New Forum Hierarchy This Week!

[Darren]

Hey all,

Just to prepare you for what might otherwise be a shocker, this week we are rolling out a new folder hierarchy for GateWorld Forum. Here's a brief explanation of the what and the why.

Starting this week we are expanding the STARGATE SG-1, STARGATE ATLANTIS, and STARGATE UNIVERSE show areas. I'm calling them "sub-forums" (rather than sub-folders), since the goal is to create discrete areas devoted to each show. Practically, that means splitting up folders that till now have been shared as franchise-wide: News, Characters & Relationships, and a few others.

Those that have some crossover (Fan Fiction) or don't lend themselves to individual shows (Fandom) will remain as they are.

This is primarily an expansion move; only one folder will be eliminated entirely. That's GateWorld Features. Topically, those threads can usually be assigned to just one show -- but the folder isn't active enough to warrant stand-alone folders for "SGU GateWorld Features," "SGA GateWorld Features," etc. So threads to discuss new interviews and other features on the site will go into the relevant show's General Discussion folder, stickied for a few weeks.

Now the 'why': I've been opposed to this sort of reorganization for a long time, because it supports Stargate fandom's tendency to fragment and separate, "our show" against "theirs." I've fought tooth and nail against this fracturing -- many of you go back the 10+ years that I do in fandom and actually remember what it used to be like. We've tried a lot of things to try and make people play nicely together, with varying degrees of success. But what's clear is that our fandom has reached a point in its history where "one big, happy family" is no longer a realistic future for which to hope.

So we're giving each show a fuller, more self-contained home at GateWorld. Those who consider themselves fans of one or two particular shows will know where to play, and where to stay away. If you hate SGU with every fibre of your being, for example, you simply need to stay out of its sub-forum. Let the fans of that show actually enjoy the show on their own terms. (Violations of this = trolling, plain and simple.)

I know many folks are resistant to change, so to help it go down easier there will also be a few, long-requested new folder additions.

Thanks!

[Pharaoh Atem]

Looking forward to it

[Byakuya Truelight]

The only problem I see with this is that it's all one storyline. For example with the 'character relationships' section, a lot of characters are shared between the different series, such as Carter. But other than that, I think it's a great idea. Can't wait. ^_^

[Egle01]

Hopefully that will improve current situation.

Have we got a certain date when the change will take place?

[Skydiver]

It's my understanding that the change will happen during this week. Basically as darren has time to go into the admin panel and move things about.

as to characters that cross several shows, I think the idea is, yes, sam has been in all 3 shows, as has Daniel and Jack, but all three of those are most connected to SG1, so that'd be their 'home folder'

I cant think of many pairings that cross shows (like Mckay/Carter) that are horribly active. If we do have pairing threads that cross shows, we'll check with the users and see where htey prefer to be. On the other hand, if it's a pairing that hasn't been active in weeks/months, we may just move it. The theory is, if no one is talking about it, then they shouldn't mind it being moved..

We'll cross that bridge as we need to.

there'll undoubtedly be a bit of tweaking as we go along and a few threads we'll have to find a home for

[lily]

I got the heads-up about this in the thread I'm usually in, and I have to say that I'm extremely happy.

For years I've been accessing only certain threads, which I have bookmarked. I realize that by doing that I might miss new threads I might have found interesting. But I don't want to have to wade through stuff from shows in the franchise I don't care about. And I imagine that others who only like one or two of the shows might feel the same.

My only interest in the franchise is Atlantis and its core cast (Joe, Jason, Rachel and David), so I don't want to have to scroll through SG-1 and SGU stuff in order to see an SGA thread. And no, I don't go trolling the SG-1 & SGU threads. In fact the only thing I know about SGU is that the guy from The Full Monty has been cast, and I think Brad Wright said a couple of years ago when pitching the show idea that it would take place on some kind of ship. No idea if that ended up being the case or not. I always skip all the non SGA trailers on my SGA DVDs. And I like it that way. Not interested in Stargate if it's not Atlantis..

So, bottom line is that this is a very welcome change for me, having each show in a separated sub-forum. Thanks a lot!

[Darren]

It will be a gradual roll-out. You'll start to notice folders moved around one at a time, probably starting in a few hours. My goal is to be done by Friday, but I imagine I won't get it all done in one shot.

I'll be working on the live forum without closing it down, so you'll see each folder move / rename as it happens, if you are paying attention to it.

[Skydiver]

So please be patient if subscriptions or the such are lost in the move. They may catch up once the forum gets over the 'shock' of stuff being moved around

[DigiFluid]

Hm....does that mean that the SG1/SGA/SGU subforums are now going to be inundated with those godforsaken "thunk"/"whump"/various other dumb made-up words-threads?

God I hope not

[Jper]

This might be a stupid question, but is this just an announcement or is the opportunity for us to give some feedback?

Because personally I don't think the C&R folder or whatever it is should be split up, and certainly not merged with the SGA, SGU or SG1 folders, subfora, ... I'm also not completely understanding, the changes... Anyways, if this is just an announcement, then I'll just go along with it. I do want to say I quite like the structure we have now. But, hey, always open to something new/improvement.

[Strey]

Woot! Thanks. SGA only for me, so this announcement is very welcome.

[prion]

Will the news stay the same, as news on SG1 and SGA actors are lumped into one thread...

[TameFarrar]

This might be a stupid question, but is this just an announcement or is the opportunity for us to give some feedback?

This is an Announcement until Darren says something different.

Will the news stay the same, as news on SG1 and SGA actors are lumped into one thread...

Darren will post a directory once the moves are complete

[Skydiver]

This might be a stupid question, but is this just an announcement or is the opportunity for us to give some feedback?

Because personally I don't think the C&R folder or whatever it is should be split up, and certainly not merged with the SGA, SGU or SG1 folders, subfora, ... I'm also not completely understanding, the changes... Anyways, if this is just an announcement, then I'll just go along with it. I do want to say I quite like the structure we have now. But, hey, always open to something new/improvement.

generally, and Darren may change his mind, but roughly how the 3 stargate folders will be is

folder for each show, within that 'big' folder will be the smaller ones

General Discussion
News
Characters and Relationships
Science and Tech
Episodes

this will also have an advantage of.....do you like a less popular character? well you won't have to go back to page 5 of the C&R to find his/her thread anymore.

It's like each show will have its own little 'sub forum' devoted solely to it, and the rest of the forum will be largely unchanged.

[Lythisrose]

Will there still be a General Discussion area with topics such as "The Role of Women in Stargate" or "Which alien bad guy was the best?" or "Who would win Teal'c or Ronon?" etc. etc... that cross party lines, so to speak?