General Discussions

[Gareth]

I love the first page of the forum now; it seems very neat: 'General Discussions' then all the subfora on a layer beneath that.

Before this post, there hadn't been a post for eleven days in 'General Discussions.' That seems a long time to me. Fee tells me that I shouldn't worry. Does anybody else have any opinion on this?

[Vixine]

Hi Gareth! I'll just say for me personally, I come to this forum when I am thinking about mindfulness and want to read or share about it - so I gravitate towards those boards. I usually am most interested in the two boards about mindfulness practice (I like that there are only 2 now). Only occasionally do I check the other boards if I see there is something new.

I think the boards about mindfulness practice are the strength of this forum and are unique right now online. As far as I know, there are no other active forums where people talk about mindfulness this much. But there are LOTs of other sites that have general online discussions! Not that it's not valuable, but I can see why the practice forums are most active

[FeeHutch]

My feeling is that it is nice to have somewhere else to share things not necessarily related directly to mindfulness. I would hope that as the community grows community members might like to share other things. I love the photos we have had posted recently for example.

Every forum I use has a general forum facility and I don't think we should be overly worried if it is used a lot less than the main mindfulness boards because I see them as being there to support the practice boards not to be as busy.

[FeeHutch]

My feeling is that it is nice to have somewhere else to share things not necessarily related directly to mindfulness. I would hope that as the community grows community members might like to share other things. I love the photos we have had posted recently for example.

Every forum I use has a general forum facility and I don't think we should be overly worried if it is used a lot less than the main mindfulness boards because I see them as being there to support the practice boards not to be as busy. They are a useful space. As we become more confident in our practice I would hate for members to drift away because they feel they have no new questions to ask or insight to offer, a more general board allows for sharing other parts of our life if we should choose.

[Gareth]

You're both probably right.

You know the human mind though. It's not happy unless there is a 'problem' to solve.

I used to worry about this forum all the time; these thoughts are so much less these days. I think we might make it you know (too much future).

[FeeHutch]

[Cheesus]

The one adjustment I would make is to put general discussions right at the top of the front page. People come here for the mindfulness stuff, and so they are unlikely to be perturbed by a single link above that. However, many forums put the admin/general stuff first as otherwise it gets less traffic. http://www.anxietyzone.com is one such site and I think it works very well there.

Another suggestion is that the title of the most recent post could be previewed on the index page. Again, the above website is a good example of how that is done.

Just a few suggestions

[Gareth]

Good suggestions Cheeseus.

We are still very much on the learning curve.