Board Organization Poll

SmashJam

Let's make an attempt at figuring out where people's preferences lie when it comes to board organization. I only put black and white options because we are kind of in the middle now, so if most people voted "don't care" or "whatever i wrote as an in between option" we'd all still be wondering what to do! Please note to vote your preference, if you truly don't care either way that's fine but which way would you prefer? I think people have been very respectful in guiding the one-off posts, so I have every reason to believe that would continue. Here are some further explanations of the options as I see them:

Option 1-Special subject threads would only be allowed if a lot of people have confirmed interest and there is NO OTHER THREAD FOR IT. For example: no questions outside the questions thread, no symptoms outside the symptoms thread, and randoms go in randoms. If you don't want to open something up to the board, you could try your due date check in, STM or FTM check ins, etc. We can always add weekly check ins for things so people interested in those topics can find them (what are you reading, vbac/no med/csection birth, etc.), and have appropriate single topic threads (Recipes for the holidays, GTKY, etc.). 
Option 2- Special Snowflake threads from randoms who don't participate will still be rightly (and respectfully) directed to the correct board or, if necessary, reported. Otherwise, participating regulars can just post questions and threads at will, assuming a general interest by pregnant women or the board.

ETA: removal of "poll options" I still had here in the descriptor. 

acunamatada

christycalifornia

I guess when it's drawn out like that, I'm on team organized. 

stillcozy

@christycalifornia welcome to the dark side 

paytonpedro

I like the organization but with such huge threads it gets tedious searching pages (I know search bar- but I’ve used it and missed topics.) and things get lost. Some things need theye own thread. I was extremely active in my last group and while we had organization, we did t have the weekly random thread or question thread more one thread per topics. So we would get annoyed when 15 people would start a thread on cravings because we already had a thread devoted to it. I don’t know where I’m going with this. My almost 2 year old doesn’t let me be active enough to have an opinion I guess. What we’re doing is fine. 
Edit:words

bdesterhouse

Can we have a happy medium?  my fun threads would be banished if I followed the top option. How about single personal question that only helps #1  be banished but the fun ones that include stay?!! I plan to come up with more fun threads that don’t belong in the randoms in the future... no dice??!

christycalifornia

Fun threads will aways be welcome IMO @bdesterhouse. I think @smashjam would include those in #1, like she did with my GTKYs.

christycalifornia

@lindsayleigh1989  

stillcozy

i think if you are established in the community snd make a suggestion for a new thread i doubt people would say no. also yes fun threads are just fine

stillcozy

@bdesterhouse also i think option one isnt worded well its the dont start ss posts especially if we dont know you and if we know you and it makes sense to start it you will probably be fine 

swizz09

I think trying to moderate what is an important topic or what fits where is a tad dictator-ish. I think that people that know what they are doing here are not going to post threads that are narrowly subjected. However, I do think that some of the normal threads needs to be updated regularly. I would like to be around more often, but I hate having to read through 75 random posts exc. Or, for example, I am not going to look at the symptoms thread because there are 200 posts. So some heavily trafficked threads need updates more regularly. 

christycalifornia

Frick. We're dead tied! Whatever will we doooooooooooooooo????????

purplepelican

maybe it will help to re-state the problem: Very frequent posters who can follow along with the regular threads as they grow (and get quite long) find it easier to have an organized board where they aren't seeing the same topics rehashed over and over again. Many of these posters feel that the search function is an adequate tool for more casual users to be able to find information that they are looking for. More casual posters who want to be somewhat active on here but don't follow along with all of the threads as they are made can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the regular threads. Many of these posters do not feel that the search function is adequate in helping them find what they are looking for.

 I have no solutions, but sometimes hearing the problem again helps with coming up with ideas.
ETA:

comealongponds

As a point: you don't *have* to keep up with every single thread. You can jump in and out, read back as much as you'd like...no one is expecting questions to never be repeated in the question thread or for you to know exactly what everyone's said in randoms.

SmashJam

@comealongponds that is a good point...that in questions/randoms/symptoms things will be repeated and if you don't want to jump into 200 posts because its daunting I would say look at the last page and jump in. I know that often I wait for the next weeks thread to be active on it if I was busy and not able to get on because I don't want to jump in late and not know what is going on. @bdesterhouse I personally think that the fun threads are fine, its just the question threads that start up when we have places for stuff that I thought people had an issue with (and, I myself have an issue with).

Thought that this would help but we ARE at a dead lock. It will obviously be up or awhile so we can see if more people put anything here but this would seem to me that we...carry on as usual. Even though it looks like option one is ahead its not enough to make a clear decision, imo. 

@swizz09 I was not trying to make myself the board dictator, I swear! I think that about 50% of us have been on a board where you didn't HAVE single topic threads posted unless there wasn't a clear space for it elsewhere and you asked others on the board if there was interest or a place you should put it. I think others have stated it on other threads when we've discussed this, being able to post questions and topics at will makes this a bit of a Q&A.

jbosch30

I'm jumping into this- why not- I had a son almost 8 years ago and (I have a new account now) BUT I LOVED THE BUMP back then... I am trying to "find" my place on this board- which seems a lot harder than last time- mainly because of the organization both lack and over simplification.  I agree I see a board with 100 post on it... I am like oh that is too much going on I don't "want" to get involved in that discussion- I would much rather find a "new" discussion that I feel I can have a voice and quickly follow the thread. I don't do discussion boards for a living - most of us don't and we all have personal taste/time here that influences our frustrations.

Question: is there a way to appease both? Like can we have 2 boards?  One for organized- and one for random questions?  (this may be a stupid question- I again admit I don't do this for a living- so I don't know if that is possible...)

acunamatada

@jbosch30 my only thought is there's first second and third trimester boards? I don't think they are organized like a BMB? There's also private TB groups, but idk how those work. 

safire3

Just an idea but maybe the threads that get massive like the question/symptoms/randoms should be restarted like twice a week so they don’t get out of control? I admit that most of the time I don’t open them because it’s like 5 pages and I feel like I have to catch up to participate and I don’t have time for that. The suggestion of just reading the last page is also a good one, I’ll have to try it.

For those who are not interested in any sort or organization, just think what the board would be like if even half of those people in that 5 page long thread started their own thread to ask their questions. 

IMHO There is nothing wrong with starting a thread for something unique that may be of interest to many people like discussing a favorite tv show, the fun/gtky threads etc. Basically things that promote community building. My problem is with the AW ‘omg my MS is so bad today, any tips?’ posts that will be repeated x1000 if we let it. 

SmashJam

Is there a reason we don't do daily randoms/questions/symptoms? I'll admit when I was on TTGP I at first found daily threads really weird but then I was like, oh shit, this is easy to keep up With! 

nimmle

I second @safire3. It's hard to catch up on the monster threads especially since I'm not on all day every day in general. I think increasing the frequency would make sense. Also, just for the sake of format, for fun threads I think they should include a "GTKY:________" of "Just for Fun: ______" name format just so they can be clear

SmashJam

Also @safire3 I have no problem with gtky threads...but we have a day for gtky threads to be posted, and it's not everyday. My thing is we have explicitly stated rules but we don't use them. So if we aren't going to use them, we should change them.

paytonpedro

I don’t feel like fun threads and gtky threads should have a “day”.... I mean it shouldn’t be like 7 a day, but if someone comes up with one I don’t see what the problem is. I get wanting to be organized but I think there has to be a happy mix of organization and randomness. I’m also in the boat where if a thread has 75 New responses I’m not digging. I feel awkward jumping in convos that are already established like that. I also would have thought that asking the same questions multiple times in the questions thread would be more annoying than having one thread for a common question? I know I used to hate answering the same question multiple times. There has to be a happy medium. 

zande2016

Many people seem to be expressing desire for more frequent/shorter check ins, so as @smashjam  said, why not just do daily randoms/questions/symptoms? I also think the board can still be organized and easy to navigate if we "allow" GTKY, and also topics that apply to all, like a birth plan thread, breastfeeding thread, etc. I do agree that rants/dear diary and specific questions should be politely redirected to questions/randoms/check ins/etc. as they have been all along, and if one person just redirects them and we let the thread die, all will be fine

acunamatada

 zande2016 said:

Many people seem to be expressing desire for more frequent/shorter check ins, so as @smashjam  said, why not just do daily randoms/questions/symptoms? I also think the board can still be organized and easy to navigate if we "allow" GTKY, and also topics that apply to all, like a birth plan thread, breastfeeding thread, etc. I do agree that rants/dear diary and specific questions should be politely redirected to questions/randoms/check ins/etc. as they have been all along, and if one person just redirects them and we let the thread die, all will be fine

I like all this^^ and a lot of what others have said. Organization is important but we still have to have fun.
But I do think daily questions/randoms/symptoms might be overkill. I think maybe bi-weekly and a weekend thread for each would make more sense? 

bdesterhouse

acunamatada said:

 zande2016 said:

Many people seem to be expressing desire for more frequent/shorter check ins, so as @smashjam  said, why not just do daily randoms/questions/symptoms? I also think the board can still be organized and easy to navigate if we "allow" GTKY, and also topics that apply to all, like a birth plan thread, breastfeeding thread, etc. I do agree that rants/dear diary and specific questions should be politely redirected to questions/randoms/check ins/etc. as they have been all along, and if one person just redirects them and we let the thread die, all will be fine

I like all this^^ and a lot of what others have said. Organization is important but we still have to have fun.
But I do think daily questions/randoms/symptoms might be overkill. I think maybe bi-weekly and a weekend thread for each would make more sense? 

That would make the boards bigger, when they want smaller threads to make it easier to read through... at least thats what my understanding is? 

Sarafuss

On my last BMB we did daily randoms and it was so much easier to keep up with.  Daily questions and symptoms might be a bit much and those could still be weekly.  But I'm all for daily randoms.

acunamatada

@bdesterhouse Yeah, that's my issue with it- I think daily threads would get crazy, and we'd never be able to find anything. And conversations would bubble over into more than a day, I'm sure.
But I guess the issue was they're getting too long as weekly threads.. Personally I've never had an issue with it, I read the first page or so in hop in, but it's sounding like some people aren't comfortable with doing that. Just looking for a happy medium I guess. 

zande2016

acunamatada said:

 zande2016 said:

Many people seem to be expressing desire for more frequent/shorter check ins, so as @smashjam  said, why not just do daily randoms/questions/symptoms? I also think the board can still be organized and easy to navigate if we "allow" GTKY, and also topics that apply to all, like a birth plan thread, breastfeeding thread, etc. I do agree that rants/dear diary and specific questions should be politely redirected to questions/randoms/check ins/etc. as they have been all along, and if one person just redirects them and we let the thread die, all will be fine

I like all this^^ and a lot of what others have said. Organization is important but we still have to have fun.
But I do think daily questions/randoms/symptoms might be overkill. I think maybe bi-weekly and a weekend thread for each would make more sense? 

I'm down with that

acunamatada

Sarafuss said:

On my last BMB we did daily randoms and it was so much easier to keep up with.  Daily questions and symptoms might be a bit much and those could still be weekly.  But I'm all for daily randoms.

I think that makes the most sense.. Our randoms thread is already 4 pages long and it started yesterday. 

stillcozy

i think if we do a daily randoms it will bs important to transition conversation to the new one each day otjerwise we will have a lot of threads going

catftm2018

Since I’m new to BMB’s I’m just hoping you veterans can lead by example. (As I think you have) I also get annoyed with the one off posts from people we have never heard of before. But I do see the need to have some more focused threads- which I think as times goes on will come naturally. And I like the idea of having some flexibility with the weekly thread topics. It’s clear some get used much more than others. 

In general thank you to the ladies who are trying to hash this out! Much praise for your patience and willingness to include everyone in this decision. 

theincrediblehulk

I definitely think some of the threads should be updated more frequently than once a week.

Randoms especially. When I was on the bump a few years ago that's how it was done. With so many people on the board it will end up being so long. I, personally, don't like jumping in on a 5 page thread without reading. What if I'm jumping in on a serious convo? Or what if I reply to something that's been answered several times already? 

It's just easier to have daily randoms. I frequent another board that only has about 30 members and we do daily randoms. 

acunamatada

Bringing it back to the poll, the original battle.. It looks like overwhelmingly people like the organization the way it is now. (I say overwhelmingly because it looked like the trolls might have swayed the vote)

So can we come to angreement? 
Keep things the way they are, but make Randoms daily? And no ones allowed to get butthurt if you're kindly asked to move the conversation to the next days thread? 

blair_krank

I like daily randoms too. That’s how we always did them on my first BMB. I don’t remember the other weekly threads being quite so rigid, but that maybe I just forgot. I guess I could go back and look. 

stillcozy

sounds good 

blair_krank

By rigid I mean, they existed, but could be started on any day someone felt a need. 

SmashJam

I like the idea of daily randoms. I do think that the "Option 1" to me is not necessarily to "keep things the way they are," that is really calling for no one posting single topic threads, and to be directed to the existing threads for that topic. Really the way things are now is closer to option 2, where regulars post at will topics they think are appropriate for the board. So if we keep things the way they are, we are really doing option 2.

christycalifornia

I'm loving all the suggestions I'm reading, and think we're on our way to a good solution. @safire3 makes really good points imo. The only problem I see with daily/frequent threads is that I've noticed that we, collectively as a group, tend to suck at letting a thread go past the day it's posted. That wouldn't be a bad thing for weekly check-ins, but for daily threads it might. Still, I say we give it a shot. A group I'm part of on Facebook went to that format about a year ago, and I was super skeptical at first, but many of the ladies swore it worked well for other online groups they were part of, and it worked great once we all got used to it. Every day, whomever is awake first posts "Monday Randoms" with a meme, and we just go from there. So long as it's between 12:00 am and 11:59 pm in your time zone, you're free to post in that day, then move on to the next one when the day changes. Every now and then we go back to a post a few days old to respond to something, but it's not often. I say we give it a shot for, like, a week or two and see what we think. Thoughts? And what threads would that apply to besides randoms? Questions? Symptoms? (Bear in mind, symptoms will start to be less active in a few weeks, so those regular threads will likely need to adapt as our stages of pregnancy progress.)

Also, I definitely vote we take fun stuff like GTKY off of a specific day. I think it stifles creativity and community to relegate fun threads to a day, and would rather people be able to post fun things when they think of them. I can't remember the good idea I had an hour ago; I can't wait for Thursday or whenever it is to post something.

acunamatada

@smashjam I felt like we were more so like option 1 lately. Most of the single topic threads on the board are older and just refuse to die. 

SmashJam

@acunamatada oh you are right now that I look at it! So what you are saying is that we do not do single topic threads from this point on, and fully embrace the option 1? 

acunamatada

@SmashJam yeahhh exactly!