Exterminate! Delete! - The Great Forum Cleanup of 2011

[Joe 90]

When setting up for the last Simlympics, I got a little message saying we had hit the maximum number of forums we're allowed to have. Which means its time for a cleanup.
Thing is, the limit is two hundred forums. That is way more than the stuff we have here should need, so the cleanup is going to turn into a wholesale slash-and-burn: I plan to exterminate about two-thirds of all the sub-forums here (all threads will be kept though).

The vast majority of this will come out of the non-Simlympic sports leagues hosted here. There is a chronic amount of basically redundant forums with only a handful of threads in each - a total waste of space. So while all threads and information will be preserved, each sports league will from now on be allowed only one forum, unless you can prove you need more (ie. meaningful usage, not "I want"). In-hiatus leagues will also be deleted en-masse. They're dead. They're not needed. If you want one saved, reactivate the league.

D-Day will be the end of July, so before then you might want to go and rename some of your generic 'Welcome' and 'Sign-Up' type threads so you can tell exactly what they are without their own sub-forum to act as a heading. If you want stuff stickied we can also do that.

[Blakeway]

That's great Are you planning on creating an archives section?

[Wacky32]

Can you create a forum for the SIBF and STSL and you can combine them since the STSL is affilitated with the SIBF.
(Like you did with the SLB, AIFF, STHL, etc)

[simsamerica]

Is there some sort of thread limit at all on here?

SWSCRA plan:
Current: For signups, probably the last 5 races, announcements, fun stuff, historic statistics, etc., etc.

Archive: Well with 30 races this year It would really clutter the main forum which may have old threads that just don't need posting but have pertinent information.

Other:
Team Pages gets deleted with all threads (project I never ended up getting started and abandoned)

Any All-Star and Fastweeks threads get moved to the Current because they are always current but everything else from the races section gets moved to the archive and locked.

That sound good Joe?


Also, my mod powers aren't there, heard it was a small error during spring cleaning but just wondering if I could get those restored.

Will

[K50]

Will: There isn't a thread limit.

For the AICS, I'd appreciate it if it looked something like this:

>>Alliance of International Collegiate Sports (AICS)
>>>>Summer season
>>>>Fall season
>>>>Winter season

The general information threads can be moved into the actual AICS forum. I do need the actual three threads for the different seasons, otherwise, it would get severely cluttered. Move baseball and softball into the summer season forum.

Is that okay?

[Guest]

AIFF is screwed if you do this. We need atleast a Friendlies, Devine Premier League and Tournaments sub-forum.

All of those have multiple things in them. 1 forum is hardly enough, deleting 2/3 of the site and allowing only 1 forum? Are you expecting a huge influx of new leagues coming? If not i say let people that need extra to have them. I told you guys awhile ago too you can delete the entire SCAA. like a whole year ago lol. Its not needed

[Wacky32]

Sim International Baseball Federation-

Tournaments, News, Simtropolis Softball League

Hows that?

[canuck3360]

AIFF is screwed if you do this. We need atleast a Friendlies, Devine Premier League and Tournaments sub-forum.

All of those have multiple things in them. 1 forum is hardly enough, deleting 2/3 of the site and allowing only 1 forum? Are you expecting a huge influx of new leagues coming? If not i say let people that need extra to have them. I told you guys awhile ago too you can delete the entire SCAA. like a whole year ago lol. Its not needed

Nate the issue isn't new Leagues it's future simplympics

and so many leagues have so many redundant not needed forums.

PM me and Joe about what u want for the AIFF

[Joe 90]

That's great Are you planning on creating an archives section?

We're not deleting any active content (except for the In Hiatus/Dead Leagues), so no need to.

Can you create a forum for the SIBF and STSL and you can combine them since the STSL is affilitated with the SIBF.
(Like you did with the SLB, AIFF, STHL, etc)

Sim International Baseball Federation-
Tournaments, News, Simtropolis Softball League
Hows that?

You're missing the point. The idea is not to create more forums. At the moment, the SIBF will get one forum, as you have shown you can run it and the STSL quite happily out of two threads (not forums - threads). If you can prove you need a separate one for STSL, then by all means show us.

Is there some sort of thread limit at all on here?
SWSCRA plan:
Current: For signups, probably the last 5 races, announcements, fun stuff, historic statistics, etc., etc.
Archive: Well with 30 races this year It would really clutter the main forum which may have old threads that just don't need posting but have pertinent information.
Other:
Team Pages gets deleted with all threads (project I never ended up getting started and abandoned)
Any All-Star and Fastweeks threads get moved to the Current because they are always current but everything else from the races section gets moved to the archive and locked.
That sound good Joe?
Also, my mod powers aren't there, heard it was a small error during spring cleaning but just wondering if I could get those restored.

Will

No thread limit that I know of, just a limit on the number of forums, which we are abusing quite badly.
I only see one forum coming out of what you've posted: a main SWSCRA one. Forums like your "Current" one is exactly the problem I'm trying to combat - that goes in the main forum. Use stickies if you need one or two threads to stand out. Individual races can also go in the main thread. I forget how many threads are shown on a page, mainly because noone has ever got that far, but by the time they drop off Page 1 they should be well and truly old, so the "Archive" is not needed either. I run a similar sort of comp on another forum, so I know this way works.
As for the mod powers, I'll have a chat with canuck over those.

For the AICS, I'd appreciate it if it looked something like this:
>>Alliance of International Collegiate Sports (AICS)
>>>>Summer season
>>>>Fall season
>>>>Winter season
The general information threads can be moved into the actual AICS forum. I do need the actual three threads for the different seasons, otherwise, it would get severely cluttered. Move baseball and softball into the summer season forum.
Is that okay?

AICS is one of the big issues here. You currently only have 8 threads and 57 posts in there, which is not a good case for more than one forum. I might have a word with you later about the logistical side of things.

AIFF is screwed if you do this. We need atleast a Friendlies, Devine Premier League and Tournaments sub-forum.

All of those have multiple things in them. 1 forum is hardly enough, deleting 2/3 of the site and allowing only 1 forum? Are you expecting a huge influx of new leagues coming? If not i say let people that need extra to have them. I told you guys awhile ago too you can delete the entire SCAA. like a whole year ago lol. Its not needed

Chill Nate, and read my post again, specifically the part that says unless you can prove you need more. AIFF is the only league that has enough traffic to clearly warrant additional subforums, but you currently have 15, and that is still way too many.

...so many leagues have so many redundant not needed forums.

That being the crux of the issue. Too many forums with too few posts. Yes I am being kind of brutal, but hopefully the fact I can skim through the entire forum structure and identify 130-odd forums as underused and candidates for deletion might make you guys think about how you could do things better and more efficiently in your sections.

[simsamerica]

ok, makes sense, just to make sure, I just meant the two, not 3

I kinda go a bit thread happy even if there is no limit so I think one sounds good. Talk to canuck about it and if all goes well I can spend some time next week doing some offseason cleaning (what little offseason i'm giving myself)

[Wacky32]

Ok, I got it.

[mayorm]

I guess this is because of leagues like mine, I have a General Discussion and Results forum each only has one topic

anyway as long as my topics are saved I'm happy to give my seperate forums up for the good of the community. Also the defunct STLL Developement league is done for now so that can be deleted.

[K50]

For the AICS, I'd appreciate it if it looked something like this:
>>Alliance of International Collegiate Sports (AICS)
>>>>Summer season
>>>>Fall season
>>>>Winter season
The general information threads can be moved into the actual AICS forum. I do need the actual three threads for the different seasons, otherwise, it would get severely cluttered. Move baseball and softball into the summer season forum.
Is that okay?

AICS is one of the big issues here. You currently only have 8 threads and 57 posts in there, which is not a good case for more than one forum. I might have a word with you later about the logistical side of things.

Joe, I have had ONE WEEK of actual competition (two after tomorrow) in only two sports. As I said, you can merge all the threads. That would be removing 8 forums... about 1/20 of your issues on the entire site, gone just like that. If I had only one forum, then the organization of a league with over ten sports would be extremely unorganized.

[mayorm]

If I could make a suggestion, but how about merging the BAT forums with the Simcity ones?

That would help free up more space and you wouldn't compromise much material since only 7 topics exisist in the BAT forums

[Joe 90]

Joe, I have had ONE WEEK of actual competition (two after tomorrow) in only two sports. As I said, you can merge all the threads. That would be removing 8 forums... about 1/20 of your issues on the entire site, gone just like that. If I had only one forum, then the organization of a league with over ten sports would be extremely unorganized.

Like I said, I'll discuss the logistical side of the AICS with you later. We have a whole month to sort out what goes where.

If I could make a suggestion, but how about merging the BAT forums with the Simcity ones?

That would help free up more space and you wouldn't compromise much material since only 7 topics exisist in the BAT forums

The whole forum will be hit, but I don't have to run those ones past you first

[mayorm]

The whole forum will be hit, but I don't have to run those ones past you first

Ok, it was sounding to me like only the sports would get cleaned up

[K50]

I have an idea that should remove your problem a lot, for the time being.

Merge the BAT forums into one. That will remove the two subforums (-2, total of 2 gone)

Nate has said for a long time now you can remove the SCAA. That's quite a few gone (-16, total of 18 gone)

Nate left SS completely, so he probably wouldn't mind it if you remove AIFF and SFL. (-21, total of 39 gone)

Merge the AICS threads like I said you could. I've already done this on the other sites. (-8, total of 47 gone)

Attack the In-Hiatus leagues. There are 33 in there, 51 counting all the subforums. That means you could knock out a lot (-51, total of 98 gone)

So, if you did all of that, you could completely wipe away almost half of your problems. And people could just be a little modest when asking for subforums in the future (as in, only one or two, not like twenty or something).

[simsamerica]

And to knock that up to 101, my league too... I think that I might start it up on down the road again but for the immediate future, I over did it and broke the "rules" set by the guide to a successful league, specifically the last one I believe. It became more of a chore than anything. Sorry

[Emperador gran dios]

Hey I was digging around the in-Hiatus leagues folder (for the first time) and I intend to do a different incarnation of that SCI league that existed here but I'm not sure if I'm going to be doing it for the summer of 2012 or 2013 yet (I don't have the time this summer and possibly next summer to do it but I would like to at some point) so if it is possible to hold on to that, all I will need is the SCI Forum I can post everything in that one forum no need to get fancy with all those sub forums

[simsamerica]

Hmmm... maybe save the pages to your computer? That way you'll definatly have it.

[Emperador gran dios]

Hmmm... maybe save the pages to your computer? That way you'll definatly have it.

well all I need from it really is the bare bones forum and the logo which I think is pretty much the only thing right in there (like seriously I'm reading that and it's giving me a headache it's so obvious that it's previous owner knows NOTHING about DCI... but -sigh- not the point) and the only reason I don't have the time to do it this summer or next summer is because I'm marching with a corp (maybe next season too) I'll know for sure come December which is about the time I'd start the pre-season and I don't want a situation to come up where I finally get the chance to start the league and the forum has locked starting new leagues because all the forums are filled that's just the situation I want to avoid this way if I have the barebones skeleton in place I can start using it when I have the time

[simsamerica]

ok... I think If we follow the K50 point play (sorry couldn't resist ) That sounds reasonable... now to convince Joe and Canuck

[mayorm]

well like I said before, you can merge my results, and General Discussion as long as the topics are saved

[Joe 90]

You've still got quite a way to go K50... I'm up to 171

[K50]

You've still got quite a way to go K50... I'm up to 171

Why that many?

Most of the things I've brought up have already been requested (AICS, SCAA), are no longer needed (AIFF, SFL), or aren't visited enough to have subforums (BAT section, In Hiatus leagues) in the first place. And, you wouldn't have to worry about another one of these threads for two to three years.

You could try to ask people to think more modestly and consolidate (a good start: getting rid of a forum called "sign-ups" and "general information") but I don't think you need to get rid of 171 forums right now

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