I would post this in the help desk, but that's where no one will see this and I'll just get a brush-off response from moderators. This forum really needs to be organized better. We need a forum just for stuff that has to do with the entire center city.

I would post this in the help desk, but that's where no one will see this and I'll just get a brush-off response from moderators. This forum really needs to be organized better. We need a forum just for stuff that has to do with the entire center city.

I think we need to have a "Bitter Because MAPS Won" forum. That way, all the angry sore losers can congregate there and bitch and whine amongst themselves and quit infecting this board with their cancerous anger.

:LolLolLol

LOL, good one guru.

Here's examples of good city forums I also read..
Omaha Forums :: Index (http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/index.php)
absolutedsm.com • Index page (http://absolutedsm.com/forum/index.php?sid=c349463b413aa66868aeb3a748fbabaa)
KCRag Forum - Index (http://forum.kcrag.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=55274ec663bced45c3153ddbd55765 68&)
Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum | 8 Years Online (http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/)

Spartan, great idea. Just one question. Where are you going to place the forum "For those who vehemently hate the guts of those who voted against Maps3"?

Or for those who simply hate everyone? Will I be able to have an OKC misanthrope section all to myself where I can discuss things and nobody else can have access?

Or for those who simply hate everyone? Will I be able to have an OKC misanthrope section all to myself where I can discuss things and nobody else can have access?

Well, under my plan only the most negative person on the forum will have special access to a private rant forum, and after this Christmas season it's going to be difficult to top how negative I've been lately lol.. why, I don't know. (I know I should try being more positive sometimes)

What I really mean is less forums, not more..in case that wasn't clear. Do we really need this CATCH ALL forum and a separate forum for "current events" in OKC? We see so many duplicates of threads because it's so poorly organized. And we don't need separate forums for Edmond...Norman...Moore...Yukon...Mustang...Midwes t City...Guthrie...Tulsa...and on and on and on. Good grief.

I won't even go into all of the useless forums like "love and relationship" and other topics that are kind of odd forays for a city forum. I mean everyone knows that anyone who's into urban planning and politics doesn't have any "love and relationship" life..

I agree. It could be much better organized. The suggestion has been made a bunch of times. Important topics tend to get buried by rubbish on the main forum pretty quickly.

Couldn't some of the threads here go into the politics forum, since things like the MAPS stuff is what I consider local politics?

Personally I think that the forum I used to operate is a good example, and it probably would have worked had we cut out the Tulsa half and been more aggressive to focus solely on OKC urbanism. The statewide concept doesn't really work in my experience, but a a lot of good ideas and activity can come out of a forum that focuses on OKC urban design..people would be surprised.

Here's another good example of a urban planning-based forum:

Urban Review STL (http://www.urbanreviewstl.com)

Some very thoughtful commentary, if a little bit "inside baseball."

Oddly enough, it's moderated by an Oklahoma City expatriate. (Not me)

We also need a section for "I don't live in OKC or Pay taxes in OKC, but I lived there 8 years ago and my input is more important that yours" posters.

We also need a section for "I don't live in OKC or Pay taxes in OKC, but I lived there 8 years ago and my input is more important that yours" posters.

Pretty funny that this site is owned and operated by the very type of person you just described.

Pretty funny that this site is owned and operated by the very type of person you just described.

I've never seen Peter post anything that would label him as a person who thinks his opinion is more important than anyone else's. Why do you feel that way about him?

I've never seen Peter post anything that would label him as a person who thinks his opinion is more important than anyone else's. Why do you feel that way about him?

I don't. I just didn't think the "and my input is more important that yours" part of your statment was the key point you were trying to make. I guess I just focused on the "I don't live in OKC or Pay taxes in OKC, but I lived there 8 years ago " portion. My mistake.

I would post this in the help desk, but that's where no one will see this and I'll just get a brush-off response from moderators. This forum really needs to be organized better. We need a forum just for stuff that has to do with the entire center city.
We need a forum for people who like to start threads in the wrong place. :kicking:

The forum needs a way to filter the "new posts" option. That is usually the first place I go on this site. Unfortunately, I have to wade through countless "MAPS sucks", "XXXXside Memories", or "God is a figment of your Imagination", posts to get to any meaningful information. If don't log in for a day or two, it's usually 2-3 pages of stuff.

It would be nice to save a "new posts" preference option with my user information.

Basically we have this one catch-all forum and then a forum for pretty much everything I wouldn't have a separate forum for. It's an utter mess.

Nick, as much as I admire all of what you have done and do, and as well-meaning as your suggestions about this forum are, I temper my reading by these thoughts:

(1) This OkcTalk forum has progressed very nicely and healthily under Pete's ownership, and without your thoughts/ideas as to how things should be;

(2) You have become particularly active here again now that you have apparently abandoned your activity at Oklahoma's Forum - Index (http://www.oktalk.net/bb/) . No complaint, but that fact doesn't give you special status here to tell Pete how things should be. Not your business.

(3) Your similar forum (http://www.oktalk.net/bb/) has not, and I gather from your remarks that it is a done deal.

My thoughts:

Don't try to impose what you think this forum should be like to be analogous to what you wanted your forum to be like. You have good thoughts and observations on particular subjects/topics. Just leave it at that.

Nick, it is not your job to manage OkcTalk.com and no disrespect intended. But if you want to have that sort of privilege, your own similar forum (http://www.oktalk.net/bb/) is still on-line.

I do appreciate the feedback as we are constantly looking for ways to improve the forums. It wasn't that long ago that we did a major revamp/consolidation and all those changes -- after a brief adjustment period -- seemed to work out for the better.

This site is much more than an urban development forum, although that is an important component. For several months, I've been playing around with ideas on how to better separate and suplement the development/projects topics without restricting the free flow of chat, which is of course what drives this site. If no one is talking, there is little point in coming here.

This site is significantly busier with every passing month, and in lots of different areas. Some people might not like XXX topics but there are lots of other people that do. I've always wanted the site to be people-driven, rather than forced into the mold of what a few people want. That's what blogs and personal websites are for.

This forum is for OKC Talk -- literally. The mods and admins are not here to influence the course of these discussions, although certainly we'd like to be able to facilitate them.

That's a fine line and one we struggle with all the time.

And while changes will continue to be implemented, the goal is to be as open and accomodating to as many people and interests as possible. That's a tall task and while my desire to control and shape is strong, I also realize that first and foremost this is a community and like any good one, it is diverse, both in composition and interest.

Oh heh I was wondering where this thread went..apparently it got moved to one of the other forums I never read. I understand that there are other interests that motivate people to join this site, and not everyone cares about city politics or city development, and that's okay.

I'm just suggesting that the makeup of this site be more than 5% city-related, considering that the posts here are at least 40% city-related. We need better organization for city-related topics, and the way it's spread out, just sucks honestly. I would suggest that we have a "top half" that consists of NO MORE than 4 forums for city-related topics (maybe one for inner city, one for history talk, one for ALL suburban projects whether OKC or Edmond or wherever, and one for politics and any general discussion). Then beneath the concise collection of city-related forums maybe we could have all of the other forums completely un-touched..

And Doug, yeah I know that I'm not "in charge" here. The problem with that though is that A, it was never about ME being "in charge" of something, and B, obviously me going off on my own with my ideas didn't work out too well, and C, I still believe that there's a better way to do this..now I've decided we're all better off coming together rather than splitting off though.

I'd really like to use the new Tapatalk iPhone app or at least to have an iPhone or mobile theme.

I wouldn't mind the forum being organized so I could ignore some of the traffic that is uninteresting to me.