new forums

So far I have created "mason bees" and "honey bees".

There will most likely be a forum software update in the next few days that will facilitate a LOT of new, smaller forums.

I know that I have told a lot of people that we will create a LOT of new forums soon. It seems like I have put off about a dozen. Now is the time to create these new forums. Can people please remind me of all the forums to be created?

And, this is also a good time to suggest other new forums.

I think that over the next few weeks, we will probably double the number of forums. I think it may be wise to also double (triple?) the number of categories.

The first category that comes to mind is "critters". Under that might be:

mason bees
honey bees
cattle
chickens
pigs
bugs
paddock shift
aquaculture
rabbits
critters (for what doesn't fit in the others)

I am so glad that you started this.

I think the giant "permaculture" category could be divided into:

growies

permaculture, organic, plants, woodland, lawn, fungi,

critters

mason bees, honey bees, cattle, chickens, pigs, bugs, paddock shift, aquaculture, rabbits, critters

energy

saving energy, alternative energy, wood burning stoves, transportation

building

straw bale, grey water, cob, wofati, underground, green building

community

intentional community / ecovillage, city repair

home

frugality, healthier home, diet and health, cooking, food preservation

homesteading

earthworks, farm income,

wilderness

wildcrafting, ancestral skills, survival

Worms?

We need a members project forum. So threads like ludi's permaculture projects and others can be all in one place.

Shawn Harper wrote:Worms?

I give a shout out to worms in the new "bugs" forum - is that good enough?

Jordan Lowery wrote:We need a members project forum. So threads like ludi's permaculture projects and others can be all in one place.

I think that's a good idea.

Which section/category would go in? Community? Other?

I'd love to see something for us Vegans, Raw Vegans, Natural Hygiene- ists, etc.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

Looks nice and clean, Much better organized now.

Oh, I do like the new categories, too!

I'm kinda thinking permaculture singles should go under community. Sorta.

Would community also be the place for an introductions thread? Or would/could the projects and introductions threads be combined to something like "permies profiles" or "permies share space" or, well, what would you call that?

The permaculture singles, projects, introductions and meaningless drivel are all ways to build the online community. I'm thinking they rank higher than "other" in a sense.

moved permaculture singles.

vegan forum: what might it be called?

Would community also be the place for an introductions thread? Or would/could the projects and introductions threads be combined to something like "permies profiles" or "permies share space" or, well, what would you call that?

Smart!

Maybe under "other" there can be "the people of permies" which can include introductions and personal projects.

paul wheaton wrote:
vegan forum: what might it be called?

I think something simple like:
Vegans
or
Vegan permies
or
Vegan & Raw

Thanks Paul!

paul wheaton wrote:

Maybe under "other" there can be "the people of permies" which can include introductions and personal projects.

Yes, that.

I'd like to see the members project forum up in the top section so people will see what can be done and where. It possibly could be called something better though if anyone can think of something.

Also what about a forum for husp. I have a ton of material to post about methods I know that would be considered husp. Just not sure where to start.

I decided to make two new forums: "introductions" and "projects" and I changed the "other" category to "the permies.com community"

vegan forum: When I overhaul the "home" category, I'll add something then.

husp forum: what category might that go in?

Not sure where to put husp, just thought it would be cool to post "husp" stuff so people can move that direction little by little.

I think husp would go under community as it's the nectar of the other forums and would incorporate the best ideas of all sub-forums.

paul wheaton wrote:
husp forum: what category might that go in?

Dang, the permaculture forum, is now under growies. It used to be that permaculture was under permaculture. I think husp incorporates community, growies, alternative building....all things permaculture.

How about Tools and Equipment as a category. Subcategories could be Old School Tools , Media , Garden and Farm , " Look What I Invented " Etc. I have seen alot of sharing about solar powered , human and critter powered , hand tools , well pumps , transportation , solar dehydrators , fencing , fonts and cell phones etc.

I love the new forum structure! Well done. As for suggestions, the most obvious one that strikes me is that the category "building" has only one, very large forum: "green building." In the spirit of the recent reorganization effort - and from what I can tell that spirit is to create many clearly-named forums in each category so that users can more quickly zero in on a particular niche for their posts, which is an awesome idea - it seems to me that "green building" is in dire need of subdivision. Some obvious ideas: "straw bale," "cob cottages," "wofati/earth-bermed buildings," "passive solar design principles," "earth ships/earth bag/rammed earth," "round wood construction," "earthen floors," "light-clay-straw," "insulated concrete creations," and I'm sure we could come up with a few more, too.

~ Matthew N., southern transplant

@Paul - In re: your comment to Shawn Harper, I put my two cents for a separate forum. Seems to me that most of the posts in the "bugs" forum are concerned with insects and other wee beasties as pests ...and then there are the posts on worms. They don't seem to fit with the rest; nobody in their right mind thinks of worms as pests. I think a separate forum within "critters" is in order: "vermiculture/vermicomposting." Perhaps even two, in order to differentiate discussions of natural worms vs managed systems, so then you would also have "worms in the soil," though that might be pushing it a bit.

~ Matthew N., southern transplant

I know the "locations" forums don't get a lot of use, but I would love for the "Eastern USA" to get split into Mid-Atlantic and Northeast sections.

wayne stephen wrote:How about Tools and Equipment as a category. Subcategories could be Old School Tools , Media , Garden and Farm , " Look What I Invented " Etc. I have seen alot of sharing about solar powered , human and critter powered , hand tools , well pumps , transportation , solar dehydrators , fencing , fonts and cell phones etc.

The homestead forum would cover some, or does that seem to fall short?

Can you give me an idea about some topics?

I kinda think a lot of solar power stuff would go under alternative energy. But maybe we need to open that up a bit more to have forums like "solar", "hydro", "wind" etc.


Maybe we need a forum under "homesteading" on fencing?

I guess I'm trying to make a guess at the number of threads that might appear and whether something like "well pumps" could be covered in three or four threads in "homestead"

Matthew Nistico wrote: "straw bale," "cob cottages," "wofati/earth-bermed buildings," "passive solar design principles," "earth ships/earth bag/rammed earth," "round wood construction," "earthen floors," "light-clay-straw," "insulated concrete creations,"

I covered a few of those earlier, but you came up with some good ones I had not thought of. I think I will put those in tomorrow.

Matthew Nistico wrote:@Paul - In re: your comment to Shawn Harper, I put my two cents for a separate forum. Seems to me that most of the posts in the "bugs" forum are concerned with insects and other wee beasties as pests ...and then there are the posts on worms. They don't seem to fit with the rest; nobody in their right mind thinks of worms as pests. I think a separate forum within "critters" is in order: "vermiculture/vermicomposting." Perhaps even two, in order to differentiate discussions of natural worms vs managed systems, so then you would also have "worms in the soil," though that might be pushing it a bit.

~ Matthew N., southern transplant

I think that a lot of "bugs" that are thought of as pests, are not pests at all.

I was thinking that it would be a good place to list species and build knowledge species by species.

As for vermicomposting .... hmmm ..... maybe what we need is a forum on composting and vermicomposting?

Zoe Wroten wrote:I know the "locations" forums don't get a lot of use, but I would love for the "Eastern USA" to get split into Mid-Atlantic and Northeast sections.

We just added "appalachia". Maybe after you posted this. I have to admit that my knowledge of the eastern US is a bit weak. Do you think your suggestion still works?

@Paul - I totally agree with you on the bug vs "pest" issue; I was merely reflecting what I observed from a quick scan down the list of threads in the current "bugs" forum. I think you hit it on the head, though: there should definitely be a forum on composting, into which vermicomposting would be a natural fit! Maybe in the "homesteading" category?

Loving the new layout! thanks Paul & stewards. I know I like it better but wouldn't have thought to ask for this new structure. Guess the community will let you know if the changes are a bust with us. I am saying good job on this one!

Amy
all knowledge is worth having

Tools and Equipment under Homesteading would be great. Topics could be " Look What I Invented " , Build a better broadfork , fencing , well pumps , sickles and scythes. Two wheeled tractors and power drill chicken pluckers.

I created a new composting forum and moved a bunch of threads to it.

I created a bunch of new forums around building. What might I have left out?

@Paul - As I suggested before, I really think that "passive solar design principles" deserves its own forum. It's just that important a concept. And it can be applied independent of the materials used, so it doesn't naturally fit any better into "straw bale" than into "wofati" or "earthship" or what-have-you.

Maybe also "alternative roofing"? Could include various types of metal roofs, thatch, wooden shingles...?

"Alternative foundations"? Could include stone work, rubble trenches, concrete bond beams, insulated foundations...?

Well, I created "passive solar" and then went looking for threads to move to the new forum. Very few. I moved them. Maybe you can start a few new threads there?

As for the roof and foundation stuff: my first thought is to leave it in the general "breen building" forum. Can you give me an idea of how many threads we might already have on these topics?

@Paul - Awesome! I will try to start a thread on passive solar within your new forum sometime soon. No promises on promptness, though : )

In answer to your other questions, here is my quick and dirty and very not-scientific estimate...

A search for "foundation" yielded 784 posts. That's 14 pages of results. On the first page, I counted 5 results wherein the topic of the thread seemed directly related to choices in foundation design and might be good candidates to move to a dedicated forum. Assuming that this is representative, 5x14=70. To be conservative, lets reduce by 50% straight off of the top to account for multiple search results from the same thread. So, let's say 35 candidates. Or 35+, because there are probably some other search terms that might yield results from different threads.

A search for "roof" yielded 2112 posts. That's 36 pages of results. On the first page, I counted only 1 result wherein the topic of the thread indicated it might be good a candidate to move to a dedicated forum. Assuming that this is representative, 1x36=36. I also searched for "roofing," yielding 344 posts. That's 6 pages of results. On the first page, I counted 4 results that might be good candidates to move to a dedicated forum. Again, 4x6=24. And 36+24=60. To be conservative, lets reduce by 75% this time to account for multiple search results from the same thread and also for the same thread popping up in both of my searches. So, let's say 15 candidates, or 15+ to account for additional searches.

So, 35+ and 15+. Not huge by any means, but perhaps enough to get a new forum started?

BTW, under "alternative roofing," before, I mentioned metal, thatch, and wood shingles. Should definitely have included living roofs as well.

Let's say that the roof stuff has potential, but perhaps you can remind me in a month or so. Kinda let the dust settle from all the changes in the building category today.

We just added "appalachia". Maybe after you posted this. I have to admit that my knowledge of the eastern US is a bit weak. Do you think your suggestion still works?

I know I would use a "Northeast" or "New England" forum a lot more than I would an "Eastern US". I might be interested in what Permies from, say, NY have to say. But Maryland, for example, is still the east coast but not Appalachia, and probably has little or nothing to do with my area or climate, nor would I travel that far for an event. Thanks, Paul!