Category Names

[Nj]

Originally posted by SexyMandy@Dec 4 2004, 09:33 PM

I still like the old way.. and Eating Disorders as a sub-forum kind of upsets me.

[right][/right]

If you don't mind my asking. Why?

[SexyLittleDoll]

I prefer not having sub-forums. Its just a personal preferance.. If there changed I'll get over it.. I mean its not a huge deal to me but I don't like Eating Disorders to be a sub-forum. To me its very serious and I think it needs to be its own forum. It will be hard for anyone who never suffered with an ED to understand.

[Lena]

Originally posted by kneesofmybees+Dec 4 2004, 09:24 PM--

[/right]

[/b]

If you don't mind my asking. Why?

[right][/right]

[/b][/quote]



from my point of view, it seems very demeaning and invalidating.

[The Black Hat]

Let's take a look at Disorders for a second shall we? Disorders can cover a wide range of things including ADHD, Sexual, Mental, Ect. The Forum "Eating Disorders" is one disorder in paticular however is not the most major disorder out there. Yes, Eating Disorders are very serious. There are other, more serious ones however. Eating Disorder is just another "flavor" of Disorders. A continuation. That's why it makes an appropiate sub-forum. It in no way invalidates it nor is it demeaning by making a sub-forum.



Edit: If you havent already, do look at the demo board. Thank you.

[yoaliens3000]

Originally posted by The Black Hat@Dec 4 2004, 04:49 AM

I'm sitting here right now, smoking a cigarette and drinking a soda, while listening to a soft melody from one of my favorite Anime's, Inuyasha. When I listen to this song, it feels like my entire mind is open, and for those short three minutes & twenty seconds, I can say everything on my mind. Once the song stops, I restart it. I can go for hours just listening to that song.



When I first came up with the idea to completely reform the support groups and how they function, I knew it would be a long shot. The idea was sound but I knew, although I didn't want to believe it at the time, it would be met with resistance, with hesitation, with a lot of questions... but I never imagined that it would be met with as much frustration as I've seen... & felt. I won't lie. Throughout this, I've felt frustrated and used at times, and joyous at others.



Throughout this whole thing, I've been able to see first-hand how much people are different and divided on the stupidest of things.



When this idea came to my mind, for the entire revamp of the Support Groups, it was because I noticed that the Groups were slowly going downhill. This was made painfully obvious to me when I visited the new TeenHelp and saw what their Groups had become... I admit for a few moments, I was overcome with what can only be defined as grief and anger and frustration at knowing I couldn't do anything about it. Under Helen and Winston, that site no longer serves it's origional purpose. It's.. burning like a city engulfed in flames.



I guess when I designed this proposal, the new TeenHelp was in the back of my mind for the entire time. It still is. I don't want to see what has happend to that site, happen to this one. What scares me, is that slowly, but surely, this one is going in that direction. I don't want that. I don't like what I've seen. It scares me. I hold a love for this site that I don't think any of you could understand.



I feel very deeply that HelpingTeens needs to sever any and all similarities to the new TeenHelp. I would venture to say that the welcome message on HelpingTeens needs to be completely rewriten and reworded but I highly doubt you guys feel the same way as I do on that matter...



However, now I'm ranting... so I'll get back to the subject at hand.



When someone finds HelpingTeens through Google or another search engine - they are looking for a paticular places where they can come to seek help on whatever subject they may need support or have questions on. It could be Depression, it could be an Eating Disorder, hell it could even be because they lost a close family member and/or friend.



I've seen so many people asking if this is a change that is really nessasary for the Support Groups. Some say "it isn't", others say "it is"... In my opinion, it really is a nessasary & much needed, change.



Over the past week or so since I've made my proposal public domain, I've recieved a lot of feedback. Some very positive, and some very negative. One of my big requests was that certain topics such as Suicide and Depression be locked down from Guests and Search-Engine Spiders and that was one request that I was very pleased to see fullfilled. I've had Instant Messages voicing strong objections to that and frankly, I don't care. It's something that was needed and that was the 1st step.



I've had college classes in Business Management, Business Communication, Advertisment. Some of you probably feel that those skills can't work with a site like this one. That is very untrue. They are a invaluable when running a site like this. When you run a site that offers help through "Peer-2-Peer" help, there are a couple of things you must consider. How easily can the site be used? How organized is the site? Can the staff handle the wordload? How can we protect the members? What would make this site run more efficently? There are countless things to consider when running a site like this one.



From my years as a webmaster, site designer, and from my expierience in running forums, I've realized two things. Organization is key to running a forum for a large number of people and that having too many things on the forum index is a very bad thing. When I visit a forum, regardless of the subject, if there are too many topics on the Index, I tend to avoid the forum. Why you ask? Because I feel... overwhelmed.



I proposed less categories, and less topics on the Index to avoid that feeling on other people, expessially people new to the net. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people on the Support Groups who can't even figure out how to turn off their own PC ( Yes, You Jeff! ).



So in attempting to do this, I used something called Sub-Forums. Some of you hate them, others love them. It's a vicious cycle. Unfortunately, there is no way to please every person. Believe me, if I could've, I would've. I wish there was some way I could make you all see things my way but that is impossible to do.



Adam and Skye are right to an extent. Sub-Forums if used improperly can be a really big pain. However I did attempt to minimalize Sub-Forum useage. It could've gone a lot further than I proposed. You have to find the correct balance. Too many sub-forums is bad however having too many topics on the Index is bad too so where do you find the balance? That is a question that has eluded all webmasters when working on forums, sites, ect. How much is too much? How little is too little?



Users can provided excellent feedback but they usually only provide feedback as to what they'd like to see. The reason? They are unfamiliar with 'the rules' of web design. While user feedback is very valuable to any webmaster to him/her/them design a overall better expierience to the user. A large change too quickly can make people leave for other options. However a slow change can also make people leave. For example, lets say you post in a forum thats in a certain place one day, and the next day it is in a completely new place, you're going to be confused and pissed. However if everything is done at one time and you provided a guide to where everything was moved, you might still be pissed, but would have the ability to find what you are looking for very easily. Sure, it'd take some time to get used to but every change does.



Remember when the switch to the new software happend? Everyone was confused. Everything changed all of a sudden. However it was a change everyone was prepared for. Being prepared and having advanced notice to a large change is always good.



I would like to take a second to point out what changed between the current layout because it feels to me like you all are under the impression "Everything is going to be different" which is honestly not the case. Sure, there will be some differences. There are currently 7 categories. With my proposal, we narrow those down to 5. Not a real big change, just two less categories. There are currently 27 topics on the main page. With the proposed layout, we would have 22 topics on the main page. Again, not a big change, we only lowered it down by 5 topics. We have 4 sub-forums total currently. With the proposal, we'd have a grand total of 6 new sub-forums. That's not that many.



The most noticable change could be the redesign of the categories. Rape and Abuse, Depression, Self-Harm, and Suicide, would all be in the same category. This is because those are the most difficult issues on the site. Those are also the topics which are locked down from guests. So if you put all of the topics in a single category, it'd be a lot easier to see the ones Guests can't view than having them scattered about the forum. The other changed category pretty much keeps its origional layout except with a couple topics being added to it and it being re-organized.



These changes arn't really that big. Yes, it would take a day or two to get used to it but you would in fact, get used to it. You'd get used to it just like you got used to the new Support Groups software.



I've looked at this from many sides and each side has it's pro's and it's con's. However in my book, the PRO's outweigh the CON's.



I know that although I've taken the time to best express my views and feelings on this matter, It won't have much impact on the opinions and decisions of the Users & Administration. I can only hope that you and they fully understand where I am coming from. With that said, I can say with honesty that I have said everything on my mind. I feel like I am missing something important right now but I can't think of it. I highly doubt I'll be active in this topic anymore as everything Ive had to say I have just said. If you want to ask me a question, please by all means, Private Message me. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this.



<He tips his hat, pulls his black trench higher up on his neck, slips on a pair of black sunglasses, and walks away slowly





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Respectfully Yours,

Dustin Robert Sanchez (The Black Hat)

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[right][/right]

i do [not] want to be an ass, but can i please have clift notes?

[Nj]

Originally posted by SexyMandy+Dec 4 2004, 10:47 PM--

[/right]

[/b]

I've had an eating disorder. I've also had depression and suicidal thoughts.. I still don't understand. I don't think it has to do with that..

Originally posted by Mistieflower@Dec 4 2004, 10:47 PM

Originally posted by kneesofmybees@Dec 4 2004, 09:24 PM

<!--QuoteBegin-SexyMandy@Dec 4 2004, 09:33 PM

I still like the old way.. and Eating Disorders as a sub-forum kind of upsets me.

[right][/right]

If you don't mind my asking. Why?

[right][/right]

from my point of view, it seems very demeaning and invalidating.

[right][/right]

[/quote]



Come off it. You go to yahoo health or any site, and you'll have eating disorders listed under 'disorders.' this site should be no different.



it doesn't devalidate, it properly places the topic..

[yoaliens3000]

lmao your comparing this site to yahoo. that is your first mistake.

[SexyLittleDoll]

I don't think there is going to be any winning with you guys. No matter what anyone says if you disagree your not going to try and compromise.. why ask everyones opinions if you really just want it your way? See were a helping teens site and Eating Disorders is a huge problem that teenagers and adults face. If were going to have it as a category it should be made important because it is important.

[The Black Hat]

Originally posted by SexyMandy@Dec 4 2004, 08:46 PM

I don't think there is going to be any winning with you guys. No matter what anyone says if you disagree your not going to try and compromise.. why ask everyones opinions if you really just want it your way? See were a helping teens site and Eating Disorders is a huge problem that teenagers and adults face. If were going to have it as a category it should be made important because it is important.

[right][/right]

Ive compromised a lot already Mandy. I do mean, a lot.

[The Black Hat]

I need this merged. I'm requesting this be closed because it's going nowhere fast and I at this point will deal directly with the admins. Nobody agrees, everyone is fighting, I just want an end to this. This went somewhere I didnt want it to go. It went from naming categories to fighting over the layout. Although I admit I was partially the cause of it, you guys need to learn to follow simple rules in topics. Im sorry, Im a little pissed. Will an Admin and/or Mod close this?