I have cleaned up the forums for the upcoming year. Here is a list of changes:
I have removed some of the less popular forums and consolidated all their content into "General Curling" forum. There wasn't enough traffic to justify having separate sections for them. This should make things easier to find, and easier to navigate. The site is not as busy as it once was, so it doesn't make sense to have a huge number of forums. There are now really only 7 forums for people: CCA, General Curling, Ice Makers, USA, Junior, Team News and Rumors and WCT. Finding where to post is simple: if it doesn't have its own category, post it in General Curling.
Secondly, the posts will now *not* show up on the front page of InTheHack, unless *you* vote them there. You vote by signing in to InTheHack and clicking on the up arrow in the posts (you see the arrow when you read them, you can click on the arrow only when you're signed in). When enough people vote a post up, it gets put onto the front page. This is your way of saying "Hey, this is something that people should really be aware of." However, blog posts continue to be promoted to the front page by default. Which brings me to...
Only certain people at InTheHack can blog on the site. If you want to be a blogger, then you'll need to send an email to me and ask to be added. I'll invite people as they make contributions on the site. If you post many high quality replies and discussions, then I'll let you be a blogger on InTheHack. I have a few big named bloggers that you'll notice in the upcoming year. Personally, I prefer blogs to forum posts, as the discussions tend to be more focused with better comments, which is why I'm restricting the people who blog on this site.
So, the bottom line is this: less forums, easier to find things, anyone can vote an item to the front page, bloggers are on the front page by default, if you want to blog send me an email, and if you have any questions, post them in this thread.
I have cleaned up the forums for the upcoming year. Here is a list of changes:
I have removed some of the less popular forums and consolidated all their content into "General Curling" forum. There wasn't enough traffic to justify having separate sections for them. This should make things easier to find, and easier to navigate. The site is not as busy as it once was, so it doesn't make sense to have a huge number of forums. There are now really only 7 forums for people: CCA, General Curling, Ice Makers, USA, Junior, Team News and Rumors and WCT. Finding where to post is simple: if it doesn't have its own category, post it in General Curling.
Secondly, the posts will now *not* show up on the front page of InTheHack, unless *you* vote them there. You vote by signing in to InTheHack and clicking on the up arrow in the posts (you see the arrow when you read them, you can click on the arrow only when you're signed in). When enough people vote a post up, it gets put onto the front page. This is your way of saying "Hey, this is something that people should really be aware of." However, blog posts continue to be promoted to the front page by default. Which brings me to...
Only certain people at InTheHack can blog on the site. If you want to be a blogger, then you'll need to send an email to me and ask to be added. I'll invite people as they make contributions on the site. If you post many high quality replies and discussions, then I'll let you be a blogger on InTheHack. I have a few big named bloggers that you'll notice in the upcoming year. Personally, I prefer blogs to forum posts, as the discussions tend to be more focused with better comments, which is why I'm restricting the people who blog on this site.
So, the bottom line is this: less forums, easier to find things, anyone can vote an item to the front page, bloggers are on the front page by default, if you want to blog send me an email, and if you have any questions, post them in this thread.
Thanks,
Mike