"Video, Multichannel & Hi Rez" - wha happened?? I was gonna post this over in the newly-dubbed "Video" conference, but I didn't for fear of being...banned.

Then again, I'm gonna get banned anyway, so who cares?

There was maybe one thread per page on multichannel or hi-rez audio releases on our Video board, compared to those type of discs being talked about on New Releases and Vaults ~ and some of them were actual duplicates of topics on New Releases and Vaults. So for the sake of clarity and ease of finding information, I specified the board to Video only. It seems to be the way most music collectors shop anyway. A new multichannel or hi-rez release is sadly a rarity at the moment ... when they come out they're usually considered upgraded reissues for pieces in our audio collections rather than a separate collection in themselves ... and many multichannel discs have become part of the "deluxe edition" of releases which should be listed right alongside the standard redbook versions so that folks know what choices they have when shopping.

As we head into autumn I'm going to be repurposing the Announcements board into something more useful for the forum (most of the stuff currently on there really is better put into General), and possibly splitting off the "Where can I find X song or Y album?" stuff onto its own board, which I've been told by a few people is a feature they miss from the old ICE forum ... but we'll see, 'cos I prefer less boards rather than more. (Ease and speed of navigation is paramount.)

Makes sense. But since you prefer less conferences, I would suggest eliminating the "Different Strokes" conference. It gets some posts, but they're usually ones that would fit in either "New Releases" "From The Vaults" or "Collectors Corner." I know this has come up before and some have expressed their desire to keep a separate conference for these genres of music, but I don't think the number of posts generated justifies it.

And it's easy enough to identify a new release or vault title as SACD or DVD-A as such in the thread title if such a release is forthcoming.

I did originally want to eliminate Different Strokes ~ there were some strong opinions from the membership who were against collapsing that board. If people feel differently now, just post and tell me.

The ease of finding things is very important to me. (I'm a librarian, information is my life. ) When people can't immediately figure out where to post a particular topic, or which board to look at for particular kinds of information, then I know we haven't set up things clearly enough and could use a little bit of tweaking. (It actually takes less time to navigate through multiple pages of one board than it does to go from board to board with one page each ~ this is why I don't worry about keeping the number of boards tight even as we continue to grow in membership.)

I just come here and hit the "View ICE posts since last visit" link.

Most people don't, and also, that feature can't be accessed by visitors who aren't logged into the site.

if elimiination will help the site run smoother (it runs pretty smooth now) i'm all for it.

most of "different strokes can be put elsewhere without a problem.

renny

I would rather keep the Different Strokes section. Although I look at every new post in every thread (thank you OCD) I still feel as though some of the jazz, reggae and other stuff must get lost in the shuffle. I think DS adds to the search efficiency rather than detracts. It gives us a specific slot to look for music that is not as frequently posted about. If I want to look for a particular country/rap/jazz/etc. listing I know it is in the DS folder.

I also like seeing the red button on DS lit. It lets me know that there might be something of particular interest waiting for me. (I admit that's not a real reason to keep it but what the heck)

Same here. Though I now pull up all posts from all conferences. However, some WANderground thread titles keep me from opening them.

I agree with keeping separate. I look @ the 'since last visit' but I also have a particular focus on the different strokes...

If we eliminate "Different Strokes", I think some visitors will not bother searching for those other genres in "New Releases" and "From the Vaults", those threads will drown among all the other threads. Look at the Hoffman board, where their all-inclusive music section runs to several pages, just for one day! Okay, they also have a lot more members posting, but still I think they'd be better off with more sections.