamiteru.com
----Maria-sama by RightStuf
----Garden of Roses
----Maria-sama in AnimeSuki

Whilst I think that merging light novel & manga discussions is a good idea, I also think that it's a little wierd for a forum set up for marimite discussions would have so few marimite-related discussions.
So I propose the creation of a "General" section, for discussions about the characters and other stuff, which is currently either put into the anime or manga sections, but is relevant to both.

Also, it seems wierd to have an entire category created for the convention, when that is just one forum. I'd still keep it in the Yamayurikai Chat Room, considering how - as I said earlier - this is a Marimite forum, so technically all of the Yamayurikai Chat room is "off-topic" anyway.

Also, I agree that the roleplay should be removed - nobody seems interested in it, and there's not much there. If someone wants to restart it and make it active, then they're welcome to!

you killed my post. evil man! :P

I'm fine with that format. We'll have to figure out what to say under the forums on the main page probably next since there was some confusion about that as well. My brain is pretty shot for tonight so I'll leave that up to you if you do it while I'm sleeping.

Right, I just did most of it, but then my parents want me to go shopping with them now, so I don't have time to finish it.

Things I didn't have time to finish:

1. Movement of some topics from Soeur ceremony to member discussions
2. Movement of topics from lounge -> appropriate forum
3. Removal of some old subforums such as languages, (if they even need removing)

I'll do this when I get back, unless gumba or steph has some time to do some of it.

I will, but I have to go now as well, anyway..

The forum "Maria-sama Entertainment" hmm, it kinda feels out of placed.. =/

Should it be a subforum inside the "General Marimite Discussion" or something? /hmm

Just my vibe. I reordered the forums and categories a bit.

I decided to move "Mariasamagamiteru.com" from OUR NEIGHBORS to Lillian Jogakuen Announcements cause all other things that fall in that category are links leading somewhere else anyway.

To Admins: When creating a new category, make sure you don't forget to edit the Default date cut off for topic display to "Show All" so no topic gets cut off, I just did so now with the new ones, otherwise, it will only show topics up until 30-days old.

I just noticed that I can still view most of the forum even without logging in.

I think there's still way too much stuff for guests to see.


I suggest making log-ins mandatory (like what we did in LC, steph).

Or at least cutting down more on what guest should see. Or perhaps letting guests see individual categories and forums but NOT be able to view individual threads / posts.

Or maybe something that enables guest to view the first few posts on a thread (like, let's say the first 10 posts), but not letting them view anything beyond that, if InvisionFree has such an option.

Nope, Invisionfree is too simple, you can even check LC for yourself..

I am not really in favor of making guest register mandatorily.
What they don't see are private conversations.. I think it's ok so far though, but that's me :3

What do you other folks think? :3

I think it's just fine the way it is. I mean, what if guests loose interest and won't register at all 'cause they don't really see anything interesting in the forum? Since it would be limited and all...

Btw, I think there are some nice non-spammable threads that got buried in the Lilian Convention that should be moved to somewhere else like Lifestyle or the Lounge.

~I love street_cat~