by Michael on Sat Sep 27, 2008 12:36 am
[font=Comic Sans MS]I am now locking this thread.
Please contact a Moderator if you require it to be reopened.
Admin would also be appreciative if members would first contact Admin before starting a new thread on the board. This request was made to members several times by Skep in the early months of the board, although some members may have missed those posts, so I am clarifying. Reasons for this essentially lie in the fact that our whole Meredith Kercher forum is in fact merely a 'sub-forum', this is a 'cramped' space, therefore it becomes cluttered and full very quickly. Unfortunately, de-cluttering is not easy at all, since PHPBB2 here lacks the Mod's 'Merge' feature which would allow us to merge certain threads together and lessen the volume on the board. Whilst threads can be 'moved', threads can only be moved to a 'different' sub-forum and the other two sub-forums here are not related to Meredith Kercher, hence moving any threads there would make them off topic as well as serve to place them 'in the back of beyond somewhere' were members may miss them.
Moreover, when a new thread is created it automatically appears at the near top of the forum thread list...each subsequent post to that thread further bumps it upwards a notch. When something is bumped up, as a reaction another thread gets bumped 'down' to make room for it. This is most undesirable for key live threads such as the 'Timelines' thread for example, that need to be kept prominently at the top of the forum. The bumping down of threads also results in older threads pushed over onto a second page and therefore out of sight and in effect serves to create a 'back of beyond' which evermore threads fall into. It also creates work for myself as I then have to go into each of the Key threads and bump each one back up to the top of the list. I don't mind extra work, which is actually a sympton of a thriving forum, as by nature it 'expands'...but I'd prefer not to be set unecessary work...which also means if I'm doing that I'm not doing something 'else' for the benefit of the board, or the case and my time is finite.
When a board becomes cluttered it ceases to be effective in conveying information, rather things become confusing as we are left swimming in a sea of data. It's even 'more' confusing still for newcomers. Just as with currency, 'inflation' of 'bulk' results in a lowering of value.
Thank you to all readers for understanding.
Michael (Moderator)[/font]
"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is." - Winston Churchill
