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Colloquy?

1K views 30 replies 10 participants last post by  TweedyDon 
#1 ·
It's been a few days since I logged in to AAAC, so I hadn't seen the new name for the forums and didn't see the conversation surrounding it. Why the change? Did not enough people happening on this site by chance think we are a bunch of pompous geeks?
 
#2 ·
It being a word I've never used, being advised by my University of Denver summer of '63 oral interpretation professor(ess) not to reach for words like that, and not being sure of its exact meaning, usage or correct pronounciation, I gave it the Google once over and was surprised not to see the notation arch.
 
#3 ·
@triklops55 - we're making several changes over the course of the next 6 months.

The name & url changes were most recent, and the addition of the community links on the homepage was done in early August.

You can see the full explanation here:
https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/threads/trad-forum-renaming.243054/post-1959778

You can also see some other information here:
https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/threads/expanding-our-participation.243063/

I chose colloquy because it generally means a conversation, though many definitions state it means a more formal conversation or discussion. It's also a synonym for "forum" -- a term we're trying to remove from our site vocabulary and replacing it with community.
 
#4 ·
I was going to keep my trap shut, but now that someone else has spoken up....I, too, was put off by the word “Colloquy” when it became part of the new heading. The word has its place; e.g., in serious articles and editorials. It can also be used sardonically, such as when a writer wants to highlight the inanity of a conversation between two high school girls by, with mock seriousness, referring to their chatter as a “colloquy.”

As part of a discussion heading in this website, however, the word is pretentious.

By the way, what’s wrong with “Forum”? It’s a good, solid meat-and-potatoes word.
 
#6 ·
@smmrfld @Charles Dana - Very happy to hear alternatives, but we're not going back to the use of the term forum.

I've already explained why in the first linked thread, so feel free to read that so you have a broader context.

That said, I'm not tied to the term Colloquy at all. I largely changed it to that to remove the term forum.

Suggestions?

Ask Andy's Style [insert your suggestion here]
 
#11 ·
With the idea that those of us who are already here could care less what the place is called, but recognize the need to capture the casual passer-by (as the OP alludes) with something that is a bit more relatable than colloquy, a suggestion...

Welcome to Ask Andy's Talk-a-Lot where you get to jabber away about your clothes, or anybody's clothes, twenty-four hours a day. Ask questions, get answers, make comments, show stuff. It's like Open Mike night, except in writing. Ask Andy's Talk-a-Lot, now serving hot discussions on clothing. Participate right from your couch. No need to dress up. But if you really cared about clothes, you would.

Wondering also about a graphic refresh. Oprah has a fresh picture of herself each month on the cover of Oprah. Andy's had the same pic up for six years.
 
#16 ·
Welcome to Ask Andy's Talk-a-Lot
Appreciate the suggestion. I think you're headed in the right direction. See some suggestions below.

I don't think you are going to attract a younger demographic no matter what you do.
We never said that we're making these changes to attract a younger demo. Though what is younger? We have members of all ages here.

We're making the changes to stay current. If we didn't stay current, we'd still be running an HTML website and running on an old BBS :)

Some Ideas:
Ask Andy's Style Discussion
Ask Andy's Style Talk
Ask Andy's Style Roundtable
Ask Andy's Style Banter
Ask Andy's Style Townhall

Thoughts?
 
#12 ·
I don't think you are going to attract a younger demographic no matter what you do. Forums are for old guys-- gen-x and up. If you want the younger demographic, you'll need to do a TikTok.

Personally I like forums, but then I used to like usenet and the Compuserve forums as well, so don't look to me for advice.
 
#22 ·
#23 ·
Looking to change Colloquy to something else today.

Here are the options:
Ask Andy's Style Discussion
Ask Andy's Style Talk
Ask Andy's Style Round Table
Ask Andy's Style Banter
Ask Andy's Style Townhall

@delicious_scent voted for Ask Andy's Style Round Table

Any seconds? Or votes for others?

@triklops55
@Peak and Pine
@Charles Dana
@smmrfld
@some_dude
@IT_cyclist

@Lucido - the issue with the website should be fixed. @Todo10 worked on it a good part of yesterday.
I like both Round Table and Discussion.
 
#27 · (Edited)
I like "discussion," or maybe "discussions." Self explanatory, unpretentious, simple and to the point. Thanks for allowing us to provide input. BTW, I started this thread just for fun, but I'm glad it resulted in a productive discussion.

As for ways to reach a broader audience, I'm not sure about Tik Tok since I'm a nearly-44-year-old man who's never explored it. But AAAC's Instagram account seems underused. Perhaps more frequent posting, with pictures submitted by members asking questions, sharing their outfits, product endorsement, using more hashtags etc. would be helpful to attract folks to these "discussions" via Instagram.
 
#29 ·
A question: Why isn't the term "forum" "current"? Styleforum seems FAR more active and engaged than AAAC and pretty clearly has a demographic that skews younger than AAAC, and yet... it's still a Forum!

I don't object to the removal of this term--I'm rarely here now in any case--but I'm puzzled by it. I don't see how it's supposed to be "current" at all.

And "colloquy" is simply pretentious.
 
#30 ·
Why isn't the term "forum" "current"?
Well, everything is subjective honestly. But, if you look at this in a macro sense, "forum" is the software used to host an online community. There are online communities everywhere -- they just use different software.

Xenforo is the forum software we use to host our online community. Again, terminology is subjective for sure. People can call it whatever they like, but our site terminology has switched over to using community.

One data-point: If you visit Xenforo.com (the forum software we use), you'll see they themselves use Community instead of /forum/.

And "colloquy" is simply pretentious.
Appreciate the feedback. Yes, we changed it to "Discussion" on Sunday. We definitely do not want to give off a pretentious vibe at all.

Styleforum seems FAR more active and engaged than AAAC and pretty clearly has a demographic that skews younger than AAAC, and yet... it's still a Forum!
I don't think terminologies determine activity or engagement levels.

You're right. StyleForum is far more active than our community, but it isn't because they're calling their platform a forum. It's because they've done something different/better than we have in the past.

Maybe their members have been more welcoming then ours have been in past years (not now). Maybe it's because they have incorporated more casual discussion boards, like Streetwear and Denim. Maybe they just ran their online community better than we did in the past.

Our site's traffic has been declining for several years, and we've been negatively hit by several Google algorithm updates over the course of the last few.

Some of that is outlined here:
https://askandyaboutclothes.com/community/threads/trad-forum-renaming.243054/post-1959778

Not that we need to be competitive with Style Forum, but we've been working hard over the last couple of years to restructure, reframe, and optimize our entire site's eco-system. It's been a TON of work, and there's still so much more to do.

Maybe the changes will help, maybe they won't. We're doing the best we can.

Of course, I'm always open to hear suggestions on ways we can improve. I can promise you that I will always seriously consider any/all feedback & suggestions.
 
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