forum layout changes 01-03-2022

[andygolfer]

Mike and I made some changes to the forum layout yesterday to try to make it a bit more logical, some will only be noticeable when you are logged in.

These are the changes that we have made:
1: CIVILIAN AVIATION FORUM INFORMATION ( viewforum.php?f=5)

We have reduced this to 3 sub forums
FORUM RULES - unchanged and is what it says, the main topic is 'read only' for general membership
FORUM INFORMATION (where you are reading this) - is for posts about updates and changes hence this topic is posted here
TECHNICAL BOARD - for posts about upcoming changes by the board managers which might temporarily affect or interrupt the board performance and for questions if members have problems that need resolution or something you don't understand
NEWBIE SECTION - this seemed an illogical place for newbie introductions and we have moved that further down the board to CIVIL AVIATION COMMUNITY where it sits well with the other sub forums there

2: CIVIL AVIATION TALK (viewforum.php?f=163) Members will notice that it is only visible when they are logged in and not visible to unregistered guests
This was formerly referred to as 'The Lounge' but that didn't really explain what the content is / was, there are 3 sub forums in this section:
CIVIL AVIATION NEWS - for any snippets of news you find that might be of benefit to the members (please remember to credit 3rd party sources)
INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS - self explanatory, hopefully not a too regularly used section. We like aviation to be safe. Again please remember to credit 3rd party sources.
THE LOUNGE - we retained the name for this sub forum and it should be used for all general aviation chat, information, discussions about the forum and general requests for information (NOT registration tie ups please, they should be posted in the AIRFIELD AND AIRPORTS SECTION viewforum.php?f=17 ).

3: CIVIL AVIATION MONITORING - this is the other part of the forum that is only visible to members when they are logged in and is not visible to unregistered guests, it also contains the OTT and 'Heads up' sub forum for live or impending movements. We have not made any changes to this section but I thought it worthwhile reminding those that don't log in regularly that it is still there.

4: CIVIL AVIATION COMMUNITY (viewforum.php?f=89), where we have sections not easily included anywhere else. This has had a bit of a shake up....
PRESERVATION SCENE and GROUNDED are unchanged
WEBSITES AND USEFUL LINKS which were two frequently overlapping sub forums have been combined for ease, this can also be used for publicising your own website or blog
NEWBIES - as mentioned above this has been moved here as it is a more logical place for it
FOR SALE OR WANTED - This was previously in 'The Lounge' but it seems better to have it in a 'public' section to give maximum exposure to your aviation items for sale or wanted. Please read this guidance topic before posting: viewtopic.php?f=91&t=60

5: QUIZ SECTION: this hasn't been used for ages so we decided to archive it

6: NON AVIATION SECTION (viewforum.php?f=226) members sometimes like to discuss non aviation topics or share non aviation photos so this section covers those needs with 2 dedicated sub forums:
GENERAL CHAT AREA
GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY
I'm sure they are self explanatory but if you have any doubts please read the guidance info in those sub sections.

If you're not sure where to post something please just make a best effort and if we feel it should be elsewhere we will move it and put a courtesy / informative post to sat we have done so

We will also be going through the various forums to ensure topics are in the logical place so some may move around and appear elsewhere, it's not a ghost or a cyber attack - it's Mike and myself trying to make things more logical for the membership!

If you have any suggestions for further changes please post your ideas, ideally in 'The Lounge' (viewforum.php?f=185)

thanks for reading this and we hope it helps explain the changes

Andy & Mike