With the low volume of activity on this board, should the subtopics be merged? It’s kind of a pain checking each; or am I doing something wrong?
I kind of like subtopics because I choose to ignore some of them. 
However, I do get confused as to why some threads are moved to the Parents subtopic or cafe. Seems random at times to me.
I would like to see even more sub topics. Like a topic for each of the 10-15 most mentioned schools. Then I could skip all the ones I have no interest in or information on. I am think of something similar to the main CC board - which has an A-Z listing…
I’d agree if there were more activity, London (like the main board). But there it seems like many days there are literally a small handful of posts on each. And since threads veer off, and you never know what might be discussed where, I look at them all.
I would like the sub groups removed.
What? And have just one forum for all issues with CHANCES mixed in? No way. What a mess. I don’t ever want to see or read a chance-me thread, and I generally avoid the café. I agree that I’m not sure sometimes why threads move between Parents and Admissions, but it’s not hard at all to toggle between those two. IMHO, you miss nothing by ignoring the other two sub-forums.
Ok I agree – keep Chances out but merge the rest
^^Agreed! The Chances forum is of zero interest to me. If the board were filled with “chance me” threads, I can guarantee I will no longer read and contribute here. Even when we were applying, I avoided that section. It is way to stressful and anxiety-inducing.
The reason I suggested the sub threads for certain schools is that some of those schools (A&E for example) have many, many, many threads about them, and I believe it would be helpful for students and parents interested in a given school to have a narrowed down place for information specific to that school. As a result: the main boards (Parents and Admissions) could be more threads about boarding/prep school in general, admissions questions that apply to more than a single school, and parent help (even after admissions and matriculation have occurred). No offense to you, @laenen, but when you spend more time here (and especially around M10), you will begin to see what I mean.
It would also be helpful post-M10 when many kids are excited and want to discuss the school they plan on attending, when there are also many kids feeling sad that they are not going away (either to the school of choice or, in some cases, not at all). Just because there is a sub-thread that has a more narrow focus does not mean that everyone is not welcome to read and participate in said thread.
But, the point is moot. I do not think that CC will be adding (or subtracting) any sub-forum topics. I suspect it is a tried and true layout.
Not to mention that the Admissions section by itself is already over 250 pages. It, alone, took me weeks to read in its entirety when we were applying to schools (and yes I did read almost every thread — there is a lot of good, general information to be had in those threads).
^Like ^Like ^Like! I read the entire forum before I started posting regularly. Really didn’t have any questions after that.
@london203 no offense taking. I work for UX group at a major software company. It pains me to toggle between Parents and Cafe for no real benefit. I really only read the latest posting in each. And I suspect that is what most people do.
I think the logic that someone has to work with something for a long time to know if it works or not is false. Take the iPod for example. People knew immediately it was great. Now take Windows 8. It was a dud right out of the box.
All I am saying is that I see no value in the Cafe section (or Chances) but there are many who do. I am happy that they can “meet” in there.
No need to toggle… it was a very valuable exercise for me to read the Admissions and Parent sections from back to front. Thread by thread, in their entirety. No toggling necessary! I don’t know how much you know (or want to know) about Prep School admissions and experiences, but I feel very well educated on the process/pitfalls/fun after doing just that. The bonus was that, once completed, All I needed to do was check the new threads with activity each day, read any of interest, and repeat.
Have you ever commented in the Cafe section? If you comment in both like a lot of people do then for me I like to go back and read the new posts in those threads which is what causes the toggling. I am not sure I see the difference between the Cafe and the Parent. If someone posts something at the root of forum, would you be able to accurately guess where to move that to?
Ideally, one should be able to choose between a subgrouping view and a list view
And the columns should be sortable.
It is not a hard and fast rule, but the Parent section tends to be mostly parents commenting, with issues that generally relate to their specific concerns. I have only looked at the Cafe and Chances in passing, but they seem to be heavily populated with students and their specific concerns/worries/questions. Another reason I like the sub-grouping…
There is a rythym to CC… over time you come to view it as “normal”.
I would say that 50% of the last posted comments in the Cafe come from Parents that post regularly in Parents section.
Another UX fallacy, getting used to something doesn’t make it user friendly. The customer should not have to bend to the design. The design should be intuitive out of the box
IDK, I don’t think anything at all is “heavily populated”. That’s why I think it’s easier to merge them. Moreover, if you look at who posts where, most people post in all the sections.
Just a thought.
I think we will just have to agree to disagree. FWIW you should have seen how it was set up 3 years ago… and how changes were received then. 
At any rate, as I said, the point is moot. CC will not be changing this any time soon.
Well, this thread has nothing to do with prep schools, so I moved it to the cafe 
which is where such topics reside.
That’s fine, I just think when you have a handful of posts a day, categorizing them seems silly. If you Venn diagram the posters, there is heavy overlap. C’est la vie.