Grouping things into sub forums - bad idea and makes the forum even more confusing :(

Hey, theres a few thnigs on the new forum which i dont really get - The instant messaging doesnt seem to work, the point store is pretty much pointless and the search function just doesnt seem to work but now we got these sub forums!

Its so much harder now to find the right posts, see new posts and find old ones.

Ie to find the south west and south west forum sections i need to go into "Meets, Events and Regions" then the sub forum of Regional - then into South west but you cannot see these 2 regional forums from the forum home page so if youre new and you didnt know they were there it would make them impossible to find. I only found them as i knew they existed somewhere

also since its been done there seems to be a destinct lack of replies in regiional and national threads.

+ its harder to find old threads. If you use the search bar it looks for all posts containing what youre searching for - the other day i ttried to look for the thread for Wales volksfest 2012 pics i think i went throught he first 12 pages before i gave up.

And another thing why have only some forums been given sub forums ??

ie

why were "merchandise" and TV, mags and press" etc not put in sun forum under "Club Info"

and "Braking FAQ" and "Engine FAQ" why not put them into sub forium of archive?? It just makes the forum home look messy

Obviously i apprieciate all the effort and free time that is put into developing this club but it seems that these forum changes are driving people away and everyone seems to be using the facebook page instead.

Scott

I have 100% support in the club and all the effort everyone especially Ade is making in the background, but at local shows lately what scott says above sums up the feedback we are getting there are alot more people using FB now and missing / not being able to find threads we are posting up about local meets and shows etc

Cheers, Rich

This is the first complaint I have had about the sub forums - if no one tells me how do I know ? 
On search you can choose which forum to search in, rather than them all.
What doesn't work with the instant messaging ?
The points are just a bit of fun, the only thing they really do is give you some value to pin topics.

richyhill said

I have 100% support in the club and all the effort everyone especially Ade is making in the background,  

x2 i dont have any idea what it takes to run/create a website like this.
but like you said how do you know what people are thinking  if no one says anything? hence why i posted above, dont think im knocking what you do for the club ade as your work is very much appreciated.

to answer a few questions

This is the first complaint I have had about the sub forums - if no one tells me how do I know ?
youre not which is why i posted above

On search you can choose which forum to search in, rather than them all.
ah riiight i see i was using the quick search next to me name i didnt realise if you clicked on the search on the left you could chance what forums you search in

What doesn't work with the instant messaging ?
to be honest i tihnk its just me ill stick to PTs

Cheers7
Scott

I am thick skinned, so I would rather people tell me if they  do not like something. I very rarely take offence.
The time taken comes in peaks and troughs - Sharon is always telling me that I spend too much time on it !!

I think that I will do some shuffling of the forums and maybe unwind the ones that have gone to the third level - Jelly has come up with a reshuffle that I will implement over the weekend probably.

To address the search issues (ie people not knowing how to get the best out of it) I have added a new page - you can get to it from any menu that has a search link or across the top of the forum page "How to search"

It is not really instant messaging, it is chat - so people are invited to conversations via email, this delay means that often people do not join. To implement a full instant message server is beyond our server resources as they are very intense - we had a test one for a while and it brought our server to its knees and adversely affected the main forums.

Thanks for your input

i dont like your pickled onions they are too hot, give me a bad bum, and i get told off for putting toilet paper in the fridge lol