Discussion Changes to the Spaceflight News Forum

[Unstung]

Members may notice that the number of pinned threads has decreased in this forum because I recently unpinned some. I would like to fill everybody in before I merge a few pinned threads, an action that may not be reversible. If people have issues with certain events, I will consider halting or reversing specific changes.

After a consensus of five other people in the Spaceflight News Posters group, I have unpinned five threads (*SpaceX Falcon 9 F5 CRS SpX-2 through CRS SpX-12 Updates, *Orion (MPCV) Updates and Discussion, and *these *three *threads that are inactive and similar). The next step is to merge a few threads, which is planned to happen soon. The changes are listed below (most recent version):

• Merge the Progress and Soyuz update threads into ISS UPDATES to reduce clutter. (Further reasoning for this is given in paragraph 3)
• Unpinned the Orion and SpX-2 through SpX-12 Updates threads. They will be updated when a major event happens like any regular thread. (Paragraph 2)
• The two inactive question threads will be merged into a more efficient, general spaceflight Q/A thread that may gain more attention.
• The "Index list of all orbital launch attempts worldwide" and "Master Index of Spaceflight News Archive" threads are redundant and the latter is inactive, so it was unpinned.
• The "Recent space launches and events..." and "Space Launches and Events..." threads are redundant to what's referenced above, therefore they have been unpinned.
• There will be four efficient, inclusive threads that are pinned. (ISS UPDATES, "Index list...", General Spaceflight Q/A, and Spaceflight Video Thread)

The gist is that the number of pinned threads can be considered excessive. Pinned threads that inform people on international programs or answer common questions will remain untouched. All other topics will be treated equally.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Sorry to be late to the discussion. The only problem I have is with the Progress and Soyuz flight threads - I definitely have no problem unpinning them (I never thought they would be left as sticky threads anyway), but I think these flights have enough importance to have dedicated threads in here, unless you also want to merge the ATV/HTV/Dragon etc. threads into that too.

Thoughts?

 

[Unstung]

Sorry to be late to the discussion. The only problem I have is with the Progress and Soyuz flight threads - I definitely have no problem unpinning them (I never thought they would be left as sticky threads anyway), but I think these flights have enough importance to have dedicated threads in here, unless you also want to merge the ATV/HTV/Dragon etc. threads into that too.

Thoughts?

Since both Progress and Soyuz are Russian vehicles, I was first considering merging them together. I know that there are other supply vehicles, but separate missions have been covered in their own threads (unlike CRS SpX-2 through 12). Merging all the supply vehicle update threads may limit the attention that each program gets, but they too are part of normal ISS operations which I have not thought about. I won't merge the Progress and Soyuz update threads to ISS UPDATES. But what do you think about a "ISS Progress and Soyuz flights updates" thread? Both spacecraft bring "stuff" to the ISS in the same way (I think), but one safely returns people. Launching Soyuz and Progress vehicles have become commonplace. If anything unusual or significant happens during a mission, a separate NEWS thread can be created until the issue is resolved.

It would be too much to pin all resupply vehicle threads but unfair to pin one. It can be argued to pin a Soyuz/Soyuz and Progress thread because they currently bring all astronauts to the ISS. I can agree with an exception for manned spaceflight. I think the Soyuz mission updates are important enough to be pinned. Dream Chaser, Dragon/DragonRider, and CST-100 threads can be discussed in the future along with Orion once they fly with people.

For efficiency, it would be good to define what should be pinned. My thoughts are that inclusive topics deserve to be, which includes the ISS (involving many nations), Q/A, the list of launches worldwide, and videos. Judging from that, both Soyuz and Progress do not qualify without an exception. Perhaps there can be a pinned thread for general updates on manned spaceflight, with each post briefly describing a new mission and linking to a dedicated thread (although it's similar to the "Index list"). This would negate the idea to merge the Progress and Soyuz threads for simplicity, just unpin them.

---------- Post added at 05:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 AM ----------

Looks like the Progress and Soyuz threads have been unpinned. That solves my waffling about a solution to what happens with those threads. One more change to go. I will give this thread another day before I merge two threads to make "General Spaceflight Q/A".


The changes are complete as of this edit.