Moving Topics from One Forum to Another

[johnthebaptist]

There is something that troubles me. When I start a topic, I have an audience in mind, usually the audience that reads the General Discussion forum. I suspect others are aiming their posts at a specific audience, also. When a topic gets moved from one forum to another, it takes on an audience the originator of the topic didn’t intend. When a topic gets moved from the General Discussion forum, which currently has 492k posts, to the Everything Else forum, which has 3k posts, the audience is reduced substantially, I suspect. Why would a topic be moved from General Discussion to Everything Else? It's happened at least twice recently. I sent a message to the website asking about this matter several days ago but haven’t heard anything back.

Edited March 2, 2021 by johnthebaptist
Added: It's happened at least twice recently.

[teddyv]

It seems to be somewhat based on moderator discretion. There is a sticky at the top of the General forum that briefly explains.

[Alive]

THe forum Admins and Mods think that some topics are not suitable for General Discussion...its just that simple.

This could be for several reasons---some very obvious and others not so much, but it is not arbitrary. Consideration is given. Most of the time, a report is lodged requesting this.

[Michael37]

54 minutes ago, johnthebaptist said:

When a topic gets moved from the General Discussion forum, which currently has 492k posts, to the Everything Else forum, which has 3k posts, the audience is reduced substantially, I suspect.

Personally, if a thread title hints it may be of interest to me I don't care what section it is in, and if a sign tells me a thread has been moved, this helps me sift the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

I hope you won't be too disgruntled with this feature, jtb, as some of us benefit from it.

[johnthebaptist]

23 minutes ago, Michael37 said:

Personally, if a thread title hints it may be of interest to me I don't care what section it is in, and if a sign tells me a thread has been moved, this helps me sift the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

I hope you won't be too disgruntled with this feature, jtb, as some of us benefit from it.

But how many people follow every single forum on the site? That would be very time-consuming. I suspect most don't, and there are very few posts on the Everything Else forum, suggesting to me few follow that forum. What is the differnce between "General Discussion" and "Everything Else" that would make it necessary to move a thread from one forum to the other?

[OneLight]

I hardly ever check out forums from the main page.  Every time I log on, I click "Unread Content" under the search window to see what has been posted that I have not read.  Rarely do I pay attention to the forum it is in, except for the news forums, Prophecy and the Controversial forums, then I enter with caution.  Most of the time, if the topic interests me, or if I see something that should be discussed, it doesn't really matter where it is.

[Michael37]

1 hour ago, johnthebaptist said:

But how many people follow every single forum on the site? That would be very time-consuming. I suspect most don't, and there are very few posts on the Everything Else forum, suggesting to me few follow that forum. What is the differnce between "General Discussion" and "Everything Else" that would make it necessary to move a thread from one forum to the other?

Well I certainly don't open every thread in General Discussion. The Activity dropdown is my first choice of selection because of the previews. 

I don't think any User here gets a major response to every single thread they start, and without a scientific survey of thread traffic I'm not convinced posting outside General Discussion has a limiting effect on response volume.

Thanks for raising this matter though as it informs of your perspective, @johnthebaptist.

[johnthebaptist]

25 minutes ago, Michael37 said:

Well I certainly don't open every thread in General Discussion. The Activity dropdown is my first choice of selection because of the previews. 

I don't think any User here gets a major response to every single thread they start, and without a scientific survey of thread traffic I'm not convinced posting outside General Discussion has a limiting effect on response volume.

Thanks for raising this matter though as it informs of your perspective, @johnthebaptist.

I don't open every thread in any forum, but there are only a certain amount of forums I follow.

[Marathoner]

I visit certain sub-forums on a regular basis, like the Prayer Request forum, and visit others as it occurs to me. I appreciate the topical arrangement of Worthy because if everything were lumped together in the same location, then it would be next to impossible for folks to sort it out. 

Granted, I can scan and read in an absurd manner but this isn't something others can do nor have the time needed to do it. There's nothing wrong nor offensive about moderators tending to the forums and moving topics as needed. It keeps everything orderly and I'm glad this is done. 

[Marathoner]

It's also worth remembering that Worthy is a ministry, @johnthebaptist, and moderators aren't paid to look after the welfare of the forum. They are volunteers who do this as a labor of love and service. Yes, I feel we owe it to the moderators to do our part and relieve some of that burden of taking care of the forums. 

They are our brothers and sisters, after all. Nothing is too good for a friend.