ThePortForum.com

Food and wine go so well together it seems almost ludicrous to be without something foody in here?

What are the opinions?

If you notice, Beer & Spirits has a relatively small number of Threads. I wouldn't extend the list of Topics unless it was a certainty to take off. I do like the straightforward simplicity of our site. I'd throw Food, and maybe cigars, etc in that Topic, but it would need an all-encompassing Title. Which I cant think of at the moment. It would be a heading that describes things that could go with Port or other drinks. My that sentence wasn't catchy!
Only a quick opinion. I'll go alomg with most things.

Alan

I also want to keep it simple. That's why it wasn't in at the beginning. I've been to too many sites that have an excess of sections. I am not averse to changing the names of existing sections and it depends upon opinions as I do like a bit of democracy.

I don't believe that more than ten sections are necessary for any forum so it could be down to merging wine, beer and spirits then having food, dining out and matching in another.

However, this is still early days and those sections may become more popular if slightly less obsessive newcomers come along.

I would go for changind the name of the beer and spirits section to Anything else that you put in your mouth

Thinking about it, Food & Drink would be sufficient for the wine thread plus Beer & Spirits plus your new food thoughts.
Would that them mean, with one less Topic, theres more chance of it all fitting on the screen. So you can see who's on the site, as well as everything else?(I currently have to scroll down)

Alan

Just removed the Off-line category and put all the sections into Port, which will help with seeing more. If everybody wants it back then it's not hard.

I think we could safely lose the Introductions section and combine the Organising Offlines and Reviews into one.

Derek

If you did ONE more adjustment, it would all fit on my screen nicely!

Not a good enough reason to change anything, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway.

Alan

Not all screens are the same. The one I am on now shows the entire forum whereas the one I use at work shows about 75% of the screen. It's all down to resolution.

My suggestions are to do with avoiding underused titles rather than the size of the front page. Which, I agree, whould be as small as possible.

Derek

• “Food, smokes, non-port drinks†
• “Food; smokes; non-port drinks†
• “Other vices (except Conky’s wives)†

Here's a slight variation to the ideas suggested so far.

Could the non-port forums be combined together into a single topic along the lines of "Food, Other Drinks and Cigars" leaving a bit of space that could be used for a "Frequently Asked Questions" topic area. The frequently asked questions area could then be used for things like the definitions of the types of port, the definitions of terminology and for storing answers to the ... frequently asked questions!

I have always felt that one of the frustrations of Roy's site is that new people who joing FTLOP ask the same questions of the members time and again rather than having an obvious area to read through first.

Just my idle thoughts.

Alex

I think I may have made this comment before but think it worth repeating here in response to AHB's note above.

I think having too much standing content, like a FAQ's page, could have a negative effect in attracting new participants to the Forum. I appreciate that it can become slightly tiresome answering the same question over and over again but what it does do is engage the new member in conversation. If people come to the site with only one question in mind and they instantly find the answer on a FAQ's page they may not even bother to register and certainly won't feel the need to post the question.

My preference would be to create an evvironment where a casual visitor would instantly recognise that they were in a place where there is lots of people who know about port and feel confident enough to pose a question with the expectation of a friendly and informative response.

Derek

I think we could live without the Introductions section

Derek

Derek T. wrote:I think we could live without the Introductions section

Seconded.

FAQs can be a sticky message in either or both of the Port and Site Stuff questions. No need for a whole section.

Introductions is a useful section if we start getting more new members, it encourages them to post and let's them see the characters.

I can restructure quite easily but it's more difficult to undo.