Hierarchy of sub-forums, and some related permissions

[grahamperrin]

Preamble: changes to the hierarchy may be contentious, so I should keep this separate from currently pinned topic MacRumors New Forums Design and Testing.

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Food for thought, from beyond the macrumors.com domain:

• a developer-oriented hierarchy.

That list of developer-oriented sub-forums is neither comprehensive, nor suitable for end users (consumers), but it could help to guide thoughts about inconsistencies such as the one below.

… Where are we supposed to discuss iOS 9 related topics? …

The iOS area seems logical to me, but new posts are not accepted.

The OS X area does accept new posts, which is nice (I'd say, essential to MacRumors) but inconsistent with the closed approach to iOS 9 as a whole.

At https://forums.macrumors.com/search/?f=66 a search for topics with iOS in their titles finds fifty-nine fifty-one topics so I'll not attempt to read or summarise that lot. Instead, just these two quotes from one of the earliest discussions (2010):

We have an OSX forum, to discuss OS related issue, why not for iOS.

… The need for an iOS subforum depends in part on the quantity of IOS-themed threads we routinely have, other than those in the News forums and the programming forums. …

For what it's worth, the current visual redesign (screenshots attached, from the test area) makes it much easier for me to get my head around the current top-level hierarchy. Add to that, the benefits that will come from use of XenForo and then …

… maybe, a few weeks or months after migration, collective thought could be given to a review of restrictions (e.g. the iOS area) and other sub-forum-related suggestions.

 

[grahamperrin]

Names of areas

As an example: I put myself in the shoes of a newcomer to MacRumors, an experienced Mac user who (after finding no good match amongst search results) must begin a new topic about something non-basic that involves both Firefox and Chrome.

With the current arrangement, nowhere seems fitting:

Macs: none of the named areas are fitting.

Mac Community: the newcomer has used Macs long enough to feel that he or she is a member of that community. But none of the the three named sub-forums is fitting.

Apple Apps and Services: no, these are third party apps, neither is developed or distributed by Apple. Neither is an App Store title.

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So. The newcomer could either (a) seek orientation from the feedback area, e.g. add a topic about where to add a topic; or (b) post in an area with an ill-fitting name and then hope for the topic to be neither moderated or moved.

Either way, not ideal.

At this point in time (still familiarising myself with the improved representation of things) I suspect that 'Apple Apps and Services' is not (or no longer) a suitable name for that section of the site. Without performing searches, I have hunch that within that 'Apple' area there are more than a few topics that are exclusively, or primarily, about third party (non-Apple) products …


At least one clear second-level misfit

'Mac Community' is not (or no longer) a suitable parent for 'Site and Forum Feedback'. I can't imagine that every Apple Watch-wearing youngster will place his or her self in that community … and so on.

Maybe 'News and Article Discussion' could be renamed to 'MacRumors news, blog and site discussion'; with 'Site and Forum Feedback' abbreviated to 'Feedback' and present as a fourth child.

Kicking the ball around. I'm prepared to take some heat for making bold suggestions at such as busy time.

Postscript

Related:

• Apple TV shouldn't be listed under Macs

 

[grahamperrin]

A question for staff

Please: where best to discuss, primarily from the perspectives of users of Apple devices, an interconnected set of third party apps that works with iOS, OS X, Microsoft Windows and other operating systems?

I thought of Apple, Industry and Internet Discussion (node 8) but that's under Mac Community – not fitting for users of iOS.


Suggestion

Rename section https://forums.macrumors.com/#mac-community.21

• from Mac Community
• to Apple Community

 

[maflynn]

A question for staff

Please: where best to discuss, primarily from the perspectives of users of Apple devices, an interconnected set of third party apps that works with iOS, OS X, Microsoft Windows and other operating systems?

If your question is regarding a window's application, then it should go into the windows forum, if the application in question is for OS X. Then the Mac application forum. People generally don't discuss a given application with a specific question for both windows and OS X. They're having issues on a particular platform.

Rename section https://forums.macrumors.com/#mac-community.21

• from Mac Community
• to Apple Community

My personal perspective is that I'm happy with the naming of the forum, including the Mac Community heading. Obviously being a new forum, Arn took a lot of thought into the naming/layout and I guess I could go out on a limb and say that he's probably content to keep it as is. I see no reason to start making wholesale changes - just my $.02

 

[grahamperrin]

OK – thanks – I posted it under Mac Community. Please note, it wasn't about a single app; it was about a set of apps.

Like I said, earlier, just kicking the ball around. I understand a reluctance to reorganise. I guess that the 'Mac Community' expression arose when Apple's product range was limited to Macs.

Just one firm suggestion from me (my last post). A change of one word is far from wholesale.