"OFFICIAL" Post your idea of how you would like to see Grassroots Central broken up.

[LibertasPraesidium]

New posts pretty much does what I have been doing manually, plus on the main page there is a recent posts area that shows the most recent posts on the forums overall, then the main page area for videos and banners. I like the way it is and now I will be able to access even more of the discussions in sub-forums because of the new posts button. Only suggestion is to Advertise the button. That way when user traffic goes up it will be easier for even new members to jump into the mix of the discussions that are currently going on.

 

[harikaried]

Feedback wasn't as positive as I thought it would be so I dropped it.

Feedback for what exactly? People were negative about not being able to get "everything" grassroots related on one page? (I.e., they don't like "new posts" because it contains non-campaign stuff?)

But not doing anything doesn't solve the problem of not being able to conduct actual grassroots campaign discussion.

Allowing tags seems like the best option to address both groups. People can still just view Grassroots Central to get everything. Those who want to start a grassroots discussion or participate in a planning can filter out the news posts by focusing on a tag.

I would probably actually merge "Fundraising Planning & Promotion Techniques" into Grassroots Central and introduce a tag for that.

Suggested tags:

- Activism (organize efforts, promotion, fundraising, etc.)
- Media (talk about news: tv, radio, paper, etc.)
- Poll (poll results as well as online polls)
- Discuss (catch-all for rest, e.g., personal stories -- stuff without web links)

If not 4, then merge Activism and Discuss. But make sure there's a default tag for all posts, so people can focus on a single tag and filter out the others if they want.

Edit: Oh, seems like there might not need to be a default/Discuss. There is a view option for "(no prefix)" although that's harder to click.

 

[ChristianAnarchist]

Too confusing for this old brain... I usually go straight to Grassroots Central and seldom stray from there. I find the hottest topics and latest news there. If you break the forum apart I will have more difficulty finding the latest and greatest hot topics and I probably won't visit as often... (just sayin...)

 

[helmuth_hubener]

I oppose the split.

 

[bobmurph]

It would require a lot of programming, but I think upvoting/downvoting of threads and posts is the best way to self-police message boards. Instead of accumulating a high post count, accumulating points prevents people from creating redundant content and encourages good content.

 

[JoshLowry]

Will implement the tags/thread prefixes for RPGC instead of splitting it up.

It would require a lot of programming, but I think upvoting/downvoting of threads and posts is the best way to self-police message boards.

I concur.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I like it how it is, all your news in one place, it's like Drudge.

However I think it might be a little better if it were restructured so that threads started out in their original subforums, and then got voted up or down, the winners appearing on the main page.

This is sort of the way the DP does it, and I think they have been a little more successful than RPF has. My only objection to the DP is that the moderators rule with an iron fist, and essentially have direct control over 90% of what their visitors read. I think we could do it better.

Edit: I guess this site sort of already does direct popular threads to the main page. I am such a noob. The thing is that I never go to the main page, I just go to "Grassroots Central". I think a lot of people are the same way.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

It would require a lot of programming, but I think upvoting/downvoting of threads and posts is the best way to self-police message boards. Instead of accumulating a high post count, accumulating points prevents people from creating redundant content and encourages good content.

I object. I think that upvoting or downvoting threads leads to an insulated "yes man" environment where contrary opinions are squashed and wake up calls ignored. Besides, you will get a lot of pandering for upvotes, just look at what happened to Youtube.

 

[SonofThunder]

Top board: General Forum - default, most popular
2nd: Grassroots Central

Then keep all the other boards the same.

 

[Xenophage]

Multiple members are requesting we break up grassroots central.

What would you like to see?

I was thinking breaking it into these three sections.

1. Grassroots Activism

2. Speculation and Predictions

3. Media and News (also polls and data)

Would like to see Media Spin remain it's own subforum.

I'd like a separate subforum for polling data, personally.

 

[Sullivan*]

I didn't read the entire 15 pages of replies, but my only interest would be to see the Recent Discussions scrollbar on the homepage be attached to more meaningful discussions about policy. I think it would help guide forum newcomers to much more substantive discussions, and with so very many effective people speaking as eloquently as they do. As a much more recent entrant to the forums, it's really all I ever pay attention to, besides the center announcement section. I enjoy seeing a lot of the media-related appearences and such, but I doubt it's a bad thing to exclude them from the front page and they have their own subforum. In fact, I'd go as far to say that it would be more tidy.

 

[PastaRocket848]

i strongly oppose the split. way too much subdivision already. shouldn't have more than 3 sub-forums for something with such a specific cause. grassroots, general politics, hot topics... that's all it should be. everything else is clutter that just spreads the info out where no one can find it.

 

[nowwearefree]

the only thing i would suggest is
there to be a thread for videos updates
and any videos will be post in the thread, it will make it much easier for people to get updates without going through all the pages

 

[parocks]

something should be done. Grassroots Central has no Grassroots activities at all on it. Maybe split off Grassroots activities to something else.

General Chatter. "What Ron Paul should do" can be its own category.

What really should be done is
1) Identify the most common stuff on the board that is most certainly not "Grassroots Central". Create a thread for that. And have moderators standing by to move those things that are clogging up the board to the new place.
or
2) General Ron Paul talk. We have Grassroots Central, which people think means General Ron Paul talk. And General Politics, which isn't Ron Paul.

 

[Ronulus]

There should be more of a "Ron Paul General". Grassroots should be more about grassroots activity.

 

[jct74]

What puzzles me is all the people posting in this thread that seem to be unaware of the New Posts button. It's at the top of the page under the RPF logo and if you click it it lists all the recent posts on the forum in order by the time of the last post regardless of the forum they were posted in, so you don't have to waste time navigating to a bunch of different forums to see the latest posts. Please everyone try it, it makes reading the forums so much easier and you won't miss important information.

 

[PastaRocket848]

What puzzles me is all the people posting in this thread that seem to be unaware of the New Posts button. It's at the top of the page under the RPF logo and if you click it it lists all the recent posts on the forum in order by the time of the last post regardless of the forum they were posted in, so you don't have to waste time navigating to a bunch of different forums to see the latest posts. Please everyone try it, it makes reading the forums so much easier and you won't miss important information.

true... but it's overwhelming. i'd much rather have 3 distinct sub-forums, that way you know exactly where to go depending on what you are interested in. right now there is just waaaaaaaay too much subdivision. it's a forum about a single presidential candidate. it's not like we're a motorcycle or car forum that has to have subs for every make and model. simple wins in UI/UX, every time.

 

[Ronulus]

What puzzles me is all the people posting in this thread that seem to be unaware of the New Posts button. It's at the top of the page under the RPF logo and if you click it it lists all the recent posts on the forum in order by the time of the last post regardless of the forum they were posted in, so you don't have to waste time navigating to a bunch of different forums to see the latest posts. Please everyone try it, it makes reading the forums so much easier and you won't miss important information.

It's what I use. i don't know how others find it confusing. Sure there is some stuff that isn't ron paul that gets on there. But the stuff that gets bumped and stays active will be on the top so you won't miss out on important stuff.

 

[Drex]

Sounds great

 

[Texan4Life]

This is the only section of the forum that I check, really, so I'd prefer it to stay as it is.

There are probably far more lurkers like myself than actual posters, and most of us probably don't have the time to look through multiple sections every day.

+1 i rarely look at other sections. i prefer to just refresh the grassroots central for my day to day ron paul fix.