I'm relatively "new" here, as a member. I often used to browse the forums as a guest, but I joined for the member benefits (PMs, thread subscriptions and the ability to post).
One of the reasons I never joined before was because of the sheer magnitude of information. I see threads with over five hundred pages, and I don't want to read through them all. This also kept me from wanting to join in conversations, because I was afraid that I would miss some rule that was added on page 478. Reading the first few pages doesn't help, because unless one has the time to read through the whole thing, the posting methods have changed dramatically.
One method that we use at the forum I mod (GameWinners.com) is known as "splitting." The process involves mod-only functions: once the thread reaches 100 posts, a moderator of the forum selects the all the posts in the thread (except the most recent) and chooses "Move Posts" from a drop-down list at the bottom of the screen. This leads to a page where moderators choose to move the selected posts to a new thread in the same forum, which is given a title (usually the original name with "split" at the end) and then closed.
I'm curious to know whether or not moderators here use the same method. If not, would the staff at least discuss implementing it? I'm sure that it's possible to do it here, as SPPf uses vBulletin just like GameWinners. It would severely cut down on the number of pages new users (and existing users) would have to wade through. Also, before people complain about important posts and elements scattered throughout the thread being lost, the splitting process wouldn't necessarily have to be all posts -- just ones considered irrelevant to the topic (such as one-word replies, SPAM posts, and mini-mods).
I would like to hear the staff's opinion on this.
One of the reasons I never joined before was because of the sheer magnitude of information. I see threads with over five hundred pages, and I don't want to read through them all. This also kept me from wanting to join in conversations, because I was afraid that I would miss some rule that was added on page 478. Reading the first few pages doesn't help, because unless one has the time to read through the whole thing, the posting methods have changed dramatically.
One method that we use at the forum I mod (GameWinners.com) is known as "splitting." The process involves mod-only functions: once the thread reaches 100 posts, a moderator of the forum selects the all the posts in the thread (except the most recent) and chooses "Move Posts" from a drop-down list at the bottom of the screen. This leads to a page where moderators choose to move the selected posts to a new thread in the same forum, which is given a title (usually the original name with "split" at the end) and then closed.
I'm curious to know whether or not moderators here use the same method. If not, would the staff at least discuss implementing it? I'm sure that it's possible to do it here, as SPPf uses vBulletin just like GameWinners. It would severely cut down on the number of pages new users (and existing users) would have to wade through. Also, before people complain about important posts and elements scattered throughout the thread being lost, the splitting process wouldn't necessarily have to be all posts -- just ones considered irrelevant to the topic (such as one-word replies, SPAM posts, and mini-mods).
I would like to hear the staff's opinion on this.