In no particular order of importance, here is my beginning thoughts on streamlining the forum. To be absolutely clear right up front, let me stress that these are all my personal opinions and ideas. I will happily adhere to whatever the group decides. This is not me complaining at all! Just wanting to help this forum in whatever small way that I can.
1. I would like to consolidate the welcome threads to a singular sub-forum. I’ve noticed that the welcome threads tend to be posted all over the place. To that end, I think the Prancing Pony sub-forum would be the perfect place to host the welcome threads if we move the birthday threads. It’s already in the name. What better place to sidle up to the bar and introduce yourself than at the pub? I would say bump the Pony up closer to the top and make it clear that this is the place for newcomers to announce themselves.
2. In that same vein, while I love the notion of the birthday threads, I think they are clogging up the Prancing Pony forum. Keeping them around permanently maybe isn't the best idea when you see somebody's birthday thread and then just scroll down a little and see the one from the year before haha. A different phpBB forum I frequent has a dedicated birthday sub-forum that auto-deletes birthday threads every two weeks or month? Probably don’t need to go that far but maybe three months? Six? Honestly, even if we made a dedicated birthday-wishes forum that would help. This is my only "addition" suggestion instead of a streamlining.
3. Regarding the "Getting Started" forum, I think if we move the various threads around, we could use it as a staging ground for the Kit Guide. First I would lock the sub-forum in general so that things don't get accidently posted there while we are working on things. But my idea is to utilize the sub-forum by breaking down the individual major kit items into their own threads (tunic, water-carriers, shoes, etc.):
- Have the first post detailing what Tolkien wrote about + the utmost basics so even the most inexperienced cosplayer can join in with the fun.
- Second post would be a list of materials and why you would want to choose wool over linen or vice-versa or why chrome-tan isn't really that great, etc.
- Third would be more detailed with historical backgrounds and then patterns + maybe a discussion of cultural identification (how to make a tunic look like one from Rohan versus how to make it look like it's from Bree, etc).
- Fourth would be a display of individual's MERF/MERS kit that relates to the topic + links to forum discussions in the past that really delve into the subject.
- And then the last post would be a collection of links to where you could buy materials or a list of reputable craftsmen if they didn't want to go that far.
- Then lock the thread so there's no replies and pin it to the top. Do this for most of the major items and then a catch-all thread for the smaller bits.
- Add in a couple threads of "How to sew", "What do we do and why do we do what we do?", "How to survive your first night in the woods", "Basic meals for the trail", "Building a persona" etc. etc. etc. and we're golden!
The thought behind using threads is for easily linking to specifics so if someone is looking for what kind of trousers they need, we can link them directly to a discussion on just that. Of course, with a bit of editing, we can combine all the basic information in the threads into a overall Kit Guide.
"Now wait!" you say. "This is what the Wiki is for!"
"True enough" I respond. Yeah, that's the only real snag to this idea. My only defense is that when folks google "Middle-earth Rangers" the forum is the first thing that pops up. And frankly, most of the time they just come directly to the forum and start posting without even knowing that we have a Wiki, much less reading it. Having something directly on the forum might (might?) help newcomers get oriented a little faster.
As I typing this up, I've noticed that the link to the Wiki at the top of the forum has disappeared. That might also help.
Anyway, just a couple of thoughts.
4. I think there’s probably some general sub-forum updating that could be done:
- On the subject of Getting Started, I think combining the "How To's" and "Getting Started' would be nice. There's some good info there by Pete and Siani that gets overlooked being way down there at the bottom.
- Combining the "MER Websites Talk" and "General Forum Stuff". Pretty much the same thing, no?
- Moving all the previous welcome threads to the Pony.
- Moving all the recent Birthday threads to the Birthday forum and deleting older ones.
- Moving the MERF Random Adventure Pictures thread to the "Outings" forum. Would love to see more posts in that forum. (I'm working on that myself.)
- Maybe moving the MERS forum up slightly higher for more attention as there's some great discussions with the newsletter threads.
- Shift the "Review" forum down to the Trading Post with the "For Sale" and "Services" forums.
There is maybe a few other minor changes I would suggest but that's the gist of it. Any suggestions or feedback is entirely welcome.
Also, I had had the thought that since they are not the most active that it might be prudent to recombine the Elves, Hobbits, and Dwarves back into a single "Non-Human" forum but I reread the
"Northman subforum?" thread and it seems folks still like them separate so unless folks have changed their minds since 2019, I think we can disregard this one.
5. On the subject of removing things, I think the list of moderators and admins could be trimmed. There’s quite a few of the admins that haven’t logged in and posted in ages. Again going back to my lack of computer knowledge but I wonder if it’s not a security risk having inactive administrators. To me, it seems dangerous and a backdoor for bad folks to get in and start messing with stuff. But I admit I may be over-reacting to that idea.
Just in general I don't know if we need so many admins (we're a pretty quiet and polite bunch) and if we do need them, maybe replace them with more active members. If we do get an influx of new members and this place becomes more active, this might be needed anyway.
[EDIT] I think it might also be nice to have a small inclusivity statement welcoming all to the hobby. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's noticed an uptick in various .. . opinions with the advent of the Amazon series. Maybe I'm looking for trouble where there isn't any but I think it would be nice to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. A short statement that Middle-earth is technically not medieval and thus subject to any number of interpretations (Cheddar Man hobbits, anyone?) would further reinforce the point from a Tolkienian perspective.