North East Buses

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

• These forums have been massively 'cleaned up'. Several threads within these forums have been merged into the main "Latest" thread for each operator. There were a number of threads with minimal discussion after the original post, and the posts within some were complaints that the member had started a new thread when it could have easily fit into one of the main categorised threads.
  
• All "Latest" threads merged. Last year, we decided to split each of the main "Latest" threads by month to ease strain on our servers which was making the forum run slowly. We were not consistent in doing this, meaning that threads up until mid-2013 had been split with the rest left in one massive thread. We have encountered no major problems with the speed of the forum since we upgraded to paid hosting, so I have decided to merge all of these threads back into one again.
  
• All forums have been standardised. The threads in each forum have been replicated and re-named accordingly so that they are all the same. "Read Me" threads have been created explaining this in each forum.
  
• "Fleet News" thread from each of the forums removed. Instead, a new announcement system will be used. After the news is published, a small announcement bar will appear on the main forum index screen for 24 hours. When the news feature was first implemented in late 2013, there were concerns that these posts were somewhat obtrusive and unnecessary. My main gripe with these posts as of late has been the fact that they are quite time-consuming, and I'm often rather pushed for time when writing up the news, so this will save a few minutes for me whilst (hopefully) combating the concerns which were made some 12+ months ago.
  

That's all... for now!

Quite like the new announcement system. Quite easy to use and doesn't involve going on 2 different pages before you get to the page with the links on. This mini clean-up has certainly improved the way the forum looks.

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!

Option 2 sounds the best

(31 Dec 2014, 7:35 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]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!

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 wrote [ -> ]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.

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?

Option 2.

Think option 2 would be the best, option 3 looks like it has the potential to get a bit confusing (it's possible I've completely mis-understood three like   )

Option 2 is my choice.

Don't like option 3 at all.

(31 Dec 2014, 7:45 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]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?

Aye that's true like. Option 2 for me then.

Thanks guys for your opinions - keep them coming!
Helps us to push forward with improving your forum experience!

Could one or two of the ideas be merged?

Stick them into areas as suggested, but set them up in alphabetical order within those sub forums?

(31 Dec 2014, 8:54 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]Could one or two of the ideas be merged?

Stick them into areas as suggested, but set them up in alphabetical order within those sub forums?

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?

Option 2.

Thanks, all!
Will keep this thread open for discussion on options for a few more hours - but it's looking like Option 2 will be the way we go! Whatever we go for, I'll try and get it implemented today (haven't got anything else to do today!)

Option 2 =)

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 wrote [ -> ]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.

Yes I am sure we can provide a forum for North Yorkshire, it would definitely help to provide a room for growth of discussion on the aspects of bus operation in North Yorkshire!

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 wrote [ -> ]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.

I have just looked through the General Off Topic Chat section and there is a good few threads that could be deleted, some could be merged with a similar thread - for example there is a snooker thread which has seen very little action and could easily be dropped into a sport thread. Some have just been set up to ask a question and then they may get an answer and then there is no point in that thread remaining there. Some small threads with little discussion could be dropped into the Anything and everything thread or deleted.