DIBB Upgrade Question

[Stu]

Hi,
We have just purchased a couple of dedicated servers with the plan of moving the DIBB to a new home.

As part of the move we plan to upgrade the DIBB Site and Forums.

Can I ask your opinion on the DIBB Forum layout?

I have always been an advocate of the smaller number of forums you have the easier a forum is to use. Personally I hate sites that have lots of different forums.

However As the DIBB becomes more and more popular I'm seeing lots of posts drop of the first page very quickly and the throughput of traffic in some of our forums is very fast.

So would you prefer a site with a limited number of forums, a bit like we have now or do you think it would be beneficial to add more forums for the various dedicated topics?

I know there will probably be a wide difference of opinion here but I would like to gauge how you guys feel about it. Hopefully it will help me come up with a plan for the new site.

I have added a poll to this but your comments might be more useful than the poll results.

Thanks in advance
Stu

[Scotsmomma]

Personally...I like it just the way it is....it's a very easy site to find your way around....even for newbies....

[janny]

I agree with Linda, i like it as it is

[juless77]

Me too simple but very effective

[grumpys wife]

Stu, I have only just got my head around the way it is now:erm: at my age things don't come easy:confused2 like it the way it is now thank you:)

[grumpys wife]

P.S if you do make any changes, cold you please post an idiots guide for me ;)

[Michelle]

I like it the way it is Stu:)

[ceri]

I think a few more would be useful Stu for example the DLP and Cruise ones seem popular, and it may be good to separate dining from accom etc. But not huge numbers more please.
Ceri x

[Sue]

I am happy with it the way it is, to navigate around more forums would be a pain IMHO. It is nice to have dedicated forums, I am unlikely to ever need the Cruise or DVC one and to have them separate means that I can avoid them in more generic forums.
Not sure that to split any more would be helpful though.

[loadsapixiedust]

I'm not sure more new forums would be great, things work well as they are, but making the existing sub-forums (like DVC, special needs and DCL) into forums in their own right would make them easier to find for those who need them and easier to avoid for those with no interest in the subject.

[purple myra]

i'm pretty new to the dibb and i've never been on any other forum so i don't know any different....but i like it the way it is. thanks

[tura2]

I agree with above, I like things the way that they are. I have looked on some other sites with lots of forums and find them more complicated and less fun to use.:wavey:

[Lil_Missy]

I take the view that if it aint broken then why fix it.

This forum works very well as it is now. I would just say like the others that separating things like Special Needs out might make more people aware that it is there and perhaps having a dedicated DLP forum as well would be useful.

[linzwylie]

It would also be good to have a dedicated Wedding Forum :grin:

[jentill]

I think a few more would be useful Stu for example the DLP and Cruise ones seem popular, and it may be good to separate dining from accom etc. But not huge numbers more please.
Ceri x

I love this site and think the forums are amazing, but I agree with Ceri, that maybe a couple of additional forums would be useful. But I would also be very happy if it stayed the same.:thumbs-up

[BarryandCaron]

I like it just the way it is and agree with the suggestion of individual dining, special needs forums.

Many more forums would mean missing out some that could have some good ideas on.

Caron

[tiggerpooh]

Another vote for the way it is now, it seems to work fine.

[Andre]

The forum count is about right as it is. Maybe a "Special Events" sub-forum in Trip Planning in which to discuss Disney party nights, weddings, group meets etc - but please don't fall into the trap of having so many topics that you can never navigate your way around them, or know which one to post in! If you want to know what I mean, take a look at disneyecho.emuck.com (http://www.disneyecho.emuck.com) which is a good site run by really lovely people - but you try to navigate around it! K.I.S.S. should be the motto.

Personally, I'd concentrate on getting the exisiting features back online soon and keeping the access speed up, rather than adding new topics.

Andre

[Octal]

I'm quite happy the way it is. I am a member of a couple of other forums, one of them in particular have a large number of forum topics. Two things seemed to happen, the first thing is you get fed up going from forum to forum looking for new posts and the second thing as a result everyone tends to congregate in one area of the forum which, seems to defeat the object of having other forum topics, it does happen here to a certain extent as well but you seem to have a good group of mods who sort that out. Any larger and I guess they'll be hard pushed to manage it.

Just my h'penny, for what it's worth.

[Sean_and_Sue]

I think the main reason I use the new post option is to bypass the Sub-forums and Sticky's.

There was a similar problem on another communtiy site I use, at one point there was 20 sticky's and no new post option, so they were compressed into Essential information.
This worked great for old members, but new members found it a struggle to navigate the site. A case of 'you can't please all of the people all of the time'.

There seems to be a large number of new members posting, so the site must be doing okay as it is.

[br196]

I usually start by looking at "new posts" or using the search if I want to find anything in particular, so don't mind if it stays the way it is. Perhaps a breakdown of a couple of the more popular ones might be helpful.

[Jan]

Yes, I like it the way it is too, but I also agree that perhaps Dining and Accommodation could be split. Otherwise - fine.

[alison1963]

I think too many forums / subdivisions of topics would make it more difficult to know the correct place to post (or the most appropriate place to look for the information you want). I have always found the site very easy to use as it is.

[essexmick]

i like dedicated forums but not too many. if you use the new posts option you wont miss anything anyway :)

a few more varied smilies would be cool too :)

[Andre]

Yes, I like it the way it is too, but I also agree that perhaps Dining and Accommodation could be split. Otherwise - fine.

Yeah, I think I'd go for that too.

I too always use the New Posts feature (or Today's Posts, which is very similar) to see everything that's been posted recently, and hover over subject lines that look interesting to see if I might want to open them. So this topic must have caught my eye. :) I only ever go into a specific forum if I want to start a new thread.

Andre

[Dollar_Bill]

I'm for leaving it as it is, however there are an increasing amount of whinging threads which have nothing to do with Disney taking up space that has to be paid for.
I'd be all for deleting these threads long before they have run their course to allow the important threads to run on.
I would rather read about trip reports and new rides rather than injunctions/tax credits/bank charges etc. I'm sure there are sites dedicated to those subjects. (IMHO)
Bill

[carys]

I am happy with it as it is. i usually only use the new posts option anyway .

[essexmick]

I'm for leaving it as it is, however there are an increasing amount of whinging threads which have nothing to do with Disney taking up space that has to be paid for.
I'd be all for deleting these threads long before they have run their course to allow the important threads to run on.
I would rather read about trip reports and new rides rather than injunctions/tax credits/bank charges etc. I'm sure there are sites dedicated to those subjects. (IMHO)
Bill

bill you have the option of not reading them as anyone else does, they are in the chatting forum :)

[CillaBlack]

I like it as it is - if there were more forums I think it might be in danger of losing its community feel.

I very rarely look in most of the forums, but I am aware of their usefulness.

[rusty30]

I'm for leaving it as it is, however there are an increasing amount of whinging threads which have nothing to do with Disney taking up space that has to be paid for.
I'd be all for deleting these threads long before they have run their course to allow the important threads to run on.
I would rather read about trip reports and new rides rather than injunctions/tax credits/bank charges etc. I'm sure there are sites dedicated to those subjects. (IMHO)
Bill

Having the community forum where we can ask questions and generally "socialise" with others is very important. Of course there are specialist forums for everything, but sometimes you just need a bit of advice or an opinion from people you are familiar with. Its what makes the DIBB the friendly community it is. Yes there are silly threads, and the "tickets have arrived / Single Digit dance" ones get on my nerves, but I simply choose not to read them and have no problem at all with those that post them. It is their choice as it is mine whether I read it.

I think there is room for a little tweaking on the forums. On the whole its pretty much spot on but I agree with having a seperate Food / Dining forum and Id also like to see an airline forum (especially with a sticky for reviews so it can stop those tetchy "Virgin or TCD who is best" threads!!).

I think there is room for a DLRP forum too..maybe with its own sub Trip report section?

Im trying to think of subjects that crop up a lot on Trip Planning (which moves along the quickest) and it seems that Money and Budgeting could possibly support a forum(with tips etc).

Good luck with the upgrade Stu.

[Anne]

I've voted for leave it as it is:) We regularly have to move posts into the correct forum and if we had more forums I'm sure it would increase that task.

[saranotts]

Please don't change it too much. I have just been and had a look at some of the other sites. Yuck. The Dibb is brill, its nice and easy to navigate and has a nice open feel to it, not all squashed together like some of the others.

I also like to have a look at the chat forum just for something different to talk about.

Thanks you are the best.

[Dollar_Bill]

bill you have the option of not reading them as anyone else does, they are in the chatting forum :)

Mick,
yes and I ignore most of them, however my point was that servers/bandwith/time to manage it all costs money and new servers may not be neccessary if this Disney site contained just Disney threads.
I do understand some people need all the hugs they can get.
Bill

[thinktink]

i think a few more forums would help people to navigate to the posts they wish to read, especially if you're trying to search for an old post, or trying to find information without posting a new thread. i feel like some of the forums are a bit too 'general'...maybe separate forums for disney, universal and seaworld for example?

tinks x x x

[mowusu]

I think a few moew forums might be good such as a seperate DLP forum, and split the dining, accomadation and shopping into 3 seperate forums

[Armanaleg]

I like the ease with which I can use the Dibb and select which posts to open simply by hovering over them. I would like a dedicated DLP thread (as it would save doing searches to get the info I want), but I think it is more important to ensure we have a stable and rapid responding site to visit.

[John]

I also like it the way it is. I particularly like the things like sport/tv etc that you have to sign up for to receive, that allows people to concentrate on what is important to them.

[Clare]

Like others have suggested, splitting the accomodation and dining threads would be a good idea. Since the introduction of the DDP there are more and more food threads (which is a good thing because I love food :pgig: ), and sometimes the accomodation posts get 'overlooked'. Another suggestion, maybe, would to perhaps have a sub-forum in the trip planning forum for adults/individuals planning trips? Obviously the Dibb is a family site but of course there people who do not have family but still love Disney and I think it's a shame that sometimes when these people are planning their 'solo' trips there's quite a bit of 'negativity', or dare I say, 'stigma' that they're planning going on their own.

[sarahc]

I also think that a DLP forum would be useful. When I was trip planning for DLP I must confess to using a certain US site (!) because the Dibb had no dedicated forum. I think it might draw a few more members in if we did as a lot of Brits visit DLP.
Other than that, I love the Dibb!

[Diane]

I also like things just the way they are now. It might be pertinent to add a couple of extra forums in the fullness of time but I tend to agree with Anne that the more forums there are, the more chance there is of Mods needing to move things around!

I do think its nice that you have canvassed opinions though Stu, good to feel that everyone's thoughts are valued.

Diane x

[crid]

Hi

One of the reasons I love the DIBB is because our opinions are included in any changes like this! Well done! :)

Right, I definately think as few forums as possible, however like you said they do move very fast and by the time I've got to the end of the trip planning forums there are new posts in the first one in there already.

There are quite a few topics that get discussed regularly and these would be ideal for a sub-forum.

Also I think most people that come here are looking for information on Florida trips (although there are also those that are interested in other holidays). My suggestion would be to restructure as follows:


Announcements
Site Announcements
Intro's and Welcomes

Florida Planning & Information (CHANGED)
Trip Planning
Itineraries
Adult / Individual Trips (NEW)
Special Needs Trips (MOVED)
Money & Insurance (NEW)
Flights (NEW)
Theme Park Discussions
Rehabs & Updates
Tickets (MOVED)
Accommodation (SPLIT)
Hotel Review Database
Dining & Shopping (SPLIT)
Restaurant Database
Disney Cruise Line
Beyond the Parks
Trip Reports
Indexes

Non-Florida Planning & Information (NEW)
Trip Planning (NEW)
Disney Land Paris (NEW)
Theme Park Discussions (NEW)
Beyond the Parks (NEW)
Trip Reports (NEW)
Indexes (NEW)

Villa Rentals
Villa Rentals
Villa Requests & Villa Owners
3 Bed Villas
4 Bed Villas
5 Bed Villas
6 & 7 Bed Villas

DIBB Community
Community Chat & News (DIBBING)
Polls
PixieDust Postcards

Guest Services
Disney Photo & Video Clinic

DIBB Kidz-zone

Advertisers and Market place
DIBB Advertisers Talk
the DIBB Marketplace
For SALE
Wanted

Some reasoning - it would be nice to split out the Florida and non-Florida topics completely so those that want to ignore them can and those that want to read them can find them all together. Maybe not all the forums I've suggested under the Non-Florida section are needed.

I've suggested creating new forums under planning; adult/individual and money/insurance as these are both recurring popular topics. I've also moved the Special Needs forum from chat to planning as most topics are related to planning the holiday and I felt they should be in that section.

I've created a new flights forum to get these out of the main planning forum. I was toying with putting this under the planning but then couldn't justify the accomodation and food being at a higher level so decided they should all be the same.

I've moved tickets under the theme park discussion, tickets is quite a quiet forum and as the tickets are for the theme parks (or related attractions) I felt the forum could live quite hapily under there.

Accomodation, dining and shopping have been split to make it easier to spot different kinds of threads.

To come up with this new layout I used my own preference and previous suggestions.

I hope it helps. 99.9% of you are now probably cursing me and thanking everything under the stars that I'm not running things! :pgig:

[TinkTatoo]

I also like things as they are and wouldn't like to see loads of new forums although I do think the idea of separating Accommodation and dining as the DDP means lots more people are interested in food.

[CillaBlack]

I really like the inclusions that 'Crid' has suggested :) I wish I had given it a bit more thought!!

[picklepants]

:) i find it very easy to use so would prefer it the way it is.:wave:

[AndyJ]

Number of Forums

I think its about right, some tweaks posted above are nice ideas. Don't want to end up with as many forums as "AvForums" or something like that, which is very confusing and too fragmented.

Community Forums

Whilst sometimes I feel the mods are a bit heavy handed over some of the "Off-Topic" threads at times, I feel it is important to keep a good community visiting the web site regularly as it is them, in my view, that contribute some of the best answers in the Pure-Disney Forums.

Features

I miss some of the features. Whilst others are against people knowing what they do and when, in general, I liked to know who was actively interested in a given thread at a given time. It made it worthwhile knowing things were being read, and one was more likely to stay around on said thread and post more knowing there was an ongoing interest and conversation. (I prefer IRC to forums for this reason.)

Chat

I miss this. This really did bring people to the site. Individual chat bans for stupid behaviour are much better than denying us all =)


Hope this helps!

[Stu]

Thanks for your comments so far guys.

Can I ask that we just keep this thread related to the Forum layout. I don't want to get into the pros and cons of certain features or types of post otherwise the thread will lose it's main purpose.

Cheers
Stu

[Steve.S]

Hi,i think its ok the way it is.

[Chelle27]

If it ain't broke - don't fix it!!

I'm very happy with the way things work at the mo - mind you I am an ol' stick in the mud.

If things changed I'd be quite happy to go along with that option too.

Glad I have been of some assistance!! :blush:

[zdickens]

I like it the way it is, maybe just a couple more sub categories say split accommodation and dining.:thumbs-up

[mama267]

i like the site as it isvery easy to use and i know where everything is

[sueandco]

I think the number of forums is about right personally.

[PrincessX2]

I like it the way it is too. I would also say that i would like to see accomodation and dining split though other than that i think its fab:D

[Cal and Dave]

I am a member of a few other forums, and I much prefer the dibb. some have way to many forums to get around. So thanks Stu, but we like it as it is :grin:

[CityWalk]

i would also split accommodation, dining and shopping up.

[Florida_Bear]

Hi Stu, I thinks the Dibb is great but would like one more forum :)
One that is dedicated to directions/shortcuts for driving.

Regards......Ted

[Jaydee]

I enjoy it the way it is Stu.

[Cyclospora]

I only use "new posts" anyway! You get to read everything then. "Search" is great too.

[Jan]

Stu, IMHO I think you could consider doing without the For Sale and Wanted boards.

[Carlmelia]

The beauty of the Dibb is in it's simplicity.

Have to say thouhg that on some forums the posts do drop down the page very quickly e.g. the 'community' forum. Maybe split that into a few forums i.e. ones for 'light' topics (Shoes, Operations, Kids at School) and 'heavy' topics (advice, news) and possibly one for 'Crocs' ;) and leave a general forum for anything inbetween.

IMHO the rest works well.

[Astrid]

I'm happy with the way it is and do sometimes use the 'New Posts' feature.

However, I'm also in agreement that accommodation and dining could be split up and also that a DLP forum would be helpful.

Chat and News does tend (imho) to get bogged down sometimes with 'single digit dances' and other posts that I just ignore but I suppose the shame is that then other more important posts fall quickly down the pages. But, I'm not sure what the answer to that one is! :)

[D15NEY]

:grin: Not sure! :erm:

I like it as it is but if you added more I would still look at them also :grin: .

[nmurray]

I've voted for a few more. I do like the way it is now but agree that some topics go off the first page fairly quickly as there is so many new posts. Also helps if your looking for something specific to find it more easily. I don't think we need too many more though as its nice and simple the way it is and thats why alot of us like it!

[das c]

Stu

I think that if you added more they would get used but not to many, i do think the Accommodation and dining should be split.

[mcsue]

Definitely a dedicated Dining forum please Stu.

There are a lot of questions regarding the dining plan - and some very knowledgable and helpful Dibbers too these days, I'm glad to see. :thumbs-up

Hopefully there will be lots more food reports and pics to add to the forum once everyone returns from WDW this year with easier access to the Free Dining Plan.

[tiniegil]

:wavey: Stu, I agree that to put many more forums on you forget where you posted :confused2 so I like it as it is .
Maybe a forum on best insurance, or a cost type forum may be useful, or even a bigger video area so we can still have a bit of magic when back home! (saves dragging the ole camcorder when someone else does it !:pgig: but that's all. thank you :wavey:

[foxylady]

I've voted for a few more because I think some of the existing ones could be split, ie, accommodation, dining and shopping could all be separate, and I think the theme parks could perhaps be separated.

However, if there were changes or if there weren't changes, I would still continue to use the DIBB as I find it invaluable.

[Dizzy]

Stu, I love the site the way it is BUT I am interested in finding more info about Disneyland, California which dosn't seem to get a mention anywhere so maybe a forum for Disnyland Paris/California to keep down the number of forums.:thumbs-up

[dom22]

I enjoy the present format and agree that the simplicity is the key. As others have mentioned there are certain topics which do come up time and again and which due to the number of posts fall off the front page very swiftly - for some of these topics a separate forum / sub forum would be beneficial.

One suggestion that I could not see having already been made is the have a "getting there" type forum which can catch all of the TCD vs Virgin vs ... discussions, and also the airport hotel and parking discussions which come up in the trip planning forum on a regular basis. - Could then be further sub divided as follows if the urge took:

1. Getting There

1.1 Airport hotels & parking
1.2 Airport hotel reviews
1.3. Airlines

[BigGrilla]

I like the idea of splitting the dining thread from accomodation - one of the most active threads ever is about food (all them lovely photos...) . I personally don't like the tickets forum too much, as it seems to come down to how-much-and-where threads far too often. Perhaps a dedicated tickets page with quick links to various ticket company sites?

BigGrilla

[Andre]

Not wishing to put a spanner in your nice shiney new works Stu :) but I think the "Shopping" and "Special Needs" forums really ought to be located somewhere in the Planning and Info section, as they are meant to relate to holiday shopping and special needs issues. I thought the "DIBB Community" section was meant to be for all discussions specifically not related to Disney park trips? Just my $0.02 worth.

Andre

P.S. "Photo Booth" ???

[Sean_and_Sue]

I am not keen on the newest layout - I liked having the sub forums at the top of chat and news - although I use 'new post' a lot, to keep up with the latest Disney news, I spend my time between that and chat - and as I also have an interest in Special Needs (not just related to trip planning, but in general) and I like the TV forum too, I just found it more convenient to have those sections there - probably just me being lazy:blush: The way its set out now, it just seems that there are loads more forums, and I wonder if its a little overwhelming - it would be good if those forums were included in the drop down menu, at least.

I know when I was planning my last trip, I would have loved a separate dining forum - to cover on and off site places to eat - seemed an awful lot of my planning revolved around food:blush:

Wonder about maybe stickies at the top of 'parks' that include info on the various tours offered - lots of questions posted on these, and again, maybe presenting that sort of info at the top of the relevant forum would make the info easier to find than it is now?

Love Suexx

[Stu]

Andre I have put them where they are as the traffic in those forums is relatively light and I'm trying to keep the size of the Main Forums down.

It can be overwhelming for new visitors to see too many forums at first glance.

As I said in my announcement there may still be further changes :) It's just balancing what I want the site to provide and it's usefulness to the members, both regular and new.

[Dougy_D]

I am thinking maybe there could be a need for 1 or 2 additional forums. Not going to post examples of the new ones mind as i cant think of any at the moment lol

[badger]

:wavey: a special needs forum would be usefull to some and would it be better to split accomadation from shopping and dining?but keep it simple:thumbs-up

[Stu]

:wavey: a special needs forum would be usefull to some and would it be better to split accomadation from shopping and dining?but keep it simple:thumbs-up

Hi,
There is a special needs forum, it's been on the site for about 6 months :)

Also, I split the other forums two days ago, see the Forum Changes announcement ;) :)

[loadsapixiedust]

Hi,
There is a special needs forum, it's been on the site for about 6 months :)

Maybe it needs to be a forum on its own, I've noticed a few people having trouble finding it, which is a shame.

[badger]

Hi,
There is a special needs forum, it's been on the site for about 6 months :)

Also, I split the other forums two days ago, see the Forum Changes announcement ;) :)
:wavey: hi stu found it:blush: wouldnt shopping merit its own forum? good luck tomorow:thumbs-up