PLEASE READ: Proposed large scale changes to forums

Hi all,

I've started this thread to open up a discussion about the forums, and their future. SWM has been around for quite a while now, and its forums carry the legacy of that journey -- time to do some pruning and reorganising.

No action will be taken immediately. This thread is merely to start a debate, by throwing out an initial rough draft of some proposed changes. Most of the changes involve removing dead forums, merging low-traffic forums, and renaming existing forums for clarity. Any changes, when they do happen, will probably be done progressively, over a period of weeks or months (as there's a lot of work involved.)

Part one: Stuff that is to be archived

We'll start off with a list of forums that I suggest should be deleted. Rather than erase them from history outright, I propose they be moved into a special archive section, and locked to prevent further updates.

SuperWomenMania.com -> About these forums -- only one new thread since 2012, which arguably was misplaced.

SuperWomenMania.com -> SWM Updates Tracker -- slow activity; arguably doesn't need a separate forum.

SuperWomenMania.com -> Special Features for Registered Members -- no activity since 2011.

SuperWomenMania.com -> Moderator approaval -- one thread!

Related Websites -> The Steeles -- no activity since 2014.

Related Websites -> Maiden Network -- one thread!

Stories, Writers and Artists -> SGInc Workshops -- no activity since 2010.

Stories, Writers and Artists -> Julie and Friends - the writings of AK -- no activity since 2012.

Camille's Corner -> My diary -- no activity.

Camille's Corner -> My Stories -- no activity.

Off-topic discussion -> Ubergirls.org Legacy -- dead since 2006.


Part two: The changes, section by section

Below is a breakdown of each section of the forum, with the proposed changes for each...

SuperWomenMania.com
No changes, other than archiving inactive forums (see part one.)

Related Websites
No changes, other than archiving inactive forums (see part one.)

Superwomen on screen and in print
The three forums Superwomen in the movies, Superwomen on TV and Superwomen in video games should be merged into one forum entitled Superwomen on screen. The forum Favorite Superwomen from TV and the Movies should either be merged too, or become a sub forum.

The forums Superwomen in comics and Superwomen in anime and manga should be merged into one forum entitled Superwomen in print.

Fantasies
Fantasies should be renamed General Superwoman discussion.

Favorite Superwoman fantasy should be renamed General discussion (as this is what it is being used for.)

I wish she was super should be renamed Celebs and real women as superwomen (for clarification.)

See also further discussion points below in part three.

Stories, Writers and Artists
Stories, Writers and Artists should be renamed to Writers and Artists.

New and Aspiring Artists and Writers should be renamed Showcase your work (for clarity.)

Story Ideas and Discussion and Favorite Stories should be merged into Story discussion, with Story requests/suggestions becoming a sub-forum.

Favourite Artwork should be renamed Artwork discussion, with Artwork requests/suggestions as a sub-forum.

See also archived forums list in part one.

Camille's Corner
All of this section should be archived.

Off-topic discussion
The forum Non-genre Movies should be renamed Non-superwoman Movies and TV.
The forum Non-genre Books should be renamed Non-superwoman Books and Comics.

See also archived list in part one.


Part three: Further debate

The forum Fantasies -> Superheroine transformations presented me with a bit of a dilemna. It does only modest, sporadic, traffic. Despite my personal interest in tfs (I'm a big fan, just in case you hadn't noticed) I was minded to merge this forum into the new General discussion forum ... !!BUT!! ... then I had an idea ...

It occured to me that specific fan topics (like transformations) don't get any space on other superheroine forums at all. SWM is unique in that it allows minority interests their own space. So-o-o-o ... rather than merge or archive Superheroine transformations, I figured I'd throw the topic out for discussion. Should SWM have forums for specific minority interests? And, if so, what other minority interests are there that ARE NOT BEING SERVED ELSEWHERE, that SWM could give a voice to..?


R5

I have to think about some of the detail but, from my perspective, rather than archiving the SGInc workshops threads, I'd suggest to bundle them along the old SWM workshops threads in the past workshop section of the forum.

The Superwomen on screen and Superwomen in print forums are a bit too broad for my taste, I probably prefer to the current set-up, although A sub-foum structure might be more efficient.

The general discussion thread is kind of there for me. Like the Print and Screen it seem rather too broad at a first glance and I like the fact that some minority interest have their own forum of sub-forum.

The proposed changes to the Writers and Artists sections are 100% okay with me.

Woodclaw wrote:
The Superwomen on screen and Superwomen in print forums are a bit too broad for my taste, I probably prefer to the current set-up, although A sub-foum structure might be more efficient.

I agree 100%. I have no qualms with consolidating and archiving per R5's suggestions, but I would keep the TV, movies, comics, anime stuff separate as they are active enough to warrant their own subforum IMO

ElF