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Feelingpink
29th-September-2006, 01:14 AM
In the past few months, it seems that the forum has grown exponentially (or whatever it is when it's a lot all at once - perhaps a mathematician can help out here). I used to be able to pretty much keep up with most of the dance threads, sometimes posting on the chit-chat. Now, there are so many new posts every time I log in (a number of times a day, usually), that there's no way to do that. How are others finding this? Or, is this something that's been posted about in 10 threads already and I've missed them? :sick: Is there a number of posts or perhaps active members above which our interraction with the forum changes and we can't have the same relationship we once had?

El Salsero Gringo
29th-September-2006, 01:18 AM
In the past few months, it seems that the forum has grown exponentially (or whatever it is when it's a lot all at once - perhaps a mathematician can help out here). I used to be able to pretty much keep up with most of the dance threads, sometimes posting on the chit-chat. Now, there are so many new posts every time I log in (a number of times a day, usually), that there's no way to do that. How are others finding this? Or, is this something that's been posted about in 10 threads already and I've missed them? :sick: Is there a number of posts or perhaps active members above which our interraction with the forum changes and we can't have the same relationship we once had?We should all go back to the good-ol-days when everyone was nice to each other, when Andy McGregor and ChrisA used to post, and DavidJames wasn't a name known to all. Then you could read all the new posts (both of them, that is) by logging in once a day. Life was so much simpler then.

Just read the threads with the most interesting titles and forget the rest.

fletch
29th-September-2006, 08:06 AM
Just read the threads with the most interesting titles and forget the rest.


Glade you explained :rolleyes:

Cruella
29th-September-2006, 08:12 AM
Or you could spend all day on here, so you could read the new posts as they happened. :whistle:

Beowulf
29th-September-2006, 08:42 AM
read the interesting topics, skim the other ones then use the "Mark all forums read" button.. it's a great thing ;)

Feelingpink
29th-September-2006, 08:57 AM
read the interesting topics, skim the other ones then use the "Mark all forums read" button.. it's a great thing ;)I do indeed use the "mark all forums read" button ... but how do you tell what is interesting (without reading it first?) I'm not DJ you know ... I can't just spend all day reading this forum - have work to do :blush:

David Bailey
29th-September-2006, 09:07 AM
How are others finding this?
Difficult - and it's a good point.


The 50,000th post (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showpost.php?p=50000)was in January 2004 - nearly 2 years after launch date.
The 100,000th post (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showpost.php?p=100000) was in January 2005. So volume more-or-less doubled.
The 200,000th post (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showpost.php?p=200000) was in February 2006. So volume more-or-less doubled again.
The 250,000th post (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showpost.php?p=250000) was in July 2006. So it looks like we're running at about 100,000 posts a year now - probably more.


300-400+ posts a day is extremely busy for any forum.


Is there a number of posts or perhaps active members above which our interraction with the forum changes and we can't have the same relationship we once had?
Yes, definitely. Larger communities feel different to smaller ones. You know less people, and sub-groups form, with different interests.

In terms of "how can you keep up", I used to read everything, but I can't now. So I now have the following technique:

Click "New posts"
Open a new tab (Firefox browser) for threads I want to read
Click "Mark forums read" for all the others


Hope that helps :)

TheTramp
29th-September-2006, 10:15 AM
I used to read everything too. But that's impossible now. Selective reading, as other people has said, is good. And yes, you might well miss some things that are interesting/funny/helpful. But that's life...

Though, I do wish the 'mark forum read' link still worked. Would make the way I read the forum much easier....

Lynn
29th-September-2006, 10:32 AM
I do the skim thing, identify interesting threads, then 'mark read' button.

Which ones to look at? I tend to go by thread title for threads I haven't read before, or revisit threads I know I find interesting.

I also look at who has last posted as that can give me an idea if the thread is still on a dance related discussion (in which case I will look at the new posts) or has wandered into chit chat and become pretty much identical to several other threads. :rolleyes:

TheTramp
29th-September-2006, 10:44 AM
I also look at who has last posted as that can give me an idea if the thread is still on a dance related discussion (in which case I will look at the new posts) or has wandered into chit chat and become pretty much identical to several other threads. :rolleyes:

:yeah:

Now. I wonder which people you look for to carry on the posting on the discussion that was intended! Or the ones that you look for who don't! And if your list is different in any way from mine.... :rolleyes:

Lynn
29th-September-2006, 11:14 AM
Now. I wonder which people you look for to carry on the posting on the discussion that was intended! Or the ones that you look for who don't! And if your list is different in any way from mine.... :rolleyes:Well I did click again on this thread after your post.

David Bailey
29th-September-2006, 11:20 AM
Does anyone else now get a sense of satisfaction, not disappointment, when they see the "Sorry, there are no new threads to view." dialog? :)

TheTramp
29th-September-2006, 11:21 AM
Does anyone else now get a sense of satisfaction, not disappointment, when they see the "Sorry, there are no new threads to view." dialog? :)

:yeah:

Or New Posts since your last visit: 0

Lynn
29th-September-2006, 11:28 AM
Does anyone else now get a sense of satisfaction, not disappointment, when they see the "Sorry, there are no new threads to view." dialog? :)If you want to achieve that sense of satisfaction its easy - just click the 'mark forums read' button and ta-da! No new threads to view. As soon as there are new threads - just click the button again.

Helpful, arent't I? :innocent:

David Bailey
29th-September-2006, 11:35 AM
If you want to achieve that sense of satisfaction its easy - just click the 'mark forums read' button and ta-da! No new threads to view. As soon as there are new threads - just click the button again.

Helpful, arent't I? :innocent:
Cheat :na:

bigdjiver
29th-September-2006, 12:48 PM
Cheat :na:I try to treat this as a group of forums. The singletons sofa as one I never read. Chit-chat I tend to try and avoid. I ocasionally make some some small effort to try and keep small-talk out of topics that actually might have some significance for the development of the dance. The exodus of serious posters and the absence of most people of influence shows how unsuccessful I and others have been.

Tessalicious
29th-September-2006, 01:15 PM
I think some kind (and cheeky) moderator should merge the four 'word association' threads with the 'limerick' and 'TPBM' threads without telling anyone

Dreadful Scathe
29th-September-2006, 01:45 PM
I also look at who has last posted as that can give me an idea if the thread is still on a dance related discussion (in which case I will look at the new posts) or has wandered into chit chat and become pretty much identical to several other threads. :rolleyes:

Oi. Cheek.

Last post by me - bet you dont ever read this :)

Personally, I stick mostly to Chit Chat and venture into Social Events if there is one coming up. Having not danced for a while I have nothing to say on the subject :) When I start dancing more, im sure ill have semething to say ;)

Also, I especially enjoy replying to strongly stated opinions - e.g. tiggstours, martinharper, davidjames, ESG ... wherever they may be etc...

most of the interesting people ive never met ;) (except MH :) )

stewart38
29th-September-2006, 01:54 PM
We should all go back to the good-ol-days when everyone was nice to each other, when Andy McGregor and ChrisA used to post, and DavidJames wasn't a name known to all. Then you could read all the new posts (both of them, that is) by logging in once a day. Life was so much simpler then.

Just read the threads with the most interesting titles and forget the rest.

Agree we had one thread about smoking and some people wound MrGregor up

you knew where you stood then

Donna
29th-September-2006, 03:10 PM
What I tend to do to keep up is subscribe to my favourite threads, check user cp everyday and voila! Then you check the most recent threads started since the ones you subscribed to you either add them to your list or you don't. Simple.

Cruella
29th-September-2006, 03:32 PM
most of the interesting people ive never met ;) (except MH :) )
Thanks!:rolleyes:

Lynn
29th-September-2006, 03:41 PM
Last post by me - bet you dont ever read this :) :na:
Also, I especially enjoy replying to strongly stated opinions - e.g. tiggstours, martinharper, davidjames, ESG ... wherever they may be etc...Yes, some of your 'debates', have made interesting reading.

I do miss the world domination attempts by S.M.U.R.F though.:( But I guess you need an equally evil genius as an adversary.

ducasi
29th-September-2006, 08:18 PM
I skim stuff I'm not interested in, and wait till there's a big weekender on and no-one's posting to catch up proper. ;)

Lory
29th-September-2006, 09:21 PM
I do miss the world domination attempts by S.M.U.R.F

I miss Agony smurf :(

Franck
30th-September-2006, 12:46 AM
In terms of "how can you keep up", I used to read everything, but I can't now. So I now have the following technique:

Click "New posts"
Open a new tab (Firefox browser) for threads I want to read
Click "Mark forums read" for all the others


Hope that helps :)That's pretty much my technique too, and to help further in your quest for a simpler, more tailor-made forum, I have implemented a new feature (available to Silver Members only - Go on subscribe, you know you want to :wink: ), it is now possible to select forum areas that will not show on the 'New Posts' or 'Recent Posts' searches.

In practise, it means that if you don't want to see 15 threads from the 'Fun & Games' area when you look for new posts, or you want to avoid all the birthday wishes, or you hate rude discussions and would rather not peek 'Upstairs', all you have to do is go to your control panel and click on 'Edit Options' (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/profile.php?do=editoptions) and you will be able to select which areas you want to ignore in your new posts searches.
These areas will still be visible if you browse the forum normally, i.e. nothing is hidden from you, but it acts as a powerful filter, and should save you all time as well as concentrate more 'serious' posts for those that want them.

All areas in the 'Let's talk about dance' cannot be selected as they are the main reason behind the forum!

I hope this improves your Ceroc Scotland Forum experience! :flower:

Gadget
30th-September-2006, 12:58 AM
:waycool: brilliant - been looking for that feature for a while :D :respect:

ducasi
30th-September-2006, 08:20 AM
[...] it is now possible to select forum areas that will not show on the 'New Posts' or 'Recent Posts' searches.

[...] all you have to do is go to your control panel and click on 'Edit Options' (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/profile.php?do=editoptions) and you will be able to select which areas you want to ignore in your new posts searches. [...] I went there, and found that "Chit-chat" had been pre-selected for me – and sure enough, there was no chit-chat threads in my previous "New Posts" list...

Unfortunately I want to see the Chit-Chat, as I'm sure many others do. Do all silver members now ignore chit-chat by default?

DavidY
30th-September-2006, 09:15 AM
I went there, and found that "Chit-chat" had been pre-selected for me – and sure enough, there was no chit-chat threads in my previous "New Posts" list...

Unfortunately I want to see the Chit-Chat, as I'm sure many others do. Do all silver members now ignore chit-chat by default?:yeah: I just looked and I had the same setting as well.

I think it would be better if nothing was ignored by default - some people won't read this thread and won't know why they can't see Chit Chat in searches any more...

Emma
30th-September-2006, 09:57 AM
I long ago gave up attempting to keep up. Once you've accepted that you can't everything becomes just fine ;)

I skim through the sections that are likely to interest me, and then read other bits when I have more time on my hands.

I'll spend some time attempting to understand how to ignore things later. I'm sure that it's really very simple and only a person with a headcold would look at it and be deeply confused.....:sick:

Franck
30th-September-2006, 10:35 AM
I went there, and found that "Chit-chat" had been pre-selected for me – and sure enough, there was no chit-chat threads in my previous "New Posts" list...Sorry guys, that was a set-up error.
Should be fixed now.

DavidY
30th-September-2006, 10:51 AM
Thanks Franck.

A couple more observations:
* Does everyone know that if you want to select multiple entries you use the Ctrl key to select them? (at least that's how I do it in Windows + IE; I don't know how widely this applies to other platforms). I believe it's a standard method but probably one that isn't used that often so I'm not sure if everyone will know about it?
* One section which some might want to exclude is "Take it outside" - is there any reason why this one doesn't appear on the list? (Maybe it's excluded automatically?)

Lory
30th-September-2006, 12:33 PM
:waycool: brilliant - been looking for that feature for a while :D :respect:

:yeah: I just need to move the 'Singletons sofa' into 'fun and games' and i'm sorted :devil: :whistle:

(don't panic, i won't do it really :innocent: )

ducasi
30th-September-2006, 12:36 PM
Thanks Franck. :yeah:


* Does everyone know that if you want to select multiple entries you use the Ctrl key to select them? (at least that's how I do it in Windows + IE; I don't know how widely this applies to other platforms). I believe it's a standard method but probably one that isn't used that often so I'm not sure if everyone will know about it? On the Mac is the "command" key (the one next to the space bar.)


* One section which some might want to exclude is "Take it outside" - is there any reason why this one doesn't appear on the list? (Maybe it's excluded automatically?) I hope it's not automatically excluded. I'm sure there was a post in the "having a go" thread this morning which I was shown...

TheTramp
30th-September-2006, 12:51 PM
:yeah: I just need to move the 'Singletons sofa' into 'fun and games' and i'm sorted :devil: :whistle:

(don't panic, i won't do it really :innocent: )

Yeah. Cos it's not a game. And it's not funny. So it wouldn't fit! :devil:

Lynn
30th-September-2006, 01:00 PM
Cool. Though depends on what mood I'm in. Sometimes I want to read 'chit chat' and lots of frivolous stuff. So now I can turn this option on/off according to what I feel like viewing.

(Then again a part of me might wonder what I'm missing...)

ducasi
30th-September-2006, 01:06 PM
More useful would be an "ignore thread" option. :)

Alice
30th-September-2006, 11:17 PM
More useful would be an "ignore thread" option. :)
That would be good...
I don't read any of the geeky stuff (cos I can't understand it:blush: ) for example... it would good if you could just mark certain threads as read but not the whole lot...:nice:

David Bailey
1st-October-2006, 09:41 AM
:yeah: I just need to move the 'Singletons sofa' into 'fun and games' and i'm sorted :devil: :whistle:
:clap: :respect: :kiss: Brilliant idea! :worthy: