Moved...But Why Wayne??

[Damon Pedersen]

Why do some of the messages posted in the main forum get moved around? I do not understand. For instance, I posted about the email I received from Joan Trice aka Appraisal Buzz in the main forum today and wham...it gets moved to the Clients Forum.

My post was in response to an unsolicited email I received so I have no idea where else I should have posted it to start with. I thought the main forum was appropriate. Lee Ann also posted regarding the Appraisal Buzz in the main discussion forum and so far it hasn't been moved.

I have a good reputation (so I think). I wouldn't want anyone thinking that Joan or the Appraisal Buzz was a client of mine!!!

Also, some of the other posts that have gotted (Moved....) make no sense such as Mike Garret's post about the dots for the number of posts. His post also got moved somehere.

This new forum thing...I don't know, maybe Paulette was right.

It's cool to have some structure, but man o man, lets keep it simple if we can.

Damon

 

[Head Surfer]

Damon,

There is no "main" forum, the whole page is the Main Forum. I move posts to the most appropriate forum category. Isn't it obvious?

The general category (as per its description) is for those topics that don't fit in any of the other forums. If I find something posted in the General forum (or any forum) that I think would more appropriately fit in the other forums I move it! The last thing I want is for the majority of the topics to be in the General forum, that would defeat the purpose of the new system, that purpose being making it easier for people to find the information they want to read and bypass that which they don't. If you have everything or even the majority of posts in one forum then people have to wade through a lots of stuff they don't want to see to get to what they do want to see. Believe me I got complaints about the old forum system. Many said they stopped reading it because of the volume of posts and they couldn't find what information they were looking for!

The structure is so that someone can find the posts at a later date. With several hundred posts a day and increasing membership and lurkers, there is no alternative. The old system was great is you wanted to read the posts from the last 2 or 3 days. But if you wanted to find something or browse a particular category (such as FHA, Technical, etc) you were in trouble! I am all for simple but not at the expense of chaos! And that's what the other system was.

As one example didn't you get tired of answering the same questions over and over again? That's what happens when you get them listed in one forum. Posts 2 or 3 days old are repeatedly asked. For example we were always getting "I am thinking of becoming an appraiser...". So now there is the Newbie/AppraiserWannabe Forum where people look and can see the answer to that question and don't have to ask the exact question again.

There was a great long topic today that I moved into the FHA/HUD Forum that will be an invaluable reference to FHA appraisers in the future. If it were left in the general forum it would be probably be missed by someone seeking that information.

As a good example I am moving THIS post to the "forum help" section so someone looking for forum help can see my reply to it and not have to ask! If it is in the "General" forum they might miss it. See isn't that simple? That's why I moved Mike's post about the forum dots there also. New users typically read the Forum Help section so they can see how it works. Believe me if people are interested in your topic they will read it no matter where it is. But they are most likely to find it in the appropriate forum. Besides there is a link when it is moved that goes directly to it.

As to why I move some posts and not others, it may be that I missed or have not yet seen the others. The Appraisal Buzz thing went to the Clients section because they are always being discussed over and over again, so I thought that most appropriate. Maybe they're not a client, but they are someone people talk about a lot. I don't read all the messages, so I will miss some. And I may find them later and move them. It's a judgement thing, I just do the best I can.

Believe me it is nothing personal! Don't feel that if you have something moved that you messed up or anything, or that it is a problem for me! Think of this board as my appraisal report and I try to keep everything as neat and organized as possible so the reader can find things and I won't have to write extra addendums for the underwriter!

Feel free to send me a private message if you need further explaining.