RPFs.com: Special event sub-forum schedule

[Bryan]

In order to facilitate maximum discussion on upcoming events RPFs.com wishes to continue to create sub-forums dedicated to special events rather than just using Grassroots Central as a catch-all (which it isn't). This is done for a number of reasons, including:
. It allows for a much more open discussion on topics that would generally not be allowed in Grassroots Central.
. It does not bury topics in Grassroots Central that were important just hours before.
. It allows for residual discussion of the event to carry on for days after the event without interfering with Grassroots Central or otherwise being impossible to follow in Grassroots Central the following days due to other thread activity not related to the topic.
. It creates a historic archive that can be searched in later.

To reduce the chance of issues the schedule will be defined in advance, this is the current proposal though January:

New Year Celebration (for money bomb and overall new year fun) - 12/31
Iowa Caucus - 1/3
Wyoming Primaries - 1/5
Johnson County Debate - 1/5
New Hampshire Primaries 1/8
Myrtle Beach Debate - 1/10
Michigan Primaries - 1/15
Nevada Caucus - 1/19
South Carolina Primaries - 1/19
Florida Primaries - 1/29
California Debate - 1/30

These sub-forums will have top billing placement above Grassroots Central and have links to the sub-forum from both Grassroots Central and at the top of the forum header.

Please feel free to make suggestions and such.

Thanks.

[FreeTraveler]

One request: every time you make a change like this, tell everyone about the "New Posts" button all over again. This will prevent the whining about having to organize things and not seeing all the important stuff in one place.

If everyone would use the "New Posts" button, there would never be a reason NOT to post things in the proper forum, since everyone would see all new posts anyway.

Hmm... it would be nice if posting a new thread asked for the appropriate forum, then stuck the post in a "New Posts" forum until it's had no response for 24 hours, at which time it would move automatically to its correct home.

That way we could all hang out in the New Posts Forum unless we were looking for something specific.

[LibertyEagle]

bump

[Mark]

everybody say "JUMP"!

[r3v07ution]

Good idea, looks like a good schedule to me.

[Bilgefisher]

This is an excellent idea. Ferrous material is just metal, but if you align the poles to work in the same direction it becomes a powerful magnet.

[tpreitzel]

Bryan -

Unfortunately there is a significant negative impact on raising funds for projects by creating all of these sub-forums. The blimp is a classic case. Personally, I watched the repeated attempts to raise the last $10k for the blimp's latest target of Jan 18th, 2007. Almost immediately, threads pertaining to that fund-raising effort were moved from Grassroots Central to the Blimp sub-forum. Within seconds of moving these threads to their respective sub-forum which was the blimp in this case, the rate of donations to the blimp dropped noticeably. Really, none of this information should be a shock due to the largely reduced traffic in ALL of the sub-forums including the blimp's. To summarize, the creation of sub-forums is having a NOTICEABLY negative effect on those projects which are attempting to raise funds. Grassroots Central is far and away the most heavily visited area and will remain so. The idea of mechanically creating sub-forums for the various projects needs to be revisited in the light of reduced capacity, i.e. reduced traffic, to generate revenue. Personally, ALL threads should start in Grassroots Central and remain there for a limited time *, and then be automatically ** transferred if possible to their respective sub-forum. Otherwise, more intense moderation of Grassroots Central would be required.

* Actual time would need experimentation
** Enforcing keywords in threads should make this action possible

Good luck with the forums as we ALL want Ron Paul to be our next POTUS.

[Bryan]

Thanks for the note- if fundraising threads were moved it was a moderator error (caused by flags in error). The Project sub-forums are for detailed planning, information and questions while Grassroots Central can still be used for announcements, recruiting, fundraising and the like- basically if you aren't involved in a project you won't want to read that sub-forum.

Last night however some of the older Blimp fundraising threads might have been moved for good reason since a new thread was started with a new dollar figure every so often. At one point I did note 6 blimp threads on the front page of Grassroots Central, if 3 were moved that would seem reasonable (I never moved any however due to the deadline). I was up until 6AM watching and never saw a lack of blimp threads actually but maybe I missed something.

All of these sub-forum specified in this thread however are for special event and not related to this issue however.

When people use the "New Posts" feature is doesn't matter what sub-forum things are posted in- see my sig on "Managing posts" for some tips (like how to exclude project sub-forums, etc). About half the users use "New Posts"- it works!

Thanks again!

[tpreitzel]

Last night however some of the older Blimp fundraising threads might have been moved for good reason since a new thread was started with a new dollar figure every so often. At one point I did note 6 blimp threads on the front page of Grassroots Central, if 3 were moved that would seem reasonable (I never moved any however due to the deadline). I was up until 6AM watching and never saw a lack of blimp threads actually but maybe I missed something.

It happened repeatedly this morning about 10-12 EST

All of these sub-forum specified in this thread however are for special event and not related to this issue however.

OK, I'll look further into special events ... Ron Paul forums is getting a bit large so thanks for the heads-up here.

When people use the "New Posts" feature is doesn't matter what sub-forum things are posted in- see my sig on "Managing posts" for some tips (like how to exclude project sub-forums, etc). About half the users use "New Posts"- it works!

Thanks again!

Once again, thanks for the heads-up on the "New Posts" feature. Actually, I saw that option mentioned in the forums about a day ago, but I haven't used it yet. From looking at the reduced rate of donations when the blimp threads were moved, I question the number of members actually using it, though.

Don't get me wrong. I appreciate your important role in supporting the election of Ron Paul.

[rancher89]

Can we get the SC subforum up soon? We have several threads going and it is really hard to keep it all together....pretty please???

[stown]

Nevada is a caucus now