Why "More Access First?"

[Cosmic]

I was just thinking today, that most people organize their staff forums as such:

[Staff Forums]
- Staff Forum
- Moderator Forum
- Admin Forum
- Trash Can

Basically, the forums which have more people who can access them, and contain less confidential information, are put at the top, and the forums which less people can access, and contain more important and confidential information, are placed on bottom.

Instead, why isn't it the following?

[Staff Forums]
- Admin Forum
- Moderator Forum
- Staff Forum
- Trash Can

You know what I mean? Shouldn't the admin forums, and more important sections, go on top within the staff category? 😛

Is anyone already doing this?

 

[Joshua Farrell]

I never thought about the order of staff forums, though I do wonder why I seem to fall into that same pattern when ordering staff forums. Which the archives and trash at the bottom, and general staff at the top.

 

[Migi]

I think it is mainly because of the target audience. 'Staff Forum' is a section for many more team members compared to 'Admin Forum', so the latter is placed more at the bottom. However, due to permissions this situation is only troublesome for higher positions who have to overlook more sections. In that sense, for admins it's actually more beneficial if 'Admin Forum' is at the bottom, so they can first see what's going on 'downstairs' before taking the discussion to a more private area.

Well, too much theories. I think it's just habit. :lol:

 

[Agent_Zero]

I think the order makes sense to me. There will be more traffic in a general staff forum and it will dissolve as it goes down.

 

[Cosmic]

Maybe, but the ones at the top are more important, right? They're the ones which you should be reading first. 😛 Maybe there's a topic in the admin forum discussing a topic in the general staff forum, which you should read first before replying to the other?

 

[Foster]

I've never thought about the order of staff forums. But yes, I agree. The more important categories and forums should be at the top of the forum to show the more important staff topics. Always at the bottom..the trash can. 😛

 

[pandaa]

[Staff Forums]
- Admin Forum
- Moderator Forum
- Staff Forum
- Trash Can

I've always used something similar to this system, it just makes sense to me. Anything that is important should just be higher up so it's seen quicker! That's always part of the reason why I've always put my staff forums at the top of index instead of at the bottom. If there's a new thread, I want to at least know about it before I start posting around the forum.

 

[Cosmic]

Here's my current layout which I've been favoring on my own forums recently. 🙂

[Staff Forums]
- Admin Forum
- Senior Staff Forum
- Moderator Forum
- Reviewer Forum
- Staff Forum
- Staff Offices

[Main Forums]
- Stuff...

[Special Forums]
- VIP Forum
- Stuff...
- General Archive
- Trash Can

No need for the Trash Can to be on top, so it's relegated to the very bottom. 😛

May actually created a category for archives. Hmm...

 

[Migi]

May actually created a category for archives. Hmm...

Interesting take. XD Although from the way it goes, such category will not be available for public eyes? As a member sometimes I love to go back and read what happened in the past so I actually like to have archives open for public. Dedicating one category for archives only is something I never tried so it sounds so strange to me. XD

 

[Cosmic]

I tried creating the archive category (staff only), but it looked kinda weird. 😛 I'm going to keep the archive forums under Special Forums for now.

Never really had a public archive before. I have seen an occasional forum which will actually make public some of their really old staff forum staff, though. 😛 I think that's an interesting concept.

 

[Migi]

I tried creating the archive category (staff only), but it looked kinda weird. 😛 I'm going to keep the archive forums under Special Forums for now.

Never really had a public archive before. I have seen an occasional forum which will actually make public some of their really old staff forum staff, though. 😛 I think that's an interesting concept.

It doesn't necessarily mean that all kinds of archive, including staff archive, can be posted publicly. Some issues may be too sensitive for public eyes, therefore the need to hide it somewhere. And because archives do not matter so much for regular members (they need to indulge themselves in most updated content), these sections are placed at the very bottom at any category.

I don't think I've ever seen a forum showing their old staff archive to public members or even guests though. 😱

 

[Cosmic]

I tried creating the archive category (staff only), but it looked kinda weird. 😛 I'm going to keep the archive forums under Special Forums for now.

Never really had a public archive before. I have seen an occasional forum which will actually make public some of their really old staff forum staff, though. 😛 I think that's an interesting concept.

It doesn't necessarily mean that all kinds of archive, including staff archive, can be posted publicly. Some issues may be too sensitive for public eyes, therefore the need to hide it somewhere. And because archives do not matter so much for regular members (they need to indulge themselves in most updated content), these sections are placed at the very bottom at any category.

I don't think I've ever seen a forum showing their old staff archive to public members or even guests though. 😱

Here's the link I was referring to, where a large (3,000,000 post) forum had made their old staff forums public. 😛

http://www.smogon.com/forums/forums/mod ... ussion.47/