Kirk and I have had a short discussion on the use of the "forums" that are assigned to each new post. We both think these forum categories are an under-used tool that could make site navigation easier. For example, many people want to make certain topical posts sticky because once that post sinks a few pages down, it can be hard to find again, which limits its usefulness. But if we had a forum devoted exclusively, for example, to people's experiences with journals, this would be a much smaller problem.
So, we are taking a poll: please give us any suggestions you have about what forums and subforums you find useful, whether the current forums and their structure should be adjusted, and what additions you'd suggest. I have listed some proposals below as a starting point. Hopefully this sort of modification can improve the site as a job market rumors board, while encouraging the kind of discussion that keeps people interested year-round.
My thoughts:
In the "Economics" category:
- Create a "policy" or "policy debates" category. Maybe create separate macro policy and micro policy forums?
- Split "research/journals" into two or three topics: "journals" on its own and something like "research and methods", or separate "methods" and "research discussion" subforums?
In "Job Market":
- create an "econometrics theory" category
- create something like an "applied" or "applied metrics" category, to capture things like labor, development, etc. Or, have many individual field rumors categories
In "Off Topic"
- create a "politics" category
- create a "site administration" category, for moderation requests, posts expressing concerns about moderation practices, site update notifications from Kirk, etc.
Would it make navigation easier if each post's forum was more clearly indicated on the front page?
Thanks for your thoughts,
Dr. R.M.