FH news Proposed New Forum Layout

[Will]

- - The Sofa
- - - - Feedback
- - Techie Discussion
- - PC Gaming
- - - - DAoC
- - - - Other Game (if needed)
- - Console Gaming

This is the proposed minimalist layout for the new forums. The Sofa is the General/off Topic section, the name may change but you get the idea. DAoC sub-forums will be looked at separately by someone who knows more about what is needed.

I'm looking for comments, suggestions and feedback.

 

[Will]

<Deebsy> um
<Deebsy> the new layout
<Deebsy> is that it? ie just those 7 forums?
<will_> heh, did you never read it?
<Deebsy> not properly, obvisouly
<will_> lol

Heh.

 

[Will]

<will_> there will be staff, mods and daoc sub forums, and maybe some other games depending on demand
<will_> otherwise, aye, that was it
<will_> its open to adding more games though
<will_> thats part of the idea in a way, by being light (PC and console) subforums become easy rather than a depth of nested forums
<will_> originally i thought an RPG forum, but meg thought it looked shit like that
<will_> sims, rts and even fps are dead as they are, smaller = more active
<Deebsy> im open to reasoning

Since I had to explain it to Deebs, I'll just lazily post the rest of this log.

 

[nath]

I like it, for the most part. I'm not convinced there's room on the sofa for DAoCers though .

 

[Punishment]

Tbh Rift needs a gaming forum as much as DAoC does, Rift is getting 2-3 posts per 1 post for DAoC atm

 

[Punishment]

I like it, for the most part. I'm not convinced there's room on the sofa for DAoCers though .

For a long time this was a forum frequented by alot of gamers, only for its links with games alot of the personalities here would never have stopped by and things like "Top Users Online" would be in much lower figures, w/o a gaming section FH is just a Nicely packaged Blog and that would be a shame to see

 

[TdC]

Tbh Rift needs a gaming forum as much as DAoC does, Rift is getting 2-3 posts per 1 post for DAoC atm

your request for a request box has been noted!

 

[Ch3tan]

Tbh Rift needs a gaming forum as much as DAoC does, Rift is getting 2-3 posts per 1 post for DAoC atm

For now, it's a new game and it won't need it's own forum unless it's still active in 3 to 6 months. If rift gets so many posts, then those posts are active, so it doesn't need it's own forum as posts about it will always be at the top...


It's pretty much spot on Will, nice to have a forum index that will be easy to scan. No scrolling on smaller screens!

 

[Ch3tan]

Will, I didn't even notice you posted a link to this in OT... no one pays attention to sticky's, they are over crowded, maybe you should get Deebs to make this an announcement so everyone see's it?

 

[dysfunction]

Looks great to me!
I'm quite please that off-topic and general will be merged. They are the same thing anyway and so far it has been a success moving off topic out of DAOC...

 

[Will]

Will, I didn't even notice you posted a link to this in OT... no one pays attention to sticky's, they are over crowded, maybe you should get Deebs to make this an announcement so everyone see's it?

By the power of Greyskull!

 

[Punishment]

For now, it's a new game and it won't need it's own forum unless it's still active in 3 to 6 months. If rift gets so many posts, then those posts are active, so it doesn't need it's own forum as posts about it will always be at the top...


It's pretty much spot on Will, nice to have a forum index that will be easy to scan. No scrolling on smaller screens!

It could also be argued that if a new and popular mmo has nowhere to be discussed that the dwindling of people discussing it just means they have gone elsewhere to do so, basically just less FH'ers

 

[Will]

The layout is open to adding other games if it seems feasible they will be active. Eve, Rift (and maybe Minecraft to report the server going down) are the only contenders at the moment but it depends on if they will be sustainable. The layout (in my head) will be a lot more fluid than the existing one, so new games could be added, then merged back in to the main forum once they start to die down again.

 

[Syri]

The layout is open to adding other games if it seems feasible they will be active. Eve, Rift (and maybe Minecraft to report the server going down) are the only contenders at the moment but it depends on if they will be sustainable. The layout (in my head) will be a lot more fluid than the existing one, so new games could be added, then merged back in to the main forum once they start to die down again.

I think the idea of sub-forums for active games, even if temporary, is a good one. I'd like to suggest though that if a game does tail off, and the sub-forum gets merged with the top level gaming forum, that all of the posts get tagged with the game they came from. So for example, a post in a WoW sub-forum named "Alliance guild recruiting" would become "[WoW]Alliance guild recruiting" when it is put into the parent forum.
One of the main problems when the RPG sub-forums were cleaned out recently was that it wasn't clear what game a lot of posts were for. I think having a plan in mind in advance would help avoid any such confusion if the same occurs again.

 

[Will]

I'd like to suggest though that if a game does tail off, and the sub-forum gets merged with the top level gaming forum, that all of the posts get tagged with the game they came from.

I agree. We are probably waiting on the [TAG] functionality before we migrate to XenForo and I'll make sure things are tagged before any merges. The top level forum should use [TAG]s as well, though the [RIFT] tags prove that I'm about the only person that uses them since I tagged every thread after the tag was added but there are plenty of new threads without the tag.

 

[GReaper]

Anything to hide the dead forums seems like a good idea.

It would be nice if removing dead forums and reorganising sub-forums was done on a regular basis, instead of waiting months after a game has died before dealing with it.

 

[Will]

I have asked Deebs to give me access to that functionality. Teedles and MYstIC G will probably get it as well. At the moment I think only Jupitus and Deebs have that sort of access and they both have proper jobs.

 

[Deebs]

Noted about Thread Prefixes (not Tags) and forum merges. This is one of the main stoppers from migrating to XF (a much better platform in my opinion).

I like the idea of more regular cleanups and creating a subforum for a new game initially and if it dies off, Prefix all threads and merge with its paraent.

The guys will be getting the additional privileges to allow them to manage the forum structure in due course. One thing to note, the search system in place on the test forums is way much better on returning relevant material. Seriously, go give it a try.

 

[TdC]

I have asked Deebs to give me access to that functionality. Teedles and MYstIC G will probably get it as well. At the moment I think only Jupitus and Deebs have that sort of access and they both have proper jobs.

I have a proper job too That's why Deebs is always moaning I'm slow

 

[MYstIC G]

I have asked Deebs to give me access to that functionality. Teedles and MYstIC G will probably get it as well. At the moment I think only Jupitus and Deebs have that sort of access and they both have proper jobs.

They have proper jobs, I just can't be bothered to make the changes

PS: It was a deity couch, don't make me go a searching

 

[Zede]

about layout...


if, for example I was a returning FH daoc player and i went to the daac section (bypassing the front page), and decided to have a gander at off topic, it looks "dead" ie no posts.

in the space were we currently have just a " - " ..put "moved to front page" or something..

 

[CorNokZ]

Don't merge FHOT with General.. That would be a disaster!

 

[Everz]

Don't merge FHOT with General.. That would be a disaster!

This

 

[rynnor]

If we are going minimalist why keep a dead console section? Just merge it into pc gaming and call it gaming?

Could have a <console> tag?

 

[ECA]

Yeah I agree w/ cutting down to 5-7 forums only.

 

[Deebs]

If we are going minimalist why keep a dead console section? Just merge it into pc gaming and call it gaming?

Could have a <console> tag?

How about

[WII]
[XBOX360]
[PS3]
[CONSOLE]

?

 

[MYstIC G]

How about no? How about we have 1 forum with everything tagged...

 

[Ch3tan]

How about just a "gaming" forum, that would work. Much better for cross platform titles too

 

[megadave]

makes sense to me

 

[Cerb]

Don't merge FHOT with General.. That would be a disaster!

This.