State of the Forum
- Thread starter Watashiwa
- Start date
I haven't a goddamn clue. I like none of the changes from the example I gave, and from what I've heard from wata I like none of the reasons for those changes either.
Most of the rest of the changes are because this is a temporary change, and merging and seperating certain forums isn't really possible without fucking things up later when we swap back.
Most of the rest of the changes are because this is a temporary change, and merging and seperating certain forums isn't really possible without fucking things up later when we swap back.
You can minimize sections you don't bother with. Click the tab on the far right of the section, it's more a convenience thing than anything. For example, for me who doesn't really go into any of the book or TV sections practically ever, I can reduce those and knock out four sections automatically. Six since I don't care about challenges, and potentially eight since general/rants isn't particularly notable of late.
Admittedly I'd probably have combined challenges with general and all the games into one broad section, but that really depends on what people care about. Certainly people might care about the Games Fanfiction section while not giving a shit about any of the RP stuff.
Moderation though still has no excuse to be separated from announcements though, particularly since you can just add both of those sections as subsections to Rules and get the same idea with far less hassle.
Admittedly I'd probably have combined challenges with general and all the games into one broad section, but that really depends on what people care about. Certainly people might care about the Games Fanfiction section while not giving a shit about any of the RP stuff.
Moderation though still has no excuse to be separated from announcements though, particularly since you can just add both of those sections as subsections to Rules and get the same idea with far less hassle.
So yeah, this is the second experiment in alternate board layouts. Vast improvement over the last one, but I still think it's terrible. Still, I said we'd try Shirotsume's organizational scheme (and yes Shiro, that's exactly what it is) so try it we shall.
The highlight of this one is the ability to collapse forums and subforums you don't care for or expect to use. Thoughts/comments/pony?
The highlight of this one is the ability to collapse forums and subforums you don't care for or expect to use. Thoughts/comments/pony?
It's probably one of those things that helps those who only search specific forums, but no so much those who are more general browsers it seems. I'm having a blast since I only really need games and anime open generally, with one or two others for lesser purposes. Others are probably not having nearly as much fun though. :snigger:
Shiro, you made the suggestion that we to try to utilize the tab function we've got now, and a lot of people agreed and liked the idea. I said we'd try it out, and we are. Nothing is being shoved down anyone's throat, there just isn't a way to see what a change will actually look like until you do it, so here we are.
And yes, we are going to go back to the old method of display tomorrow, and then we're going to vote on how to organize the forum.
And yes, we are going to go back to the old method of display tomorrow, and then we're going to vote on how to organize the forum.
Sudden thought, the sections could probably do with the subheaders removed. The Big Main sections I mean. Minimizing the Main Sections doesn't remove that header, leaving an additional line behind that's rather pointless anyway since the title should already tell you everything you need to know (And if further expansion is required that can easily go into the sub section headers).
The thing with the tab function is that there is a limit to it. You can't just fling everything into a fuckload of categories- as you've noticed,they don't collapse as cleanly as they could. You need moderation. Too few and it's pointless, too many and it's the current clusterfuck.
And this whole layout thing needs to just be put on hold. You're really, really not putting enough thought or effort into this. You're rushing it like mad.
We have only two shitty alternatives to the layout we've had for years, one of them an off-the-cuff example of an idea (modified into ridiculousness- Moving general to the bottom so you make sure people "know the Games forum exists"? Why is this a concern at all?), and the other I think was made on the spot.
Neither should even be considered serious layouts. The forum should be asked for all it's layout suggestions- for several days. And then several days to look them over (NOT by changing the board- we're not retarded, we can imagine how a layout change works), and then a vote.
You're trying to do in three days what should take nearly three weeks.
Like, I'm trying really hard not to be a dick here, and I think I may have failed... but this really just needs to be taken slower. As I said, I would prefer the old version over anything by far, just because it's been proven. I personally just use nothing but View New Posts to find everything so layout is mostly pointless to me, but this kind of thing is huge deal to most people of this forum.
And this whole layout thing needs to just be put on hold. You're really, really not putting enough thought or effort into this. You're rushing it like mad.
We have only two shitty alternatives to the layout we've had for years, one of them an off-the-cuff example of an idea (modified into ridiculousness- Moving general to the bottom so you make sure people "know the Games forum exists"? Why is this a concern at all?), and the other I think was made on the spot.
Neither should even be considered serious layouts. The forum should be asked for all it's layout suggestions- for several days. And then several days to look them over (NOT by changing the board- we're not retarded, we can imagine how a layout change works), and then a vote.
You're trying to do in three days what should take nearly three weeks.
Like, I'm trying really hard not to be a dick here, and I think I may have failed... but this really just needs to be taken slower. As I said, I would prefer the old version over anything by far, just because it's been proven. I personally just use nothing but View New Posts to find everything so layout is mostly pointless to me, but this kind of thing is huge deal to most people of this forum.
I look at Harry Potter, Naruto, Restricted, A&N, General, Rants, Game, Online Games, and Moderation. If I close out the subheadings I don't read, that still leaves me with eight open subheadings. This is way too specific; we have eight categories with with only two subforums in them, and one category with one subforum.
That's a bit of the mentioned problem of some restructuring being a bit necessary. Talk probably needs to be connected to general anyway since they roughly serve similar purposes though with different focuses, and connecting moderation and announcements is necessary because there's still no reason those should be separate at all.
However, you're basically pointing out a reason it's working as intended regardless. By your own admission you close out 2 categories with four sections total. Despite your general browsing habits being quite robust, there are still collected sections that exist outside your interests that you can safely ignore with little hassle. If it's more general, like it was before with the rather silly general/specialized sections instead, next to no one benefits since it's much more likely that every section as something they want to keep an eye on. :snigger:
As is though? It offers those fandom sections with only two reasonable means to expand and potential incentive to do so. Like a MLP or Avatar section in Cartoons/Comics or Star Wars in Live Action, while those people ignoring those types of things anyway aren't bothered by the number of new sections starting to get bloated.
However, you're basically pointing out a reason it's working as intended regardless. By your own admission you close out 2 categories with four sections total. Despite your general browsing habits being quite robust, there are still collected sections that exist outside your interests that you can safely ignore with little hassle. If it's more general, like it was before with the rather silly general/specialized sections instead, next to no one benefits since it's much more likely that every section as something they want to keep an eye on. :snigger:
As is though? It offers those fandom sections with only two reasonable means to expand and potential incentive to do so. Like a MLP or Avatar section in Cartoons/Comics or Star Wars in Live Action, while those people ignoring those types of things anyway aren't bothered by the number of new sections starting to get bloated.
The problem now is that for every single subforum I had no interest in (that I'm actually able to filter out) there's at least one category to replace it. Meanwhile I'm stuck looking at the entire list of anime fandoms I've never cared about.
The other problem I have with this is that it decreases the likelihood of people "reaching out" to new subforums. The only reason I occasionally read NGE is because I'll see a topic with an interesting name from the main page, or something like that.
The other problem I have with this is that it decreases the likelihood of people "reaching out" to new subforums. The only reason I occasionally read NGE is because I'll see a topic with an interesting name from the main page, or something like that.
Sure, we have a ton of anime sections that I don't care about that are still visible to even me and my narrower scope. But those sections generate traffic and there's no reasonable way to further split them without getting excessively silly about it. That's just the way it's going to be without straight up giving every section its own category, and that would be beyond excessive.
And though I do see your point about a decreased likelihood of people randomly stumbling into sections, at the same time the odds in general of that happening would be rather low anyway, and ultimately would fall down the the users choice regardless. Without an existing interest in that series they wouldn't bother going in at all, and if they already do they might as well just pop the section open anyway. That's not likely to make them active posters as a general rule either way, at least not without some other outside advertising besides the one random chance that the top section is something that happens to catch their interest.
Maybe, and this is a big maybe, the addition of a new section they're not aware of while it's minimized might cause an issue, but the general methodology thus far has been to post the new sections at the announcement at the top. If you miss that, that's kinda on you.
And though I do see your point about a decreased likelihood of people randomly stumbling into sections, at the same time the odds in general of that happening would be rather low anyway, and ultimately would fall down the the users choice regardless. Without an existing interest in that series they wouldn't bother going in at all, and if they already do they might as well just pop the section open anyway. That's not likely to make them active posters as a general rule either way, at least not without some other outside advertising besides the one random chance that the top section is something that happens to catch their interest.
Maybe, and this is a big maybe, the addition of a new section they're not aware of while it's minimized might cause an issue, but the general methodology thus far has been to post the new sections at the announcement at the top. If you miss that, that's kinda on you.
I dislike this second scheme immensely.
The first scheme, in my opinion, was an improvement over the original scheme. This new one, however, takes redundancy to an entirely new level.
On the one hand, it's soothing for the slight OCD I have to see everything in its place and like put with like. On the other hand, I'm a general browser. This breakdown of forums wreaks havoc with my browsing tendencies since I do hit nearly every forum once in a blue moon.
While I professed support for Shiro's idea, I didn't realize how much it was going to suck.=p
The tab idea still has merit, but this current scheme is not the way to go.
The first scheme, in my opinion, was an improvement over the original scheme. This new one, however, takes redundancy to an entirely new level.
On the one hand, it's soothing for the slight OCD I have to see everything in its place and like put with like. On the other hand, I'm a general browser. This breakdown of forums wreaks havoc with my browsing tendencies since I do hit nearly every forum once in a blue moon.
While I professed support for Shiro's idea, I didn't realize how much it was going to suck.=p
The tab idea still has merit, but this current scheme is not the way to go.