Ok, so apparently I'm an administrator now.  So as my first act in this new position. . .

Reflecting that activity on the Forums has come to a virtual standstill, SigmaNine will be altering their layout to cut out the dead space and promote traffic on the important boards.  In effect, this means reducing the number of forums available, and integrating currently idle or unnecessary boards with larger, related "umbrella groups".

The theory is that, currently, the large list of forums overwhelms the users, causing them only to check a handful of boards.  Multiple boards with specialized themes naturally cultivate smaller audiences than larger boards with more general themes; and on an already small community, the userbase becomes so fragmented that each individual board cannot function, and people lose interest.

Our solution is to combine like boards to the point of creating a small handful of perhaps four boards.  The result will better accommodate the close-knit, small-scale community we really are.  Members will now be able to easily check on all of the boards, and each new post will be exposed to the entire community instead of its small niche, hopefully creating a cycle the will increase traffic on all boards.

We recognize that the value of SigmaNine is as a more laid-back and flexible alternative to the GMC, while avoiding the chaos and hectic strain of the YoYo Forums.  As such, many of our signature attractions will remain, but the overall forums will be condensed.

Here's a list of the proposed changes (subject to, well, change):
1. News & Announcements will be combined with Rules & Regulations
2. Suggestions will now encompass Bug Reports and several posts from SigmaNine.NET Development.
3. The remainder of SigmaNine.NET Development will be removed.
4. Decommission Competitions.  All new site-sponsored competitions will be handled in the fusion-board of News and Rules, all new member competitions will be handled in General Chat.
5. Delete the Awards board.  A sticky topic for it has been created in General Chat.
6. Delete the Introduce Yourself board.  A sticky topic for it has been created in General Chat.
7. General Chat shall absorb Controversy & Debate and Forum Games with certain extra rules on the later.
8. General Chat shall be renamed to "Sigma Plaza" to sound less generic ;P
9. All threads in boards under the "Entertainment" or "Tech" categories which have at least 25 posts will be divided between Member Creations and General Chat as appropriate.  The remainder will be left in those boards as they are decommissioned.  All new discussions of these various media should take place either in Member Creations or General Chat as appropriate.

The final boards will look as follows:
Site Information (For news and rules)
Site Suggestions/Problems (For member-suggested improvements and bug reports or general site issues)
Member Creations (For in-depth discussion of the main focus of the site, indie products in all media.)
Sigma Plaza (For everything that doesn't fit into one of the above categories)

The change should take place in about a week, after all the necessary topics have been moved.  The topics for Awards and Introductions have already been created in General Chat.

Please note that topics from the "Introduce Yourself" and "Awards boards will not  be moved.  If you want to preserve something from there, you will have to take the initiative in adding it to the new topics.  All "Controversy and Debate" and "Bug Report / Forum Help" threads which contain at least ten posts will be moved to their new homes.  All topics in boards categorized under "Entertainment" or "Tech" will follow the guidelines specified in item number nine of the changes list.  And finally, every other topic will be left where it is unless an appeal is made.