Subforums in guilds

[shall she sail seas]

I know this might work differently if you're in a guild like "Reality: It's all around us!" but for most guilds with a specific theme like this one, how often do people visit the subforums?

And since you're all captains, v.captains and crew, how often do you WISH members would visit and post in them?  

[Ezra-tan]

I moderate a fairly large guild [5,000+members], and the sub-forums are used pretty rarely. The dating sub-forum is used pretty often though.

 

[LillianSaire]

With my guild it is basically forced.

I think part of that is that there are two clear categories that my guild needs and if only one was a sub it would be dead. Another is likely just because it forces people to get back in the habit of subforums.

I think dead subforums teach people to not visit subforums, which makes them all dead. Excessive subforums and no reason to use them (such as the main forum not moving even half a page in a day) are part of what started this cycle. When the main is slow the crew and captain care less about putting threads where they should go, putting a thread in a subforum to keep in on a first page isn't needed, and typically the different uses for each forum in the guild will be more narrow than they need to be.  

[MemoryDragon]

It depends on the subforum. I check the questions and assistance one in here as much as I can. Other subforums, I never go into.

I do think that this could change easily though, depending on how often the new guild front page is used. Now if you click on the guild, you see a list of the most recently updated topics, regardless of the forum it's in. I've been more aware of the threads being made in this guild, so I think that's a plus in the right direction. xd  

[shall she sail seas]

Strange how none of you acknowledged my second question. Could you please answer it? sweatdrop  

[Pilotslover]

Ahh, the guilds I use a lot rather require you to use the sub forums since that's where the RP is so the question isn't really relevant to me. XD  

[MemoryDragon]

meh. Second question was so over rated. rofl Just kidding. xd

Ideally, it'd be great if more people visited the subforums... but that means I also have to check the subforums. At the moment, I'm rather lazy... sweatdrop  

[WindowOpener]

MemoryDragon

Ideally, it'd be great if more people visited the subforums... but that means I also have to check the subforums. At the moment, I'm rather lazy... sweatdrop

This. whee I 'wish' we all checked them more often, too.

I visit the Q&A one the most often, and the Crew one the next most often. The others not so much. Sometimes the Chatterbox, but I can hear my footsteps echo when I venture in there.

I think this is why most guilds shouldn't have more than three or four subforums at most. Guilds are not main forums. They're usually too small to fragment further into 'subforum communities,' and the fact subforums are slightly more isolated (lacking 'breadcrumb' trails etc.) doesn't help. Having few subforums is the easiest way to make it easiest for members to check them. ^^  

[shall she sail seas]

WindowOpener

MemoryDragon

Ideally, it'd be great if more people visited the subforums... but that means I also have to check the subforums. At the moment, I'm rather lazy... sweatdrop

This. whee I 'wish' we all checked them more often, too.

I visit the Q&A one the most often, and the Crew one the next most often. The others not so much. Sometimes the Chatterbox, but I can hear my footsteps echo when I venture in there.

I think this is why most guilds shouldn't have more than three or four subforums at most. Guilds are not main forums. They're usually too small to fragment further into 'subforum communities,' and the fact subforums are slightly more isolated (lacking 'breadcrumb' trails etc.) doesn't help. Having few subforums is the easiest way to make it easiest for members to check them. ^^

Fair enough, although I don't know what you mean by "breadcrumb trails". Please explain?  

[WindowOpener]

NomNomNominal

WindowOpener

MemoryDragon

Ideally, it'd be great if more people visited the subforums... but that means I also have to check the subforums. At the moment, I'm rather lazy... sweatdrop

This. whee I 'wish' we all checked them more often, too.

I visit the Q&A one the most often, and the Crew one the next most often. The others not so much. Sometimes the Chatterbox, but I can hear my footsteps echo when I venture in there.

I think this is why most guilds shouldn't have more than three or four subforums at most. Guilds are not main forums. They're usually too small to fragment further into 'subforum communities,' and the fact subforums are slightly more isolated (lacking 'breadcrumb' trails etc.) doesn't help. Having few subforums is the easiest way to make it easiest for members to check them. ^^

Fair enough, although I don't know what you mean by "breadcrumb trails". Please explain?

Sorry, it's a kind of clumsy web design metaphor. If you look at the top-left of Registered Guilds, there are links which say Gaia Forums » GAIA Community » Gaia Guilds » Registered Guilds.

Actually, there's a smaller on in guild subforums, so I was wrong. ^^

All the subforums disappear, though, whereas in the main forums you can see that you are in a subforum still (with the big brown box).  

[wndy26]

My guild has quite a few subforums - there are a few that are rarely used but for the most part - as the guild captain - I somewhat force the crew to use the subforums. It would be rather nice if the subforums showed how many posts were in each from the main window though. That way you can see where activity has occurred rather quickly from the main view.

I wish more of my members (not counting crew) would visit the few available subforums more. My publication has links to feedback threads that are in the subforums so if someone wishes to leave feedback it takes them directly where they need to go - into a subforum.  

[Tantooden]

Basicly I just have two subforum one explaining the Gaia's General Rules and the Guild's rules and the other is the Crew room.
But they have never visit it viewing there are the same number post and almost all of them are on vacation from Gaia. -__- •••
But I have a step guide in the main that somehow force to read the sub forum.
Now, I concur with Mr. WindowOpener about the numbers of subforum, accourding to my own experience the users are more attracted for what they can see in first instance instead of exploring the whole guild so it could be a waste of gold if you invest in more than 4 subforums.

1.- In conclusion, they rarely visit the subforums unless there is an RP or a Guilds Theme Event. They don't care about the rules.

2.-How do I wish they visit it??
Ohh! badly a lot. Unfortunely, I have to think in 2 more to make members to be a bit more active. .__.  

[Ezra-tan]

NomNomNominal

Strange how none of you acknowledged my second question. Could you please answer it? sweatdrop

Strange? Ok. No reason to take it so personally though.

To be honest, there are some sub-forums that aren't really necessary in my opinion. For example, the guild I moderate has a "Life Issues" sub-forum, and I think when someone is having problems in their life and want others to talk to and vent to, it deserves the main forum, not a sub-forum.

We also have a Chatterbox sub-forum, a Dating sub-forum, and a Role Playing sub-forum. I think they are nice to have, and help clean up the main forum where most of the discussion takes place, it's just a b***h to go through them all. I think forum specific moderators would be nice in this case. sweatdrop  

[shall she sail seas]

wndy26

My guild has quite a few subforums - there are a few that are rarely used but for the most part - as the guild captain - I somewhat force the crew to use the subforums. It would be rather nice if the subforums showed how many posts were in each from the main window though. That way you can see where activity has occurred rather quickly from the main view.

I wish more of my members (not counting crew) would visit the few available subforums more. My publication has links to feedback threads that are in the subforums so if someone wishes to leave feedback it takes them directly where they need to go - into a subforum.

That's actually a good idea, to redirect members to subforums through links. I personally do that with a few threads. I guess with your guild, it's very different though (my semi-mule's in your guild) and your organisation extends beyond the normal guild format's capabilities.


@ Ezra-tan:
No clue how you interpreted that as taking it personally since one expects an answer to actually answer the question at hand under normal circumstances. But meh.

As for the guild you're talking about, it depends on what your theme is. I can understand not having a Life Issues subforum if your main forum is already about life issues or similar subjects. However, they do come in handy when your subforums' themes are very different from the main forum. In my case, the main forum is mainly for watersports and navy so an off-topic subforum is necessary.  

[XenjinHattori]

In most, they don't. A lot of people just ignore the subforums because they want information, and most is located on the front page.

As for me wishing for people to use forums, this is true... but mainly for roleplays, or reading rules, etc.

I think that because there is no information -about- the subforums that people have a stigma around using them.