We have Parents Forum and Parent Cafe. I’m not sure that the difference is clear to those looking for college advice. In Cafe, we have conversations about recipes, TV shows, NYT games, etc. In the broader Parents Forum, we have a hodge podge of college related conversations that probably are better suited in other forums. Have you considered renaming Parents Forum to make it’s purpose more clear to users?
Honestly, I never look at a forum name.
I’ve had stuff blocked (wrong category), moved to the right category.
You name it.
If I see a subject of interest, I respond.
I couldn’t tell you what categories we have overall or if I start a thread, where it goes.
Historically the parent forum is for education related topics that parents want to discuss and the cafe was for topics unrelated to education.
I appreciate it when people do pay attention to what sub forum they are replying to as we are volunteers and not alway on the site and it creates unnecessary extra work.
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Adding to @momofboiler1 's comment, CC (senior?) members can also assist in moving topics by opening the thread, clicking on the thread name, and selecting the forum that is a better fit for the subject.
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Is there a way to add a description box with text explaining the purpose of the Forum vs. the Cafe with a sample of appropriate topics for each channel?
Paging @CC_MacKenzie
How about just extending the names to: Parent Forum- Education and Parent Cafe-Social
The text box description does exist for the café if you access it from the homepage
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I was also thinking along the lines of formal & informal. And perhaps a distinction between Forum Rules & Guidelines versus Cafe Rules & Guidelines.
I’ve been wondering where all those fun social threads are posted! They don’t show up when I look at Latest or New but occasionally there are some along the side of the page and I didn’t know how to find them. Looks like I was going to Parent Forum in the Community page but parent cafe isn’t there.
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Parent forum also talks about housing, food, clubs etc
Are those discussions about college housing, college food, and college clubs? If so, they would fall under the “education” umbrella.
Isn’t the vast majority of CC considered education? If so, what is the intent of an education forum for parents? Shouldn’t those questions go into Paying for College, Pre College Topics, Applying to College, College Life, Search and Selection, etc.?
I’m not saying that it shouldn’t exist. I just see overlap and feel that a lot of questions would receive more responses if they were posted in a forum related to the topic.
For sure, there is a lot of overlap! From my perspective, the threads in the parent forum are usually broader and more open for a discussion whereas the threads that go into the specific college forums, we expect those conversation to stay focused on the original posters question.
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Hopefully other moderators will chime in here too!
I move a decent amount of threads. Usually they are threads in Chance Me or Applying to College that are more appropriate in College Search & Lists or in Comparing College Options. I’m always hesitant about moving a thread from Parents Forum because I’m not sure if the OP had a reason for posting it there. That’s when I realized that I don’t really have a good understanding of the intent of Parents Forum.
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While users in good standing are free to answer questions on any forum, I’ve always interpreted the Parents Forum as the parent is most interested in college-related feedback from his/her peers.
I rarely move threads in or out of the parents forum except to/from the cafe
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I will give my opinion.
The sections you have noted are very narrow. There are times when the questions posed in the Parents Forum are much broader. I do not see a problem with this at all. And I also don’t see a problem with some overlap of areas.
Re: the Parent Cafe…It is for those folks who have been long time contributors and feel comfortable asking other kinds of questions of this community of posters. Many of us have been on this forum for a long time, and have a sense of community here. I would hate to see that lost…and possibly lose members/posters if that changes.
I’ve spoken on the phone with a few CC admins over the years, and one thing I have emphasized with them all is the sense of community this forum has fostered. When the Parent Cafe was created, it was specifically to address posting that was not college related, but was more of a social nature with posters. I would hate to see that change.
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