There was a discussion thread called "Downsizing" that I did notice.
I would like to hear suggestions (again) about downsizing the Quoteland Groups discussion forums. I think it is a good idea and would like to move forward.
Here are some statistics that show the kind of traffic that Quoteland is getting:

These stats show that Quoteland gets a LOT of traffic, and is actually a very popular website. We are not seeing, and may never see again, the kind of activity on our discussion forums that we saw years ago.

note: the stats for 2-23 were taken about mid-day . The end of day stats were:
Views: 18485
Posts: 20
Visits: 4012

p.s. Many thanks to Fair_GwenofAir for helping me with this post.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: thenostromo,

First, thanks for not downsizing without any forewarning. That would be a shock, to say the least!

I don't know if you have the capability, but can you break down the page views by forum? That would give us a much better idea of which forums are magnets and which are not. I've always wondered how many old debate forums, for example, still drive traffic, even though the forum itself is pretty quiet these days.

To recap, we have the following subsets:

3 quotation forums
3 scholarly forums
3 writing forums
1 general discussion
2 update/suggestion

Without much enlightenment regarding traffic patterns, I'm guessing most of the actual posts are generated in the 3 quote forums above and since the website is called "Quoteland" one would hesitate to downsize those three at all, at this point.

However, I still think removing (perhaps at first merely "hiding") Writer's Workshop would be a quick first step.

Combining the two scholarly forums into one forum, and perhaps manually moving the better DF posts to GD would effectively remove that scholarly orange subdivision altogether; then by adding the now single scholarly forum to an orange subdivision with the currently stand-alone "General Discussion" forum would significantly visually abbreviate the website look.

I'd hesitate to remove, hide, etc. the Poetry and Prose Forum and the Original Writers' Forum without a few months' forewarning of such intent. However, were the two old forums to eventually be "sunsetted" out, one could create a brand new writers' forum, if demand were there for one.

Just my rambling .02 this fine morning.
Aire

Edit: Okay, I just perused the Poetry & Prose Forum, and while there's not heavy traffic, there does appear to be activity there, so maybe keep this forum and only consider sunsetting the Orig. Writer's Forum. Or maybe have a contest for current members to recommend the top 100 best posts of the Orig. Writer's forum, manually move them to the currently active Poetry and Prose Forum, put a sticky note at the top of the P&P forum with hyperlinks to the top 100 winning posts. Then, after due forewarning, hide/delete Orig. Writers' Forum. Again..... just brainstorming here......

Edit #2: Or, take my idea in Edit #1 and do it in reverse. Reopen Orig. Writers' Forum and make it the active forum while voting on the top 100 best works in P&P. Or maybe keep the favorite 100 posts in both forums, combine them, and remove all the rest...... (I'm having way tooo much fun here today!)

About sunsetting the Original Writer's Forum:

Let me give an example of what happened to me one and half year's back. As you all know my contrbution to the writing forum is extremely sporadic. I have written one poem that is in the original writer's forum and probably two more that are in the workshop.

Now I was approached by a person from UK on my mail, wanting permission to use the poem I had written called The Silent Scream which is in the original writer's forum, for her final year master's design project. This person was doing a master's project on wayfinding systems for the disabled and wanted to use the "silent scream" to embellish her thesis in a creative manner. I let her (the person was a she) use it, I mean I was quite overwhelmed that somebody wanted to use a poem that I personally thought was amateurish (it was my first poem ). She was kind enough to get back to me about her submission and describe to me how she'd made use of it, eventually she even mailed me a copy of her thesis... as I come from the same background as her (read design) I hold great value on her work. Today, we are good friends through our mutual love for design, love for collecting post cards and through a small poem that formed a bond.

***What I'm getting at is, that all this came out of one silly poem I wrote many moons ago, which if was not present in these forums would never have seen the light of the day in somebody's master's project. Now we all know that the original writer's forum is full of literary treasure troves, which people all around the world go through on a daily basis. That's what I figured when this young woman approached me, she said she read through all the works, and then found the one that fit her subject well. When you hide stuff away, you scruff away its chance of being something more than just a work of literature. Every work has the potential of becoming more than mere words...

...and that's probably why I am not in for just having the best 100 works being shown. BEST is a subjective term... what's best to you may not be best for somebody else. Its not that we are facing a space crunch, that we have do away with the rest of the lot. If we have to do away with stuff, we can do that to silly stuff on GD and DF... and there's all that spam in the recycle bin.

Today, people all around the world are opening their doors.. lets not close ours, just because WE THINK that nobody is reading what we post. Technology has grown so much that today for a paltry sum of less than 100 dollars you can get unlimited server space for a whole year. I just bought that for my own work site.

IMHO, the whole of original writer's forum should stay intact, and merge the workshop and P&P... and while you are at it, please have some active moderators to service whatever is left of the forums, after all your downsizing.

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"I went to a tattoo parlor and had YES written onto the palm of my left hand, and NO onto my right palm, what can I say, it hasn't made my life wonderful, its made life possible, when I rub my hands against each other in the middle of winter I am warming myself with the friction of YES and NO, when I clap my hands I am showing my appreciation through the uniting and parting of YES and NO, I signify "book" by peeling open my hands, every book, for me, is the balance of YES and NO...
-- Jonathan Safran Foer

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...lovvvvvvvvved that quote, I am going to check this young author out for sure.

-

much love, light and laughter,
ananya.

Not everyone who visits the site will post on any of the forums. I think most of us already know that and, most certainly Thenostromo!

I liked your post Ananya and, I would have to agree with the overall contents of what you have said with regard to leaving QL more or less, as it is.

I think those who read any aspects of the discussion forums and/or quotations forums gain an insight to what this place is all about. I would also venture to say they get educated on many spheres of life.

Quoteland over the years, has become very diverse, with contributors from almost every corner of the world – which whilst not being unique in these days of the internet, discussion groups and forums, I know is not unusual. Most discussion forums see no need to change their overall format.

I would put Quoteland right up at the top of the league table, which is why I personally, would leave it as is.

Status Quo.

Finally, there is a feature I would like to see here on Quoteland. That is some kind of shortcut to those discussions we are contributing towards. I have contributed to one or two, but sometimes forget so I have to go looking.

On a discussion site here in the UK, I can have a selection of my favourite discussions/topics highlighted at the top of the home page whenever I log on, that way I see the latest posts and easily tell which I'm involved in.

Just a suggestion.