When Are We Going to Get A Pelikan Forum??

[woodwindmaster06]

I see all of these new forums are being added, why not a Pelikan forum yet???

WWM

[Maja]

I see all of these new forums are being added, why not a Pelikan forum yet???

WWM

Great question!

[Admin]

Yes, this is an obvious one. We're working on it.

[wimg]

That was exactly my thought when I saw all these threads added to the new Esterbrook forum .

 

Warm regards, Wim

[woodwindmaster06]

Okay thanks, and maybe just a thought with these new forums added it might be a good idea to find the threads in the the fountain pen thread and move it to the appropriate manufactures forum to make it easier for people looking for certain information faster to find.

Just a thought?

WWM

[wimg]

Hi WWM,

Okay thanks, and maybe just a thought with these new forums added it might be a good idea to find the threads in the the fountain pen thread and move it to the appropriate manufactures forum to make it easier for people looking for certain information faster to find.

Just a thought?

WWM

That's exactly what is happening, as you mave have noticed.

 

Of course, a little help by a few people here goes a very long way to achieving this quickly, as you can see in the Esterbrook Forum.

 

Warm regards, Wim

[Roger]

I see all of these new forums are being added, why not a Pelikan forum yet???

WWM

Sure, and another that would seem to be one of the first that would have been created, yet hasn't is Parker! Pretty soon everyone will want their particular pet brand to have a forum of its own.

 

I don't have a lot of Board experience (mostly hang out on dedicated mailing lists), but I wonder how necessary the need is for brand specific forums. The threading ability of the software is so good that it's no problem to follow a thread anywhere within the board.

 

I kind of like glancing down the existing forums and following the threads that interest me, whereas if there are so many brand specific forums within the board, one might seldom bother to see what is elsewhere on the board.

[KCat]

we definitely have to avoid going overboard (NPI) with the boards.

 

To some extent, new forums are experimental. We are always evaluating the strengths of different forums. Trying to determine what things draw in new folks and get activity vs. what changes do not add to the board.

 

It was interesting that the opening of the Cross forum prompted at least 2 new registrants within hours of set-up. So... it's worth exploring these things.

 

I worry about too many forums and always have. Our attention span can be pretty short sometimes and even I will sometimes not scroll all the way down the screen to see what forum has new posts.

 

A lot of folks read via the "read new posts" button - (or whatever it's called - I don't use it so I'm not sure.) Which somewhat blurs the forum boundaries I think - in a good way. That is, they're less likely to go only to a specific forum.

 

so - how you approach reading/viewing the group can make a difference on how you feel about the addition of forums. I think it should always be open for discussion if it seems to get out of hand or if a forum isn't getting enough traffic.

 

As far as "order of creation" - forums for specific brands here have been created based on having individuals available and willing to moderate those forums. There has, as yet, been no one who has stepped forward to say "i'm a Parker expeert/fanatic who would be willing to moderate a Parker board." The admin team needs help with some of the work required to maintain the board and individual topics are often best served with one or two moderators to encourage participation, come up with new ways to attract members, keep the forum organized, etc. To just start creating forums for brands, regardless of their overall popularity, would put an extra strain on the admin team or at the very least, would leave a forum with little to direct it such that it is of value to the board as a whole.

 

This is the opinion of KCat and I am not speaking for the Admin Team.

[Gerry]

While I can see the argument against an unlimited number of new forums KC, I don't know where the line is.

 

I guess I'm advocating more than a wait and see attitude - but rather one of give it a go. Re-evaluation can be undertaken if there is a noticible drop in participation on any particular forum - as you might have done under the earlier division.

 

I tend to agree with Jim - this is just where the FPN can be better than many other boards. We already enjoy more permanence in the postings. Why not add the enjoyment of finding posts related to your own interests simply and easily?

 

I was finding that I was only able to keep track of fairly recent posts when they were all contained in the general Fountain Pen forum, and had frankly lost track of a number of threads (which I only rediscovered when moving them to the Esterbrook Forum) because of the volume on the more general one. The new forum has far fewer threads, and this may encourage people to continue existing ones rather than always starting another... something that actually detracts from the 'permance' of the postings...

 

As you have already noted, a side benefit is that in order to open another forum, a moderator or two needs to come forward. this has significant benefits to the FPN, in that it augments the admin cadre - and actually passes some of the operation of the FPN into the hands of the community itself. More hands do make lighter work, and it turns out that people interested in a specific topic are probably more naturally inclined to undertake the admin overhead - as well as to promote the smaller group than a general admin group.

 

A final observation: as the FPN becomes more and more popular, it will become more and more difficult to read every post. If one has to select, it might as well be on the basis of categories that are fairly narrow, allowing one to ignore groups most easily understood as not being of interest.

 

Just my 0.02 worth...

 

Gerry

[Carrie]

KCat, I moderate on a very large motorsport forum, so what you're saying makes perfect sense to me. I know just how much hard work can be needed behind the scenes to make somewhere like this work effectively and it's easy to see which online forums are well moderated and tick along very nicely as a result.

 

I have no idea if it would work with the way this forum is powered, but on the forum I moderate on we can make sub-forums, so maybe that would work to have a main fountain pen forum with sub-forums for individual manufacturers, that would stop the possible problem of the list of forums on the main page becoming too long.

 

Certainly if a forum is a busy one it's useful to have sub-forums to help people to find what they want easily. This forum originally appealed to me because it seemed well laid out and the posters seemed friendly and there's a lot of credit due to both the people on the forum and the admins for that.

 

I hope you can get the admins you need to bring in something like a Parker forum because I'm sure something like that could soon prove to be a busy forum in its own right. I'm just starting to get interested in Parkers, so I tend to have a nosy round any Parker topics I spot anyway.

[Leslie J.]

Gerry, we do have to keep the main page managable, but I think the main concern is having active mods for proposed new forums. Also, we do have the Search function available for general use when trying to find info on any particular subject. It's quite handy since as you mention, our posts are archived.

 

We are working on trying to bring about new forums that are requested, but it does take some time when there is no one available to take on moderation. Plus we don't really want to have a forum for every brand name out there, as that would make viewing the board more difficult for some. We do take these issues seriously.

[Gerry]

Thanks Leslie. I do both appreciate the work the admins do, and understand the problems (including the one of having too many options on the main page). Carrie mentioned the possibility of going to sub- forums, but I would hold off on that until the main page problem becomes more acute than it is at present. It may be inevitable though, and I would accept that more easily than not having the forums themselves.

 

If you want a natural limiter - requiring an involved moderator might stem the tide a bit - at least there would be one person helping out with the watching and the to and fro traffic on the added forum.

 

Yes, the search function helps, but I also find that I have the occasional problem finding as many good hits to my searches as does say Maja (who can ferret out *anything* I believe). Must be the pharmachological background... Anyway, wandering through the search results takes effort too - for example, for the search I did to find the threads to be moved to the Esterbrook forum, perhaps 10%-20% of them made it to my pick list. So the selective posting in a specialized forum helps the user by that factor on a regular basis. Searching is not a problem if done infrequently, but if following (particularly keeping track of) everything on that pen make is important to a number of people, then there is a lot of utility in having the individual forum.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the Pelikan thread - but it was enlightening to see the various thoughts and concerns regarding the establishment of Pen Specific forums. Hope we can keep everyone relatively happy.

 

Best Regards,

 

Gerry

[KCat]

I have no idea if it would work with the way this forum is powered, but on the forum I moderate on we can make sub-forums, so maybe that would work to have a main fountain pen forum with sub-forums for individual manufacturers, that would stop the possible problem of the list of forums on the main page becoming too long.

 

would you be interested in posting the URL to the motorsport forum here (or sending it to me backchannel) for the sake of comparison?

Well, there were complaints here (frankly, some by me :meow: ) re: subforums. I can see their value certainly, but I'm not wild about the way that sort of nesting is done. I guess it depends on how you implement it as to whether or not it would be comfortable for most readers. And that's important because for myself, I'm less likely to go in and explore a site if I have to click down too many levels.

[Leslie J.]

If you want a natural limiter - requiring an involved moderator might stem the tide a bit - at least there would be one person helping out with the watching and the to and fro traffic on the added forum.

Yes Gerry, this was my point exactly. With the recent Esterbrook and Cross forums we were quite fortunate to have people volunteer to take on moderation duties before the forums were even set up. (sometimes volunteers aren't so easy to find)

[Gerry]

Heh, heh - they are easier to find when there's something in it for them.

 

May I suggest...

 

"Notice to members of the PFN. the establishment of the Pelikan Forum has been delayed indefinitely due to the difficulty in finding a moderator willing to undertake the establishment and maintenance of it. Interested candidates please get in touch with FPN admin as soon as possible..."

 

 

My vote would go to Maja, an ardent Pelikan supporter - and if she is concerned about the work - I'd even offer to co-moderate (but there are probably many others much more qualified than I - as I don't even have one Pelikan in my flock of pens).

 

Best,

 

Gerry

[RSVP]

How anout a MB one too ? That would be great and would be likely to attract many members.

 

J

[Gerry]

Just awaiting an MB moderator I believe...

 

Gerry

[RSVP]

I would have volunteered , but I uderstand why Admin wouldn't want me to do it .

 

J

[papyrus]

A pelican forum? Yes, please...

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/papyrus/pelican.jpg

 

How did all these birds end up here...? I guess I'm an accumulator...

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y183/papyrus/pelikan.jpg

 

I cheated a little: two of them are rollerballs. Most of them were sumgais. Only the M850 (with EF nib) and the M900 (with OB nib) are in regular use.

[Bryan]

I'd have to second the MB forum. That would be great! I love to learn more about the vintage MBs and pick myself up one someday.

 

Bryan