CZ Talk:Forum

Moving the forums to the main wiki

If you'd rather discuss this on the forums :) - see here.

The issue of whether to move these forums to the main wiki has popped up occasionally over the last few years, and the recent decision by a Council member to cease using them has brought the topic up again. Some of us did investigate this about a year ago but the Council of the day never really drove it forward, and progress stalled. The idea was to move the boards to the main wiki (see this test) and use a Google Group to allow non-members to comment.

The two main problems with a move, as far as I can see, are Constabulary moderation and the possibility of cluttering up the 'recent changes' list with lots of discussion posts. Regarding the first, the forums were envisaged as a space for more controversial discussions in which Constables would exercise more leniency. Also, they would stay relatively hands-off because they are not supposed to get involved in content matters. If we moved to the wiki, by default the existing rules would apply, and Constables would have to monitor discussions more closely. In the past, there have been some tremendous rows which have been kept off the main wiki because people had the forums to let off steam. Perhaps the Council would need to set up new rules to cope with the change of environment (or alternatively, perhaps those arguments would never have happened if those discussions had taken place on the main wiki).

From an administrative point of view, it would be easier to reduce the forums to a read-only archive, closed to new members, until such time as a more permanent archive space is found. The software for the wiki and the forums is completely different, meaning two databases have to be maintained in parallel. The move would also reduce the number of places where new information can be posted, thus simplifying its dissemination. I am sure that there are plenty of CZ wiki account holders who don't even know that the forums exist - there are approximately 3,700 forum accounts, but about 9,000 main wiki accounts (2nd figure excludes about 500 one-word-username accounts, which were created under self-registration and cannot legitimately be used).

For the last year or so, I have been creating forum accounts for new members at the same time as creating wiki accounts. The forum accounts require e-mail activation and I can tell you that over half of those new accounts remain unactivated. Most others have never posted. So, the forum is not working to attract new members or generate many new discussions.

What do users of the forums think? Would you be prepared to go over to the main wiki?