Announcement: Changes to All Together Now | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

@Ron Nasty said
it was thought certain things deserved their own threads so subjects someone might not be interested wasn’t shoved down their throat, but now, comments on gun control and what arses some Americans on the subject, goes in the derail thread, record I’m listening to, goes in the derail thread, food I’m eating, goes into the derail thread, and it reverts back to the same ugly mess that other threads were originally created to deal with).

It’s precisely because of the food and the what-i’m-listening-to-now threads (among others) that we’re doing this. They’re often inane and inward-looking, and don’t really add much in the way of quality discussion. Those are the sorts of things I’d really like to see the back of, and I do think they’d fall by the wayside if we had one generic off-topic free-for-all thread.

I don’t doubt you’ve made @Zig a very happy bunny, thinking it will go back so some mythical forum that never truly existed. This forum has had a strong social element since I joined it back in god knows when. The majority of your current users joined because of that social element, and how it was conducted, as well as The Beatles.

Much of the Beatles conversation comes from people who come here to socialise, and having that taken away gives less reason to check in as much, and so less Beatles conversation.

Maybe. Perhaps not. People came here in 2008 because it was a Beatles forum and they liked the tone and community. It was active and lively before ATN ever existed. It just contained a higher proportion of discussions about The Beatles than it does currently.

People came for the band, stayed for a chat, liked the other people, and asked to be able to discuss off-topic matters. We just want to revert the balance of the scales a little, and I’m open to suggestions on how it might be achieved.

I full well realise that many people come here for the non-Beatles chat. It’s great that they’ve felt welcome enough to spend time here. But in the coming months I’m hoping to grow the overall traffic this site gets, and that should correlate with an increase in forum members. That would, in turn, involve many more non-Beatles discussions, all of which would have to be moderated.

I have no intention of leaving the forum (sorry, Zig) but will be a less frequent visitor. I’m taking my social conversation across to @Starr Shine?’s forum, where silly restrictions to curtail the conversation are hopefully not going to be imposed, and hoping that others who have enjoyed the social aspect you have provided for so long will join me.

And you’re more than welcome to do so. As I said in my original post, there are more suitable and lively places to discuss Pink Floyd or football. Have at it.

A decision debated with three people, only one of whom I imagine defended the status quo. You suggest it’s up for debate now, but you’re not going to reverse this decision, no matter how many of us object and tell you you’re losing a vital aspect of the forum, and how important that aspect of the forum has been to so many of us.

Hey, look, we are interested in discussing it. That’s why I’ve created this thread. I’ve introduced changes before without any forewarning or discussion, and been criticised for it, so I’m doing things differently this time.

I don’t think there’s a way to do this and keep *everyone* happy. I’m interested in finding a middle ground, keeping my own sanity and interest, and ensuring the (unpaid, brilliant) mod team don’t have an impossible task.

@Starr Shine? said
I can see the derail thread ending up more like a slower chat room/box. Kinda takes the comradery out of the forum for me. I feel this will make the Beatles bible not unlike those soulless tech support forums where people make accounts to ask one question then bleep off never to return. I know if there wasn’t a general discussion, I would of left this site long ago.

That’s fine. It’s not possible to please everyone, and I long ago stopped attempting it. But when a hefty chunk of my own forum isn’t something I’d want to spend time on, that’s when I think it’s time to do something. I honestly haven’t done any of this in a hurry – the mod team have been discussing it on and off for months, but I’ve always lost my nerve and chosen inertia instead.

This is a forum where users got together and rebuilt a thread from archives and google catches. I doubt that would of ever happened without ATN existing as a place for us all to get to know each other.

It might have done. I honestly don’t know. As I said before, this was a pretty lively place before ATN , but it was centred more on The Beatles than it currently is. People were loyal and passionate from year one. It might not have been YOUR ideal forum, but it was still a good place.

Also, may end of the year awards remain if changed to have only Beatles related categories? Maybe rename it the toppermost of the poppermost?

Yes, I think we can probably do that. As I said before, some discussions in ATN are either about the Beatles or this site, and can be moved into the appropriate place. We can work something out with the awards, assuming there’s anyone left here to take part.

…So, given all that, does anyone have any positive suggestions on how we might make this place better?

OK, one last quick post before I leave to pick up my kids from school (and I’ll be back here tomorrow to answer anything else).

It seems fairly certain that we’ll prevent new threads from being created in ATN , to avoid the free-for-all that we currently have (“What are you whistling right now?”; “What’s your favourite colour” etc). But I would like people to chime in with suggestions on what else from the current crop we should keep.

I proposed a core set of six threads in my first post here, but if people have a burning desire for more please speak up and say which ones.

Bye for now.