Improving our fungi forum

[FungiJohn]

Hello all

Thanks to Chris for re-vitalising the ‘Herbivore dung - Have a dung day’ thread. A most interesting thread!!

Looking at our ‘fungi’ forum you soon realise what a wonderful and informative forum it has become. This is largely due to the many members (past and present) who have given so much of their time, energy and expertise into producing a forum and Gallery which in my view is second to none!

Herein lies a problem and I’m hoping we can solve this together. The problem is how we keep important ‘little gems’ live?

The forum already has sub forums for Lichen and Microscopy and I have asked Stu for similar sub forums for:

Myxomycetes
Rusts, Smuts and Mildews

Whilst I’m sure this will help I would also like sub forums for the likes of:

Herbivore dung ….
Chris’s excellent Fungal Plant Parasites
Micro fungi
Pick up sticks
Etc etc

... but there is a limit to the number!!

There’s such a wealth of information but quite often it gets lost in the ether!
Whilst we have the ‘Sticky’ feature, there is an obvious and practical reason why we can’t over do them … It would place all the new threads out of sight! Ideally this feature should hold the bare minimum of entries.

So, what do we wish to do?

Any comments much appreciated. You can pm or email me if you prefer

John

PS I'll make a temporary sticky

[Lancashire Lad]

I've just spent some time rearranging the "Useful Links" part of the Fungi Reference section into alphabetical order.

I think it would be good practice if everyone editing or adding to the fungi reference sections kept lists and the like in alphabetical order.

Alphabetical order makes things much easier when using the reference section to try to find something which may or may not be there.

Regards,
Mike.

EDIT - Ooops!
I think I should have posted this on the "Help Develop The Fungi Pages" Thread.
Sorry.

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

I've just spent some time rearranging the "Useful Links" part of the Fungi Reference section into alphabetical order.

I think it would be good practice if everyone editing or adding to the fungi reference sections kept lists and the like in alphabetical order.

Alphabetical order makes things much easier when using the reference section to try to find something which may or may not be there.

Regards,
Mike.

EDIT - Ooops!
I think I should have posted this on the "Help Develop The Fungi Pages" Thread.
Sorry.

No problem Mike. It was good to see a reply in my thread even though it was in the wrong place

btw The only person to contact me regarding 'improving our fungi forum' was Les so I can only assume people are happy with the existing structure or perhaps it's a little early in the season.

I'll give it another month and then remove the sticky.

Best Wishes and thanks for the good suggestion - John

PS I've copied your post to the 'Help Develop The Fungi Pages' Thread

[FungiJohn]

Hello all

The Myxomycetes sub forum is now open for input and I will gradually move existing myxo threads over.

Do we want to do the same with the Fungal Plant Parasites? It would also release the sticky and make the 'general' fungi forum more tidy.

Please let me know

John

[Lancashire Lad]

Hi John,

Sub forum for fungal plant parasites sounds good to me.

Regards,
Mike.

[FungiJohn]

Thanks Mike

I hope to create a few more sub forums just to make the site easier to access and avoid duplication.

I'm considering:

'Fungi on miscellaneous substrates' which could keep track of our 'herbivore dung', 'micro fungi' and 'pick up sticks' threads.

I think Chris's excellent FPP thread should probably sit in it's own sub forum given the information already there and future potential content.

It's getting the right balance and making it simple for the user / browser.

Another idea is to create a 'list' of those 'little gem' threads / posts which always seem hard to find when you need one.

I realise the A to Z is not quite what we would like but should we obtain further funding / resources I'm sure it will be resolved at some stage.

For now, it's a case of doing what we can to improve the forum with the data as it is.

John

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by FungiJohn

Thanks Mike


It's getting the right balance and making it simple for the user / browser.

Another idea is to create a 'list' of those 'little gem' threads / posts which always seem hard to find when you need one.

John

Could the 'list' of the 'little gem' threads actually be a sticky that has the links to the threads? Us regulars know those threads very well, so something that makes them quick to locate is the main need in my opinion. It wouldn't be a problem if casual users or those new to fungi didn't use it, but kept posting as new threads as they do at the moment. Too many subdivisions might make the fungi site seem too technical and intimidating. Afterall, was the fungus they found on a pickup stick, or a log (and is a log a stick?), was it parasite? Or in grassland, or on dung (when it was actually on a buried stick in grassland with sheeps dung on top)? When all they want is a name for the thing ....

Now where was Chris' thread? Oh yes, here it is
Fungal Plant Parasites
(OK, I know it is stickied at the moment.)
And have a dung day?
Herbivore dung - Have a dung day!

Melanie

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

Could the 'list' of the 'little gem' threads actually be a sticky that has the links to the threads? Us regulars know those threads very well, so something that makes them quick to locate is the main need in my opinion. It wouldn't be a problem if casual users or those new to fungi didn't use it, but kept posting as new threads as they do at the moment. Too many subdivisions might make the fungi site seem too technical and intimidating. Afterall, was the fungus they found on a pickup stick, or a log (and is a log a stick?), was it parasite? Or in grassland, or on dung (when it was actually on a buried stick in grassland with sheeps dung on top)? When all they want is a name for the thing ....

Now where was Chris' thread? Oh yes, here it is
Fungal Plant Parasites
(OK, I know it is stickied at the moment.)
And have a dung day?
Herbivore dung - Have a dung day!

Melanie

Good valid comments, and I agree, too many sub forums may put some off.

Having the 'general' landing site should catch the majority of 'new' members posts. I can then move specific threads over at a later time. 'Regulars', will I'm sure, input directly into the 'sub forums'

Just ideas at the moment, so any views / ideas are much appreciated.

John

That's exactly the type of 'sticky' thread I meant too