Changes to the forums, please read

[Brock Beauchamp]

First, we're moving all non-MiLB article threads to the front page news forum. No longer will they appear in this forum. As a result, we're asking for some relatively small changes to populate the baseball forums with more threads now that article threads will no longer be here.

1. No more megathreads that are meant to last more than 3-4 days. Draft day, winter meetings, etc. megathreads are fine. No more offseason megathreads or threads that are meant to last weeks or months. If a megathread is started, a mod will either change the title to something more specific or lock it, their call. None of this applies to the political forum; you monkeys can continue to swing from the chandelier as much as you want over there.

2. If someone necros a thread from more than a couple of weeks ago, it will be split off into a new thread. After a few weeks, the old thread usually has wildly outdated information on the first page (or pages) of posts. If that much time has lapsed and the thread is still worth posting in, the information has changed enough to warrant its own thread so please just start a new thread. Mods will split off necroed threads into a new thread and lock the old one.

3. Please deliberately title your threads. Something like "Ben Brown" should more accurately reflect the subject matter ("Ben Brown's fastball is amazing" or whatever). This allows users to better know what to expect when they click into a topic.

Our goals here are to create more threads, with fewer posts per thread, and have those posts be more accurately titled so that when a person clicks in, they know what to expect to read. This makes the forum more manageable for more users, particularly new users. Even long term but infrequent users will find the forums easier to navigate if we consistently do these things.

Thanks!

[Rob]

I don't envy you the effort it's going to take to get this board to abandon megathreads.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

1 hour ago, Rob said:

I don't envy you the effort it's going to take to get this board to abandon megathreads.

Guess what an idiot who's been posting here for 20+ years did this time

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Do you prefer “Ben Brown Chit Chat” or “Ben Brown Potpourri”?

[cl smooth]

"Ben"

Brown is a starting pitcher for the Cubs...but for how long? You'll never guess what happens next!

[jersey cubs fan]

Thread title vibes

[UMFan83]

Edit: wrong thread grr

Edited May 7, 2024 by UMFan83

[WrigleyField 22]

Death to mega threads!

[CubinNY]

Ironically, the thread to announce no mega threads is itself a mega thread. Long Live the mega thread!

[WrigleyField 22]

1 hour ago, CubinNY said:

Ironically, the thread to announce no mega threads is itself a mega thread. Long Live the mega thread!

[Irrelevant Dude]

*Searches for a 7 year old, generically-titled megathread to revive in the Social subforum*

[WrigleyField 22]

Just now, Irrelevant Dude said:

*Searches for a 7 year old, generically-titled megathread to revive in the Social subforum*

Guess what a poster with a megathread did this time

[Stratos]

What's the intent of not wanting megathreads?

Having to sift through 8 different threads in the offseason is so much more work and confusion than 1 megathread and a few other threads.

[Brock Beauchamp]

8 hours ago, Stratos said:

What's the intent of not wanting megathreads?

Having to sift through 8 different threads in the offseason is so much more work and confusion than 1 megathread and a few other threads.

Because they’re very alienating to new and less frequent users. And even some long term users. I’ve been running forums for 20 years now and even I just give up on reading or participating in megathreads because it involved sifting through loads of content that I may not care about. At some point, I’m not going to read 100 posts to “catch up”, I’m just going to ignore the thread entirely. And I’m here every day.

Five clearly titled, current and relevant threads encourages participation in the community. One massive sprawling thread does the opposite. 

[Derwood]

I think it would be helpful (and push the community towards where you want them to be) if you and the moderators were active in moving threads to the proper forums, split off tangents into their own threads, etc.

Right now, people are using game threads as "catch all Cubs discussion of the day" threads, and using the Cubs Discussion forum for transactions (instead of, you know, Transactions)

[LBiittner]

16 minutes ago, Derwood said:

I think it would be helpful (and push the community towards where you want them to be) if you and the moderators were active in moving threads to the proper forums, split off tangents into their own threads, etc.

Right now, people are using game threads as "catch all Cubs discussion of the day" threads, and using the Cubs Discussion forum for transactions (instead of, you know, Transactions)

I'm guilty. Sorry. Too many threads to navigate for the aged

[Brock Beauchamp]

22 hours ago, Derwood said:

I think it would be helpful (and push the community towards where you want them to be) if you and the moderators were active in moving threads to the proper forums, split off tangents into their own threads, etc.

Right now, people are using game threads as "catch all Cubs discussion of the day" threads, and using the Cubs Discussion forum for transactions (instead of, you know, Transactions)

I do split things off occasionally. And I kinda like how users use the game threads here because they go away after two days.