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Even with the Regional Analysis still ongoing, one thing I've decided is that the forum needs an overhaul. I've noticed that we have many activities and topics to post in with little activity, and I believe a big part of the reason is that they're all cluttered in a few forums with many other things. Our current forum structure was great when we weren't so culturally active, but I feel we have outgrown it.

This is the overhaul I'm considering:

1) Removal of The Windswept Podium: Announcements from the Monarch and Cabinet would be made in Frosthold Castle, and community announcements would be made in the Howling Wind Tavern.

2) Reorganization of Cultural Activity Forums: Werewolf, Spyfall, and Minecraft would receive their own main forums, with The Amalyan Quarter remaining as an incubator for other contests and activities. My hope is that it would generate more cultural activities in the future. All four forums would be under its own category, which would also include The Roleplayers' Gathering.

3) Reorganizaton of the Discussions Forums: Howling Wind Tavern and The Hall of Great Discussions would remain under their own category, with new gaming and art forums being created as well. The Dumping Grounds would be made a subforum of Howling Wind Tavern since I think it's safe to say forum spam isn't a main draw for the region.

4) Reorganization of the Government Forums: The Underhusen and Overhusen would become subforums of a single Storting forum, given the small size of both. The Citizens' Platform would remain unchanged. On the Monarchy side, the Cabinet forums would be made a subforum of Frosthold Castle, and the military area would be moved from its own category to the Monarchy category. The Civil Service, World Assembly Podium, and Embassy area would be unchanged for now.

There would be no changes to the forums under the Shrine of Administration.

I feel that this overhaul would greatly expand our cultural and discussion areas, the main source of activity for the region, and remove strain from the Howling Wind Tavern and Amalyan Quarter...things wouldn't be as cluttered in those areas, allowing other discussions and activities to be more prominent.

As always, I would like your opinions and insights before I embark on this overall.

Keep Governmental things the same, but otherwise everything else is fine with me.

I don't really see the point in having two main forums that have 72 and 5 posts in them at the moment. They would function fine as subforums...

I was a little worried at first when you mentioned giving Werewolf, Spyfall, Minecraft, Gaming, and Arts their own forums since that would make it an even longer scroll for people...

however, when you mentioned the subforums for the other ones, I gave a little sigh of relief. 

If anything though, I'd say instead of giving Spyfall, Minecraft, and Werewolf their own full forum, have to to where you have:

*Arts
*Gaming
*Forum games
*Roleplaying

that way it keeps it somewhat condensed still, since some members are going to want to scroll as little as possible to see what Wintreath has to offer.

I also agree that I think having the OH/UH in subforums of a single Storting forum is actually a pretty alright idea.

TBH I want them to remain separate because of the fact that they are rather important to the region and should be central. Also it becomes a bit easier to navigate between the OH, UH, and the Cit Platform, which is lost if you move the OH and UH into another forum area.

I'm not exactly to keen on having the military section moved as well, I mean it should have it's own section because the military is rather important as well, besides this way it's more prominent as well to those in Defense which it should be.

I was a little worried at first when you mentioned giving Werewolf, Spyfall, Minecraft, Gaming, and Arts their own forums since that would make it an even longer scroll for people...

however, when you mentioned the subforums for the other ones, I gave a little sigh of relief. 

If anything though, I'd say instead of giving Spyfall, Minecraft, and Werewolf their own full forum, have to to where you have:

*Arts
*Gaming
*Forum games
*Roleplaying

that way it keeps it somewhat condensed still, since some members are going to want to scroll as little as possible to see what Wintreath has to offer.

I also agree that I think having the OH/UH in subforums of a single Storting forum is actually a pretty alright idea.

I suppose we could experiment with a main forum which contains subforums for Minecraft, Spyfall, and Werewolf as well as other gaming competitions (Civ V, etc), but I'm a little concerned they could crowd each other out.

TBH I want them to remain separate because of the fact that they are rather important to the region and should be central. Also it becomes a bit easier to navigate between the OH, UH, and the Cit Platform, which is lost if you move the OH and UH into another forum area.

I'm not exactly to keen on having the military section moved as well, I mean it should have it's own section because the military is rather important as well, besides this way it's more prominent as well to those in Defense which it should be.

The fact of the matter is, only a few people can use either forum, neither is very active...much less at the same time...and I don't think there's much risk of the two forums crowding each other even if they were both active at the same time. They seem to be an excellent choice for consolidation.

Additionally, the military area is already one forum and moving it from its own category to the Monarchy section should have absolutely no impact on the forum in any way. It's merely going back to the way it was before Denth Kasten became both an admin and Jarl of Defense and changed it to what he wanted.

I take it there is no plan to make public sub-forums for the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Integration departments?

I'm not sure what purpose they would serve. I mean, the ministries can release announcements in Frosthold Castle if they want, and post about projects in the Civil Service. Have I missed anything else they could or should be doing?

I also don't really see the purpose of each ministry having their own subforum.  Integration is mainly going to be going through the Gatekeeper's post and Civil Service (for mentoring) forums, so unless it was a little subforum for the Integration guide, Q&A, and other little diddies that PB or the current Jarl of Integration decided to put in there...it wouldn't serve much of a purpose.

Defense's main focus is generally the WHR, which already has its own forum as well.

And likewise FA and Integration also share a forum for Ambassadors and Mentors...not to mention there's also the WA forum for both the WA and arguably FA ministries.

And of course, Culture mainly frequents the Amalyan Quarter for the regional contests and main cultural opportunities...but frequents quite a few forums as well.

So each ministry really already has their own "areas" that are exclusive to their purpose.