UnevenEdge Update: Forum Restructuring & Future Plans

[Raptorpat]

May 27, 2023 will mark the 20th anniversary of the ASMB/UEMB community. Twenty years is a long time, from Prospero to Lithium, the Fan Collective years, back to regular Lithium, later to that awful NodeBB feed, and then the transition to UEMB on freeforums, the shift to SMF, and the final upgrade to the IPB version we are currently on. There've been plenty of friendships, social circles, marriages, and even a few board babies, on top of two decades' worth of Very Important history and lore. However, as times go on, people's lives, interests, and priorities change and it has taken a toll on site traffic. As such, we are treating the 20th anniversary as a pivot point - based on the reality of the moment. It may be the best time to hold one big, final board reunion before calling it a good two decades. Or we may keep on keeping on, it really all depends on the trajectory of the next several months.

To that end, we recently circulated a survey to gather input from current members, lapsed members, and never-joiners on their likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams, and other data. We thank the 100+ people who took a moment to fill it out. Based on the feedback we received, we are planning the first significant restructure of the site layout in five years. The general thrust of the redesign is that, in addition to significantly consolidating the number of topical discussion boards, we want to provide the various sub-communities with the disparate experiences they seek. To do so, we are going to experiment with a "public square"/"private community" format using the Forum and the Clubs feature. 

 

Public Square (Forums)

The public square will consist of the topical boards, one vanilla "general discussion" board, and one vanilla "current events" board (the three existing "flavored" Noise folders will all be archived). This is an intentional decision: to consolidate public discussions, to reduce the social "ownership" of various folders based on the legacy ASMB communities, and to consolidate the redundant "general discussion" spaces this generated. The consolidated forums are intended to be a neutral space with middle-of-the-road tempo and moderation where people from the disparate corners of the broader community can feel free to engage based on subject matter. The topics of retired folders will default to the General Discussion folder, giving it more variety and discussion anchors, and some active or "classic flavored" threads from newly archived folders may be ported to the applicable board (or club, which I discuss next). Tentatively, the board structure will look something like this:

Welcome to UEMB

• UEMB.Com Site Support & Community Discussion
• UEMB Creative Share Space

Media Bastards

• Anime & Manga
• Arts, Lit & Music
• Games
• Movies & TV
• Toonami & [adult swim] (both regular toonami episode discussions and general [as] news)

General Noise

• Current Events
• General Discussion

 

Private Communities (Clubs)

The second component is that we will enable each legacy community to self-run their own social space where they can engage in casual conversation amongst themselves, on their own terms. These spaces (currently named "clubs" by the software) are structured like customizable mini-forums, and are fully integrated into the sidebars and feeds and related aspects of the forum. They will be inaccessible/unreadable absent membership in the club, and will be largely self-moderated by responsible individuals within that sub-community (there are certain conditions, such as minimum rules; note that site mods and admins will have access and may step in if needed). We will work with each community to the extent that it needs assistance customizing their space or getting it off the ground. We will also work with other groups that reach out if there is a need for additional private social spaces. The Clubs tab is listed immediately prior to the Forums tab under the Browse drop-down, and there you will find the following, hopefully self-evident communities, which you can already join as of this notice and begin posting threads in (once joined/approved by the designated leader):

• Toonami Off-Topic 2.0
• IBers Anonymous
• Beyond the Thunderdome
• (additional clubs, independent of this restructure, are listed under a second heading)

 

At the moment, we are still gaming out aspects of the restructure that we haven't necessarily anticipated. There may be secondary changes, including to volunteer ranks or whatever pops up as needed to fulfill the changes, but those sort of issues will be figured out as they arise during the transition. However, the physical changes to the forum will be implemented later this week - time/date TBD schedule permitting (will obviously shoot for a low-activity moment). At such point, the site will probably go down for a few hours to implement some of the more major changes, and will return once complete.

[André Toulon]

Tldr, we're getting rid of DF

[ben0119]

I kept seeing the notice for that survey and kept forgetting to go do it.  Still, what was come up with here doesn't sound too bad.  I'm just glad that the forum will continue in some form or fashion.  Thanks for the update.

[1pooh4u]

Sports should stay in the “public square”, no?  

[Master-Debater131]

Interesting.  Will be interesting to see how this works out. 

[Raptorpat]

1 hour ago, 1pooh4u said:

Sports should stay in the “public square”, no?  

Sports is being folded into the general discussion board.

Because that folder largely operates via megathreads, it actually has the least (or near the least) amount of individual threads of any board on the site. So in terms of consolidation it just makes sense to just move those megathreads to a more consolidated/trafficked space.

In theory it will help anchor the "tone" of the new GD section and it also eliminates any ambiguity about where to post one-off sports content.

[Master-Debater131]

So sports and politics are going to operate in the same folder?

[1pooh4u]

28 minutes ago, Raptorpat said:

Sports is being folded into the general discussion board.

Because that folder largely operates via megathreads, it actually has the least (or near the least) amount of individual threads of any board on the site. So in terms of consolidation it just makes sense to just move those megathreads to a more consolidated/trafficked space.

In theory it will help anchor the "tone" of the new GD section and it also eliminates any ambiguity about where to post one-off sports content.

sports threads are just going to get pinned to the GD?   That’s what’s going to happen most likely. those threads will have to be pinned for easy navigation especially when the season of whatever sport starts. 

[Raptorpat]

5 minutes ago, Master-Debater131 said:

So sports and politics are going to operate in the same folder?

The new Noise will have a Current Events folder (news/politics etc.) and the catch-all General Discussion folder. Sports would fall under GD, unless people think that's current events?

pooh - yeah we can totally float whatever sports are in active season

[Nablonsky]

Any chance you guys are gonna need an extra mod?

[1pooh4u]

9 minutes ago, Raptorpat said:

The new Noise will have a Current Events folder (news/politics etc.) and the catch-all General Discussion folder. Sports would fall under GD, unless people think that's current events?

pooh - yeah we can totally float whatever sports are in active season

Cool thanks cuz camps for football season starts soon. Idk if Ginguy is gonna do the pick ‘em game.  It’s a time consuming thing so idk what his plans are for that. 

[Master-Debater131]

6 minutes ago, Raptorpat said:

The new Noise will have a Current Events folder (news/politics etc.) and the catch-all General Discussion folder. Sports would fall under GD, unless people think that's current events?

pooh - yeah we can totally float whatever sports are in active season

Im not sure.  The sports threads are megathreads that get pinned. Pooh said it best, they may need to be pinned in the new folder as well. Theres still stuff happening in the off-season though. NHL just had its draft, and free agency is tomorrow. So those are pretty big days for the sport.

 

The politics threads are trickier. We have the general election tracking megathreads, but we also post single threads for bigger events or stories.

[Master-Debater131]

1 minute ago, 1pooh4u said:

Cool thanks cuz camps for football season starts soon. Idk if Ginguy is gonna do the pick ‘em game.  It’s a time consuming thing so idk what his plans are for that. 

He better!  I have a streak of picking really well, forgetting a full week, then crashing out of the top 3 to continue.

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Master-Debater131

[1pooh4u]

21 minutes ago, Master-Debater131 said:

He better!  I have a streak of picking really well, forgetting a full week, then crashing out of the top 3 to continue.

 

I’m aiming for that toilet bowl 😆💩💩💩

[Sawdy]

34 minutes ago, 1pooh4u said:

I’m aiming for that toilet bowl 😆💩💩💩

That’s why we love you

[1pooh4u]

1 minute ago, Sawdy said:

That’s why we love you

Always aim low that way you can MOSTLY exceed expectations 😆

[Raptorpat]

1 hour ago, Master-Debater131 said:

The politics threads are trickier. We have the general election tracking megathreads, but we also post single threads for bigger events or stories.

I think politics stuff worked out in terms of visibility, so they're probably fine. And I think it'll work out better to mix politics with other current events (news, RIP threads, etc) rather than shoehorn it into an intentionally angry folder.

Classic rants content can fall into GD or whatever topic someone wants to rant about, maybe we can create a universal "rant" tag an OP can apply to threads.

[Nablonsky]

10 hours ago, Raptorpat said:

(the three existing "flavored" Noise folders will all be archived).

Archived how? As in -- will DF and Rants now be viewable and accessible to the public and show up in Google searches? Or will they remain private with a membership and/or post count restriction to see them?

Presumably the latter but jw. 

Also if/when this noble experiment does end next year for the 20th anniversary, will the site be archived/set to read-only, or will once again all our posts be deleted? And if everything won't be hidden/deleted when the site is over, what will the status of DF be at this point as far as who can view its contents, how public will any lasting archive be? 

Some longer term considerations and concerns, not expecting any immediate answers just something for admins to think about. 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Nablonsky

[scoobdog]

Instead of bothering Pat with your inane questions, @Nablonsky, why don't you just archive all your greatest hits now?  Nothings stopping you, you know.

[tsar4]

There've been plenty of friendships, social circles, marriages, and even a few board babies, on top of two decades' worth of Very Important history and lore.

And sadly, a few passings.

[stilgar]

I got an idea, just make the site one big folder that everyone posts in. That would really reduce the social ownership of certain folders.

[André Toulon]

31 minutes ago, stilgar said:

I got an idea, just make the site one big folder that everyone posts in. That would really reduce the social ownership of certain folders.

That was node and that made IB cry

[Doom Metal Alchemist]

27 minutes ago, André Toulon said:

That was node and that made IB cry

I was under the impression that made all of us cry.

[André Toulon]

7 minutes ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

I was under the impression that made all of us cry.

Nah, I was enjoying myself. It was my first time seeing some of those Ibers, but vipers constant bitchfits made it all worth it

[stilgar]

1 hour ago, André Toulon said:

That was node and that made IB cry

 

[stilgar]

33 minutes ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

I was under the impression that made all of us cry.

I also enjoyed it.

[scoobdog]

1 hour ago, André Toulon said:

That was node and that made IB cry

Prospero was one big board, and it was pretty good until we got too many people.

[André Toulon]

23 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

Prospero was one big board, and it was pretty good until we got too many people.

No worries of that here

[scoobdog]

2 minutes ago, André Toulon said:

No worries of that here

No joke.

[Doom Metal Alchemist]

Hey @Raptorpat you know how for the front page of the forums, the dialog bubbles are highlighted blue when at least one new post has been posted in that folder, and it is left grey when there are no new posts? It would be great to have something like that for the Groups index page. So I don't have to click on each group just to see if there are any new posts in any of them.

[Raptorpat]

The groups you join should appear at the bottom of the Forum page, under the archives, and should appear just like regular boards do in that regard. Does it work for you?

[Doom Metal Alchemist]

7 minutes ago, Raptorpat said:

The groups you join should appear at the bottom of the Forum page, under the archives, and should appear just like regular boards do in that regard. Does it work for you?

Hey, they do! I didn't notice that because I never scroll down that far. Just minimized the archive to help with that. However, how am I to distinguish new posts from no new posts? On the forums the icon is the dialog bubbles that are either blue or grey, with the clubs I guess it's whatever the club creator decided to use as an image.

Oh I get it, no new posts the icons are dim.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Doom Metal Alchemist

[Raptorpat]

The Folder text is bolded when there's a new post.

[naraku360]

On 7/12/2022 at 8:45 AM, Nablonsky said:

Any chance you guys are gonna need an extra mod?

@Raptorpat Can we make everyone a Mod except Nabs?

[MasqueradeOverture]

@Raptorpat I too would like to ban communists from being mods.

[stilgar]

2 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

@Raptorpat I too would like to ban communists from being mods.

nabs ain't no communist.

[naraku360]

2 hours ago, MasqueradeOverture said:

@Raptorpat I too would like to ban communists from being mods.

But....

[Raptorpat]

As a general FYI because there have been some questions, the default landing page for the club is the "overview" which is just a chronological feed of all activity in the club. 

The tabs at the top of each club include the overview, the member list, and at least one traditional board. Click on that board tab, whatever it may be named, and use it/create threads like normal.

If I can find a way to disable the default overview tab I will (it doesn't really make sense unless there's multiple boards or other features enabled within the club).

[scoobdog]

It only doesn't make sense because I don't think a lot of people use the feed feature to its maximum benefit.

[Raptorpat]

The second site tab next to "Browse" is "Activity" and there's all sorts of customizable feeds that I guarantee none of us have ever looked at.

[helpme]

I think you broke free for all or I'm just slow on the up take

@Raptorpat

[Raptorpat]

On 7/12/2022 at 3:13 AM, Raptorpat said:

May 27, 2023 will mark the 20th anniversary of the ASMB/UEMB community. Twenty years is a long time, from Prospero to Lithium, the Fan Collective years, back to regular Lithium, later to that awful NodeBB feed, and then the transition to UEMB on freeforums, the shift to SMF, and the final upgrade to the IPB version we are currently on. There've been plenty of friendships, social circles, marriages, and even a few board babies, on top of two decades' worth of Very Important history and lore. However, as times go on, people's lives, interests, and priorities change and it has taken a toll on site traffic. As such, we are treating the 20th anniversary as a pivot point - based on the reality of the moment. It may be the best time to hold one big, final board reunion before calling it a good two decades. Or we may keep on keeping on, it really all depends on the trajectory of the next several months.

To that end, we recently circulated a survey to gather input from current members, lapsed members, and never-joiners on their likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams, and other data. We thank the 100+ people who took a moment to fill it out. Based on the feedback we received, we are planning the first significant restructure of the site layout in five years. The general thrust of the redesign is that, in addition to significantly consolidating the number of topical discussion boards, we want to provide the various sub-communities with the disparate experiences they seek. To do so, we are going to experiment with a "public square"/"private community" format using the Forum and the Clubs feature. 

 

Public Square (Forums)

The public square will consist of the topical boards, one vanilla "general discussion" board, and one vanilla "current events" board (the three existing "flavored" Noise folders will all be archived). This is an intentional decision: to consolidate public discussions, to reduce the social "ownership" of various folders based on the legacy ASMB communities, and to consolidate the redundant "general discussion" spaces this generated. The consolidated forums are intended to be a neutral space with middle-of-the-road tempo and moderation where people from the disparate corners of the broader community can feel free to engage based on subject matter. The topics of retired folders will default to the General Discussion folder, giving it more variety and discussion anchors, and some active or "classic flavored" threads from newly archived folders may be ported to the applicable board (or club, which I discuss next). Tentatively, the board structure will look something like this:

Welcome to UEMB

• UEMB.Com Site Support & Community Discussion
• UEMB Creative Share Space

Media Bastards

• Anime & Manga
• Arts, Lit & Music
• Games
• Movies & TV
• Toonami & [adult swim] (both regular toonami episode discussions and general [as] news)

General Noise

• Current Events
• General Discussion

 

Private Communities (Clubs)

The second component is that we will enable each legacy community to self-run their own social space where they can engage in casual conversation amongst themselves, on their own terms. These spaces (currently named "clubs" by the software) are structured like customizable mini-forums, and are fully integrated into the sidebars and feeds and related aspects of the forum. They will be inaccessible/unreadable absent membership in the club, and will be largely self-moderated by responsible individuals within that sub-community (there are certain conditions, such as minimum rules; note that site mods and admins will have access and may step in if needed). We will work with each community to the extent that it needs assistance customizing their space or getting it off the ground. We will also work with other groups that reach out if there is a need for additional private social spaces. The Clubs tab is listed immediately prior to the Forums tab under the Browse drop-down, and there you will find the following, hopefully self-evident communities, which you can already join as of this notice and begin posting threads in (once joined/approved by the designated leader):

• Toonami Off-Topic 2.0
• IBers Anonymous
• Beyond the Thunderdome
• (additional clubs, independent of this restructure, are listed under a second heading)

 

At the moment, we are still gaming out aspects of the restructure that we haven't necessarily anticipated. There may be secondary changes, including to volunteer ranks or whatever pops up as needed to fulfill the changes, but those sort of issues will be figured out as they arise during the transition. However, the physical changes to the forum will be implemented later this week - time/date TBD schedule permitting (will obviously shoot for a low-activity moment). At such point, the site will probably go down for a few hours to implement some of the more major changes, and will return once complete.

 

[UwPp]

Is there a way to get notifications in the clubs? Like new posts? The only time I know someone’s posted something new is my junk email. 

[André Toulon]

1 minute ago, UnDeRwOrlDpRiNcEsS said:

Is there a way to get notifications in the clubs? Like new posts? The only time I know someone’s posted something new is my junk email. 

Can you follow threads in groups...I haven't looked since I don't follow threads but at the bottom of the thread, there is usually an option to follow it

[stilgar]

When you go to respond there is a notify me of replies button at the bottom.

[Insipid]

Maybe this is more a time to archive than reform, as I think once the novelty effect of change wears off this place is gonna be deader than ever. Closing the boards at the 20th year mark seems like a nice ending, in my shitty opinion.

[matrixman124]

It's not the boards unless there are significant polarizing changes every few years.

[NewBluntsworth]

6 hours ago, Insipid said:

Maybe this is more a time to archive than reform, as I think once the novelty effect of change wears off this place is gonna be deader than ever. Closing the boards at the 20th year mark seems like a nice ending, in my shitty opinion.

It really feels like if the anniversary was next month, they would just call it a wrap right after that. Waiting until this time next year for the symbolic 20th seems questionable to me. 

[André Toulon]

Aww....the users who have been booted thinks the place need to go...surprise.

 

[Insipid]

Mean girls club and dorks who still watch late night dubbed anime. A truly riveting legacy of the ASMB. 😂

Ok, I'm done entertaining that.