Combining Forums

[mtxblau]

Perhaps it's just me, but it would probably spur discussion if there's only a few forums to visit instead of a bunch at a time - and since there isn't too much activity, new threads probably won't get pushed to the bottom very quickly.


That being said, does anyone have any thoughts on which forums to get pushed together? Here are mine:


General = General, GotW, Polls, Game Help(?)

Sega Consoles = Arcade, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, SMS/GG

Other Consoles = Retro, New

MMO = PSO, Other MMOs like WoW (an SX WoW clan? Hmm...)

Development = Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast

Computer = Comp Discuss, Burning Help

Media = Anime, Music, Custom Covers, Soundtracks

Downloads = Bittorrents, FTP, DirectDownloads


The idea is to spur threads, and one thread can launch into others. Major threads, like modchips and such, could probably be put into their own separate HTML docs like in DC Dev, Help/Faq/Utils, etc.


Any thoughts?

 

[cww80]

It sounds like a great idea.

Any news on the move, Dibz?

 

[Runik]

I personally don't think that combining all dev stuff together is a good idea ...

 

[joe81]

possibly combine the other consoles with general

 

[it290]

Looks pretty good overall, although I think a forum for PC gaming is appropriate, and also that the various download sections should be kept separate. Also, it's probably good to have a separate forum for 'Sega consoles' and 'Sega console support'... really it all depends on the volume of posts though.

 

[cww80]

Any news on the site update/move? I'm with MTXBlau that the site needs a total redesign. The look is very unappealing and outdated.

Whatever happened to making a new logo?

 

[Kuta]

I'm not sure if I like the idea of combining forums. I think it would become more difficult for people to filter out discussion on specific topics they are looking for. It may make it a bit unappealing and people may not bother even taking a look inside.

As for a new logo. Definately a good idea! The one we have looks a bit ordinary and uninspiring

 

[dibz]

The move is almost complete actually. I think a redesign is a great idea, anyone up to it?

 

[Jedi Master Thrash]

I think that the console talk should be split into only two forums:

Retro Consoles (All sega, atari, 3d0, old nintendo, maybe even DOS/9x games)

Active Consoles (Only consoles that are still being commercially supported, PS2 and PS3 generation, portables, and PC)

The reason is what I said before in the "closing" thread. There's too few posts in some of the less popular retro consoles. The sub-forums will tend to just become deserted. And I think people will be more likely to find interest in a thread about a console they haven't thought about in a while if the thread is in a forum they regular.

Also, I think that a distinction needs to be made between:

Social threads

and

Archive threads.

Social threads (like the console talk, general, etc) should be purposefully kept combined so as to keep a certain amount of posting activity. For instance, say we target 5-10 new threads per day, and 20-40 total posts. If a forum were to get overloaded such that we couldn't easily catch up after missing a week, then we could determine if theres an even split that could be made somewhere to create two forums that split the largest activity.

Archive threads serve a different purpose. They don't target activity such as new posts and replies; they target information. They should be easy to navigate. For these threads, independent information shouldn't be juxtaposed. I think the dev boards might fall under this. If someone was info on modding a genesis or developing on saturn, they'll want to target just the threads that archive that information, and not have to wade through other threads. So these "archive" topics could be split into more sub-forums, while the "social" topics should be kept together as necessary to make sure we don't allow any social forums to become deserted.

I would also suggest adding a general archive sub-forum to the archive list, and if any particularly useful posts show up that you want to keep around for archive/info purposes, you can move them to the general archive (if they don't fall under one of the other dev archive categories).

 

[mtxblau]

When I suggested combining forums, it was primarily because of the low volume (relatively) of threads and posts.


What I got from the closing thread was some people (including myself) don't even bother visiting more than a few forums at a time, and we could very well end up missing something of interest. Fewer forums = more threads per forum = possibly more activity.


I like the retro versus current consoles idea.


As for redesign, what are the specifics of this site? Is it all regular html (outside of the forums)? I will readily admit my DHTML/CSS/XML skills are distinctly lacking (as are photoshop talents, etc. 🙂)

 

[dibz]

Primarily any theming should be done using vB templates, adjusting the content to match isn't much of an issue.

 

[vbt]

I personally don't think that combining all dev stuff together is a good idea ...

Development = Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast

mmm, instead of merging these forums it could be better to do subforums like sountracks. Merging everything sounds bad for me too.

 

[mtxblau]

Aren't subforums the same thing as full fledged forums?


It sounds like the only major issue is that the Dev forums shouldn't be merged. Is there opposition to any other forums being merged?

 

[mtxblau]

Well, appears outside of merging the dev forums there was only one person dissenting - not that there was much discussion either way.


However, what does combining forums entail? Simply transferring the contents of one into another?


Also, are there vb skin templates (i.e. zip files) that we could download/upload?

 

[dibz]

We've actually had this same discussion a few times among the admins. Dev forums shouldn't be combined, but some of the other more generic ones can probably be merged. vBulletin includes merging functions in the admin panel, so that really isn't an issue. The biggest problem with it is simply that it isn't undo-able, aside from restoring DB backups.

 

[IceDigger]

I don't want the forums to be combined.

 

[schi0249]

Personally, I don' care. I always use the "New Posts" link to filter out old stuff. Then I only view posts on topics that interest me. I am not into developing, so I never bother to look at those topics... unless something jumps out at me. As for posting a topic, I've almost always found it easy to post in the correct spot. It is all pretty self explanatory.

 

[Kuta]

We don't need the Polls forum because you could have a poll in any thread.

You could put a game help thread as a sticky in each of the platform forums so we don't really need that one.

You could probably combine the downloads and FTP forums seeing as they are basically the same kind of thing.

I think it is important to keep the platform forums apart so people can find relevant threads if they are looking for them.

The Phantasy Star Online Forums could probably be a sticky in the new consoles forum.

You could merge the Tech forum with the computer forum. Again it is basically the same kind of thing.

I think that is about it. Is therea nyone out there who would object to any of those changes?

 

[mtxblau]

I'm down with those mergers.

Tangentially, Tendoweb appears to be running on different forum software - that site is absolutely gorgeous. Any specific reason why?

 

[dibz]

I made that update to Tendoweb a couple days ago. I take it you like the theme I made for it. 😉

As for the software change, it's no secret I hate the phpBB script for many many reasons. So there you go. 🙂