Originally Posted by
random.swirls
I think Ryl is much older so there is less need for vets so I'd close it down
Yes - RYL seems like a Highclere Castle (Downtown Abbey estate) existing as a waning dinosaur whose past looms larger than its present or future. If only a few people live in a large edifice, and the staff has thinned, you cover the furniture, close rooms off etc. I think RYL needed to contract a long time ago. The "age of the forum" isn't what it used to be with all the "new" social sites, apps etc.
As I recall, adding forums wasn't just a way to focus on more topics but to disperse energy and cut down on conflicts back when RYL was constantly contentious. That was 10 years ago. Now dispersing energy just backfires.
I understood the reasons for Vets "back in the day" (when most members were 14) but on the flip side it also separated people with experience from younger people seeking some. "Serious" was never quite the same after two Vet forums came to be.
Grief forum topics can easily go in Serious. "Looking Forward" seemed to siphon off any positive vibes that used to come up in darker forums that just became exclusively dark.
First Aid forum I gave up on a long time ago because you could barely make a post in reply there. The atmosphere was tight and defensive. No reason for a site to put itself on edge like that. At one time when "Live Help" and First Aid came around it was like RYL was incorporating its own cyber A&E. I thought it was a well meaning "bridge too far" that stressed people out (I knew members who were failing school but staying up all night doing Live Help).
While I would prune all the extra forums, I would also restore an "Anything Goes" type forum because RYL got too burdened with Byzantine rules, points, bubble wrap etc. If RYL began as what it became after 2005 it would never have grown. Its easy to have a good reason to make a thread or post but its even easier to come up with more reasons not too - most of them trivial but they get the leverage on their side