too many forums

[Stmfuller]

This has been sitting in my head for a couple of weeks now and I just thought I'd throw it out there for you all to consider.
There are no less than four (4) video games forums. A forum for handhelds, console, PC, and general gaming. I'm wondering what the "general gaming" forum is really for as the other three forums kind of fit all of the categories all ready.
My suggestion would be to drop the general gaming forum as it serves no purpose other than to confuse the reader.
Thoughts?

[Superman's Dead]

Just that the forum is really helpful for games that cross the PC/Console divide...its a way to share experiences with games like Fallout (even though skirmishes occur) but I definitely see where you're coming from.

[astranoir]

Personally, I like the general gaming forum because it allows people to discuss both cross-platform things, and broad overarching things (like video gaming companies, for example).

[Goronmon]

Seems kind of silly to drop the busiest. If anything removing all the sub-forums would be better while keeping the general one.

But since it's the General one is the most read, that's not really problem since the sub-forums act mainly as a repository for platform specific information, while the general forum allows for conversations about gaming in general.

[Wraith]

General Gaming: Applies to more than one of the three specific game forums (console, handheld, PC), applies to video gaming in general (industry, publishers, developers, media, game politics), OR applies to none of the subforums, but is still video-game related (arcade).

No reason these topics should be thrown into console, handheld, or PC subforums.

[Ten19]

I think we've found a happy balance in terms of what threads go where, I personally don't see any reason to mess with that now.

If it ain't broke...

[Stmfuller]

My point is generally there's a lot of overlap (how many L4D threads are there etc) in this forum. It just seems a little redundant.

[DoctorFinger]

There's no number which will make everyone happy. I think we've come as close to an equilibrium as we can for the moment. Again, it's not perfect, but nothing ever is.

[Ten19]

To use your example, there are three major active L4D discussion threads, one for each platform it's on (PC & console), and another for matchmaking, excluding news items. I don't see a ton of overlap there, personally.

[CappinCanuck]

The only subforum I could see being taken away is pc gaming news. Gaming news already sort of covers it and there's overlap there. Any important things could just go into Pc Gaming (sanctuary). But then again, there's a news portion and a platform portion for everything else. It'd make sense just to keep it.

Maybe I'm happy because I only game on the pc and only check those portions heh.

[GigaFuzz]

The only subforum I could see being taken away is pc gaming news. Gaming news already sort of covers it and there's overlap there. Any important things could just go into Pc Gaming (sanctuary). But then again, there's a news portion and a platform portion for everything else. It'd make sense just to keep it.

Maybe I'm happy because I only game on the pc and only check those portions heh.

I think the issue there is that 'PC Gaming News' is actually the front page of Immortal Machines, AFAIK.

[violent]

To use your example, there are three major active L4D discussion threads, one for each platform it's on (PC & console), and another for matchmaking, excluding news items. I don't see a ton of overlap there, personally.

This is why I feel the current setup works.

[National Kato]

Don't change a thing. Specialized forums for the different types of gaming our emmbers enjoy keeps things orderly and easy to locate. As bad as the search function can be at times, imagine how much worse it would be if threads were lumped into the same forum.

Again, don't change a thing. It works just fine as is.

[Ten19]

I think the issue there is that 'PC Gaming News' is actually the front page of Immortal Machines, AFAIK.

Correct. The threads in PC Gaming News and IM Features make up what appears on the IM front page (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/?pageid=immortalmachines).

[torrefaction]

Leave it be!