Status update & new forum structure

[Solver]

So this is another update about our current status. The main thing right now is that we have restructured our forums - update on other areas coming a bit later.

The restructuring takes place based on activity levels and usability concerns. The main changes are as follows:

- The Apolyton/Community forum has been renamed to Site Feedback & News and now is at the top of the list in the new General category.
- The General category now also has the Civrev, civ general and Spanish Civ forums.
- Dead DG forums in the Civ4 category archived.
- Civ2 category reduced to a general forum and a scenario league/PBEM forum.
- Civ3 reduced to one forum, with a creation subforum.
- GalCiv forums have been merged, Apolyton Empire moved to the archive.
- AC-Creation moved into AC-General, AC demogame forum archived
- Ages of Man moved to CtP2-General
- CtP Creation and Superleague forums merged into General and Multiplaying respectively.
- RoN Creation merged into RoN General.
- Clash of Civilizations moved to Alt Civs.
- Hosted Sites category removed.
- Stories & Diplomacy has been archived
- Category order tweaked slightly

Overall, the amount of items on the main page has decreased by about a quarter, hopefully leading to better usability.

To preempt the comments about History and Technology subforums. The decision made iternally, taking into account poll results, was to keep them both for the time being. But we haven't failed to notice that the activity in both has dropped further recently, so rest assured that we will be discussing the fate of these forums internally again in the coming months.

Please note that what has been done differs slightly from the previously posted draft. We may make a few more minor adjusments in the next few days, such as possibly moving CtP1/RoN forums into the Other Games category, but by and large, this is the new forum structure.

Feel free to discuss the new forum structure in this thread.

[Wiglaf]

Why is this still here?

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=113

Or this?

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=133

Or this?

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=32

Or this?

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=21

Or this?

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=115

Or this?

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=332

It doesn't take two months to plan how to delete these forums, just like it doesn't take 24 hours to make a one hour podcast.

[Solver]

RoN and MoO are games we officially cover, so their forums are staying (though they may get moved further soon).

The Spore forum is also staying, at least for now.

[PLATO]

I'll miss the old "Community" name, but hey....progress is progress.

(Solver...maybe I should have said "Apolyton Traditionalist" ?? )

Still think that "Site Feedback/Community" would do more to keep that sense of community we need.

Good to see lots of positive stuff though!

[Asher]

YOU WANT FEEDBACK? FINE!

1) Fix your stupid forum buttons so they don't specify Windows classic appearances regardless of platform
2) Fix the cookies so www.apolyton.net and apolyton.net are BOTH valid, I'm sick of re-logging in whenever some ****** links to http://apolyton.net
3) Fix the Off-Topic: Off-Topic >> Off-Topic is stupid. Stupid. It is stupid. And redundant. It is redundant.
4) Upgrade to v4 faster. A kid in a technical college could do it faster
5) Make Wiglaf moderator

[Locutus]

Wiglaf,

Those are games we officially cover, we will always host forums for them in some form or another. If you don't like them don't visit them, they're all near the bottom of the page so easy enough to ignore.

PLATO, we will miss the old name too, it was a bit of an institution, but this forum was clearly pretty hard to find for all but a handful of regulars -- the old "community" here was a very small one indeed. We want more people to know where they can comment on site issues, especially once we start upgrading our forums and make other major changes to the site over (hopefully) the next few months (and also hopefully long into the future). The purpose of this forum doesn't change though, it's still home to the same kinds of threads, hopefully just with a few more people chiming in, which can only be a good thing...

[Wiglaf]

There's two problems there.

1) The fact that you still cover dead, awful games like Call to Power, Rise of Nations, Clash of civilizations (Is this about huntington?), or 'alternate civilizations' is stunning enough. Maybe the 5 players of these games really love your coverage. Or dan's too hot for TV RON machinima series.

2) The premise that you need a forum if you cover a game. If the staff of the site is obsessed with this garbage but no one else is, why bother making a forum? It's not like anyone discusses this coverage that no one cares about. Lump it in with other games and forget it ever happened.

[Locutus]

Asher,
As you are well aware, we will be upgrading to vB3 when we can, which is when most of the issues you mention will be fixed, that's not what this thread is about.

The Off-Topic > Off-Topic thing is a pretty minor nitpick, but if you have an elegant solution by all means let us know. But forums reside inside categories, that's just the way vB works, even vB3 won't fix that -- plenty of other forums around the net have such minor redundancies. According to our original draft Off-Topic resides in a category all on its own, we'll probably move the Other Games and Spore stuff out of it soon as originally proposed. In that case any other name for that category besides Off Topic really don't make much sense, certainly not more than the current redundancy. But again, if you have a good name for it, we'll consider it (and considering the inappropriate manner in which you present your issues that's more than you deserve).

[Locutus]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
1) The fact that you still cover dead, awful games like Call to Power, Rise of Nations, Clash of civilizations (Is this about huntington?), or 'alternate civilizations' is stunning enough. Maybe the 5 players of these games really love your coverage. Or dan's too hot for TV RON machinima series.

Again, if you don't like them, don't visit those forums. They have their fans and we will continue to support them as we have for pretty much either our entire existence or the existence of those games. This is a gaming site, if you don't like our gaming coverage go elsewhere. Not everything is for you...

[Solver]

The old games we cover do have an audience, even if a small one. The CtP multiplaying community maintained good activity levels until about half a year ago, for example.

Anyway, we'll continue to provide a place to discuss these games. If you don't like it, ignore it. In the end, we're much more likely to listen to community members who are civil and use what we provide instead of listening to people like you.

[Wiglaf]

Yes, each forum you linked may be completely dead, but you're a meanie so we're keeping them!!1

[Dale]

Just delete Off Topic and all users who only post in Off Topic.

That's the way of progress. Cut away dead wood.

[Wiglaf]

So the administration's definition of dead = forum with posters. It all makes sense now

[Solver]

We still have people on the site who play CtP, or who play RoN. Granted, the forums themselves are pretty much dead, but that's why they've been reduced to the bare minimum and are located nearly at the bottom of the list.

[Maquiladora]

It's amazing what people find to complain about. Off Topic > Off Topic, who cares?

Jesus wept...