A reminder about megathreads

Niall

All Powerful Super Being
Staff
Joined
Jun 13, 1999
Messages
25,229
I posted an announcement earlier in the year about megathreads and I think it's worth reiterating it again now.

Recently there has been a noticeable move back towards people using megathreads for discussing various topics/news.

Instead of this, new, smaller, more focused threads should be created.

Example 1: Daley Blind busted his knee while on international duty last week. This was discussed in the Daley Blind 2014/15 Performances megathread, the injury crisis thread and a couple of others.

What should have happened is a new thread for this was created: "Daley Blind's knee has exploded".

Example 2: Instead of everything related to the manager going into the 'Louis van Gaal | Manchester United manager' thread, create separate threads for things he has said, done, topics worth discussing about him.

"LVG pre-Arsenal game press conference"
"What exactly is LVG's philosophy?"

Example 3: Marcos Rojo is back in training. Instead of putting that in the Marcos Rojo 2014/15 performance thread, create a new thread: 'Rojo back in training'

These new threads will serve as a very specific, focused discussion about the incident/news item. By putting it in a megathreads like the player performance ones, it becomes mashed up with a number of other discussions going on in there. That makes it really hard for people to find the right place to discuss the injury and makes the whole thread disjointed as people are discussing several different things in the same place.

So, in most cases stop using megathreads. Create more new threads for different topics / incidents / news items.

Also, keep the player performance threads for discussing ONLY a player's performances in matches. Anything else related to a player (injuries, debates about best position, contract negotiations, hair style etc) should be in its own thread.

So to summarise again: Favour smaller, more focused threads over massive, bloated, months old threads.

If you're not sure where something should go, ask in here. The more examples we have the better.

Thanks folks!

(btw, this only applies to the football forum, megathreads in other forums is less of an issue)
 
I'm so confused. I thought megathreads had specifically and deliberately been introduced by the powers that be?

Where did they even come from if not you guys?
 
Well said!

I started a separate thread for De Gea's contract talks/potential transfer and once it fell off the front page the bunch of cnuts were using the performances thread for that purpose. I even posted a link to the correct thread.
 
Sir A1ex said:
I'm so confused. I thought megathreads had specifically and deliberately been introduced by the powers that be?

Where did they even come from if not you guys?
Click to expand...
It was changed back earlier this year.
 
Makes much more sense if you ask me.

Also stops my heart sinking when i see performance threads bumped and i assume they've been injured.
 
Sir A1ex said:
I'm so confused. I thought megathreads had specifically and deliberately been introduced by the powers that be?

Where did they even come from if not you guys?
Click to expand...

It's not been consistently policed over the years. Different mods have had different opinions on the issue (shock horror, they're human) However, the boss has made it crystal clear where we go from here. Which gets a big "hurrah" from me.
 
It would be helpful if people are diligent about posting links in existing threads when they create a new one for a specific discussion. Discussions are always going to naturally shift from one topic to another related topic as new information becomes available/events occur. Take the LVG example. In the "Manchester United Manager thread", someone might comment that LVG used Player X as a substitute and they thought he should have used Player Y. This might lead to a discussion about the substitutes LVG favours and why, which might in turn lead to a discussion of starters/lineups/etc, which might then lead to a discussion about his philosophy.

To move the discussion from the Manchester United Manager thread to a new thread specifically dealing with his use of substitutes, whoever makes the new thread should be sure to link that thread wherever the discussion is currently taking place.
 
Bebe said:
It would be helpful if people are diligent about posting links in existing threads when they create a new one for a specific discussion. Discussions are always going to naturally shift from one topic to another related topic as new information becomes available/events occur. Take the LVG example. In the "Manchester United Manager thread", someone might comment that LVG used Player X as a substitute and they thought he should have used Player Y. This might lead to a discussion about the substitutes LVG favours and why, which might in turn lead to a discussion of starters/lineups/etc, which might then lead to a discussion about his philosophy.

To move the discussion from the Manchester United Manager thread to a new thread specifically dealing with his use of substitutes, whoever makes the new thread should be sure to link that thread wherever the discussion is currently taking place.
Click to expand...

Good point. Pointing people to the right place for a discussion will definitely help this work.
 
Ramshock said:
I thought this was about Megadeth for a second :lol:

Well said anyway Niall
Click to expand...

I made the same mistake :lol:

Completely agree with the move away from Megathreads. So many potentially good discussions get lost.
 
Sir A1ex said:
I'm so confused. I thought megathreads had specifically and deliberately been introduced by the powers that be?

Where did they even come from if not you guys?
Click to expand...

Been well over a year that we've wanted there to be less megathreads and most agreed with it (from the ATO with the Arsenal fans they were saying their one complaint was the megathreads). Still, despite the announcement, 7-year-old threads have been bumped today
 
Damien said:
Been well over a year that we've wanted there to be less megathreads and most agreed with it (from the ATO with the Arsenal fans they were saying their one complaint was the megathreads). Still, despite the announcement, 7-year-old threads have been bumped today
Click to expand...

Should we close them as they are bumped, with a message to start a new thread?
 
Niall said:
Should we close them as they are bumped, with a message to start a new thread?
Click to expand...

That's what we usually do. Cina locked one about Pele saying to start a new thread but I just moved the posts after it was bumped to a new thread so the discussion (not that there was anything meaningful) could be kept.
 
Damien said:
Been well over a year that we've wanted there to be less megathreads and most agreed with it (from the ATO with the Arsenal fans they were saying their one complaint was the megathreads). Still, despite the announcement, 7-year-old threads have been bumped today
Click to expand...

Yes, thank you.
 
My 2 cents here after reading Moyes appointing some Kinley soda as no. 2 is type of thread which can go under Moyes-Sociedad thread instead of separate topic.
Overall it is good idea not to dig out threads created years ago or put everything in one thread but posters need to use common sense on when to create new and when to use one thread. I think Man United subforum can do away with megathreads as they see more activity while in football forum(non United one) we can have one thread for a particular player/manager/club unless something noteworthy requires new thread.

This is bit like normalization in relational databases. Gotta find perfect middle way :)
 
The Man Himself said:
My 2 cents here after reading Moyes appointing some Kinley soda as no. 2 is type of thread which can go under Moyes-Sociedad thread instead of separate topic.
Overall it is good idea not to dig out threads created years ago or put everything in one thread but posters need to use common sense on when to create new and when to use one thread. I think Man United subforum can do away with megathreads as they see more activity while in football forum(non United one) we can have one thread for a particular player/manager/club unless something noteworthy requires new thread.

This is bit like normalization in relational databases. Gotta find perfect middle way :)
Click to expand...
But isn't that part of the problem? People start new threads on something they think deserves a thread of its own and the first thing that's said is "there's already a ......... thread". It tends to make people wary of starting a new thread, so they just post in another existing one.

Why not just close threads regardless, when they get to a certain number of posts? If the topic is still there to be discussed a new thread will be started soon enough.
 
Rednotdead said:
But isn't that part of the problem? People start new threads on something they think deserves a thread of its own and the first thing that's said is "there's already a ......... thread". It tends to make people wary of starting a new thread, so they just post in another existing one.

Why not just close threads regardless, when they get to a certain number of posts? If the topic is still there to be discussed a new thread will be started soon enough.
Click to expand...

A duplicate thread is preferable to multiple conversations in one single massive, months old thread.

The mods will tidy up duplicates and if you see any, please use the report feature or PM a mod/admin.

Closing bumped megathreads is a good policy and will happen as the bumps occur.
 
Is there a certain leniency applied to matters not concerning Manchester United? For example, I understand having separate threads for De Gea performances, De Gea contract disputes, and De Gea facial grooming. What about a non-United player? Would it be acceptable to discuss Sturridge's injury, style of play, and his place in the England squad all in one general Daniel Sturridge thread? Or would these also have to be separate?
 
okLaptop1 said:
Is there a certain leniency applied to matters not concerning Manchester United? For example, I understand having separate threads for De Gea performances, De Gea contract disputes, and De Gea facial grooming. What about a non-United player? Would it be acceptable to discuss Sturridge's injury, style of play, and his place in the England squad all in one general Daniel Sturridge thread? Or would these also have to be separate?
Click to expand...

My preference would be separate threads. Those are all different topics about Daniel Sturridge so there could be the following threads:

Daniel Sturridge injured - again!
Daniel Sturridge - England player
How important is Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool?

etc

What do you think?
 
Niall said:
My preference would be separate threads. Those are all different topics about Daniel Sturridge so there could be the following threads:

Daniel Sturridge injured - again!
Daniel Sturridge - England player
How important is Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool?

etc

What do you think?
Click to expand...

That makes sense, I just thought it might be less of an issue for non-United players. Seeing as this is a United forum, we'd talk about other players a lot less (outside of guys like Messi and Cristiano etc). So while it's easy to imagine a Herrera megathread being a total mess and unreadable if not separated, it might not matter for someone like, say, Oxlade-Chamberlain.
 
Think of it as individual 'news items' that should be discussed in isolation. A new Sturridge injury is a news item, likewise his performances for England. This is preferable to one massive thread where people could be talking about all those things at the same time and it gets confusing as hell.

The threads will be shorter, but I think that's preferable as they're focused on a specific topic of discussion which is very clear and easy to follow/get involved in.
 
What about the Messi and Ronaldo threads? Although they contain many excellent posts, they have turned into Messi vs Ronaldo threads and have become an exception to the rule. Again, not knocking the posters, I just think that sort of discussion is for another thread.
 
MoneyMay said:
What about the Messi and Ronaldo threads? Although they contain many excellent posts, they have turned into Messi vs Ronaldo threads and have become an exception to the rule. Again, not knocking the posters, I just think that sort of discussion is for another thread.
Click to expand...

Break it out into separate discussions. If in doubt, create a new thread, avoid megathread as much as possible in the football forums. The worst that can happen is your new thread gets merged into a thread of the same topic.
 
I always thought the odd one was ok. Now the LvG thread has been locked but isn't that basically his own performances thread, like the players have? Those megathreads will continue to exist?
 
Could the LVG one be thinned out? One purely for match performances, talk about everything else could go in seperate threads.
 
Crackers said:
Could the LVG one be thinned out? One purely for match performances, talk about everything else could go in seperate threads.
Click to expand...

That'd be handy, yeah. I do keep checking the megathread for his post match interview, so if a separate thread was made it'd be easier.
 
Crackers said:
Could the LVG one be thinned out? One purely for match performances, talk about everything else could go in seperate threads.
Click to expand...
2 Man Midfield said:
That'd be handy, yeah. I do keep checking the megathread for his post match interview, so if a separate thread was made it'd be easier.
Click to expand...
it's locked now, we're going to try new threads on a game by game basis for him, and obviously still the separate conference threads and specific discussion (tactics, articles etc) threads too. If it's deemed too much maybe we'll try monthly threads instead or something.

Either way that 11k thread was way too big and had to go!
 
2 Man Midfield said:
That'd be handy, yeah. I do keep checking the megathread for his post match interview, so if a separate thread was made it'd be easier.
Click to expand...

Post match interviews and such should maybe go in the post match thread. I'm thinking of automating the creation of that thread, giving it a custom header like the player threads with stats from the match etc. Then there can be threadmarks to posts containing post match interviews, player tweets etc.

Worth doing?
 
Niall said:
Post match interviews and such should maybe go in the post match thread. I'm thinking of automating the creation of that thread, giving it a custom header like the player threads with stats from the match etc. Then there can be threadmarks to posts containing post match interviews, player tweets etc.

Worth doing?
Click to expand...
Yes, it sounds like a good idea. Easy to manage and easy to keep track of.
 
Cina said:
it's locked now, we're going to try new threads on a game by game basis for him, and obviously still the separate conference threads and specific discussion (tactics, articles etc) threads too. If it's deemed too much maybe we'll try monthly threads instead or something.

Either way that 11k thread was way too big and had to go!
Click to expand...

Would make things a lot easier to find, definitely. Keeping all match day stuff in relevant threads etc.

Niall said:
Post match interviews and such should maybe go in the post match thread. I'm thinking of automating the creation of that thread, giving it a custom header like the player threads with stats from the match etc. Then there can be threadmarks to posts containing post match interviews, player tweets etc.

Worth doing?
Click to expand...

I'd say so. The player threads are a real success i think, and the stats and threadmarks make the place much easier to navigate. Much better than trawling a mixed swamp of information and drivel under just one heading.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.