A question for parker about Vbulletin

Vince Maskeeper · 01-26-2004, 01:01 PM

I guess this isn't specifically for Parker, rather a more general question about the software, and the way people browse...

With the recent request (and disagreement) relating to TVSHOWSONDVD forum, it got me thinking about something I asked before... and thought maybe I would mention it again in case you thought it was worth looking into.

It seems logical that a system like Vbulletin would offer a way to do forums in "main" and sub categories. Making browsing work for both groups...

What i mean is, for example, under the software Heading Youw would have the header SOFTWARE. And below that you'd have TV SHOWS ON DVD and ALL OTHER TITLES. Any person wishing to browse the forum as "SOFTWARE" would see ALL the headers, including the ones from both groups. Those who selected just one header or the other, would see only the topics for that sub group.

Seems like a reasonable way to serve all audiences: botht those who want dedicated forums for every topic, and those who would like the forum to be navigated in a more general way.

I can honestly say i'd love to be able to browse the forum in a very generic HARDWARE kind of way, seeing the most recent topics from all the HARDWARE related subgroups on one page... while I'm sure other prefer to look at the stuff they're interested in.

Again, I dunno if Vbulletin supports this-- or if this sounds the least bit useful--- but it might help to create a more advanced an specific means by which to browse the forum.

-Vince

Rob Speicher · 01-26-2004, 02:49 PM

I've never seen a vBulletin installation do something like that. That said, it's not hard to customize.

Edit: Actually, it's pretty hard. Since you're not actually separating the posts into two separate forums but rather just filtering them at runtime, you'd need a way to differentiate between a TV Show DVD and a Movie DVD in the database with no input from the user. That's difficult, now that I've thought about it.

Parker Clack · 01-26-2004, 04:49 PM

Vince:

I am not sure if this is what you want but you can select forum favorites and only see those when you get on to the forum.

For example if you are only interested in seeing the Speakers and Movies areas that is all you are going to see if you have them set as your favorite. The rest of the forums will not be listed.

Parker

Vince Maskeeper · 01-27-2004, 03:15 PM

I think I've done a horrible job of explaining this, jusdging by the two responses. So I'll take another shot:

Lets say you make 1 forum, called HT Software.

Within that forum there are 2 sub forums: TV On DVD and Movies on DVD.

When a user posts a new post, he selects his forum (either in the posting process, or simply by clicking NEW POST in the appropriate area). By doing so, his post is associated with the proper sub forum (TV ON DVD for example).

When a user navigates the site, they can view the SOFTWARE area as a whole, which will display ALL POSTS from any and all subcategories within software (inlcuded both TV ON DVD & MOVIES ON DVD)... but the more specific user can select to only view the sub categories they're interested in, ignoring the rest.

The only sort of "variable" that comes up is: What happens if someone wants to post something that doesnt fit in either very cleanly, or fits in both.
You could either (1) not require a sub-forum selection, allowing anyone posting generic software questions to simply select software and it will not appear in either sub group or (2) make them pick a subgroup reguardless.

Anyway, this sounds terribly more complicated than it really is... I'm just not doing a good job at explaining it.

Rather than having mutually exclusive categories where posts go, they would be given a main topic header and a subtopic header. Then for navigation, it would allow users to view posts in a general way (by the main topic) or more specific ways (sub category).

-V

Joshua Clinard · 02-05-2004, 12:52 PM

Vince, you explained it perfectly the first time. I actually think it's a good idea too. I think it would be easy to add this feature to vB3, once the forum is upgraded. I am not sure it would work with the vB2 database structure.

**HTF Ads**

Holadem · 02-05-2004, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Vince, you explained it perfectly the first time.

Agreed.

Quote:

The only sort of "variable" that comes up is: What happens if someone wants to post something that doesnt fit in either very cleanly, or fits in both.
You could either (1) not require a sub-forum selection, allowing anyone posting generic software questions to simply select software and it will not appear in either sub group or (2) make them pick a subgroup reguardless.

Unfortunately most users will pick (1) at "post time" for more exposure, which which brings us back to where we are today.

--
H

Vince Maskeeper · 02-06-2004, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Unfortunately most users will pick (1) at "post time" for more exposure, which which brings us back to where we are today.

Christ Reynolds · 04-18-2004, 10:28 PM

i had an idea that kinda related to this. what do you guys think about having the review and official discussion threads in the same sort of sub-folders? if it is possible without major headaches of course. there are so many links in the movies and software forums, i think it would make for a cleaner appearance if all the review and discussion threads were moved to a sub-folder within the main forums. what do you guys think?

CJ