Re-ordering/consolidation of Boards

Anything about use of this forum : NOT about cycling
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slowster
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Posts: 4629
Joined: 7 Jul 2017, 10:37am

Re-ordering/consolidation of Boards

Post by slowster »

Do people think it would be worth reviewing the number of different Boards, possibly consolidating some of them and/or changing the order of appearance in the Board Index?

I do not want to suggest change only for change's sake (if that is what others consider the result would be), nor to make work unnecessarily for admin, nor to irritate people who are happy with the way things are. Nevertheless, I thought I would raise this issue to see what other people's opinions are.

I appreciate that many forum users may use a view other than the Board Index, e.g. Active Topics, but I suspect that many just use the Board Index and tend to patronise a small number of Boards (and avoid others). I think it is best to have no more Boards than necessary, and to keep the Board Index as short as reasonably possible.

I also think it might be worthwhile positively discriminating in favour of some of the Boards by moving them up the order, to try to catch the eye of more forum users, including non-members of the forum who might be more encouraged to join and contribute if their interests seemed to be valued more highly by virtue of appearing higher up in the Index.

In no particular order my suggestions are as follows:

1. Instead of a separate Board for 'Offered for Free', just include free items in the For Sale Boards. Alternatively have two sub-Boards for free items under 'For Sale - bits of bikes, etc.' and 'For Sale - Complete bikes ONLY..'.

2. 'Electric pedal cycles' similarly to be a sub-Board under 'Bikes & Bits – Technical section'

3. 'Non-standard, Human Powered Vehicles' to be a sub-Board under 'Bikes & Bits – Technical section'

3. 'Lands End to John O'Groats' to be a sub-Board under 'Touring & Expedition'

4. 'Proposed Membership Changes - Discussion' to be a sub-Board under 'Cycling UK Topics and Discussions'

5. 'Cycling UK Member Groups and Affiliates' to be a sub-Board under 'Cycling UK Topics and Discussions'

6. Move 'Family Cycling' and 'Women's cycling interests' higher up the Index. These Boards have little activity despite the fact that they cover large percentages of the population. Making them more prominent might help to drive more visits to those Boards and prompt more posts (i.e. 'snowball' effect).

7. Move 'Off-road Cycling' higher up the Index. Whether it's gravel, MTB, bridleways or rough-stuff, off-road cycling is a major and growing part of leisure cycling, and it is also a major focus of CUK activity, e.g. King Alfred's Way and access campaigning. I think this forum is overlooked by many off-road cyclists for whom it ought to be a natural home.

Incidentally, I think CUK itself could help matters by improving its own use of the Boards. When the King Alfred's Way was developed and launched, the thread on here was not started by CUK, and it was left to one person involved in its development to post some replies. Similarly the West Kernow Way thread was started not by CUK, but by a member with a link to an article on bikepacking.com (instead of CUK's own website/article). So having done all the hard work of creating the route and the guides, most of the social media activity has been on other forums. CUK could have actively promoted these routes on this forum and made it the 'go to' resource for people interested in them, e.g. with photographs from the route testers, answers to questions about suitable bikes, accommodation, fitness etc. That would in turn make it much more likely that people reading the thread and asking for advice would join CUK. Instead the majority of those discussions took place on other forums. Similarly with the Campaigning Board CUK leaves it to forum members to start new threads with links to CUK announcements.

8. Move 'Campaigning & Public Policy' below Boards like Touring, Off-road cycling etc. Campaigning is very important, but I think it is better to make the pleasure aspects of cycling more prominent on the Board.

9. Rename 'Health and fitness' to 'Health, fitness and disability'.
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