Should this be 2 categories, or remain one?

There has been some discussion about whether this category would make more sense as two categories - Shopping and Cooking each separate, or just one as it is now.

Since you are here reading this, and thus a user of this category, no opinion could be more important than yours. Please vote.

We do not guarantee that we will immediately do whatever the poll determines, but it certainly will carry a lot of weight.

Thanks

As yet, the volume doesn't seem to make the decision urgent.

Obviously, questions about cooking will naturally lead to questions about shopping, and vica versa, but in terms of helping posters decide where to place a topic-specific query, e.g. Where do I get...? or How do I make...?, splitting might make some sense, as long as we also allow for some natural bleed between the two, and don't start demanding that people talking about cooking delete internal references to shops, etc.

Why have 44 people viewed this question, but only 9 have voted? What's up with that?

I voted to separate, but remain relatively agnostic -- as Mark points out, it won't be much of an issue unless and until traffic makes it one.

I would like to throw an idea out, a forum for "Reading about Food" -- where we could talk about anything from the lousy job the Trib does to the various magazines to other press coverage to books.

Bob...If we wanted to talk about the lousy job the Trib does we would indeed need a forum all to itself.

Bob S. wrote:I would like to throw an idea out, a forum for "Reading about Food" -- where we could talk about anything from the lousy job the Trib does to the various magazines to other press coverage to books.

For a time I've been thinking that perhaps the 'media' element of this board should be moved out (to 'Non-Food Chat'? -- maybe that should be 'Not-Directly-about-Food Chat'), but I favour keeping shopping and cooking together. To my mind, those are two parts of one process that cannot or should not be divided.

A

Antonius wrote:For a time I've been thinking that perhaps the 'media' element of this board should be moved out (to 'Non-Food Chat'? -- maybe that should be 'Not-Directly-about-Food Chat'), but I favour keeping shopping and cooking together. To my mind, those are two parts of one process that cannot or should not be divided.

Agreed on both points. As to the first, I and other moderators have not been as scrupulous as we might be about moving threads to their proper location, which is a pretty easy task to accomplish.

I voted to separate, but remain relatively agnostic -- as Mark points out, it won't be much of an issue unless and until traffic makes it one.

FYI - About 10 days ago, I did a little informal poll of what is sitting on Cooking and Shopping: Cooking: 50 topics; Shopping: 40 topics and Not ABout Food: 13 topics. Mixed in here were time dependant posts alerting to sales or other time-dependent opportunities.

Clearly, shopping and cooking is a popular board. I propose breaking it up now while it is a small task to do. Yes, I realize there are comingling posts in there, where someone is searching for an ingrediant which morphs into someone providing a recipe and vice versa.

Initially, there were plans to keep cooking and shopping separate. In an effort to minimize catagories, subject to change due to experience, we decided to combine Shopping and Cooking. I'm just offering consideration to the structure and trying to anticipate issues while they are easy to resolve.

If we wait for volume of traffic to create the need, and believe me things have progressed faster on LTHforum.com than had been anticipated, wished for or dreamed of, then separating Cooking and Shopping becomes a larger nest to sort out.

And remember, we do have an excellent search function to find whatever we need.

Cathy,

Less is more. Don't make navigating the forum any more complicated than it has to be. I will pose this question, "Why shop if you are not going to cook?"

Well, and to offer the case against:

One of our principles is that board divisions should always help make it easier to know where to post, not make it more confusing. I'm against separating Shopping & Cooking because it enforces a sharp dividing line between two topics I don't find it easy to divide, since so much of my cooking is inspired by my shopping and I assume I am not alone (see things like the Copper river salmon thread).

But for me the real problem here is taking a board which is fairly lively and dividing it into two possibly more isolated and quiet boards. Right now, whether I'm shopping, cooking or both, I check it regularly just to see what's happening. But I might be more likely to skip one or the other if it was suddenly half as likely to interest me at that moment. The risk of quieting down one or the other of the topics through isolation seems much greater to me than the benefits of dividing stuff up.

When we were first talking about ways to divvy up the boards I was ready to make lots of micro-boards, but as I read about board management online and as I saw our board in action I came to realize that the best situation is one in which a board is full almost to bursting-- the best organizing system is always the human brain reading and sorting for itself, a board's scheme should do the minimum of basic sorting but leave things broad enough that there is plenty of activity at all times.

* * *

To which Vital Info added some points about how it kind of doesn't matter if a board gets big because there are other more efficient ways to use the site besides visiting it board by board, anyway:

First, when you click on "view new posts", you get all new posts, not just new posts from some board. Second, there is this color/shading thing on the main page that shows when a board has new action. Third, if necessary or for time sensative posts, someone (any mod?) can make it a "sticky" so that it stays on top.

Of course, the argument that board divisions don't matter kind of cuts both ways...

Also:

If you use the search function, you can designate that you want to search in Shopping & Cooking. That's efficient even if S&C has a billion posts, especially thanks to Ann Fisher's very helpful search primer. (That was nice, be sure to thank her.) But if it's two boards, I have to decide if leaf lard pie crust is more likely to be in Shopping (where to find leaf lard) or Cooking (how to cook with it), and search accordingly. Twice the searches, half the efficiency.

I'm in favor of keeping them combined. There are several other boards I view regularly and they all have a few categories that get most of the traffic. One of them has multiple categories and there are rarely new posts in most of them. Generally the top 5 headings on the front page will get most of the traffic.

But if it's two boards, I have to decide if leaf lard pie crust is more likely to be in Shopping (where to find leaf lard) or Cooking (how to cook with it), and search accordingly. Twice the searches, half the efficiency.

I too am in favor of keeping shopping and cooking together. We're generally talking about shopping for ingredients to cook, not shopping for a car, wedding gift, etc. Those topics would be more appropriate, if appropriate at all, on Not About Food.

Kwe730 wrote:Why have 44 people viewed this question, but only 9 have voted? What's up with that?

Kwe,

People view multiple times to see poll results and/or read additional post to the thread.

Enjoy,
Gary

I would like to place a vote to separate. As LTH grows if all categories are kept too broad it possibly could make this site less user friendly. If you think of each category as a drawer or cabinet in your kitchen then, eventually, with broad categories, each one becomes the 'junk drawer' making it more difficult to find what you are looking for without using the search feature. I know the search feature is very nice, but are we always in the mindset to know exactly what we are looking for? Sometimes I like to peruse the old topics just to refresh my mind. In the future I wouldn't be surprised if the category of cooking branched into Grilling, Baking, BBQ, Soups, Pasta, and Sauces.

It is natural to grow, and in growth, a little reorganization is always necessary.

Flip

Flip wrote:I would like to place a vote to separate.

Flip,

Did you cast your vote in the poll?

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

Flip wrote:I would like to place a vote to separate.

Flip,

Did you cast your vote in the poll?

Enjoy,
Gary

YEP!!!

I voted to keep the two together because I agree that the two topics cross over so much that it would be hard to seperate them. It might be helpful if people were a bit more descriptive in their subject line. sometimes there is only an item named (copper river salmon), it would be helpful if people routinely added more (where to buy?, or how to cook?), which already happens in many cases.
-Will

This poll is officially closed, cause I said so, and will be removed in a few days. Thanks to all for your participation in this experiment in town hall democracy.

BTW, the vote here roughly followed the vote among the moderators, which is what I was curious about. I will leave this thread open for comment for a day and then lock it.