Possible forum reorganization? Thoughts?

[joeyluck]

Nothing has to change, but just pondering... Some of this could be improved with reorganization or by clarifying the use for each forum. There are a few categories here that have some overlap and some categories that can be overlooked.

For instance, we have the Tutorials and Techniques forum, which I think can be overlooked. There's plenty of good Reason tips in that forum. Also, sometimes people might ask some fairly general Reason questions in that forum. There's definitely some overlap between Reason General and Tutorials and Techniques, but there's also of course tutorials in that forum that are more general and don't just apply to Reason, such as general audio tips...

We've also had some users voice wanting Reason General to be more about using Reason and less about speculation. There is also a bit of overlap between speculation threads and the Feature Suggestions forum...because ultimately, it seems like regular speculation is about wishful thinking and leads to feature suggestions. As Reason users, we do enjoy our speculation but I can understand that it can be a bit much if it's not prompted directly by a teaser and it's more about the business and not about the product.

My thoughts:

• We could maybe merge much or Tutorials and Techniques with Reason General? We could perhaps move anything directly related to Reason to Reason General? Maybe Tutorials and Techniques could become something more specific and general, like "Audio & Composition Tutorials"? So for instance, something like "How to use Thor" would go into Reason General and "Music theory tips" could go in the other forum.
• If a thread is only speculating, and it is not about Reason directly or using Reason, but instead something about the business, that should probably go into the Kitchen?
• If a thread is speculating about a product or feature, but is unprompted by a teaser, that probably should just go into the Feature Suggestions forum? I'd say just about 100% of the time, if someone is speculating and asking if the next version of Reason will have a certain feature, that person is saying they want that feature...and then everybody else is piling on with their suggestions and how they would implement it or what feature they would rather have. Maybe that forum can become Feature Suggestions and Speculation?
• If a thread is speculating and is prompted by something like a teaser from Reason Studios, then that seems like it can be more relevant to Reason General or Rack Extensions because it's not just wild speculation.

Any thoughts on any of this or other parts of the forum?

[crimsonwarlock]

The biggest problem I have with the current structure is that it is hard to find information. Besides the obvious function of the forum, to be able to converse with other users, is the accumulation of knowledge. But you must be able to find it. A better structured forum also makes it easier to decide where to post a certain topic, and for the mods to move stuff, if needed, to the correct forum.

A few suggestions that could be used within a broader structure:
* Composition, production, mixing and mastering: for topical discussions on the matter, with sub-forums for Tutorials, Tips-and-tricks.
* Technical issues and solutions : A forum specific for asking and answering about technical issues, with sub-forums for Hardware (integration), Computers & OS. Right now, the Hardware & other Software forum throws to much together, again hard to find things there.

If I think of other things, I'll post

[Bes]

i'm keen for a thread where users are limited to only 1 post but are able to post and re-edit whatever topic they choose. like having a public notebook maybe or poster board, graffiti wall, personal thoughts histories or cv, jobs & collabs, latest RE purchase etc. i'd want to have a word limit to it and maybe new activity rises to the top of the thread

[DaveyG]

First off, I think you shouldn't pander to a couple of individuals that want to bury threads criticizing Reason, because that's what they really wanted. But mostly I think that the forum ain't broke and thus does not need fixing.

I can't speak for anyone else but for me the sub-forums are mostly irrelevant because I view the list of all new posts, read the ones that interest me and ignore the others. When I make a new thread I sometimes seek out the correct sub-forum but often I just post it in Reason General, safe in the knowledge that one of our lovely mods will move it if they see fit. I think the more sub-forums you have, the less likely people are to post in the "correct" one and the fewer people that will read and reply to the post.

I used to be on a forum about home brewing (beer). It was brilliant. There were very few sub-forums and it was very active and useful. Then the guy that ran the forum retired from his day job and had too much time on his hands so he completely revamped the forums, adding dozens and dozens more sub-forums, which resulted in hardly any traffic in each sub-forum and utter confusion for his users, resulting less activity and a worse overall forum.

So be careful if you decide to mess with a winning formula.

[joeyluck]

Yeah we're not looking to add any sub forums or really any additional forums at this time. I think this would be more about organization of what exists now. There are people who prefer to browse by forum and it isn't clear with the way some forums are used now.

[NMHindman]

I hesitate to respond, because I like the forum as-is, but for what it's worth here are some random thoughts:

Forum User Demographics - Some, like me, are mostly "readers", -I rarely make an original post, and mostly daily check the "New posts", paying no attention to the category of each. So the current arrangement works great. Others are largely "posters," providing the useful information that we read. And of course a lot of users are somewhere in-between. So you are really serving a couple of different audiences. The "posters", including myself with the few op's I've made, have the challenge of deciding which category to post in, and the mods the task of sorting it out. Maybe you want to contact some of the prominent 'posters' to get their thoughts specifically. Otherwise, just put yourself in the place of each audience and consider how the forum works for each.

Search Function - I agree with @crimsonwarlock that it's not readily obvious how to find information. In that case, like the 'posters', I find myself wondering which category to look in, or searching the entire forum content. A possible remedy relates to the below:

Sub-categories - I agree with @DaveyG regarding subcategories, and that in general you want to keep even categories as concise and as intuitive as possible. I know nothing about forum framework or coding, but here's a thought: Instead of a list of categories & subcategories, is it possible to have just a few obvious, general categories for the 'poster' to choose from, which then would prompt for a more specific sub-category? For example, 'Tutorials > Reason Tutorials / Non-Reason / Hybrid'. This would serve both purposes, of preventing the 'poster' to have to decide amongst a list of categories & subcategories, while still allowing content to arranged in detail.
If a particular sub-topic might belong in more than one category, or if it's not clear, it could be listed in both. This would also be an intuitive way for 'readers' to find information via the same means. Further, 'readers' could select a specific category (i.e. 'Reason Tutorials') or it's parent category ('Tutorials', allowing to read all tutorials).

Thanks for this very useful forum, and best wishes...

[TritoneAddiction]

In general I like the way RT is organized and functions. I mean threads can always drift into stuff a bit outside of the main topic, but that's simply the way conversations work.
I think the different categories are fine the way they are.

If I had any wish it would be the ability to edit comments for longer. Or the ability to remove threads by myself, especially if no one has commented yet. And with some threads I just wish I could edit my initial post by myself. Let's say I ask for feedback for a song and I keep updating it. People have to read evey post to know what's going on. It's messy.
I understand there may arise issues when people edit their posts, like people quoting stuff that isn't there anymore. Still I would prefer if things were like they used to be in the old RT days regarding this stuff.

I also wish there was a thumbs up button. No need for a thumbs down. But a thumbs up would get a lot of threads a lot cleaner. The constant quoting just to say you agree with someone makes for big bloated threads with endless scrolling.

But as a whole I think RT works pretty well.

[Fotu]

Most other forums I visit have a 'hover to see OP preview' function that would be great to have here.

[deeplink]

My two cents - don't see any need for change.

It came across like Joey was trying to address how people use these sub forums. But that's largely not managable right? Almost every thread will turn into a feature request some way or another.

Only way I see it is for each new thread to be issued to the Admin, who then decide where to file it. But that's a lot of work for minimal gain.

Edit: This place operates quite well as forum. It also contains a wealth of useful (somewhat searchable) information. Perhaps there's room for improvement in search, or a sort of "post pin/tagging" system (not thread) that could make ReasonTalk feel more like a Resource.

[_andreypetr_]

I found myself missing like button for many times - especially in the moments I don't want to send another post to a thread but want others know that the post is useful. And I want to read more liked posts in the first order because of its goodness or interest.

[joeyluck]

We had a "like" / upvote mod for a bit, but it's broken, so it was disabled. Maybe possible with a forum update? But that's not something I can do. We'd need Kenni's help with that.

And yeah the search function isn't great. Unless it is something with a unique product name, I usually use Google to search the forum.