Hi everyone,

I found the "OT, tell us about yourself" thread on page 5, the "O.T. this time show us your pictures" thread on page 7 and the "Chopin Nocturn study group" thread on page 11.

Now obviously these can't all be pinned to the board, we probably have too many already but I think there is a wealth of information and humour in these threads that newbies especially would love to read.

So I had an idea, and would love some feedback. What if we pinned a topic to page 1 of the board called "Important topics" or "references" or something, and had links to all these inside? It would free up space because we could add existing threads such as MOYD, How to record piano on your computer etc, and we would have access to a wider variety of topics.

Or maybe we could call it "Who are the adult beginners?" and include links to:

Recital 5
Tell us about yourself
Show us your pictures
Who is the ABF for?

Just a thought.

That's a great idea, Mountain Ash!

I do find that when there's too many sticky threads I paradoxically don't look at any of them.

But don't forget to link the "1" thread in there, too.

Great Idea!

also...

MOYD....
Practice Club...
perhaps all the study groups? Or shoud we let those have their own combined pinned thread?

Matt

Yes we could have them in categories I guess.

Not sure about the 1 thread Monica, that might push Super_Hunky over the edge!

Great idea, we should have all the "study groups" in one thread and "about us" in another and reference in a third (combining recording instructions etc)

I was just thinking recently that there are too many pinned threads, so this is a very timely post! Maybe we could consolidate the bulk of them as links in one thread (though perhaps not all) and get rid of some the currently pinned ones. Let's keep this discussion going for a little longer to get some more feedback though.

Thanks Monster Ash!

Yes that's what I was thinking. Even if we keep the important topics pinned to the top, perhaps we could have a pinned thread called "other important topics" or something or other with links so that we have instant access to them.

After all if we pinned all the great topics here to the first page there would be no first page!

I also think it's a good idea. Since the Devoted to Chopin thread has become so huge, I have had to create an "index" of sorts (still need to get it up to date. It might be a life-long project). For an idea of how it might look, you can go the the Devoted to Chopin thread and click on the very first page. There you will see an index. (But as I mentioned, it needs updating. So much information, so little time!)

Opus 45 taught me how to do this, and it isn't difficult, just time-consuming.

Once people have decided on the sub-topics under the one "Important Information" main topic on the first page of the ABF, it was be relatively easy to link to the sub-topics. Once a person hits the link, it would take them to the first page of the sub-topic and then they could browse those the pages from there.

Kathleen

How about a separate forum area just for study group or stick worthy threads...

”A separate forum area" would essentially mean a separate forum, which we cannot create ourselves. And which I personally think would be less effective and not desireable. The point (as I see it at least) is to have the top page for the ABF make it easy to find important topics (thus the pinned threads) and at the same time also easy to find subjects that are currently being discussed. The first page should be easy to understand and inviting for first time visitors as well as for long-time users. That's a pretty tall order, but ideas like this will continue to improve the ABF IMO.

Great idea Mountain Ash! I'm going to take a shot at putting it into practice. Here are some thoughts on how I'm going to set it up and maintain it over time.

First, I think the thread will lose its value if it ends up being multiple pages long filled with "how about adding xxx to this thread". Because of this, I'm going to mark the thread both "sticky" and "closed".

What I think will work while we're in "start up" mode is to continue the discussion here on which threads ought to go into the "Super Thread". There have been some good suggestions so far (not so sure about the 1 thread though ) and I'll include those to get us started.

After we're up and running, as new threads are created that the group in general feels have enduring interest either a post in that thread nominating the thread for inclusion in the "Super Thread" (ShiroKuro or I should see it) or a PM to me should do it.

If it looks like the Super Thread is starting to get cluttered, either ShiroKuro or I will do some pruning. The general heuristic I have in mind for that is that if a thread referred to in the Super Thread hasn't had any activity for a while it will be considered for elimination. This doesn't apply to links such as the one to the Practice Log which generally don't get much in the way of responses (unless it's unavailable for some reason ).

I'll put it out there to get us started, we can always change it as we go and please post your thoughts both on the process and those threads which should be included.

Thanks again Mountain Ash for the great idea!

very good idea, easy way to manage the new thread is to only allow mods to post new links; maybe just let the indvidual threads themselves float around with all the others.

Once you've added the links, perhaps you should unsticky all the threads currently stickied to free up space.

Well, after a couple of false starts (I lost about an hours worth of typing when I accidently closed the window I was creating the thread in ) I've started the thread. You'll see it as the first sticky thread. I'll be adding to it but wanted to put something out there to get us rolling (and before I deleted it again!).

I welcome comments both on format and content.

I was just joking, folks! Didn't you see my smiley?

Besides, the 1 thread doesn't need a sticky to ensure its continued vitality and longevity.

Greg, I looked at the stickie you made, it's looks good. Here are some first impressions.

For long-time posters, using "here" when introducing a thread is fine, but maybe it would be better to make it more obvious. For example:

"Some of the regulars have introduced themselves here:

link/thread title"

Do you see what I mean? So all someone has to do is look at and realize they can click on a link to another ABF thread. What does everyone think of that?

Also, I think we could put all the stickied threads into this one thread. The MOYD list, the "it's never too late" thread, the "Who is ABF for." That would mean we'd have one stickied thread. Then sometimes we could add a separate stickie for a while (like immediately after online recitals and so on) and then move those stickied threads into the "important threads" thread after a week or so.

What does everyone think of that?

In my mind, that's really the main question: do people think it would be bad to have only one stickied thread or not? Obviously, that would mean people would have to open up that thread to find other threads, but I don't think that extra step is such a big deal.

Wow it's great to see this idea come to fruition, thankyou C7 player and ShiroKuro.

Firstly I think you're spot on with the idea of locking the thread and keeping it to one post. I think this will keep it simple and easy to navigate.

I agree with ShiroKuro that really important threads or threads with current relevance could be stickied in their own right but may be moved later on to the link folder.

As for people not knowing to click on the links, perhaps it could be rearranged to be clearer, or there could be a note in the introduction saying "click on the orange links" or something.

Lastly perhaps the thread could metion "feel free to post in any of the linked topics" or something like that.

Keep the ideas coming.

Okay, I'm going to redeem myself for jokingly suggesting that we link the "1" thread with a couple of REAL suggestions:

How about the "Let\'s ask David Nevue a lot of questions" thread under the favorite composers part?

And how about adding ShiroKuro's Quick Start Guide for the Zoom under the recording yourself section?

This is a great idea.....too many stickies were annoying and usually just skipped!!

I would leave the "here" links as they are and then repeat them later with a full text link like the others are. It can't hurt having them in there both ways. It would be nice to have some general area like Interesting Things that had links like "Recording your piano", "Photos of ABF members", etc.

Great suggestions Monica! You're redeemed for the suggestion about the 1 thread (and I was just joking too!).

OK, I've incorporated the suggestions so far and reworded some of the sections. Have a look and thanks for the comments so far. Keep them coming!

I've also been "unsticking" the threads that are referred to in the "Super Thread" so there's less clutter.

Yikes! I logged on to the forum and looked 5 or 6 posts down the page to see the newest post and I had to look up, and up, and up.

It's like when you think you've reached the last step when you're walking down the stairs and there's one more to go. Hehe.

You've done a great job C7!

Like Ash, it took me a minute to figure out why it was different.....

Very nice work, C7 and Shiro. Too bad you can't make the title a different color to stand out...maybe captalize the work IMPORTANT.

Very nice, indeed.

This looks great! Mountain Ash, I award you MVP (Most Valuable Pianist) for the month of April for this great idea. C7 and ShiroKuro did a great job of organizing that Super Thread. There are sure a lot of creative and capable people on the AB Forum!

Nancy

Great job with the "Super Sticky" thread. So helpful and nicely done.

Congrats,
Kathleen

Great Job C7! I don't mean to complain but you missed the Croatian Rhapsody Group....

Great Job MVP!

Well done - good mixture of links in a nicely written, inviting text and mere listing of important links. And the "sticky mess" (sorry! ) at the top of our index page is gone ...
Thank you!

Mountain Ash, you should get a bonus for this idea. It's great! The page is much less cluttered.

As a newbie, I love the new sticky page. I had no idea that there were photos and stories for people!

Great job Mountain Ash (for the idea), C7 and ShiroKuro (for implementing it), and the rest of you (for getting behind it and making suggestions).

That's exactly what gave me the idea in the first place, I love the "tell us about yourself" & "Show us your pictures" threads and didn't wan't them lost on page 145, 129!

Ground H20 please post an introduction on the tell us about yourself thread if you feel like it.

Thanks for the invitation. I think I will wait a little while until I can play a song or two.

Brent

I love the top page now that there's only one stickie! Yea!!

And thanks to Greg for including my name in the thread even though he did all the real work!

There's just no pleasing some people!

I've added it, thanks for pointing it out, my search for "study group" missed it because the thread is titled "learning group".

Nice work C7Player!

Just one thought though - looking at all the threads in the one sticky, I can't help but think that maybe the MOYD list should stay in the main section as it may easily be overlooked by newcomers.

Yes, nice work; very neat 'n' tidy now.

C7 player, if you're still taking nominations, Rodney's "primer on chord voicing" is an all-time classic and would do well to be linked in the sticky thread.

Yes, we're still taking nominations and will continue to do so indefinitely. Thanks for the suggestion on Rodney's thread, I've added it along with a few other links under a new section on piano resources on the web.