POLL: What to do about "General Threads"?

[Weeters 1860]

I just want to put this out there to gauge the general temperature of the community regarding so-called "General Threads".

 

For those who are relatively "new" to the site (and in this case, "new" means like, joining between 9 years ago and today) you're probably aware that, across the forum, there are a number of ongoing topics that have no real point other than serve as a central point to discuss a general overall topic, such as a station. For example, the Out and About thread, or the station-specific general threads in the New York City board.

 

These threads were spawned as a solution to a problem that existed at the time: people were posting irrelevant and off-topic nuggets of information in places where they didn't belong. ANY thread about WNBC became a place to post something that wasn't applicable to the topic at hand, like severe weather coverage notes in a thread about a different anchor filling in for Sue Simmons. So, the management decided to create these "general" threads, where information that was not worthy of its own thread could be posted. The idea was that anything "important" would get its own thread, and anything minor would be in the "general" thread.

 

Fast forward to today, and the vast majority of the site's activity seems to happen in a handful of threads, which have grown into hundreds of pages in length, and have several discussions running concurrently. This makes it hard to find information, and results in stuff getting posted multiple times to multiple places because everyone's opinion of "important enough for a thread" is different.

 

I no longer feel like this solution is effective. It has created more problems than it was meant to fix. Much of this stems from the lack of moderation the site went through at the time these threads were started. Had there been more moderation when these threads started, I think the example could have been set as to what is appropriate to put in them, and what is not. We already banned the creation of new "general threads", but the existing ones have continued to grow.

 

So, I'm proposing a plan:

• Establish a timeline to phase out existing "general" threads (including the entire NYC "Station Chatter" board.) 
• Create new, targeted "general" threads for reoccurring "small-time" happenings, such as talent moves/retirements.
• Begin a push to use the site software's ability to "tag" a thread as a way to organize threads on a particular station, company, or subject.

Threads that have a broad focus on a particular subject (such as the thread about the effects of COVID-19 on talent placement, or a station group being placed up for sale) would still be allowed, but these general "post anything about WNBC here"-type threads would be spun down.

 

Again, this poll is to just gauge community opinion and is not a binding resolution. This project may work its way into a broader sitewide project that would help define more specific areas to discuss specific topics.

[newspulse 19]

I feel like some of the "major" long-lasting ones that are active enough to justify it can be consolidated, otherwise i don't think that we'll lose much by doing away with them if i'm honest lol.

[Action Newsroom 1200]

As much as I'll miss them, I see no problem with losing the General Threads. They served their purposes, but the forum is evolving for the better and this new floor plan sounds like it.

[TVLurker 178]

I say yes.

 

I want to see what'd happen if Weeter's plan was put to motion.

[Nelson R. 568]

 I think the Out and About thread should be split up into calendar years. Start a new one every January.

[dman748 1255]

Hate to bump a stagnant thread but, one idea I had in mind is this and see if this would be a good idea or not.

 

As suggested above, the Out & About thread in its current forum should be retired and replaced with an Out & About that's on Calendar years with each one retired and archived and replaced with a new one on January 1 of the new year.

 

I had an idea in mind that would expand upon that idea and incorporate it to TVNT in general.

 

When it comes to any media mergers and acquisitions if it's something that occured within the last year and it was completed before the turn of the new year it should be closed and archived however there would be a few exceptions to that. For example if there was a merger in the process of obtaining federal approval those threads as well as anything in the speculatron thread related to the deal can carry over to the new year as normal but for threads such as the Nexstar-Tribune thread that can be closed and archived as that deal was completed before the end of 2019 therefore I don't think it makes sense to keep the thread open for replies when that deal was completed long time ago.

 

Thank y'all for what you do to make this community an incredible community to be apart of.

[DENDude 197]

I agree with oknewsguy & Nelson R why not do an out & about thread by year.