Setting up for 2026 Forum Section Headers

[ChrisC]

I've dug up the things I've reported to Chris B over the past year or two.  Most of these are not about the NSF forum per se, but various NSF properties that are all needing some basic updates -- or simple rewrites so you don't have to keep updating them!  Maybe now's the time / opportunity to finally fix them

1.  On the NSF forum's main page, it describes the Blue Origin section as:  "Covering Blue Origin - from New Shephard to New Glenn and HLS development. Blue will eventually gain its own dedicated multi section area of the forum"  It's Shepard, of course ... (only one "h")

2.  NSF's Youtube profile / about info is perpetually out of date saying "now in it's 20th year".  Somebody has to update that every year.  Say "founded in 2005" or similar, not the year count, and be done forever.

3.  Exact same thing in NSF.com's about page.  Say 2005 and be done with it!

4.  Similarly, the NSF.com about page says this further down: "Starting in 2019, the NSF Youtube Channel already has over 800,000 subscribers."  You should rewrite that to something like "In 2019, NSF started a Youtube channel for both live and packaged video content; in 2024 that channel reached one million subscribers and it continues to grow." Resist the urge to give a more specific number like "1.42 million". Evergreen material, dude!

5.  On the NSF.com About page, the "NSF Team" section needs updating, especially re Jack and Adrian.

6.  At the bottom of NSF.com's About page, there's a a list of ways to support NSF, including L2 and Youtube subscriptions.  Add a short paragraph about tips.nasaspaceflight.com !  (and that site should state clearly that it's a one-time transaction)

7.  And finally, I say this every year: I would still love to set up a *periodic* donation to NSF via Patreon ... I explained why in 2023-2024 in a couple comments in this thread, but that thread has now been disappeared   (For those of you about to point me to all the other ways I can support NSF, again I explained this in the disappeared thread.  All of the methods are either one-time or involve a Youtube account.  OMG would you please take my money?! )

[deltaV]

Most content on NSF forums is news or live events so it could in theory be put in the "Live Event Section - Latest Space Flight News" section. Most content also could be put in a more specific section. So in practice the live event section contains a few threads that could have gone in another section (based on original poster's whim it seems) plus many threads that are miscellaneous and have no other home so they end up there. This is much different from what a newcomer would presumably expect from the section title and description. I don't see a point in having a dedicated live event section. So how about moving the content that could be in another section to the appropriate section and rename the live event section to "misc spaceflight" for the stuff that doesn't have a better home.

Edit: oops, I crossed out the last bit because there's already a "General Discussion" section so we don't need a new misc section. So maybe move the live event section content that doesn't have a better home to "General Discussion" and delete the live event section.

[deltaV]

The boundaries of the "Historical Spaceflight" section are unclear - lots of historical content appears in other sections. I've never seen anything moved to that section when programs are canceled and become historical. I suspect that the de facto definition of the historical section may be "stuff that happened before NSF was created", but if that's the case we should tell the users that (and give a specific date). Though some such content is in other sections, including the pre-RTF shuttle section.

[deltaV]

Since I’m not yet familiar with how everything is organized, I often have to rely on the search function to figure out where topics belong — and unfortunately the search isn’t very effective.

Aside: if you're searching for non-L2 content you can work around the ineffective search by using a general-purpose search engine like Google or Bing. Just add "site:forum.nasaspaceflight.com" to your Google query (I don’t know Bing but it’s likely the same syntax). Of course this workaround isn't ideal since it’s a bit inconvenient, doesn’t work for L2 content, and isn't newbie-friendly. (You can configure Chrome and probably other browsers to make this easier, e.g. so you can type "nsf vulcan" in the address bar and it will search Google for "vulcan site:forum.nasaspaceflight.com". For Chrome you can do this in the settings for search engines, add a site search engine with name e.g. "NSF Forum", shortcut e.g. "nsf", URL "https://www.google.com/search?q=%s+site%3Aforum.nasaspaceflight.com".)

[kcrick]

Something else I've noticed in the forum are threads that are way over 100 pages long. For example, in the SpaceX Facilities and Fleets subsection, the SpaceX Texas Launch site Discussion and Updates Thread 12 is at 184 pages and was started in July 2021. And it's not just the SpaceX section. I believe I've seen it in other sections too, but I don't have a list made of them.

Maybe while moving stuff around new threads can be started for those that are too long?

Just a thought.

[deltaV]

Cross post of a years-old post that's still relevant:

Not sure if this has already been suggested but I feel it would be best to move the Shuttle sections to the bottom of the forum page. I don't see why it should have its current precedence over the Robotic Spacecraft and the International Spaceflight sections, which both have numerous active topics.

Yeah, it'll make me sob, but it's only right. We'll be doing another revamp soon and that'll be on the list.

[jebbo]

Is a revamp still planned?

I'm asking because the next Isar launch has been moved to "Other," which seems *very* odd. Would that mean *all* non-ESA European stuff would be there (RFA, Orbex, MaiaSpace, etc)? If not, what would the scheme be?

--- Tony

[PM3]

Is a revamp still planned?

I'm asking because the next Isar launch has been moved to "Other," which seems *very* odd. Would that mean *all* non-ESA European stuff would be there (RFA, Orbex, MaiaSpace, etc)? If not, what would the scheme be?

--- Tony

Handling of European spaceflight is a mess, but I think it is easy to fix. See my proposal here:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=57593.msg2751409#msg2751409

[eeergo]

A little over a week to the opening of its launch window: are we truly going to follow the first crewed lunar HSF mission of the XXI century, more than 53 years after the last one and over two decades in the making, in the 4th section of the third public subforum, and the third-to-last L2 section? Seems... inadequate

[catdlr]

A little over a week to the opening of its launch window: are we truly going to follow the first crewed lunar HSF mission of the XXI century, more than 53 years after the last one and over two decades in the making, in the 4th section of the third public subforum, and the third-to-last L2 section? Seems... inadequate

NSF Focus is now on Social Media and YouTube, where its thousands of fans have gone.  The forum is here to document the historic events from our more mature members' view.  Chris B, Phillip Sloss, eeergo (yes, you), PadRat, and Ford Mustang covered those major space launches when NSF started with the Shuttle era and have moved on. You have ChrisC and me now, as we try our best to cover this launch wherever the thread is located in the Forum.  Your help is much appreciated.

[eeergo]

A little over a week to the opening of its launch window: are we truly going to follow the first crewed lunar HSF mission of the XXI century, more than 53 years after the last one and over two decades in the making, in the 4th section of the third public subforum, and the third-to-last L2 section? Seems... inadequate

NSF Focus is now on Social Media and YouTube, where its thousands of fans have gone.  The forum is here to document the historic events from our more mature members' view.  Chris B, Phillip Sloss, eeergo (yes, you), and Ford Mustang covered those major space launches when NSF started with the Shuttle era and have moved on. You have ChrisC and me now, as we try our best to cover this launch wherever the thread is located in the Forum.  Your help is much appreciated.

I will certainly try to help if it's in my hands to do so, but my comment was about something different (as is the thread's topic): I understand the full rearrangement might take time, but the forum is not just a long-term archival tool, even if its aggregator heyday might have ceded way to (increasingly fragmented and with increasingly lower S/N ratios) video and networking platforms. There are many people that use it to follow events in near-real time and look for insider info.

For that reason, I think Artemis II should be given a priority location within the forum ASAP, both for long-time members and the undoubtedly many new ones who will come here (especially if there's any "event of interest" during the mission), and not be buried in a random subforum section that doesn't even refer to the program with its proper name ("HLV", "EM-1 etc"...), often eclipsed by idle talk on pet peeves about fanfic lunar surface concepts (HLS threads).

A quick-'n-dirty solution would be to move it to the "Live Events" section like in the old days of the forum (for example with STS) and be done with it, but of course many regulars will be confused by the missing familiar thread, newbies may end up looking at the "Artemis II" SLS/Orion threads... and just be mayhem. A more proper solution would be to take the chance to revamp the whole "SLS/Orion/Beyond LEO HSF - Constellation" catchall subforum.

[catdlr]

A little over a week to the opening of its launch window: are we truly going to follow the first crewed lunar HSF mission of the XXI century, more than 53 years after the last one and over two decades in the making, in the 4th section of the third public subforum, and the third-to-last L2 section? Seems... inadequate

A quick-'n-dirty solution would be to move it to the "Live Events" section like in the old days of the forum (for example with STS) and be done with it, but of course many regulars will be confused by the missing familiar thread, newbies may end up looking at the "Artemis II" SLS/Orion threads... and just be mayhem. A more proper solution would be to take the chance to revamp the whole "SLS/Orion/Beyond LEO HSF - Constellation" catchall subforum.

During the "Shuttle" program, such actions were undertaken; however, since then, new companies such as SpaceX (F9 and Starship), BO, and Rocket Lab have emerged, each with its own supporters who seek equal recognition. To prevent unjust criticism directed at one space company or launcher from another, it is essential to discuss these launches in their respective sections or threads.

[eeergo]

A little over a week to the opening of its launch window: are we truly going to follow the first crewed lunar HSF mission of the XXI century, more than 53 years after the last one and over two decades in the making, in the 4th section of the third public subforum, and the third-to-last L2 section? Seems... inadequate

A quick-'n-dirty solution would be to move it to the "Live Events" section like in the old days of the forum (for example with STS) and be done with it, but of course many regulars will be confused by the missing familiar thread, newbies may end up looking at the "Artemis II" SLS/Orion threads... and just be mayhem. A more proper solution would be to take the chance to revamp the whole "SLS/Orion/Beyond LEO HSF - Constellation" catchall subforum.

During the "Shuttle" program, such actions were undertaken; however, since then, new companies such as SpaceX (F9 and Starship), BO, and Rocket Lab have emerged, each with its own supporters who seek equal recognition. To prevent unjust criticism directed at one space company or launcher from another, it is essential to discuss these launches in their respective sections or threads.

Mh? We're talking about an HSF mission to the Moon here, not some legalistic discussion on who should get more visibility in general. If SpaceX, or RocketLab, or DodgyRocketeers Inc. were launching crew to the Moon, I'd say the same thing.

By the way, updating the headers and arrangements in the SLS etc subforum, my preferred solution, wouldn't entail any change in visibility compared to now...

[Chris Bergin]

We could post a redirect thread in the likes of Live Events to the Artemis sections?

Are we good on the Artemis main threads too? I think pre-launch we've been good. I would not be opposed to (like shuttle) Standalone Flight Day threads!

[eeergo]

We could post a redirect thread in the likes of Live Events to the Artemis sections?

Are we good on the Artemis main threads too? I think pre-launch we've been good. I would not be opposed to (like shuttle) Standalone Flight Day threads!

That would also work, IMHO. But I've been on this forum for 20 years, have followed Artemis milestones closely since its inception, and I still find it hard sometimes to find my way in the "SLS..." section - I can only imagine what it's like for someone who's not used to that subforum, let alone a newby.

A throwback to good ol' Flight Day threads would be delightful! And actually fitting for the occasion (as opposed to most if not all HSF missions since STS-135: lower profile flights with no continuous coverage, or long-duration ferries to ISS).

[Chris Bergin]

A refreshed title for Artemis' main forum section.

Going to do a standalone thread in Latest News to redirect folks who aren't big on scrolling downwards.