Having been part of this wonderful sight, for years I was wondering why there is a news team. Don't get me wrong. It fulfils its responsibilities. But, I am seeing more "/news" threads that are not related to the news team. We, meaning all members of this site, keep each other well informed of upcoming products. This is usually before the news team has had a chance to look at it. Just my two cents.

Matt,
The simple answer would be that forums aren't the end-all, be-all they used to be. Most sites that try to emulate an online magazine (a model which Armorama has tried to do since it's inception) have official site-created pages in addition to their online forums. Our news section is the 'official' place we put news.

Additionally forum threads and subsequent viewing of threads is trending lower on all Internet sites that I talk to. Yet our news pages are still trending higher. Just to illustrate this I did a simple query on our Google Analytics info. This past 30 days vs. the prior year news pages are up 10%. They are up only 12% over 2011, but are up a massive 39% over 2009 stats. I would have quoted 2010 but it would appear we had some site downtime during that period so the numbers are off even more (48%).

Again to make the point that forums are good, but dedicated news pages (and staff to run them) are better...

Hisham's Trumpeter's M1083 Armoured cab topic from June 7th
607 views

Our news article on same June 9th (so he scooped us)
3517 views

Hope this helps answer your question and also might make members realize where their 'news' reporting efforts pay off the most.

Thanks,
Jim

This actually opens a door to something I've been wanting to ask. The site has categories for "/news", "/features", and "/reviews". Why are threads pertaining to these subjects posted in the forum section? I just left the "armor/afv" page where 13 out of the 21 unlocked threads on the first page fall into one of the above mentioned categories. In keeping with the idea of posting threads where they belong, shouldn't those threads only be listed on their respective pages?

Hi Bob,
It's a valid question. On some of our sites we have actually adopted a system where new content is posted in one particular forum ('New Content' on Model Shipwrights for example). The reason they are there of course is that new content creates new topics in the forum and they have to appear somewhere, so currently they are going where they match up best (AFV news in AFV/Armor, etc).

However I am open to changing this if people feel the forum is getting to clogged up with new content posts.

Cheers,
Jim

Thanks for the reply, Jim. I don't know if anyone else views it as a problem, but I look at it as an inconvenience. Depending on the day, someone's build pictures, or someone else's question, can get pushed back 3 or 4 pages real quick and never be seen by the majority of readers. Today is a great example. Since midnight there have been 18 news, features, and reviews posted. This has pushed the first post of the day back to the bottom of page 2 already. If someone is on here daily, it's not so bad, but for those who only sign on every 2 or 3 days, it means having to backtrack quite a few pages just to catch up.

It just seems to me that it'd be a whole lot simpler if everything was in it's place. If someone wants to see the news, how hard is it to click the news button? Personally, I'd rather leave the spotlight on the actual forum threads as long as possible.

I have to agree with Bob. There have been a few days when all of the first page of posts were "/news" topics. I feel that these topics should be listed under the "/news" forum. Another thing that I noticed was the amount of "/reviews". While I enjoy reading both, I believe that they should only be listed under the correct forums. These topics override others, that may grab my attention. I also agree that a "new topics" forum is a good idea. I have tried subscribing to entire forums and my mailbox fills up faster than I can check it.

Just my opinion, but I like the news, features,etc listed in the forums as it makes a one stop shopping. I can scan the list and see everything that is of interest to me, without having to go to separate locations. There is a filter option for those who wish to only see specific forums, etc. But as the website has fast page loading, I don't find a need for this.

To me this is one of best layout out forum site, compared to some of out of date forums where evening finding the latest post is difficult.

So what you are basically saying then is that we should not cover news, features, and reviews as they are not of interest to you. The site is for the benefit of all of the members and the most efficient method of relaying information under those headings is via the current method. It ensures the maximum number of members and visitors’ see what is new under those headings and I am not in favour of changing the layout. One of the complaints was about the number of reviews; so if you write a review would you like to be told "I will publish it in 3 months as there is a queue"?

I don't think anyone said that. There is no reason to have separate forums for news and reviews, if they are posted under other forums. I have no problems with build logs being posted with the rest of the chatter. I am in favor of a regulated site. So, you like clutter. That is fine, but it shouldn't be put before organization. And, if you notice, "/features" have not been brought up. I believe this is because there are so few of them. They don't throw the rest of the forum into chaos. As is, anarchy reigns supreme.