The problem with the in-character section of the forum right now is that it is in the middle of two incomplete reorganisations. I made a start on reorganising things about two years ago but never completed the job (e.g. there are many conflict topics not in the "Conflicts" sub-forum). GreekIdiot then did the same a few months ago. Realistically this kind of thing is never "finished" but I agree we should try and restore some order. Here are my recommendations, based on my personal opinion and my experience failing to reorganise it previously.
No archive sub-forumsI disagree with the use of archive sub-forums for four reasons: they are unnecessary, they make navigation harder, they create additional administrative work, and they discourage resurrecting old topics.
Archive sub-forums are unnecessary because inactive topics are effectively archived when they drop down the list of topics within a subforum. On top of that, they make navigation harder because they create two places to search for an old topic: the main sub-forum and the archive sub-forum. If I wanted to search for the "
International Arms Catalogue" or "
Razamid Peace Prize", there is no way to know which sub-forum to search. In reality, the deciding factor is whether a forum administrator has moved them. This links to the third reason. I do not think archiving topics is a good use of the limited time of forum administrators.
The final reason is perhaps less significant. Personally I always enjoy it when an old concept or idea is resurrected, sometimes years after the original player has left the game. By archiving topics and locking the archive sub-forum, it is no longer possible for new players to continue where previous players finished. For example, the "
Solidarity for Democracy in Dovani" organisation might yet be resurrected by players but they would not be able to post in the existing thread because it is in the archive sub-forum. For the same reason, I am opposed to locking threads in almost all circumstances.
The only exception to this recommendation is the "World Congress" section because it is a distinct space with a different fundamental structure to the rest of the forum.
National news threads should be separateI have already made this point earlier in this discussion and I do not want to belabour it. I believe the individual national news threads are the single most important part of the forum. As a result, I think they should remain as they currently are, i.e. a wholly distinct sub-forum called "National News". In line with my first point, I would remove the archive sub-forum and I would not create any new sub-forums.
Organise by theme not structureIn my opinion, the main problem with the reorganisation proposed above is that it focuses on the structure of a topic rather than the theme. In particular, separating "events" and "organisations" leads to unnecessary confusion. For example, a synod is an event and a church is an organisation. On the face of it, it is more natural to have both in a sub-forum called "Religion" than have them in separate sub-forums called "Events" and "Organisations" (or something similar).
Create a media sub-forumTo address the specific question of where to locate "A Battle Unseen" and "Informal News", I would suggest a sub-forum called "Media" inside "World Events". Although this is not a perfect solution, it is the best option in my view because it creates a place for these two (and similar) topics without undermining the separation of the "National News" threads.
Simplify intergovernmental organisationsThe section for intergovernmental organisations has been modified ad hoc and should be simplified. I do not understand why we need distinct sub-forums for each continent. Every topic currently in "Artanian Union" and "Majatra" could be moved to "Regional". The individual sub-forums have less than seven topics. Even after the proposed change, the "Regional" sub-forum would have fewer than twenty topics within it. At present, the existence of these sub-forums renders the "Regional" sub-forum redundant.
Miscellaneous suggestionsI would remove the "Academia" sub-forum. Most of the topics were previously in "Literature" and could be returned there. The other topics would fit comfortably in "Culture and Sport", which specifically states that it contains academic events and organisations. I do not believe there is enough role-play centred on academic to necessitate a specific sub-forum.
A few sub-forums could have their names modified. "Diplomacy" would be a shorter way to say "Conferences and Visits". "Businesses" and "Political Organizations" could be renamed "Business" and "Politics" respectively. "Culture and Sport" could be renamed "Culture and Society".
In the in-character section of the forum, no topic should be set to "announcement". I make this comment specifically in relation to the "
Monarchies: Lines of Succession" thread. As far as I can tell, this is not an announcement and it is not in-character. I think it should be moved to the "General" sub-forum.
I would not change anything in the "World Congress" sub-forum. I rearranged this recently and believe the structure works well.
ConclusionBased on these suggestions, here is the overall structure I propose.
National News
World Events
↳ Conflicts
↳ Diplomacy
↳ Media
Intergovernmental Organizations
↳ Global
↳ Regional
Politics and Economics
↳ Business
↳ Politics
Culture and Society
↳ Arts
↳ Literature
↳ Religion
↳ Sport
World Congress
↳ General Assembly
↳ Security Council
↳ Campaigns
↳ Sessions Archive
↳ Resolutions Archive
by GreekIdiot » Wed Dec 27, 2023 2:04 pm 
