Parkz Forums rearranged

[Richard]

I'm sure as you've probably seen, the Parkz forums now look very different. As we approach our 8th anniversary, the most drastic change in the forums' history has been made. Literally since day one the forums have been divided up into individual theme parks. After a lot of deliberation with the other guys on the staff here it's been decided to consolidate the forums significantly. The fact is we have had park forums with only occasional posts, others which might have one or two active topics in any given week. Even the most active forums rarely had more than 20 or so topics in use in any given month. The result was though the forums remain consistently active, with the discussion spread so thin it often appears that there's a lot less happening than there is. As such, all the individual theme park forums have been merged into one Theme Park Discussion forum. With the current level of activity every active topic of the past month fits onto one page -- compared to many forums where topics from that day sprawl over several pages, I don't think there will be any significant issues like this here, at least not for a few thousand more members. I do appreciate that some enjoyed the sanctuary that the individual forums offered and can accept that, for instance, the Wonderland forum was a remaining link to the long since closed park, but the end result is that our theme park discussion is now just one big playground. Everyone is of course as free as ever to discuss anything they wish to, and I personally believe that this will open things up a lot more now that there isn't any separation -- e.g. comparison topics. In light of this, we simply ask that topics are given clear and relevant titles and where applicable mention the relevant park/s etc. either in the title or the subtitle section. We've also merged Travel forum into Chit-Chat. If you're looking to post about travel you're welcome to post either in the Theme Park Discussion or Chit-Chat.

[GoGoBoy]

Interesting move - will be good to see how it plays out over the next little while and give feedback. It feels like these forums have been around for longer than 8 years. What year did Total Thrills start up?

[themeparkgc]

^ In 2002 according to Parkz's About page. First post on these forums was made by Richard on Jun 16 2002, 08:40 AM in this discussion but it appears by the post that discussions were going on before this. I think this is a great change. The forum index page looks much simpler. I just thought you could probably move the site issues forum up so that it is under the same category as the announcements.

[Richard]

Before the current forums started there was a version that existed for a few months and attracted maybe a few dozen members and a few hundred posts before the lot was lost in a server move. From memory I'd say they started February or March 2002.

[rappa]

After only a few days I can say how much I like this format more, definitely the right decision. It's so quick now to jump through every active thread and keep up to date. Good Stuff

[stardust]

It might be better with a section for Australian parks then another for international? Well I don't post very much because the parks are never building things now so it doesn't matter to me

[joz]

Thanks for the feedback. Basically we decided against an international parks section because when we had one it was pretty much empty, and one of the things we wanted to do was cut down on empty forums. If we had enough interest we'd obviously look at putting in a separate section, though I think it would take a huge increase in traffic to justify it. If you want to discuss a foreign park, then start the topic in the Theme Park discussion forum, its that easy! Most of our active members have travelled to international parks and we have a couple international lurkers who will pipe up at right thread so there's absolutely nothing stopping anyone from starting a topic about an overseas park. So the question is, one month on, how are people finding the changes?

Edited June 7, 2010 by joz

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

love it. nuff said.