I think what Jon is trying to do is to create a looser moderating situation for a thread like the Virus one which is ongoing and can have some debating and controversy. The problem I see is that it isn’t always obvious when that is going to happen with a topic.
For example, we are all playing nicely on the Exercise thread, but several years ago there was some unpleasantness that would not have been predicted. Some hands were slapped and we returned to our respective playgrounds.
I don’t think the majority of the threads need the treatment that the current Coronavirus topic does, but I can see how having a Coronavirus-May thread might be a good idea. Sort of a re-set on the topic. I think it needs to be captioned by the topic, though, and not May Chat or whatever.
Here’s the deal. The threads have been difficult to moderate no matter how easy it looks. Please consider the moderators who have had a hard time of it lately. Not sure why y’all don’t believe this to be true.
Difficult with the current moderation level and rules. Relax the rules and give it a try. Instead of forcing discussion into a predetermined box, either convert the Covid thread into a looser moderation environment or convert all of the Parent Cafe into a looser moderation environment. Test it out on a trial basis.
Forcing conversation into a predetermined thread just feels off. People like threads that are at least loosely organized around a theme they are interested in. Many of us heavily participate in some threads and completely ignore others as if fits our individual interests.
I get what Jon is trying to do (but doing it incorrectly, imo) because on my tennis forum when threads in Non Tennis get be very popular, they are moved to the Chat Threads subforum. But, the thread title stays the same. Then, after the thread reaches it maximum 5100 replies limit, another volume - with the same thread title - is started.
For instance - here Parents Cafe would be equivalent to Non Tennis. Long, years long threads or thread that reach a certain length would be moved to Chat thread subforum. Like the Wedding thread, Dressing Young, exercise thread, parents caregiver to parents thread, for example, and now the big Covid thread would be moved to Chats.
But to rename it May 2020 Chat thread then June 2020 Chat thread is not the smart way to do it.
Either start a subforum of Parents Cafe for long threads - keeping thread’s titles or leave them just on the Parents Cafe.
If long threads are too difficult for moderators to manage - just do volumes. One volume closes (but is still available to read from link in top post) and the next volume opens where the previous left off.
Closing the existing Coronavirus thread and instead opening a “May 2020 Chat” thread sounds very similar to the Tropicana rebrand…
You asked for feedback on what the users want. I may have missed it but I didn’t see any user mention that they’d like the Coronavirus discussion to go away. In fact, dozens of people posted specifically how much the Coronavirus discussion meant to them and how they wanted the Coronavirus information thread back.
Am I understanding correctly… The May Thread is the new coronavirus thread, a reincarnation of the tatin/doschicos thread? We can have news, if we behave?
I thought @CCadmin_Jon was referring to the current open Covid thread.
Regardless…here is my suggestion…which I think is the same as @emilybee
The name of the thread remains the same…but gets a number. The previous threads are closed but are linked to the next installment. That way, the moderators really are only moderating the current “chapter” of a thread.
^^^Yes, please confirm if the May “let’s try this” idea ONLY applies to the big Corona thread. Does everything else stay the same in the Parent Cafe - or not???
@CCadmin_Jon if I understand you correctly, you are about to make a mistake as bad or worse than the disastrous recent “upgrade”.
Threads must have a subject as a starting point. They must be labelled “COVID19” or "Romanigypseyeye’s baby* because not everybody will want to wade through everything. It will annoy people and will stop them checking in. It’s fine if the conversation wanders from there.
Re: moderation. I am on a horse message board (Chronicle of The Horse) and have been for 10 years, it is very successful and they have always had paid moderators. It works well. They also have a general chat area, called Off Topic and they have epic threads. Never once has a site administrator complained about the difficulty of moderation, or the length of the threads. I am absolutely bewildered why this seems to be so difficult for CC.
Re: moderators. I volunteered and have heard nothing. I can’t have been the only one.
Solve the moderation issues some other way. Note: you do not have to invent the wheel, here. Please! Just find some other boards where it is working well and copy them.
Your proposed changes will destroy conversations, and if you destroy them, the board is done. If the conversations are good enough, I’ll deal with difficult navigation because they are worth it. If the conversations are bad, it won’t matter how easy it is to find them.
Please reconsider. You are about to deal a death blow to CC.
But I can see closing the April Covid thread and starting one call May Chat plus general Covid discussion.
I am assuming things like the book review thread, the book club thread, the exercise thread, the various cooking threads would remain. It surely would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater to get rid of them. They are large, but as far as I know mostly very well behaved.
I don’t think we’re being asked for our opinion on IF this should be done. I think it’s more of a “let’s try this” meaning “we are trying this”.
I still have questions about this just being the COVID thread - because Jon mentions the “May Thread” will probably still be about Covid but hopefully one month it won’t be …