2016 Forum Cleanup (open)

Discussion in 'Site Issues and Suggestions' started by MagnusEffect, Jul 3, 2016.

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  1. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Opening the discussion to the membership for suggestions.

    Speak now or forever hold your peace.
     
    MagnusEffect, Jul 3, 2016
    #1
  2. Hakija

    Hakija Chaos Pony Viking

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    now
     
    Hakija, Jul 3, 2016
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  3. Moro Ibex

    Moro Ibex Moderator Hirdman

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    I think we need to:

    Clean up crap we don't use or is very rarely used.
    take a hard look at the MWO forums and do some cleaning (give good threads more prominence, like Yami's fights)
    make the "new post" button much much more obvious (after 3 years i still point people to it)
    Take a look see at the other games forum and do a bit of cleaning
    deal with the clans/regiment/aett things
    make announcements part of the front page so people are forced to read them (no more voluntary clicks)
    archive archive archive
     
    Moro Ibex, Jul 4, 2016
    #3
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  4. Derak Darksun

    Derak Darksun Well Liked Thrall

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    This wouldn't really be cleanup, it'd actually ADD more shit, but it'd be great if we had some sort of event calendar on the main page with more of the random stuff everyone does, not just the MWO things.
     
    Derak Darksun, Jul 5, 2016
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  5. Trevnor

    Trevnor Tokin' Canadian Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    We do have an event calendar.. problem is, not many people create events for it. "Home" does need to be more than just the forum listing though.
     
    Trevnor, Jul 5, 2016
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  6. StalaggtIKE

    StalaggtIKE Well Liked Viking

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    Are we saying this isn't good enough for calendar accessibility?

    1.png
     
    StalaggtIKE, Jul 5, 2016
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  7. Trevnor

    Trevnor Tokin' Canadian Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Apparently not
     
    Trevnor, Jul 5, 2016
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  8. Moro Ibex

    Moro Ibex Moderator Hirdman

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    Umm...yeah I think that is exactly what we are saying Ike. Same with the "new post" button. Giving people an option gives then an automatic excuse. "oh sorry, i don't check events." Bullshit, its half the main page. You miss the events and you aren't checking the main page. I feel the same with the new post button. This very morning I pointed a two year plus member to a button they had no idea existed.
     
    Moro Ibex, Jul 5, 2016
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  9. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    The current "Events" calendar function is a little too clunky: it's too small and you can't read everything going on at a glance. A "billboard" that reviews current events on the home page might a better option... if that's even possible.

    Unfortunately, to some extent, I feel like this might be a "you can lead a horse to water..." scenario. Only other thing I can think of is mandatory RSVP yes/no, but I don't see that going over very well.

    What I'm certain will help is truncating down the forums a bit. We don't need quite so many damn sub-forums.We also have an issue with members getting blinders and diving into whatever nook of the forums they prefer and generally ignoring everything else. For example:
    • Having three seperate "General Discussion" forums doesn't help. I'm fine with three game-specific Member Discussion threads, but if it's "general" we really only need one.
    • Get rid of the Aetts (clan) subforums; they were a cool idea, but they are pointless.
    • I have other ideas too
     
    MagnusEffect, Jul 5, 2016
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  10. MostlyHarmless

    MostlyHarmless Master of Recruits Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Changing button sizes can wreck havoc on mobile viewing of the pages, I'd caution against changing them unless we really really really think it will create world peace. Older ios have enough issues with the forum, I'd rather not create an even longer list of devices and browsers that are not compatible.

    General forums are the only ones that non members can see, they were created so that potential recruits could get an idea of what we are doing in any given official game branch without opening up the private member side to everyone. Also while I do tend to read most sections of the forum, it kinda is part of the job as a moderator, if I don't have much time I'd rather know that I can ignore whole sections outright until later when I have time rather than having to deal with each and every post every time I log in.

    Personally I'd hold off on scrapping the Aetts until SC launches and we can see how they would play out there. While they currently aren't being used very much, they were previously when we were building for mwo's cw.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2016
    MostlyHarmless, Jul 5, 2016
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  11. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    Ok, separate post because this one is REALLY important:

    It is a huge pet-peeve of mine for major game announcements & events being posted in game-specific threads. That does nothing to help spread the word nor encourage unit-wide participation.

    I am strongly supportive of ALL major announcements & events of games we play going into the "Announcements & Events" subforum. I also believe it should be merged with the separate "Events" subforum. If people want to find out what is going on, they should be getting it all from the same damn place.
    • MWO tournaments & events?.... A&E post
    • SC tournaments & events?... A&E post
    • New official server?.... A&E post
    • New weekend event?.... A&E post
    • F2P weekend Steam event?.... A&E post
    It ain't fucking hard. Announcements that get posted in a game specific thread should be moved to A&E. Basically, if you don't post about it in A&E, it didn't fucking happen.

    In summary, we are victims of our own bad habits and now we need to retrain people's brains to check the A&E subforum.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2016
    MagnusEffect, Jul 5, 2016
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  12. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    On a side note, I made this thread more for the general membership to have a platform to voice their concerns. It was not my intent for us Commissars to linger in the discussion here. ;)

    For everyone else, take what was said above and use that to help formulate your thoughts and suggestions.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2016
    MagnusEffect, Jul 5, 2016
    #12
  13. Derak Darksun

    Derak Darksun Well Liked Thrall

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    Maybe we could replace the TS3 status with a new and improved* event calendar in the main page on the right sidebar? It'd need to be formatted properly, but if it took the same dimensions, then we'd have a calendar on the main page and it would format properly for mobile too, wouldn't it?
     
    Derak Darksun, Jul 5, 2016
    #13
  14. Lardaltef

    Lardaltef Well Liked Berserker

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    I like that idea of replacing the TS status with a calendar especially since the status is never correct anyways (at least for me it isn't).
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2016
    Lardaltef, Jul 5, 2016
    #14
  15. MagnusEffect

    MagnusEffect Administrator Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    It is if you hit the refresh button after loading the page.
     
    MagnusEffect, Jul 5, 2016
    #15
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  16. Hepatitis TK

    Hepatitis TK Decorative Flounce Berserker

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    It'd be neato if there were a breaking news slider somewhere on the page, like the ones news agencies have on the bottom of the screen.
     
    Hepatitis TK, Jul 5, 2016
    #16
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  17. Alexia

    Alexia Made Some Friends Berserker

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    I sadly hardly check the forums and usually only respond to ones I'm following. So working on that.
     
    Alexia, Jul 6, 2016
    #17
  18. StalaggtIKE

    StalaggtIKE Well Liked Viking

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    Like this?
    [​IMG]
    ;)
     
    StalaggtIKE, Jul 6, 2016
    #18
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  19. Hollister

    Hollister Fun-Taker Berserker

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    What I would like is a


    Announcement or message of the day.

    This would be any events going on that day and appropriate time and place to be there.


    Below that

    Up coming events of a week out with just the name and what game or other information for non game related events.

    This would need to be a bit more in your face so it doesn't get muddled into the background with everything else on the page.
     
    Hollister, Jul 6, 2016
    #19
  20. Trevnor

    Trevnor Tokin' Canadian Staff Member Jarl SC Huscarl

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    It would also require someone to post that. You like giving me more work, don't you?
     
    Trevnor, Jul 6, 2016
    #20
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