Next - if we sub-forum it - I covered that alternative. We've actually seen an actual solution get pushed off the front page while the forum's self-made superstars argued the same things in the other threads - chest thumping until they missed the real news themselves. That would lead to them being given infractions, or warnings or whatever. Normally, those same kinda guys are the most helpful, so if we have a system that encourages their strong participation on one hand but punishes them on the other... unfair.
And it encourages a system where someone with real news doesn't get heard at all - unfair.
Just recently, we put in the suggestion box a number of schemes that we might try to alleviate this. We announced it in the top forum sticky. We listened to everyone's input and are looking for improvement. Too few responded to help us suggest things.
I'm pretty sure I even personally put out a call for participation from the Captivate gang.
So long as people ignore that this issue is being discussed and ignore that what they have as breaking news is already being discussed, they start new threads - and each thread degrades into flaming over whether to root or not to get froyo, or stop whining because I love my phone, etc, etc.
That wouldn't happen if people followed our guidelines.
In the time I answered this, I killed 3 spammers and stopped a troll using two usernames to incite arguments.
We don't combine because we like it or because it's easier for us. We do it because no one has suggested a reasonable workaround that's fair.
That said - we might revamp the entire site to use prefixing (instead of subforums) to solve this problem. We're still trying to figure out if that solves the problem or shifts it.
Today, a guy posted a new thread. One user pointed him at the main froyo thread - instead of reporting it. He ignored that user redirect, asked more questions and got more responses - to the same subject.
Threads are for subjects.
I've even asked people if they wanted some of this broken into sub-subjects to allow them to argue whatever points that way - got politely flamed for my asking.
I don't know what else to tell you - we're trying to keep it fair for everyone, but when users abuse the system, all we can do is enforce.
But as a forum admin myself, you can't just resort to inaction simply because you didn't get enough votes on a topic. Feedback is useful in decision making, but the admins still need to take action regardless of the amount of feedback received. The current "everything in one wastebasket" system for GPS and Froyo issues only appeals to those who aren't interested in the topic. It does not serve those that are... and in fact, makes life a nightmare for them. Sub-boards get the topics out-of-sight for those who don't care, while providing organized topics for those who do... the same way we don't have just a "Samsung Captivate" board and a lumped-together "All other Android phones" thread/board.
