Changes To Projects & Construction Section

[Ed007Toronto]

Page 1 would talk about the original plan, page 14 would talk about the work stoppage on the construction due to funds running out and market slowdown, page 22 would talk about a redesign, page 28 would talk about another redesign, etc. We need a way to quickly get to news because this forum is as much about hearing about new developments in the city as it is discussing those new developments.

Well if you stay current, say every couple of days, it shouldn't be hard to keep up. Go to the last post and work backwards to the point you left off at. That's what I do now. No reason to go to page 14 if we're at page 28 unless you are new and catching up. The Toronto Retail thread works fine for me and that's how it is organized.

 

[EnviroTO]

The Retail Thread is an example of one I no longer follow. I don't read every single post on the forum and try to focus on things that I know are new topics or that I have posted in and am active in the discussion.

 

[Ed007Toronto]

Let me give you another example. When I first joined the forum my original posts were pictures of 1 King getting started construction. Hundred's of 1 King threads since then and the vast majority of those threads and pictures are long gone. A waste of a great resource. One 1 King thread would still be around and it would have a ton of great old and new info still available.

 

[EnviroTO]

The One King thread worked OK because everytime there was a significant addition the thread title changed to indicate new pictures as of a certain date, however, if there was important news and the thread title was not changed I wouldn't know that important new information was available. Perhaps there maybe the Renderings forum should be expanded to include all project news (i.e. new construction pictures, renderings, city planning reports, news articles, etc.) and the Projects and Construction forum could remain as the place for actual discussions with URL links to the non-discussion area. This would allow discussions about a specific phase or aspect of a project to have its own thread and allow people to look at the discussion and decide if they are interested in that particular discussion or want to pass it by, but still know when new pictures or real news develops.

Example:
Thread Title: "Comments on the Bay Adelaide Update of 2006-05-24"

Thanks for posting the new details on Bay Adelaide. I really don't mind the way the building looks.

Link to pictures

 

[21stcenturymichael]

I have to say that I agree with EnviroTO. I fear that one thread per development would be hard to keep up with. I always find that I lose track of what's happening in the longer threads. Not all of us are able to check in every day or two. Perhaps these issues could be addressed through subforums, or perhaps EnviroTO's idea of having an "official" thread for important information, but allowing for separate discussion threads.

I think my biggest qualm with the proposal has to do with the photo updates. To me, those updates are one of the greatest features of this site, and the photographers are to be commended. I love seeing the state of various projects on one particular day, comparing the progress of each. Sometimes you feel as though you are walking along with the poster who took the photos, from project to project. I would be disappointed if those updates were divided so that photos of each project were parsed out to different threads. I also think it would be harder to keep track of new photo updates.

 

[bizorky]

This is good news!

Thanks Billy for all the hard work you have put in. It is appreciated.

 

[alklay]

Thanks for all the hard work and I too want to repeat that it is very much appreciated.

I like the idea of one thread for each project but also love the 'photo update' threads that show off a host of projects as a result of somebody's Sunday walk. I am not sure how this will resolve itself but perhaps those who post will be able to put their gifts in two threads, the one for the building and their own seperate one (it will probably just mean cutting and pasting some links).

Anyhow, lets see how the new threads work. It's a good idea worth carrying out.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

One way it could work is to have all the photo updates in a another subforum, and provide links from the P&C threads to it. That will involve a lot of work though.

AoD

 

[cassiusa]

Too bad there isn't a way for construction photo updaters to add flags to their pictures (ex: construction, spire, 20060701 etc) so that they could still post construction updates of all the projects they've just taken pictures of. Then have the site automatically search-out specific flag keywords to generate the official project thread's list of images.

 

[Archivistower]

Thanks Billy for all your hard work. UrbanToronto has become over the past years a big part of my life, and if the forum seemed at all like many other discussion groups, I would simply have stopped coming back. I'll never forget the morning that we were hacked and for a short time I thought I was banned. It was like my pet dog had died.

I look forward to the changes to UrbanToronto and to continuing to be a part of the life of the forum as it develops and changes under Ed's considered stewardship.

 

[EnviroTO]

Big thanks to you BC for creating the forum and administrating it over the past... how many years has it been? It was such a relief to get off the skyscraper forum due to the quality of discussions here and while the EZBoard software here might not be great I notice more performance issues on other forums. What is bringing about the transfer in roles? I hope you aren't being transferred to Philly or Detroit or we might never hear the end of how successful those places are compared to Toronto.

 

[ganjavih]

All hail King Edward 00-VII!

Also thanks to Billy for developing UT and making it into what it is today... a place where people can discuss urban issues and architecture, share photographs or blow some steam off about whatever they want. Let's face it, as urbanites we're the minority, so it's good to have a civilised place where we can gather, discuss ideas and perhaps even influence things... without being thrown off by trolls and twelve year olds who keep tabs on what city has the most 500 footers.

Upward and onward!

 

[DaninToronto2]

I will admit that I look forward all day to coming and checking the fantastic discussions that are on here each and every day. No where else can you find the equality information that has become the norm on Urbantoronto.

Thanks BC for all the hard work and Ed for keeping us going in the future.

 

[Mike in TO]

Thanks BC for saving that small group of us from the discussions at skyscraperpage four years ago. I always look forward to visiting UT and the high level of discussion and information exchange here.

 

[ahrvojic]

UT is one of the rare oases of intelligent discussion I've come across on the web and I only wish I stumbled upon it earlier.

It's been a relief to discover that there are many others passionate about this city outside the hockey rink.