Little Bits and Bobs: 19/12/14 Update
Little Bits and Bobs: 19/12/14 Update
The presentation of the "Local Bus Scene" forums has really been irritating me as of late, and I've been conjuring up various ideas to make the forums more presentable. I've finally had a chance to get round to doing a few updates, and these are outlined below:
Arriva, Go North East and Stagecoach North East forums
Following this update, Scott (tyresmoke) suggested that he wanted to 'clean up' the "Other Operators" section of the forum, too. Scott and I discussed our plans to improve this section this evening, and we'd like to put forward our suggestions to our members to gather opinions.
Option 1 - Create alphabetical sub-forums within the "Other Operators" section
When users click "Other Operators", the list of threads would not appear immediately. Instead, five sub-forums would appear:
A - E, F - J, K - O, P - T, U - Z
All of the current threads (excluding those with no further posts from the original post) would be placed into the relevant lettered category. Once a lettered sub-forum is clicked, all of the bus operators whose company name starts with one of those letters will be displayed. The upside to this is that this would allow standardisation between the forum and our fleet list homepage, which is sorted similarly. The downside is that there would still be approximately 30 threads for some of the more common letters, although the system allows for 30 threads to be shown per page (and this can be increased if necessary).
Option 2 - Create sub-forums sorted by county within the "Other Operators" section
As above, with the categories instead being:
Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside
Option 3 - Some operator threads merged, larger threads with the most discussion remain separated
Everything is left as present, but threads similar to this one are created for all of the smaller threads with less discussion to be merged into. Larger threads, such as Procters Group, Gateshead Central Taxis, are not merged.
Option 4 - Other
Leave everything as present and don't bother at all - or an idea of your own (give feedback below if so).
Any feedback appreciated!
(31 Dec 2014, 7:35 pm)Dan Following this update, Scott (tyresmoke) suggested that he wanted to 'clean up' the "Other Operators" section of the forum, too. Scott and I discussed our plans to improve this section this evening, and we'd like to put forward our suggestions to our members to gather opinions.
Option 1 - Create alphabetical sub-forums within the "Other Operators" section
When users click "Other Operators", the list of threads would not appear immediately. Instead, five sub-forums would appear:
A - E, F - J, K - O, P - T, U - Z
All of the current threads (excluding those with no further posts from the original post) would be placed into the relevant lettered category. Once a lettered sub-forum is clicked, all of the bus operators whose company name starts with one of those letters will be displayed. The upside to this is that this would allow standardisation between the forum and our fleet list homepage, which is sorted similarly. The downside is that there would still be approximately 30 threads for some of the more common letters, although the system allows for 30 threads to be shown per page (and this can be increased if necessary).
Option 2 - Create sub-forums sorted by county within the "Other Operators" section
As above, with the categories instead being:
Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside
Option 3 - Some operator threads merged, larger threads with the most discussion remain separated
Everything is left as present, but threads similar to this one are created for all of the smaller threads with less discussion to be merged into. Larger threads, such as Procters Group, Gateshead Central Taxis, are not merged.
Option 4 - Other
Leave everything as present and don't bother at all - or an idea of your own (give feedback below if so).
Any feedback appreciated!
(31 Dec 2014, 7:35 pm)Dan Following this update, Scott (tyresmoke) suggested that he wanted to 'clean up' the "Other Operators" section of the forum, too. Scott and I discussed our plans to improve this section this evening, and we'd like to put forward our suggestions to our members to gather opinions.
Option 1 - Create alphabetical sub-forums within the "Other Operators" section
When users click "Other Operators", the list of threads would not appear immediately. Instead, five sub-forums would appear:
A - E, F - J, K - O, P - T, U - Z
All of the current threads (excluding those with no further posts from the original post) would be placed into the relevant lettered category. Once a lettered sub-forum is clicked, all of the bus operators whose company name starts with one of those letters will be displayed. The upside to this is that this would allow standardisation between the forum and our fleet list homepage, which is sorted similarly. The downside is that there would still be approximately 30 threads for some of the more common letters, although the system allows for 30 threads to be shown per page (and this can be increased if necessary).
Option 2 - Create sub-forums sorted by county within the "Other Operators" section
As above, with the categories instead being:
Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside
Option 3 - Some operator threads merged, larger threads with the most discussion remain separated
Everything is left as present, but threads similar to this one are created for all of the smaller threads with less discussion to be merged into. Larger threads, such as Procters Group, Gateshead Central Taxis, are not merged.
Option 4 - Other
Leave everything as present and don't bother at all - or an idea of your own (give feedback below if so).
Any feedback appreciated!
(31 Dec 2014, 7:40 pm)aureolin Other than option 4, my preference would be option 2, but I think the 3rd option would also work. The first, imo, would look a bit messy.
(31 Dec 2014, 7:40 pm)aureolin Other than option 4, my preference would be option 2, but I think the 3rd option would also work. The first, imo, would look a bit messy.
Option 2.
Option 2 is my choice.
Don't like option 3 at all.
(31 Dec 2014, 7:45 pm)Dan My issue with the third option is that things are so unpredictable with independent bus operators...
We used to have quite a bit of discussion going on in the Pygall's Coaches thread, but since the withdrawal of the 230 and X27, we've had very little. Similarly, prior to Gateshead Central Taxis gaining a lot of Nexus contracts this year, we did not really discuss their operations at all.
If an operator suddenly turns around like both of those operators have done, where do you draw the line to either close the main thread and merge it into 'smaller bus operators' thread or conversely make a new thread completely as the company is rapidly growing?
(31 Dec 2014, 7:45 pm)Dan My issue with the third option is that things are so unpredictable with independent bus operators...
We used to have quite a bit of discussion going on in the Pygall's Coaches thread, but since the withdrawal of the 230 and X27, we've had very little. Similarly, prior to Gateshead Central Taxis gaining a lot of Nexus contracts this year, we did not really discuss their operations at all.
If an operator suddenly turns around like both of those operators have done, where do you draw the line to either close the main thread and merge it into 'smaller bus operators' thread or conversely make a new thread completely as the company is rapidly growing?
(31 Dec 2014, 8:54 pm)Andreos1 Could one or two of the ideas be merged?Do you mean to create another sub-forum in the alphabetical categories after having put them into county sub-forums, or to just make the threads appear in alphabetical order within the county sub-forum?
Stick them into areas as suggested, but set them up in alphabetical order within those sub forums?
(31 Dec 2014, 8:54 pm)Andreos1 Could one or two of the ideas be merged?Do you mean to create another sub-forum in the alphabetical categories after having put them into county sub-forums, or to just make the threads appear in alphabetical order within the county sub-forum?
Stick them into areas as suggested, but set them up in alphabetical order within those sub forums?
My preference is option 1 based on my experince of using that format when viewing fleet lists it is easy to navigate and find what I am looking for.
Option 2 looks OK but is not ideal where an operator is based near a county boundary where local knowledge may be required in selecting the correct county. If you go with option 2 can North Yorkshire be included.
I don't like the look of option 3.
(01 Jan 2015, 11:08 am)GuyParkRoyal My preference is option 1 based on my experince of using that format when viewing fleet lists it is easy to navigate and find what I am looking for.
Option 2 looks OK but is not ideal where an operator is based near a county boundary where local knowledge may be required in selecting the correct county. If you go with option 2 can North Yorkshire be included.
I don't like the look of option 3.
Forum Moderator | Let us know if you have any issues
Service Manager, Coatham Connect
(01 Jan 2015, 11:08 am)GuyParkRoyal My preference is option 1 based on my experince of using that format when viewing fleet lists it is easy to navigate and find what I am looking for.
Option 2 looks OK but is not ideal where an operator is based near a county boundary where local knowledge may be required in selecting the correct county. If you go with option 2 can North Yorkshire be included.
I don't like the look of option 3.
Forum Moderator | Let us know if you have any issues
Service Manager, Coatham Connect
Although not based on the suggestion of updating the format of the independent operators, i have a suggestion for something else...
Can the admins please delete old threads in
Off-topic bus chat
General off-topic chat
Anything below a certain month of the 2014 - delete. (Maybe October, 2014ish)?
It's just some haven't had a post in them for a while... and it's pointless having them.
(01 Jan 2015, 12:47 pm)Michael Although not based on the suggestion of updating the format of the independent operators, i have a suggestion for something else...
Can the admins please delete old threads in
Off-topic bus chat
General off-topic chat
Anything below a certain month of the 2014 - delete. (Maybe October, 2014ish)?
It's just some haven't had a post in them for a while... and it's pointless having them.
(01 Jan 2015, 12:47 pm)Michael Although not based on the suggestion of updating the format of the independent operators, i have a suggestion for something else...
Can the admins please delete old threads in
Off-topic bus chat
General off-topic chat
Anything below a certain month of the 2014 - delete. (Maybe October, 2014ish)?
It's just some haven't had a post in them for a while... and it's pointless having them.