Suggestion Sticky in Lens forum with links to the "clubs"

[Bart]

Wouldn't it be a nice idea to have a sticky in the Lens forum containing links to the "clubs"? This would make a great complement to the Lens Reviews with actual photos.
Now, the club - threads sometimes get buried in the old pages. Sometimes multiple threads are created with the same subject.
When somebody would want to start up a new club - thread, Adam or a moderator could be asked to add the link in the sticky.

First off, we would need to make a list with those club threads. I guess it would be up to Adam to decide on the 'worthiness' of a thread to be linked into the sticky (why make things complicated with a poll).

Some examples - in no particular order and far from complete:

The Kit Lens Club!


Takumar club


The DA Limited Club


The A Club


DA* Club


The M Club!


Zeiss ZK LBA - pics, notes, thoughts?


The FA Limited Club


The F Club!


Cosina 55mm 1:1.2 club


Voigtlander Nokton 58mm F/1.4 Review!


Bokeh Masters - samples, notes, suggestions?


The 300mm plus lens Club discuss your long lenses.


An idea?

[legacyb4]

I was thinking the same thing after creating the DA Limited club.

Perhaps even renaming the threads for consistency? Ie. "The [fill space] Club"?

[d.bradley]

On the surface, this seems like a reasonable idea. But on further reflection, I don't understand why we would go with a sticky and links to clubs threads intead of just making a "club" section, sub-forums and individual posts. We're re-inventing the wheel. The whole point of forums is to organize and catagorize information. Anyone looking for valuable information on these lens types has to sort through dozens or hundreds of pages and posts in a single thread in hopes if finding relevant discussion. It's like storing data in a huge, flat excel spreadsheet instead of a full featured database...sure it's an option, but it's not the best one.

Please consider creating sub-forums in the lens section (or in a dedicated clubs section) for these various catagories. Not to say there can't be club threads (stickies within each forum?) but since we have it, lets take advantage of this forum infrastructure.

**edit to note earlier discussions on this topic:

The "Too Many Clubs" club

[Bart]

Originally Posted by d.bradley

...Please consider creating sub-forums in the lens section (or in a dedicated clubs section) for these various catagories. Not to say there can't be club threads (stickies within each forum?) but since we have it, lets take advantage of this forum infrastructure...

I'm sure this would invole a much greater effort to implement. Don't want to strain the team

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Bart

I'm sure this would invole a much greater effort to implement. Don't want to strain the team

There is a fine line between systematic categorization and a big mess. While a separate sub-forum would surely make finding said threads easier, it would likely be limited to a fixed number of threads. Thus, I think that a separate page for lens club threads would be more appropriate (i.e. on the homepage, or in the lens review database).

[Bart]

Originally Posted by Adam

There is a fine line between systematic categorization and a big mess. While a separate sub-forum would surely make finding said threads easier, it would likely be limited to a fixed number of threads. Thus, I think that a separate page for lens club threads would be more appropriate (i.e. on the homepage, or in the lens review database).

Great.
Could the existing threads be moved to this new page, then?

[Adam]

No; such a page would contain links to the various threads.

[d.bradley]

Originally Posted by Adam

There is a fine line between systematic categorization and a big mess. While a separate sub-forum would surely make finding said threads easier, it would likely be limited to a fixed number of threads. Thus, I think that a separate page for lens club threads would be more appropriate (i.e. on the homepage, or in the lens review database).

I think the point I was making was lost. I was suggesting have a sub-forum for each club so that instead of tacking a post on the end of a long winded thread one could post a new topic with appropriate subject, etc, making it easier to navigate and find the useful information. To make the analogy of an online community, it just doesn't make sense to have people "hanging out in threads" instead of "hanging out in (sub)forums".

[Bart]

Originally Posted by Adam

No; such a page would contain links to the various threads.

Works for me.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by d.bradley

I think the point I was making was lost. I was suggesting have a sub-forum for each club so that instead of tacking a post on the end of a long winded thread one could post a new topic with appropriate subject, etc, making it easier to navigate and find the useful information. To make the analogy of an online community, it just doesn't make sense to have people "hanging out in threads" instead of "hanging out in (sub)forums".

Right, except such a sub-forum would have to allow discussion by all lens clubs, which would lead to lost or hard-to-find threads as well. I think hanging out in threads is better than frantically browsing a forum for desired threads, but if you've got further suggestions, I'm open to hearing them.

[d.bradley]

Originally Posted by Adam

Right, except such a sub-forum would have to allow discussion by all lens clubs, which would lead to lost or hard-to-find threads as well. I think hanging out in threads is better than frantically browsing a forum for desired threads, but if you've got further suggestions, I'm open to hearing them.

Hey Adam,

I hope I'm not coming across as difficult...just playing devil's advocate for the benefit of the site. I'm not convinced it's the best way to go, but I think it's worth considering.

So there are a few options for organization:

PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Takumar Club > "look at my 300mm SMC Tak!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Takumar Club > "Chec the sharpness on my 50/1.4 super tak?"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Fisheye Club > "Look at my Sigma 15/2.8 Fisheye!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Fisheye Club > "Curved Horizons!!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > M-club > "My 50mm is cheap and great!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > M-club > "Should I buy an M-200/4?"

or simply


PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Takumar Club > "look at my 300mm SMC Tak!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Takumar Club > "Chec the sharpness on my 50/1.4 super tak?"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Fisheye Club > "Look at my Sigma 15/2.8 Fisheye!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Fisheye Club > "Curved Horizons!!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > M-club > "My 50mm is cheap and great!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > M-club > "Should I buy an M-200/4?"

There should be no reason for anyone in the takumar club to post in the fisheye club...unless of course s/he's posting about their fisheye takumar in which case they'd have to make a call on club would be appropriate. But if the takumar club has a bunch of posts that now have topics with the lens name or camera name or whatever, it's going to be much easier to find information.

Dividing up topics into forums is the whole point of the forum infrastructure...otherwise we'd all be posting on a single thread found in the "PentaxForums.com" section of the site...

[Adam]

Originally Posted by d.bradley

Hey Adam,

I hope I'm not coming across as difficult...just playing devil's advocate for the benefit of the site. I'm not convinced it's the best way to go, but I think it's worth considering.

So there are a few options for organization:

PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Takumar Club > "look at my 300mm SMC Tak!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Takumar Club > "Chec the sharpness on my 50/1.4 super tak?"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Fisheye Club > "Look at my Sigma 15/2.8 Fisheye!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > Fisheye Club > "Curved Horizons!!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > M-club > "My 50mm is cheap and great!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > M-club > "Should I buy an M-200/4?"

or simply


PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Takumar Club > "look at my 300mm SMC Tak!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Takumar Club > "Chec the sharpness on my 50/1.4 super tak?"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Fisheye Club > "Look at my Sigma 15/2.8 Fisheye!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Fisheye Club > "Curved Horizons!!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > M-club > "My 50mm is cheap and great!"
PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > M-club > "Should I buy an M-200/4?"

There should be no reason for anyone in the takumar club to post in the fisheye club...unless of course s/he's posting about their fisheye takumar in which case they'd have to make a call on club would be appropriate. But if the takumar club has a bunch of posts that now have topics with the lens name or camera name or whatever, it's going to be much easier to find information.

Logically, that would work great. However, all these subforums would clutter up the main SLR discussion section, rendering it difficult to browse. The only way something like this would be feasible is by using a structure like this:

PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > {name of club here}

An alternative would be to use social groups for the purpose, although I know that those haven't really been popularized here on the site, and they are somewhat hard to reach.

Originally Posted by d.bradley

Dividing up topics into forums is the whole point of the forum infrastructure...otherwise we'd all be posting on a single thread found in the "PentaxForums.com" section of the site...

Definitely. Thanks to the organization already here, we've proved why DPR fails

[d.bradley]

Originally Posted by Adam

Logically, that would work great. However, all these subforums would clutter up the main SLR discussion section, rendering it difficult to browse. The only way something like this would be feasible is by using a structure like this:

PentaxForums.com > Lenses and Accessories > Lens Clubs > {name of club here}

So the same as the first example I posted. Personally I think that's the best way to go...it gets my vote. The only question then would be to decide which clubs get "sanctioned" with their own subforum

And yah..the DPR 'forums' are a bloody mess

[Adam]

Well, consider this added to my list of long-term changes. We'll get there eventually

[d.bradley]

Originally Posted by Adam

Well, consider this added to my list of long-term changes. We'll get there eventually

Thanks for the openness and opportunity for feedback!

Cheers,
D