Exactly.
Moving away from 'Megathreads'
- Thread starter Niall
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
This is a good thing. I hope you don't abandon it if we have a rocky start. It will take some time for people to get used to it.
whats the real reason for this?
I think player and manager mega threads are fine in reality, anything non breaking can be discussed as normal but new threads to be made on breaking news. We can all discuss Moyes generally in his thread but once there is a hot story on him then a new thread can be created.
I have always discouraged myself from creating new threads but if helps the share any news or gossip then fine I will no longer abstain.
I have always discouraged myself from creating new threads but if helps the share any news or gossip then fine I will no longer abstain.
Excellent. Death to megathreads. I always thought they were a terrible idea.
Nice, megathreads are crap and make browsing the football forums a chore.
Great job. It will be much more fun to be able to scan the football forum and see what's happening just by reading the thread titles. The newbie forum used to be great for that even if they'd usually create a few too many threads. It felt more accessible and an irregular poster like me could jump into a discussion much easier
I agree with this change. It allows more focused and specific discussion. Sometimes in the Megathreads it feels like there are about 4 different conversations happening at the same time which can be hard to follow. Also as the OP states, it is hard to find particularly updates/news in Megathreads. For example I cannot check Redcafe at work regularly, so when I get home, any particular thread will have grown by several pages, meaning the conversation has moved on completely from what I was previously following, and I need to trawl back through pages and pages potentially to find the source of the current discussion, be it a tweet, article or simply a stupid post which everyone is laughing at.
On the subject of news, to help with the news also, could we not have a non-transferTweets only sticky in the mains (linked also to the Football section) of non-transfer related news on the proviso that it's just Fleet Street journos (inc local papers) and official/trusted sources suchBBC, Sky, club tweets etc). I understand it will likely move quite quickly but it'll be a good one-stop-shop for the days news if you're getting home from work.
As transfers would be excluded you can also rule out the likes of Darren Cann and all those twats.
As transfers would be excluded you can also rule out the likes of Darren Cann and all those twats.
A wise move. Please proceed.
I'll mourn the Rooney thread
Hopefully it works. My initial reaction is it will be a cluster*&ck
I don't think that it is a big deal making this work. In worst case scenario, a mod can simply lock threads which have become large and difficult to follow and open a new thread for that particular player.
Good move. Kudos to the person who suggested it and for it being discussed.
It probably benefits those people who skim the front page and want to talk about specific topics rather than dip into an on-going player discussion between heavy posters. It also helps when you search the forum or in Google about a specific topic, you're more likely to find it - it would be interesting to see how megathreads impacted new visits from search.
The only negatives I can think of is post match where we see lots of threads pop up or where you feel that you'd like to say something but it doesn't deserve it's own thread and you stick it in the closest match.
It probably benefits those people who skim the front page and want to talk about specific topics rather than dip into an on-going player discussion between heavy posters. It also helps when you search the forum or in Google about a specific topic, you're more likely to find it - it would be interesting to see how megathreads impacted new visits from search.
The only negatives I can think of is post match where we see lots of threads pop up or where you feel that you'd like to say something but it doesn't deserve it's own thread and you stick it in the closest match.
fecking brilliant. The mega threads were the worst thing that ever happened to this site. Worse than Weaste in a dress, worse than Pert and Addict being banned. Worse than Eyepopper being made a mod.
I'm happy as long as we keep the 50K thread, although i don't mind a 50K doge only thread.
Sounds great, it'll be a bit more like the newbie football forum which is a great place itself.
It's a great idea imo - less trawling these megathreads to discuss a select topic
Good change I reckon. Although I think heavy emphasis needs to be made on starting threads with news developments rather than opinion, or even news-opinion.
Bad idea IMO.
Good idea IMO.
(I'm gonna make 5 new Kagawa threads per day)
(I'm gonna make 5 new Kagawa threads per day)
About fecking time Niall! It was so shit with the mega threads. Glad we going back to the way it used to be.
I feel really sorry for Moyes. I dread the day I refresh the caf after a defeat and there are 15 or so Moyes out but slightly re-worded threads 
The art to this is common sense. What we don't need is 124 minutely different threads basically on the same subject. This usually happens when something excites you, the inmates.Prompted by a thread in the Admin/Help Forum (https://www.redcafe.net/threads/finding-updates-on-recent-club-news-is-not-easy-on-redcafe.386264/), followed by a discussion among the admins and mods, it has been decided that the preference for 'megathreads' in the main forums is to be phased out. The Newbie Forums are less megathread heavy so this applies less to there.
What's a megathread? It's those massive threads that cover one broad topic (e.g. David Moyes) where members are encouraged to keep the majority of discussions about that topic in that thread.
These massive threads have their advantages, but probably more disadvantages, and we have decided that it's better to encourage members to regularly create more new threads for different discussion topics.
This will make current news relating to United and the wider football world easier to find and discuss.
Example
Instead of a 'Robin Van Persie' megathread, we could have:
* Robin van Persie's comment after the Olympiacos game
* Robin van Persie's future at United in doubt
* Gary Neville tells Robin van Persie to shut up!
* Best of Robin van Persie goals
* Robin van Persie needs to change his hair gel
You get the idea.
Of course, we don't want lots of redundant and/or stupid threads popping up everywhere so please use common sense and do a quick check for existing threads before creating a new one. Or if you see redundant threads, please let a moderator know and we'll merge them.
We are going to be closing the majority of megathreads but a few will still exist (see my next post). For example, all bitching about David Moyes is probably best kept in the Moyes So Far! thread.
Let me know your thoughts on this and any questions/suggestions you have.
Newbies you can discuss this here - https://www.redcafe.net/threads/moving-away-from-megathreads-annoucement.386287/
Update:
To clarify, this applies to the football forums. Megathreads in the other forums? Meh, whatever
This would result in merged and/or deleted threads and warning/infractions all round.I feel really sorry for Moyes. I dread the day I refresh the caf after a defeat and there are 15 or so Moyes out but slightly re-worded threads
in on page 3 of what will surely be another megathread
Great! I used to get my football news from the Caf but the megathreads more or less put a stop to that.
My 2 cents
Been here since 2005 , so I guess here's my 2cents
1. Mega threads are Ok for topics like : Moyes, Rooney, RvP, and mostly every big Manchester United topic, since they are our player/staff/events and will likely to be a continual discussions, and like it or not, any new event considering Moyes (for example) will eventually ended up in the mega thread, ditto with the likes of Rooney and Van Persie. Although on the con sides, several conversations might collide one another, but they'll all converge into the flow, or simply stop being discussed altogther.
2. Single threads are best if you want to simply scan the main screen for new topic of your interest, and discuss that particular topic, but the downside is that normally for Manchester United related sides, this particular topics will relate back to the individual (e.g. Moyes sacking Phelan will have relevance on future Moyes discussion, or at least kept on brought forward at times), so limiting the particular incident (e.g. Moyes sacking Phelan) into its own topics will quickly become redundant, as people will brought this up in the mega threads.
Opinions / inputs:
1. We could create a sort of like "Ticker Threads" where a mega threads of tickers can be put into. So that all you gotta to do is check the last page for recent events related with Manchester United. Discussions will not be permitted in here, only Topics, Links to relevant news (tweets, fb, etc), and if possible links to the thread where this topic starts in the mega thread
EDIT: with a mod / volunteer , it can easily copied into MSwords, created a Table of content, and posted in the first page for easier viewing based on years/alphabetical/dates/etc
Been here since 2005 , so I guess here's my 2cents
1. Mega threads are Ok for topics like : Moyes, Rooney, RvP, and mostly every big Manchester United topic, since they are our player/staff/events and will likely to be a continual discussions, and like it or not, any new event considering Moyes (for example) will eventually ended up in the mega thread, ditto with the likes of Rooney and Van Persie. Although on the con sides, several conversations might collide one another, but they'll all converge into the flow, or simply stop being discussed altogther.
2. Single threads are best if you want to simply scan the main screen for new topic of your interest, and discuss that particular topic, but the downside is that normally for Manchester United related sides, this particular topics will relate back to the individual (e.g. Moyes sacking Phelan will have relevance on future Moyes discussion, or at least kept on brought forward at times), so limiting the particular incident (e.g. Moyes sacking Phelan) into its own topics will quickly become redundant, as people will brought this up in the mega threads.
Opinions / inputs:
1. We could create a sort of like "Ticker Threads" where a mega threads of tickers can be put into. So that all you gotta to do is check the last page for recent events related with Manchester United. Discussions will not be permitted in here, only Topics, Links to relevant news (tweets, fb, etc), and if possible links to the thread where this topic starts in the mega thread
That format should be the only thing that is in the "Ticker thread", A list of tickers of events happening and most importantly the link to the thread will be very useful for us to jump into the start of the topics, wherever they're located (be it in the mega thread or specific thread) as sometimes, even single thread can be pushed down pretty fast and got lost in pages of threads
EDIT: with a mod / volunteer , it can easily copied into MSwords, created a Table of content, and posted in the first page for easier viewing based on years/alphabetical/dates/etc
Last edited:
This is sumptuous news. Finally posters will be able to post splendid news items on a certain player or topic and not get shot down by senior caftards for not filing it under yet another laboriously old fashioned mega thread for it to disappear in.
Last edited:
Good move, the megathreads were a bore.
I'd hate to see the Sergio Canales thread go.
And on the third day they rose again.
Except it didn't take 3 days.
Except it didn't take 3 days.
Hi @Niall
This is a good change, but I have a question if you don't mind. Say for example, Aguero picks up a hamstring injury, and I wanted to post about it. Would I post it in the relevant megathread or would I have to create a new thread named "Aguero and hamstring injuries"?
This is a good change, but I have a question if you don't mind. Say for example, Aguero picks up a hamstring injury, and I wanted to post about it. Would I post it in the relevant megathread or would I have to create a new thread named "Aguero and hamstring injuries"?
Very happy with this news.
My general usage of the Caf has decreased significantly since the introduction of these megathreads, since it's just too laborious to click through pages and pages of new posts to see if anything interesting has been added.
As many have already pointed out, all we need is some common sense and this will work perfectly well, just like it used to.
My general usage of the Caf has decreased significantly since the introduction of these megathreads, since it's just too laborious to click through pages and pages of new posts to see if anything interesting has been added.
As many have already pointed out, all we need is some common sense and this will work perfectly well, just like it used to.
The absolute worst thing has been noticing a thread has had about 10 pages added to it so you read through it, only to find that two people have been having a conversation about 135 ways of putting the player in question into a formation, both eventually deciding they'd have him in the same formation, yet disagreeing and bitching at each other even after this realisation.
Good question and I'm not entirely sure I have a good answer for that example
The player megathreads are now only for discussing player performance this season, but most of those threads are for United players. Given we are playing city in a couple of weeks, Aguero picking up an injury qualifies as news so creating a new thread could be justified. Then again, whether that alone is a topic worthy of a whole thread is open to debate.
For now, favour creating new threads instead of adding to megathreads, we'll see how this new policy develops and hopefully find the right balance over time.
yes there is a lot of that...and the more frustrated they get with each other....the more they write to each other, even after they agree...hence the 10 pages soon becomes 20 very fast!!You need to make a decision as to whether the topic is worthy of discussion and decide accordingly.
For example, if Aguero turned an ankle and is out for a couple of weeks that's not going to generate much discussion. If you've noticed that he's having recurring hamstring injuries (which seems to be the case) that could spark off a discussion about his injury record in his career to date, whether a players with a similar build/style to a young Michael Owen might have the same injury problems, whether he is being rushed back too soon because Pellegrini doesn't trust his other strikers, and so on. You've already come up with a title for just such a thread.
Basically, use your initiative and err on the side of - when in doubt - start a new thread.
What Niall said, basically.
Not sure if it has been brought up.
Finally! a good decision...