Status update & new forum structure

[Locutus]

Once again, this is an important thread that we don't want derailed, off topic posts are deleted. This is about the forum restructuring, not anything else. For that matter, we do not discuss bannings in public, if you want to talk about it do it through PMs, but we do not discuss the details of other people's bans.

(Edit: that's not in response to Lancer but to posts that are no longer here)

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Locutus
Okay, I went through all the Civgroups and cleaned them up (Dan has to look this over so further changes may follow but I don't expect so).

I've had the chance to review these changes and have no further changes myself. (If you think that sentence sounds a bit weird, you can join me no less in thinking so but it works. )

If anyone still sees any issues with CivGroups being missing/misplaced/not working/whatever, please post so.

QFT.

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Asher

Most of the **** I've mentioned I mentioned 3-4 years ago. It would take seconds to fix.

THE BUTTONS! FIX THE BUTTONS!


How about re-naming the category? I'm not upset with having categories, it's just mind-numbingly stupid to have a category called "Off-topic" with a forum called "Off-topic" inside it. Clearly one of these names is not completely accurate.

What do you expect, it took the muppets SEVEN YEARS to spend five minutes updating the FAQ!!!

I actually nearly fell off my chair when I realised they updated it a few days ago...

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Tuberski
I coulda swore I posted in this thread last night..............

ACK!

Huh, me too - that post from earlier tonight is gone. Apparently posts are mysteriously disappearing now. Guess the new administration doesn't like criticism, even from the paying subscribers. Interesting that I subscribed to this site and now they change the rules/structure/atmosphere and deny a refund based on the OLD rules. Hmph.

[LordShiva]

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Stuie


Huh, me too - that post from earlier tonight is gone. Apparently posts are mysteriously disappearing now. Guess the new administration doesn't like criticism, even from the paying subscribers. Interesting that I subscribed to this site and now they change the rules/structure/atmosphere and deny a refund based on the OLD rules. Hmph.

The reasoning is that it didn't have to do with the restructuring which is what this thread concerns. So, I suggest to start a thread regarding getting your money back where I'm sure they will be overjoyed to hear from you.

[rjmatsleepers]

I don't like the changes to the "Apolyton Civilization Site Forums" page. I am interested in game playing. No doubt all the content in "General" is both fascinating and important, but I think it should be lower on the page.

RJM

[DarkCloud]

Great job restructuring, the only slight concern I have is that it might be best as rjm says if the Civ IV game is posted at the top and the site administration things are directly under that.

Or, if that's a no starter, then shrink the header of the site so that the forums are easier to see on initial screen display- so that people know there are Civ IV forums, since those are the most important.

Good work again with the cleaning up of the civgroups.

~DC.

[DarkCloud]

Another random idea.

You know how when people visit a forum section, the default "display threads no older than" dialogue box is set to "30 days"... well, since a lot of our sections have less traffic nowadays, could it be encouraging if it was autoset to "60 days" or "90 days" in order to encourage a bit more liveliness on the threads. Not all the newbies know how to use search very well to find what they need.

Congrats again on folding enough forums so that they actually have activity again.

~DC.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by rjmatsleepers
I don't like the changes to the "Apolyton Civilization Site Forums" page. I am interested in game playing. No doubt all the content in "General" is both fascinating and important, but I think it should be lower on the page.

RJM

General is at the top because it should be possible to find Site information (ie, this forum) very easily. You notice that Off Topic was sent to the bottom, as is appropriate (and standard forum design); this is also standard, for new people to find help if they need it quickly. Civ4 is still easily accessible on the top part of the page, and few new people come for other forums, and experienced people can use bookmarks

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Another random idea.

You know how when people visit a forum section, the default "display threads no older than" dialogue box is set to "30 days"... well, since a lot of our sections have less traffic nowadays, could it be encouraging if it was autoset to "60 days" or "90 days" in order to encourage a bit more liveliness on the threads. Not all the newbies know how to use search very well to find what they need.

Congrats again on folding enough forums so that they actually have activity again.

~DC.

+1

[LDiCesare]

General is at the top because it should be possible to find Site information (ie, this forum) very easily.

I agree with this, but Civ Rev and the Spanish site should not be on top.
Civ Rev doesn't even exist yet, so I doubt it deserves to be above Civ IV.
As for Civ en español, it might make one believe, at first glance, that this is a spanish speaking website.
Civ Series General is so quiet it might as well be in Other games in my opinion.
So I'd just keep the Site Feedback & News top.

[Locutus]

Originally posted by DarkCloud
Another random idea.

You know how when people visit a forum section, the default "display threads no older than" dialogue box is set to "30 days"... well, since a lot of our sections have less traffic nowadays, could it be encouraging if it was autoset to "60 days" or "90 days" in order to encourage a bit more liveliness on the threads. Not all the newbies know how to use search very well to find what they need.

Congrats again on folding enough forums so that they actually have activity again.

~DC.

This was discussed earlier in the thread already. As I said several times before: we do plan to do this, just give us a few days.

As for the ordering of the forums: as snoopy points out, we want people to know where to give feedback on issues relating to the site. The A/C forum was basically only used by a handful of veteran posters, it needed to be more visible. That's the only non-gaming forum there.

As for the other ones: CivRev is the latest game in the Civ Series, we usually place recent/upcoming games close to the top of the list and that game comes out in a few weeks. The Spanish forum is the single largest on-topic forum we have, it draws more traffic than any other despite always having been hard to find. Most of the forums are ordered by activity level now, so it's only fitting we place that one on top (we know it's not for everyone because it's in Spanish but it's only a single entry, the various subforums in there aren't even listed as a subentry to save space). Civ Series General doesn't really fit anywhere else and certainly no one was using it, and it will become the epicenter of Civ5 discussions, probably (and hopefully) sooner rather than later.

We do intend to make the space above the forum listings more compact on vB3, so that more of the forums will fit 'above the fold', but even now even on the lowest resolution we fully support (1024x768) Civ4-General should be visible without scrolling for most people (depending on different browser settings and the like, and on if you're a PLUS user).

[DarkCloud]

Okay, well once the top is made more compact, that'll solve a lot of the problems that I raised.

And fixing the daily display feature- thanks for looking into that.

Good luck Locutus!

~DC.

[DarkCloud]

Ah! The top can easily be shrunk by taking out the Live Chat. Does anyone use that any more?

I always found it too clunky to utilize.