Happier Abroad Forum Community

You should make a separate discussion board for Government/Politics/Law since some people like to read about these topics and others don't, resulting in many postings and articles being lumped into different board sections with no organized continuity. It would make it much easier to sort through postings and eliminate this kind of topic from taking over other boards where they really shouldn't be.

How about I just change the News and Current events section to "News/Politics/Government/Law" since the categories are similar? Would that be sufficient?

Well "news" is too general, it would clog up the section with a myriad if various subject matter. Whereas a government/politics/law section is more specific and woud help people that are maybe sifting through various specific countries laws and policies. Also it would be a place where people could vent about political subject matter.

But the News section here does not have many posts and is not that active. So why not combine them? The topics are related. That way, we won't have a new section with zero posts. I'll go ahead and combine them now so that the section is called "News/Politics/Government/Law".

You just don't want to do the work of creating a new board section...whatever...

Mr S wrote:You should make a separate discussion board for Government/Politics/Law since some people like to read about these topics and others don't, resulting in many postings and articles being lumped into different board sections with no organized continuity. It would make it much easier to sort through postings and eliminate this kind of topic from taking over other boards where they really shouldn't be.

I agree. We should have a new section about Government, Politics, and Law. One of the things I've been trying to figure out is how the laws and regulations differ in different countries and it would be helpful to have a separate section where these subjects are discussed. Government, Politics, and Law is a different subject than current events and should not be in the same category. When researching different countries, it would be quite helpful if we had a separate section that discusses how the laws differ.

LarryLaffer wrote:

Mr S wrote:You should make a separate discussion board for Government/Politics/Law since some people like to read about these topics and others don't, resulting in many postings and articles being lumped into different board sections with no organized continuity. It would make it much easier to sort through postings and eliminate this kind of topic from taking over other boards where they really shouldn't be.

I agree. We should have a new section about Government, Politics, and Law. One of the things I've been trying to figure out is how the laws and regulations differ in different countries and it would be helpful to have a separate section where these subjects are discussed. Government, Politics, and Law is a different subject than current events and should not be in the same category. When researching different countries, it would be quite helpful if we had a separate section that discusses how the laws differ.

Why aren't they related? Most of the news is about economics and politics anyway. So they are related aren't they? Plus, other sections on this forum have two topics in them, such as "Africa and the Middle East" or "Making a Living Overseas / Studying Abroad" etc.

The reason I'm cautious about creating new sections is that it could turn out to be superfluous, which increases the time that users have to take to scroll down. Also, empty boards look bad. Furthermore, it would take a lot of time to find threads related to new board sections and move them there.

But if you guys really insist, we'll set up this new section. If there aren't any posts in it after a few weeks though, I might take it down.

Ok done. I've created the new board. Here it is:

viewforum.php?f=42

Mr S, would you like me to make you a temporary moderator so that you can move your past threads, or threads by others, that fit into this category, to the new board? That will give it a head start.

Mr S,
I've just moved some of your threads and those of others to the new forum section you suggested, to give it a head start.

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Winston wrote: Why aren't they related? Most of the news is about economics and politics anyway. So they are related aren't they? Plus, other sections on this forum have two topics in them, such as "Africa and the Middle East" or "Making a Living Overseas / Studying Abroad" etc.

Many people post trashy topics such as news about celebrities like Kim Kardashian and the idiot who married her in the Current Events section. That is why I feel the Government/Politics/Law threads should be separated.

Winston wrote: The reason I'm cautious about creating new sections is that it could turn out to be superfluous, which increases the time that users have to take to scroll down. Also, empty boards look bad. Furthermore, it would take a lot of time to find threads related to new board sections and move them there.

I see your point. Perhaps you could solve this problem one of two ways:

1. Create some sort of jump page, perhaps the FAQ thread or some other link to the main page, that contains additional forums created by moderators or advisors. Any moderator or advisor would have the ability to create a new forum except that the link to that forum would only appear on a separate jump page. That way, you won't have forums with very few posts appearing on the main forum page.

2. Another possible solution would be to have multiple levels of forums, subforums within forums. Currently you really only have one level of forum that appears on the forum page. You should ideally have multiple levels. One possible way to create multiple levels would be for there to be a sticky thread within each main forum, which would have, in its first post, a list of the links to all the new posts in that forum organized into an outline. Now I know it doesn't make sense to go back and organize all the old threads. However you could perhaps set it up so that every new post is categorized and a link to that post is fit into an outline in a sticky thread at the top of each forum. That way, it would be easier for people to find the stuff that they are looking for. News topics could be separated into crap about celebrities for those who like that garbage and political news for those who are interested in that. Several other subcategories of news could be created as well.

There needs to be some kind of new way to organize the threads on this forum so that it is easier for people to find what they are looking for. Each new thread that is created should be more precisely categorized and filed for easy retrieval.
To explain what I mean, look at how I organized the success stories in the FAQ post:

EXAMPLE FROM FAQ POST:

viewtopic.php?p=48188#48188

________________________


1. PROOF THAT THIS WORKS AND SUCCESS STORIES


-> 1a. Thread asking the question "How do I know this isn't all just bullshit?
viewtopic.php?t=10841

-> 1b. Video proof from Russia that overseas dating works.
http://www.happierabroad.com/film.php

-> 1c. Testimonials
http://www.happierabroad.com/testimonials.php

-> 1d. Frequently asked questions
http://www.happierabroad.com/ebook/Page84.htm

-> 1e. Very interesting thread by ladislav with expatriation idea:
Upgrading Your Misfit Status to that of a Rich Expat
viewtopic.php?t=9177

-> 1f. SUCCESS STORIES

-> -> 1f1. AFRICA

-> -> -> 1f1a. KENYA

-> -> -> -> 1f1a1. davewe
My Intro - Interested in Africa
viewtopic.php?t=10899

-> -> 1f2. ASIA

-> -> -> 1f2a. PHILIPPINES

-> -> -> -> 1f2a1. DarrenFW
Success! It works! My report from Cebu
viewtopic.php?t=11220

-> -> -> -> 1f2a2. ladislav
[NEED TITLE OF A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]
[NEED LINK TO A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]

-> -> -> -> 1f2a3. Mr S
[NEED TITLE OF A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]
[NEED LINK TO A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]

-> -> -> -> 1f2a4. Winston
How I Became Happier Abroad: 20 years of loneliness and datelessness in America that led me overseas
http://www.happierabroad.com/MyStory.htm

-> -> -> 1f2b. TAIWAN

-> -> -> -> 1f2b1. Rock
[NEED TITLE OF A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]
[NEED LINK TO A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]

-> -> 1f3. EUROPE

-> -> -> 1f3a. ITALY

-> -> -> -> 1f3a1. Think Different
[NEED TITLE OF A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]
[NEED LINK TO A GOOD THREAD FOR THIS]

-> -> 1f4. NORTH AMERICA

-> -> -> 1f4a. MEXICO

-> -> -> -> 1f4a1. AmericanInMexico
American in Mexico...why go to Eastern Europe or Asia?
viewtopic.php?t=10891

-> -> -> -> 1f4a2. Falcon
MEXICO: Success Story from an Asian-American College Student
viewtopic.php?t=11808

-> -> -> 1f4b. USA (That is, success bringing a wife to the USA from another country)

-> -> -> -> 1f4b1. Mark Edward Davis
Hey, all! I'm a big fan of the int'l scene
viewtopic.php?t=8576

-> -> 1f5. SOUTH AMERICA

-> -> -> 1f5a. PERU

-> -> -> -> 1f5a1. Travel Dude
Any Guys Married To A Foreign Lady and Live In Her Country?
viewtopic.php?t=10421

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