144 replies to this topic

[Bishop Steiner]

Am kind of curious. (Which is better than most of the last 48 hours, when I was simply furious). I Feel it is much harder to get any sort of decent traction on polls, ideas, or such. When I navigate the place, not only is it sometimes, IMO TOO segregated, but it seems like almost everywhere you go, you might see a whopping dozen to two dozen users on , compared to the hundreds at a time on the old (and admittedly often abused) GenDis. And it seems that questions and topics get answers and posts far more infrequently, and move much more slowly, now. No more Threadnaughts.

I also feel that while polls are not 100% reliable, having them limited only to this section is a poor decision, as a Poll about a control feature or map, would make more sense in those sections. A Mech poll in the mech section, art in art, etc. And too often when Polls ARE asked here, it seems they get locked and booted for being in "the wrong section", despite being the only section one CAN add a Poll.

Please, discuss your thoughts.

[Joseph Mallan]

I don't know a forum that doesn't have a General section. Why were Polls Nerfed anyway?

[Varnas]

Calling the new system ******** would be insulting to actually ******** people

[Redshift2k5]

It's GREAT for specific topics, but the big issue is it lacks any central place for anything that doesn't neatly fit into a specific category. Needs a General Discussion forum.

[Bishop Steiner]

Joseph Mallan, on 25 April 2013 - 04:14 AM, said:

I don't know a forum that doesn't have a General section. Why were Polls Nerfed anyway?

Do you REALLY have to ask?

First, after a certain 3PV Poll blew the whole Forum up, we get told that they don't listen to single posts and polls, but "trends". Then when tons of people post on the same subject (aka, creating a trend) we get all the "excess" posts locked and jettisoned.
Next we get General Discussion completely removed, and replaced with an extremely stratified Forum set up that scatters Ideas and Users all over the forums, removing the ability for people to easily find ideas, or easily express frustration by supporting a topic (because said topic, IF it isn't peremptorily locked, is damn near impossible to find). Along with that, we get only one section that can have Polls, but a large number of Polls get locked and or Jettisoned, as being irrelevant, repeats or in the wrong section, because the new system essentially gives the IGP Moderators unlimited power to decide what to lock, kick or ban. The absolute all out lockdown on any poll inquiring about General Discussion, make me think that the Moderators were likely told to "nerf" any thread that might cause PGI or IGP discomfort, like the 3PV or MC Consumables.

So, I'll let you draw conclusions, but I just bulk ordered a few thousands of these to pass around, brother man


just sayin

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 25 April 2013 - 04:23 AM.

[Joseph Mallan]

I don't create polls so Yeah I had to ask.
Having General allowed for the mos to have all the whine and ashattery in one central location. Now they will have to work harder to keep up with the foolishness. Seem sorta counter productive.


BTW... I wear a size 7 Hat.

[zztophat]

Sadly, in b4 the lock.

My guess is this thread will be called irrelevant or a repeat. When in actuality they just don't want this discussed.

If we are allowed to discuss this then where? Please at least tell us where we are allowed to talk about this. I don't mean the "General Discussion - Replaced With Specific Sub-Forums" thread, this is not that topic, this is about something different, this is a thread about how user friendly the new forum layout is and should polls be in other threads, in case that needed clarification.

[Rippthrough]

Redshift2k5, on 25 April 2013 - 04:20 AM, said:

It's GREAT for specific topics, but the big issue is it lacks any central place for anything that doesn't neatly fit into a specific category. Needs a General Discussion forum.

It needs a forum run elsewhere to pop up....cough.

[Prezimonto]

As an avid poster in the Game Balance and Suggestions forums (who got daily traffic from the same hundred people it often seemed) I'd hazard a guess that the move was to push the HUGE variety of topics in general discussion into the appropriate sub-forum.

As someone who's managed forum communities in the past (20+ to a few hundred members) this style of forum does not work on those scales. With the thousands of people that come through these forums though they'll still get traffic, but spread the invective out as it will be harder for a single thread to quickly gain a large following.

They seem to like following "trends" as in the more individual users post about a topic in 'new' threads the more they seem to like it. This will probably have the effect of creating more total topics instead of massive single threads.

I still find it an irritating forum style to follow on a personal level, this is less a place to hang out are more an information repository.

[zztophat]

Prezimonto, on 25 April 2013 - 04:40 AM, said:

I still find it an irritating forum style to follow on a personal level, this is less a place to hang out are more an information repository.

For that reason it is far better for data mining. Is it worth making the forum less friendly for the players with the objective of making it easier for the devs to glean information? I guess we will find out.

[Peiper]

I have mixed feelings. I used the general discussion as 'home base' and looked to it to see a good cross section of ideas, new topics, community polls, and other stuff. Yeah, there was a lot of complaining, but there were also great discussions and just as many counter-suggestions to the OP's. I also found stuff in there like announcements that weren't official, and feedback threads not started by forum mods.

I do like all the new categories, but...

If you had a subject you wanted to talk to the WHOLE community about, you put it in general discussion. I like to hang out at the forums to stay informed and to throw in my two cents where I believe it might fall on open ears. I fear that many good posts will now be lost in the various other sections the way that community threads (like player run tourneys and events) were moved to exile in the fansite jump-ship sections, effectively sabotaging the efforts of the players to bring content and add depth to the game while we wait for PGI to catch up.

[The Silent Protagonist]

I think if they kept the general discussion section, and had the current subforums added for the more specific bits and bobs, it would've worked better. Keeping polls relegated to the poll subforum is fine by me. But then, that could end up with more work for the mods... I dunno.

zztophat, on 25 April 2013 - 04:50 AM, said:

Is it worth making the forum less friendly for the players with the objective of making it easier for the devs to glean information? I guess we will find out.

I guess this really. I am a bit confus as to my opinions on this re-jigging.

[Bishop Steiner]

Prezimonto, on 25 April 2013 - 04:40 AM, said:

They seem to like following "trends" as in the more individual users post about a topic in 'new' threads the more they seem to like it. This will probably have the effect of creating more total topics instead of massive single threads.

I still find it an irritating forum style to follow on a personal level, this is less a place to hang out are more an information repository.

Yes, except when every extra post made about a certain topic is now locked (and Jettisoned) as a repeat, and re-directed to a single, carefully neutered Topic on the subject, exactly how does a "Trend" get started?

And how does one poll those "other" options when half the Polls in here get Jettisoned or Locked? (And you cannot Poll in the "appropriate sub forum".)

This isn't to attack Mods, this is to try to point out that the more they squeeze the community, hoping to mold them to accept things, the more members slip through their fingers and go elsewhere, where they are actually allowed to think and speak.

Peiper, on 25 April 2013 - 04:53 AM, said:

I have mixed feelings. I used the general discussion as 'home base' and looked to it to see a good cross section of ideas, new topics, community polls, and other stuff. Yeah, there was a lot of complaining, but there were also great discussions and just as many counter-suggestions to the OP's. I also found stuff in there like announcements that weren't official, and feedback threads not started by forum mods.

I do like all the new categories, but...

If you had a subject you wanted to talk to the WHOLE community about, you put it in general discussion. I like to hang out at the forums to stay informed and to throw in my two cents where I believe it might fall on open ears. I fear that many good posts will now be lost in the various other sections the way that community threads (like player run tourneys and events) were moved to exile in the fansite jump-ship sections, effectively sabotaging the efforts of the players to bring content and add depth to the game while we wait for PGI to catch up.

THIS

(except I have reached my limit of "likes" for the day.. lovely)

We had a great easy access point for Redshift to give us the patch notes, instead of bumbling around trying to find which sub-forum they were in this time, etc.

One of my biggest gripes in the old GenDis (aside from the QQs that were just there to rant or incite) was how often you would start a poll to get the general communities thoughts on something, and if you added the word "Clans" it would get stuck in the Clan Section, despite the point being to get the thoughts of NON-Clanners on stuff. And while a few side forums were decently supported, most of the traffic in the specialty forums is dead, hence keeping discussion from happening in the first palce, which is the basic concept of a General DISCUSSION Forum.

But even without that, I am more interested in how people feel about the CURRENT Forum set up, as the Devs and Mods (one would think) should be desirous to know if it well received.

[Bishop Steiner]

as an aside, I just checked, in the entire Poll section we have a whopping 31 logged in users, FanArt, TWO, and Mechs, 16. Compared to HUNDREDS in GenDis.

[Ragor]

Bishop Steiner, on 25 April 2013 - 04:21 AM, said:

(...)
First, after a certain 3PV Poll blew the whole Forum up, we get told that they don't listen to single posts and polls, but "trends". Then when tons of people post on the same subject (aka, creating a trend) we get all the "excess" posts locked and jettisoned.
(...)

QFT - so sad but true.



I can understand (from their pov) why they did it but I feel free to not like it.

[Elizander]

The old one was more convenient when I'm looking for updates. Having to sort through all the sub forums is a bit troublesome at times.

[Sug]

I've gone from being on the forums about 3 hours a day to 3 minutes. We need to at least have a section where we can see the newest 100 posts or something. I have no idea what people are talking about now.

[MustrumRidcully]

Sug, on 25 April 2013 - 05:25 AM, said:

I've gone from being on the forums about 3 hours a day to 3 minutes. We need to at least have a section where we can see the newest 100 posts or something. I have no idea what people are talking about now.

Good idea. I new other forums sometimes have a "New Posts" special forum that shows all recent posts, or all recently updated threads.

[Elizander]

Sug, on 25 April 2013 - 05:25 AM, said:

I've gone from being on the forums about 3 hours a day to 3 minutes. We need to at least have a section where we can see the newest 100 posts or something. I have no idea what people are talking about now.

Top 100 newest and Top 100 most discussed and Top 100 recently discussed or something.

[Sayyid]

These new forums are horrible. I hadnt been here in over a week, and hadnt logged into the game in over two months, I come and find this. I cant even tell if anything has changed in game, because I havent been bothered to download the patches. Is there actual community warfare yet? Do you drop with your faction, or do you still random drop on the same maps?