Your idea as presented is logical enough and indeed mirrors what most other internet forums do. However, I'll add an observation:
This board receives moderate to low traffic, at least compared to most the other forums I have bookmarked. Specifically it's the second-slowest of the dozen or so forums I read regularly. Typically, what happens on forums with multiple sub-boards but low traffic is most of the sub-boards wind up little used, or even un-used for weeks or months at a time. Eventually posters stop paying attention to the little-used boards and you wind up with a de facto single board site anyway.
With the above in mind, I don't see that sort of division as necessary for this site in light of existing traffic. It's a great idea to keep in mind should traffic ever grow beyond what a single board can comfortably handle, however.
The individual threads do seem laid out in a somewhat old fashioned manner (befitting, perhaps, a site dedicated to old fashioned tech of another sort). Each post being separated reminds me of USENET newsgroups from fifteen years ago. I don't mind that--it works well enough for current traffic--but very long threads can get a little hard to follow as the new replies may be spread all over.
It's perfectly ordinary for a forum to rotate posters over the years. None of the long-term online communities I participate in maintain more than a mere handful of members who were around 10 or 15 years ago. In a sense the railroad community, as small as it is, probably maintains its long-term posters a little better than most.
In terms of content, I have exactly zero interest in the C&T or 20th century D&RGW. As such I read this board only for the occasional off-subject topics of interest and rarely post. As something of an outsider, I will comment that this board feels somewhat mis-named; it's *really* a C&T community site that also allows off-topic discussion. That's in no way a problem, just an observation.
If I have any feedback for the site style, it's that a plain white background represents a poor choice for use on the computer. A computer screen isn't a piece of paper, and it's not very healthy for the eyes to stare at what amounts to a lightbulb in front of your face. More thoughtful site designs usually incorporate dark (usually black) background with bright colored subject lines (often red or yellow) and white text, rather than book-derived white backgrounds.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2010 02:21PM by James.
