The Shambles, I don't think the issue of thread consolidation is completely solved at this point, because there seems to be no real definition of what the problem is. In the "Tech: As Above So Below" thread, in the music section, I did ask some specific questions about whether changes being made were to resolve technical issues. The answer is no, the current changes aren't being made for technical reasons.

The current changes, as I understand it, are being made to cut down on the BS in the forum by certain posters that Joe considers to be "too verbose" and to cut down on the number of threads started, which seems to be another pet peeve of Joe's.

Here are the questions I asked, and Joe's responses:

About the long list of related threads, I asked:

"...rather than having a long list of related threads to scroll through before one gets to the actual thread, couldn't a clickable link be put at the top of a thread to click on, to get to the index of related threads at the bottom instead?"

Joe's response:

"We're toying with ideas for making the crosslinks more concise. Trouble is, we find that unless people have things right in front of their nose, they're likely to start a new thread on an existing topic, rather than looking around for it. So, if a topic has lots of threads, maybe the long list will help Keep the list from getting even longer. Maybe not."

I asked:

"Is the problem with thread proliferation a memory problem?"

Joe replied:

"No, actually, the main problem with thread proliferation is that it makes it hard to find information, and it makes it so the same information is repeated over and over again."

I followed up with:

"A search engine issue, then?"

Joe answered:

"Logical and literary concerns more than search engines, I think. If we have an ongoing discussion on the effects of peace marches, it's easier to have a discussion that people will follow if it's all in one thread."

Now for me, I don't understand the logic of this. I can't see how there can be "difficulty" having a discussion that people follow, when tons of people are responding to every single thread started on a subject. So it seems to me that Joe is trying to herd the cats come hell or high water. Knowing that many forum admins have attempted this sort of effort before him, I think it may well result in the sort of bitterness and rancor we have seen here in the past two weeks.

Which is wholly unnecessary. The BS is now at the bottom of the page, and won't be a nuisance to anyone except perpetual whiners, and Joe and the clones if they choose to make it an issue. My position is, leave the BS threads alone--seriously alone--for 3 months and see how things go. If there are still problems that both forum users and forum maintainers AGREE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM, then begin to work on solutions. But right now, I say, let this tech fix run for a few months, and see what happens. It is clear that members weren't universally thrilled by the heavy handed tactics of the past couple weeks, so that should definitely be given a rest, a hopefully an early grave.