Restructuring the forums

Rajiv S. Khanna

Rajiv S. Khanna

HOST, Immigration.Com
Staff member
I have started restructuring the forums. Mostly I am creating new categories where needed and hiding the ones that are not needed. I have finished nonimmigrant visas from B through L this morning and restructured the Canadian forums. You folks need to let me know if something needs to be done differently.

Regards to all. Rajiv.
 
My suggestion

Hi rajiv,

Glad to know that you want to do this, as this is required on priority as each and every individual is creatinga thread, which is making difficult for forum members to get required info and also waste of Memory space etc.
My suggestion would be like this, Others can add.

In Immigrant visas- CP thread,

Sub THREADS should be

1) Issues after 140 approval and before case reached NVC.

2) Issues at NVC before case sent to respective US consulates
( Which includes CASE CRAEtion,DS3032 forms,FEE Bills,,St.louis cheuque receipts,ds230-part1 creation,receipt & maiing of ds230 forms,Entering details in NVc system,Approvalof ds230, mailing to
respecteive US consulate)

* This can be sub divided or kept in one thread.

3) Issues at US consualates ( After case received & Till Interviews are over)
3A) Chennai-
3B) Mumbai
3C) Delhi
3D) Monttreal
3E) China
3F) Other Countries

4) POE & Plastic card Issues

5) Other CP issues.

All the best
Sri-IL
 
Hi Rajiv,

Thanks for this very informative site.

I would like to suggest a page under each Service Center with the headings 'Case' 'RD' 'EAC#' 'Status' etc etc. This page should be updatable by visitors to this forum page. A person can enter his/her case, status and other details 'on one line'. eg :

Case RD EAC# Status
------- ------- ------------- --------
I-485 11/30/01 EAC-02-063-5..... Approved on 4/22/03

This will give us the statistics of each type of case and will eliminate unnecessary threads.

Thanks and best regards....
:)
 
Most of the time new people are asking the same questions which are repeated by many before. Also people do not read all the forums daily. A person waiting for Green Card from Vermont Service Center, will daily visit (and post questions) only on the
I485 Issues in Vermont Service Center Forum.
In order to avoid people visiting this forum, from posting the same
old and important question again, i suggest that you should create a sub forum within the main forum. I mean create a forum called "FAQ for I485 issues in Vermont Service Centre". Don't allow users/readers to create threads there. It's going to be messy and does not serve the purpose for which this sub forum is created. You create the standard threads (AC21 rules, AC21 Salary issues,EAD renewal issues,AP issues,Layoff before 180 days issues, employment gap before/after 180 days issues etc).
Allow the readers to post questions and answers within each thread. This will bring a lot of benefits to every one and one can easily reference old answers to popular topics. The current setup pushes the old topics to older pages because people creating new threads daily.
-Satish
 
Keep your suggestions coming

I am noting it all. It has been a while since we did an overhaul of the forum structure. Now that one of the new servers is in place, i actually feel like I can access the discussions. Previously things were too darn slow for impatient me.:)
 
Make it mandatory to sign in

I suggest we should make everybody sign in to view or post messages. This will give us more people sharing their views. Also it may be good idea to review all active threads and merge /move/restructure all related threads.
 
I agree with Philly Silly June Moon. Mandatory sign in will also ensure higher participation, this site pretty much is a monopolist and the best source of immi. info on the net today, and as long as sign in is free, you'd get an immense increase in logged on users ..

Though please don't make it a pay site .. y'know we laid off people waiting for GC's .. paying lawyers such heavy fees .. and long distance calls to INS.. already frustrated with INS .. don't need anymore stress .. . ARRGHH !!!
 
No way

I was offered a good price for the web site two years ago (well into seven figures). These guys were really persistent. I kept turning them down, but they kept making higher offers. Finally I had to tell them one does not sell ones children. I started this web site with three pages. The entire philosophy was - let us give away all that we can (as long as it does not hurt us). Today, immigration.com is a good source of positive things of all kinds for us and for many, many people. As long as the Firm can afford it (and thanks to you all and a very hard working, dedicated team, the firm can afford it) we will NOT have the individuals pay for this. So that is not even an issue. But I do need help to make it better.

I feel mandatory sign on is a real turn off for me. All participation should be completely voluntary. In fact, may be we could have two kinds of areas: one fully open and the other continuing as we have it now. I am not much worried about too many silly people coming and putting in trash for two reasons: one, we do not advertise anywhere. So we only get word of mouth visitors. Therefore, general public is largely unaware of our existence. I intend to keep it that way; and two, our community is pretty active. Our moderators get word of inappropriate postings right away. Also we can ask for more volunteer moderators from among you folks. I have been doing that already.

Those are my thoughts.

Originally posted by Silly Man
I agree with Philly Silly June Moon. Mandatory sign in will also ensure higher participation, this site pretty much is a monopolist and the best source of immi. info on the net today, and as long as sign in is free, you'd get an immense increase in logged on users ..

Though please don't make it a pay site .. y'know we laid off people waiting for GC's .. paying lawyers such heavy fees .. and long distance calls to INS.. already frustrated with INS .. don't need anymore stress .. . ARRGHH !!!
Click to expand...
 
Rajiv, you are awesome .. THANKS. Please let me know if there is anything I can do on my part to help this screwy immigration process .. and that promise holds true even after I get a GC or become a citizen.
 
Excellent! Thanks.


Originally posted by Silly Man
Rajiv, you are awesome .. THANKS. Please let me know if there is anything I can do on my part to help this screwy immigration process .. and that promise holds true even after I get a GC or become a citizen.
Click to expand...
 
A little criticism...

OK first off I am glad you shot down the recommendation about mandatory sign in. Since bulk of the visitors are lurkers (as in majority of user forums) it does not make sense to feel superior just because you have posted something in this forum or any forum.

Next thing I feel is that by taking down the most active forum to a sub level you are only frustrating access. Is the restructuring based on access or posts? For example the general issues sub forum in the H1 forum need to be in the root than in the branches.

Please consider this. of the privileged few allowed to work here, H visa holders are the least noticed and least appreciated. All other visas seem to offer a way out. So do you want to be champions of the under dogs (as you claim to be) or want to satisfy outspoken nuts or want to simply a business venture targetting in attracting more browsers...

H visa forum is just an example. Reclassification should be directed more by passion then by business, unless ...

Just in case, you are wondering, yes I used to be in H1, but it was a while ago.
 
Re: A little criticism...

The restructuring I did earlier was based on logic. Each visa in its own place without regard to user activity.

I have no desire to be anyone's champion nor do I suffer from the messiah complex. I do what feels right and to heck with what people think. When I first started my own practice, people used to think I am nuts for helping anyone who called me randomly. I did it becuase I felt like it. The same tradition continues to this day. Increased business was not the purpose but a natural byproduct of what I love to do. :)

Anyhow, criticism is an essential part of improvement. I am not clear about specifically what you are recommending. Please explain.


Originally posted by jaxen

Next thing I feel is that by taking down the most active forum to a sub level you are only frustrating access. Is the restructuring based on access or posts? For example the general issues sub forum in the H1 forum need to be in the root than in the branches.

Please consider this. of the privileged few allowed to work here, H visa holders are the least noticed and least appreciated. All other visas seem to offer a way out. So do you want to be champions of the under dogs (as you claim to be) or want to satisfy outspoken nuts or want to simply a business venture targetting in attracting more browsers...

H visa forum is just an example. Reclassification should be directed more by passion then by business, unless ...

Just in case, you are wondering, yes I used to be in H1, but it was a while ago.
Click to expand...
 
I am unclear why the main forum in each of the visa categories has been put into another sub-category. Now we have to click once more to get into the general issues. I liked it the way it was earlier. Also a forum to archive experiences at the consulates would be very useful.
 
Sure

Originally posted by Raj1994
I am unclear why the main forum in each of the visa categories has been put into another sub-category. Now we have to click once more to get into the general issues. I liked it the way it was earlier. Also a forum to archive experiences at the consulates would be very useful.
Click to expand...


....But now, it looks like it is much easier to find related posts. No? Otherwise, the psosts were all over the place. I am monitoring the H visa forums. So far all looks good.

By the way, the level of response of users tells me that people do not eally care about the organization of the forums. Pretty much everything is OK. So the few of us who are interested will have eto do the best we can.

Keep your comments coming. Regards and thanks.
 
hi rajiv

background color of you site is not good, imagine very light blue background color...........or something more softer
front page is not attractive.
log in should be on the top not at bottom.
if you can add some cool links.........like a decent site for health insurance for parent/people visiting from india.
disclaimer should be at the bottom.

if you can add sub-category in diff service center.
-----eg vermont service center
------------------------H1-B-fied, problems. etc
-------------------------stage 1, labour filed, probs etc
------------------------stage 2-i 140, problems, Q&A
-----------------------stage 3 i-485
------------------------life after GC
 
Originally posted by SEEMA BAJAJ
hi rajiv

background color of you site is not good, imagine very light blue background color...........or something more softer
front page is not attractive.
log in should be on the top not at bottom.
if you can add some cool links.........like a decent site for health insurance for parent/people visiting from india.
disclaimer should be at the bottom.

if you can add sub-category in diff service center.
-----eg vermont service center
------------------------H1-B-fied, problems. etc
-------------------------stage 1, labour filed, probs etc
------------------------stage 2-i 140, problems, Q&A
-----------------------stage 3 i-485
------------------------life after GC
Click to expand...

Thanks Seema. This helps. I will see how many of these features we can implement.
 
Hello Rajiv,

Its great to know that you turned down the offer to sell this site,
and also that people like you still exist in this highly commercial world .

It doesnt get any selfless than that.

My humble suggestions :

1. Dont allow postings under "I-485 Issues" directly. People can post in their respective Sub Forums such as "485 Issues for Vermont Service centre" or "485 Issues for California Service centre" etc....
I always tend to miss these posts since they are way below at the bottom of my screen and also since they are in one way or other related to a particular service center.

2. Provide a way to jump to a "Favourite Forum" soon after logon.
Preferably under the "welcome Back <username> " .
This "Favourite Forum" can be part of "user preferences".

Thanks,
 
Re: Hello Rajiv,

Oh no. Not selling was selfish. I like hosting this site. I have communiated with many good people and represented many others through this site. It is a pretty cool medium.

I compltely agree with your point 1, but I will watch the H-1 forum or a few days. If you note, I have already implemented these changes over there.

The type of personilaztion you spek of may be possible. I will speak with the techies in a couple of weeks. I have a meeting scheduled tomorrow afternoon, but I am not yet done collecting and refining all the specs. So please let me have all the suugestions now. Thanks.


Originally posted by eternity
Its great to know that you turned down the offer to sell this site,
and also that people like you still exist in this highly commercial world .

It doesnt get any selfless than that.

My humble suggestions :

1. Dont allow postings under "I-485 Issues" directly. People can post in their respective Sub Forums such as "485 Issues for Vermont Service centre" or "485 Issues for California Service centre" etc....
I always tend to miss these posts since they are way below at the bottom of my screen and also since they are in one way or other related to a particular service center.

2. Provide a way to jump to a "Favourite Forum" soon after logon.
Preferably under the "welcome Back <username> " .
This "Favourite Forum" can be part of "user preferences".

Thanks,
Click to expand...
 
Re: Re: Sure

Originally posted by JoeF
Well, I have the ones I'm interested in in my list of subscribed forums. I rarely look into other forums. So I usually don't even notice any change in the structure.
I think the structure is important for newbies, though.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I guess a lot of the veterans may be doing just that.
 
Update

Reorganized Green Card > Consular Processing and I-485 forums this morning. I will wait and watch to see if we need to delete/add subforums in these groups. Then I will move on to other groups.
 
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