Are we allowed not to like the new Café arrangement?

[Flying_Monkey]

It seems hard to know where to express mild displeasure anywhere else, so I'll do it here: I don't like the new separation of long-running threads from the rest of the Café. Those threads, like them or not, are what makes the Café (and maybe provide some of the social glue for the whole forum). While I like most of the recent rearrangement (thanks, Shaun!), I don't think separating those threads and making them secondary to newer threads is an improvement to the forum. Can they be merged back together again?

 

[lukesdad]

More new threads are started in the cafe than anywhere else, yet at the top of the first page are the same old threads with the same old ,same old.... People know where to find them if they want them. Much better in the cafe now, I might even spend more time there myself !

 

[Hill Wimp]

More new threads are started in the cafe than anywhere else, yet at the top of the first page are the same old threads with the same old ,same old.... People know where to find them if they want them. Much better in the cafe now, I might even spend more time there myself !

I spend a lot of time in the cafe and to be fair your point is one of the main reasons why Shaun has said it was moved so to allow other threads to get on the first page. I think we all appreciate that but it is a shame to be shut in a cupboard and new people to the site won't know where we are. Sometimes its a good place to start posting before venturing out into the wider forum.

I think those that haunt the cafe regularly want to give it time to see how it goes but it will be a shame if people don't pop in for a look or a post.

 

[Shaun]

I'd like to give it a few more days. If it doesn't work out as I'd hoped I'll put them back (maybe with more threads visible on the Cafe first page).

 

[ColinJ]

I am surprised at how many people access CC in that hierarchical way - I find 'New Posts' a much more convenient way of keeping on top of what is going on, and that way, it doesn't actually matter where threads are located, unless they are in sections that one has chosen to ignore (for example, I don't follow Helmet & Headphone Debates or Cyclist Down).

 

[Hill Wimp]

I usually flick through my alerts first then check out new posts, i like to have a good nose around and see what's occurring.

 

[Hill Wimp]

Sorry all my years of cycling in the Uk and around the world and current 70-80 miles a week don't come up to your standard of a real cyclist then. An awful lot of the "major contributors" post in many of the other forum threads and use the cafe and its many threads as light relief.

 

[ianrauk]

Sorry all my years of cycling in the Uk and around the world and current 70-80 miles a week don't come up to your standard of a real cyclist then. An awful lot of the "major contributors" post in many of the other forum threads and use the cafe and its many threads as light relief.

TMN does have a point.
There are members of the forum who only post in say the Three Word Game and/or Music Game thread and no other parts of the forum, keeping the threads at the top relegating other new subjects.

To new members the cafe can look like a closed shop and clique.
And a new member will always find their own way around the forum however it's laid out anyway.

Change is good sometimes.

 

[Hill Wimp]

You didn't hence no quotation marks.

Have you ever thought that there may be a reason why some people that post on here don't have bikes? It could be down to injury and they are no longer able to ride but that cycling was a huge part of their life beforehand and this keeps some connection for them or it could be any number of reasons. I wasn't aware it was a stipulation.
It's the generalisation that's the point I don't like. Bit like saying all lorry drivers are dangerous drivers.

 

[Hill Wimp]

Don't get me wrong I'm all for change and am happy to see how it goes. I didn't find the cafe clique at all and I'm relatively new. It's just the assumption some forum members have about users of the cafe.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Those who routinely look under ''New Posts'' will probably only be vaguely aware of what the new layout is. Personally, I find the forum page has too much on it.

 

[Puddles]

What assumption?

The one that assumes tact and diplomacy is not required when dealing with other human beings.

 

[Shaun]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll continue to review it over the coming days and then decide whether the keep or reverse it.