Forum and Category Reorganization

[MichaelMc]

On Medical. It seems many should and do get answered: "you need to consult a diving physician near you, here are some POCs". So having it a subforum under physics and physiology seems best as it may lead people to the general physiology information and make the common lack of individual medical answers less stark. (ETA: Though the enclosing forum name could be P, P and M.)

 

[Akimbo]

Not that I am trying to make more work for you, but upon thinking about it, IMO - Medical probably should be its own top-level forum. Medical is mostly about specific, applied, personal situations rather than generic, abstract, theoretical issues for P & P

No worries, moving and renaming forums is easy, though we don't want to do it too often since there is a confusing factor. The hard parts are:

• Separating one forum into two or more
• As evidenced here, figuring out the best names the order they appear in.

IF Medical was moved to a first-level forum, what order do you suggest for all the forums in Explore Diving? Here is the current list that you can copy, paste, and edit. I only included the sub-forums we are discussing for clarity.

1. New Divers & Those Considering Diving
2. Snorkeling & Freediving
3. Basic Scuba
4. Diving Physics & Physiology

1. Diving Medicine
2. Decompression Theory

1. Advanced Scuba
2. Technical Diving
3. Rebreather Diving
4. Divers with Disabilities
5. Vintage Diving & Equipment
6. Diving History: Tales from the Abyss
7. Women's Perspectives
8. LGBTQIA Friends & Perspectives
9. Accidents & Incidents
10. Scuba Certification Agency Q&A

I also see value with sub areas for (I'm brainstorming here) Equalizing/ENT issues; general DCI/DCS; returning to diving after illnesses, injuries, and general medical procedures; etc.

Another "organization tool" is thread title prefixes — like For Sale and Sold in classifieds. I fear that organizing all these questions in different forums will make more work for or outstanding volunteer medical moderators.

We also have to think of what is helpful to our many readers as opposed to the few members that actually reply in a thread. There must be a lot of them since we always have several times as many guests as members at any one moment: members: 179, guests: 816 about a minute ago.

That should make it easier for folks to browse for prior relevant topics without wading through everything in medical or dealing with search construction and pages of results given that each post is reported, not just threads.

Be aware that an upgrade to ScubaBoard's software that is being worked on includes a significantly improved search function. One of the new search parameters includes title prefixes.

 

[lowwall]

Snorkeling & Freediving doesn't really belong in the progression of diving lineup and it does not make sense to give it such a prominent placement. This site is not really a destination for those just interested in those topics. Looking at the threads bears this out. First, it's very low traffic. Second most threads are from experienced divers looking for specific information such as sites to snorkel when they can't get the time to dive. It should really be pushed down towards the end of the list or, even better, moved to the Diving Activities and Specialties group.

I also think Diving Medicine should be at the same level as the Diving Physics and Physiology. It's an important subject that is hard to find now with the result that many medical questions end up in a different forum.

 

[-JD-]

No worries, moving and renaming forums is easy, though we don't want to do it too often since there is a confusing factor. The hard parts are:

• Separating one forum into two or more
• As evidenced here, figuring out the best names the order they appear in.

IF Medical was moved to a first-level forum, what order do you suggest for all the forums in Explore Diving? Here is the current list that you can copy, paste, and edit. I only included the sub-forums we are discussing for clarity.

1. New Divers & Those Considering Diving
2. Snorkeling & Freediving
3. Basic Scuba
4. Diving Physics & Physiology

1. Diving Medicine
2. Decompression Theory

1. Advanced Scuba
2. Technical Diving
3. Rebreather Diving
4. Divers with Disabilities
5. Vintage Diving & Equipment
6. Diving History: Tales from the Abyss
7. Women's Perspectives
8. LGBTQIA Friends & Perspectives
9. Accidents & Incidents
10. Scuba Certification Agency Q&A

Another "organization tool" is thread title prefixes — like For Sale and Sold in classifieds. I fear that organizing all these questions in different forums will make more work for or outstanding volunteer medical moderators.

We also have to think of what is helpful to our many readers as opposed to the few members that actually reply in a thread. There must be a lot of them since we always have several times as many guests as members at any one moment: members: 179, guests: 816 about a minute ago.



Be aware that an upgrade to ScubaBoard's software that is being worked on includes a significantly improved search function. One of the new search parameters includes title prefixes.

Let me think on this and get back to you in the morning ...

 

[formernuke]

Very confusing

 

[Akimbo]

Snorkeling & Freediving doesn't really belong in the progression of diving lineup and it does not make sense to give it such a prominent placement.

Debatable. Many divers today follow this progression:

• The "thinking about it" stage (New Divers & Those Considering Diving)
• Snorkeling in a pool and in the ocean, often on vacations
• A discover Scuba "experience", often on a vacation
• An Open Water course, local or on vacation
• An AOW and/or a Nitrox course...

A lot of physics and physiology questions are understandably generated during these phases.

I suggest that any hierarchy should not be viewed as "prominence" or prestigious. It is more a common progression that aligns with the reasons that the majority of readers visit ScubaBoard. It almost doesn't matter how it is organized to long term members like us. We will figure it out and move on. We are trying to improve the "first glance" usefulness to the newbie (to ScubaBoard) lurkers (guests) so they will come back, become members, learn, and contribute.

Of course we don't want a disorganized appearance either, which is why we are exploring all these ideas.

 

[Akimbo]

Very confusing

That be true. Lots of moving parts and often following different paths.

 

[Scared Silly]

If the goal is to improve the "first glance" usefulness to the newbie (to ScubaBoard) lurkers (guests) so they will come back, become members, learn, and contribute.

Then perhaps is would be better to have the following.

I want to learn how to dive 1), which agency 2), am I going to implode 3) what about my ears 4), I have a disability 4)? After that the natural progression for many in terms of the technical aspects.

I would also consolidate the history and the inclusion into their own forums.

1. New Divers & Those Considering Diving
2. Scuba Certification Agency Q&A
3. Diving Physics & Physiology
   1. Diving Physics
   2. Decompression Theory
4. Diving Medicine and Disabilities
   1. Diving Medicine
   2. Diving with Disabilities
5. Snorkeling & Freediving
6. Basic Scuba
7. Advanced Scuba
8. Technical Diving
9. Rebreather Diving
10. Accidents & Incidents
11. Diving History
    1. Vintage Diving & Equipment
       
    2. Tales from the Abyss
12. Diving inclusion
    1. Women's Perspectives
    2. LGBTQIA Friends & Perspectives

 

[Kimela]

At least swap the advanced with the Diving Physics.

When I first started diving I thought that the Advanced section was for folks who had gone from OW to AOW and got frustrated that the topics were truly Advanced. Maybe it was a dumb error on my part, but again, as a beginner it seemed like a natural progression. Now I never go to Advanced because it's beyond my ken! If you do switch it, is there a way to make it clear it's not for AOW divers ... it's truly Advanced topics?

 

[-JD-]

Ok, I've slept on it and re-read the whole thing. Everyone seems to have some good, if sometimes conflicting, thoughts.

I do have one question @Akimbo that may help with some of this:

Is it a problem to have multiple paths to the same forum or sub-forum in the new design?

Ex. In the existing structure, you can get to the classifieds both through the general equipment category discussions as a sub-sub-forum and through the classifieds forum.

Since we have been talking about personal Medical situations, I can readily see advantages to having Personal Medical Questions as a top level forum outside "Explore" but then linking to it as a sub forum of "D P & P" or "D M & D" (in @Scared Silly s outline which has some Ideas I real like) and maybe even "N D & T C D" as those folks may be coming in with a "can I dive with my ..." question.