In another thread, Edders wrote:
...my thoughts on omni threads are for things like guide dog refusals , "uber local" , DVLA swoops etc where all together enables much easier comparisons and also a much easier to grasp idea of the scale of such problems
As I said in the other thread, that's a good idea on one level, but on another level rather than omni-thread they might turn into a bit of an omni-shambles
And some of the threads are shambolic enough as it is, which is why it's a good thing the threads rarely get too long, so are self-contained and manageable, with the Oxford-Abingdon sexual assault case being a good example, as it's spread over several years, yet it's all in one place.
Another thing is that while it might have been more of a good idea if omni threads had been done from day 1, obviously that's not the case, so to a degree it's not a good idea to start arranging things differently now. And it's not really feasible to go back a few years and rearrange things, and although that's maybe feasible for the last few weeks, that begs the question, if it's just the last few weeks then what's the point?
Although it's academic now, if I was to start a similar site today then it would be a good idea to use software that supports tags, so although the stories would be arranged pretty much as they are on here, you could tag each thread with categories like 'Assistance dogs', 'Sexual assaults', 'Driver robberies', 'WAVs', etc etc.
Then if necessary you could click on the category and every article tagged 'Driver robberies' (say) would appear in a single thread. So essentially that would retain the current system and have omni-threads at the same time.
But, again, that ship sailed long ago...
Polite request: In a similar vein, could those starting threads, particularly in the news section, provide some unique or distinguishing information in the thread title that enables threads to be found easily at a later date.
For example, 'Police issue appeal after driver robbed', or 'Taxi drivers to be sent on safeguarding course', are a bit, er, generic, and difficult to distinguish from similar threads at a later date.
Most obviously, I almost always include some indication of the geographical location in the thread title, generally either the town/city/county or licensing authority, although which is most appropriate will depend on the particular case.
For example, a tariff proposal might be best described in terms of the particular licensing council, whereas a robbery in Birmingham might be better just to use Birmingham (or Brum if space is an issue). On the other hand, it's good to be as specific as possible about a location (Salford or Bolton rather than Greater Manchester, say), while it shouldn't be so obscure that no one's likely to have heard of it, such as a small village somewhere.