Forums Separated By Genre?

has this idea ever been proposed or discussed??

I think it would spark some activity...especially a horror forum!

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Not sure if it would be possible to set all the genres apart so easily since there are so many mixed in to a movie at times but I feel Horror is one that could be seperated without much of a problem. It's got my vote anyways.

It's not like there's an influx of genre related threads that warrants the General or Upcoming Movie forums to be divided up. Would be like 15 forums with about 10 threads.

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Yeah, this is a good idea in theory, but I don't know if there are enough threads on most genres to support it. As you pointed out, horror would be the most viable, but even that would be fairly inactive, I think, and would also require that we find a new way to display them all, I think.

It's definitely something I've considered in the past, though, and will strongly consider if the ebb and flow of the topics on MoFo warrant it.

It immediately raises problems as what genre each film falls in, especially as many can be considered as more than one. It also precludes the topic from branching out from whatever its original narrow focus may have been originally.

Nah, not necessary or practical. If you can't find a thread on Horror flicks or Sci-Fi or whatever, you must not be looking very hard.


I think.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

I hear ya...but I would think a horror genre forum may actually spark activity...I don't know, it may be worthy of a test run

How about a best script forum?

Dividing forums into sub-topics reduces activity, because it reduces interaction with the casual reader/poster and inhibits people from happening upon topics they might not think to go in search of.

Less elitism, not more!

Spectacularly bad idea, I think, even though there are a number of genres that I'd like to see any posts relating to hidden from my sight on the board.

It could, however, breed a new subspecies of MoFo Gollum - 400 posts in the half light of the Which Superhero Movie Is Most L33t section without ever venturing as far as General Movie Discussion.

This might be an interesting experiment, but only if we're allowed to suddenly lift the lid and watch them scurrying around, looking for the nearest crack in the floorboards.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

the theory of it reducing activity is completely ludicrous...the general discussion forum is dead as it is...only 7 threads rec'd responses yesterday...dead

...sub-forums would allow genre lovers to talk amongst themselves in smaller and more contained discussions...

not really sure what that means, but if you mean the specific genre lover wouldn't check out the General Movie Discussion forum is also ridiculous...it would be like someone going to blockbuster and not drifting between their genre sections

I really thought more people would have an open mind about this idea...

if places like movie retailers and rental stores can figure out or decide which genre a movie can go into, Im pretty sure we can

That's not an especially small number, and wouldn't have been particularly unusual even in 2004, when the site was receiving several hundred posts per day; it's about the number of replies, not the threads which have replies. I would argue it's about the quality of the replies as well, but that's another can of worms.

This may sound fine in theory, but in practice it generally doesn't happen this way. One of the biggest mistake new forum owners make is putting up twenty boards before any of them have achieved any significant level of activity.

Some broader thoughts on the matter:

More forums inevitably thins thread distribution out. If you're unimpressed by 7 threads having replies in a given forum on a given day, that number will only go down if several of those threads find their way to a genre-specific sub-forums.

The general rule with forum creation is that it's employed to deal with topic overflow. If there were tons of Horror-related threads in the General Movie Discussion forum, to the point where people uninterested in horror had to comb through them to get what they wanted, then it would make sense for a Horror Forum. But as it stands now the General Movie Discussion forum has a good cross-section of topics and isn't flooded with any one thing; which is the goal with any "general" forum.

Another thing to consider is the possibility of fracturing the user base. It may hard to be imagined now, with this fairly eclectic group, but the clique mentality was a huge issue a few years back. Many new users felt they were shut out by the regulars, and that they had to post hundreds of times and visit regularly for months to feel "accepted" by the community. More forums and more topics, while they would have some benefits, carry with them this possibility, albeit in smaller doses.

Anyway, I don't want to give off the impression that I'm dismissing this out of hand. I'm not even ruling the possibility out. But my first instinct is that MoFo has struck upon a pretty good balance of forums and hasn't had topic overflow problems for quite awhile as a result, which is no small feat.

That said, there is one big exception to all this: section moderators. Mods around here help cleanup spam and the like, but on many forums it's very different. On most forums (especially very large ones), moderators essentially run a specific forum or category, and are sort of in charge not only of keeping it clean, but also keeping it active. If members here revealed that they wish to run a genre sub-forum, and have been actively holding back threads and posts because they didn't feel they had a place here, that'd be another story. I'm certainly open to sub-forums in that scenario. If this is the case, let me know.

In conclusion, this is a very tricky business. There's an ebb and flow to communities like this and it's very hard to pick up on. I don't want to play the experience card too blatantly, but I've been doing this for a very long time and have taken on every role in the forum hierarchy on various sites, and even I wouldn't pretend to know how it all works. So while it may sound "ridiculous" that activity would be reduced by this idea, JB, it's honestly not absurd. I have my theories about why this might be, but community building is more art than science.

thanks Y...I'll reply with some further dialogue over the weekend, when Im not being paid at work for doing nothing

but...you make good points...and make them by speaking honestly...cheers

No sweat, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Ironically enough, in addition to there not always being a "right" answer in regards to things like this, the best answer one year isn't always the best answer the next one, either. So the possibility of genre-specific sub-forums should be raised from time to time even if it's not something we end up doing right away.

This could be a fun idea and make thread posts increase. Something about the expansion, the chaos of movie categories... it's alluring to me. Things are a little too neat and compact here. I think that's a good thing and I've certainly experienced the place quite OK the past five years with genre-less forums. But I think more movie forums might strengthen the focus of movie posts.

I agree that movies can fall into different categories, but there's usually a default label attached to each one, usually. If not, we could make a "????? Genre" forum.

That's exactly what happens. I spent years on a movie forum which was divided up into so many sub-fora that it resembled one of those Russian dolls.

There were posters in some of them that had never ever ventured out of their comfort zone in all the time I was there. Consequently, those places became so insular that they evolved/mutated into seperate communities of their own (and didn't welcome interlopers, heh).

It's all very well having an open mind but mine tends to close when I've experienced exactly what you're proposing.

well, I have a little time now to respond now, so I'm going try and get some of my thoughts down...

I understand your (Yoda and Tacitus) concerns with the development of segregation/cliques/grouping that may arise as a direct result of adding sub-genres, and my rebuttal is simple, these cliques are already present on this board and widespread in cinema/film in general...I know the former maybe hard to swallow for the vet's on this board but it is true...I know from being a newbie not too long ago

anyway, I know you thoughts and intentions are good natured but I must say, just because a forum is of general discussion, it will not prevent any cliques from forming...Tacitus mentioned "comfort zones" and this is a key point...if someone ventures onto this board and can not immediately find a comfort zone, why would they stay?? he also mentioned one site had so many that it was overwhelming, but it does not need to be so divided...I'm not suggesting we make so many divisions that we end up with a crime-drama, a period-drama, and a docu-drama forum...but the main ones would be nice: drama, comedy, horror, sci-fi fantasy...

I don't know about others, but I know this is hitting the nail on the head in my case...I tend to post everything horror related on other boards...and look for horror related news elsewhere as well...