Too many forums?

#1 I think that it's hard enough trying to search for a thread on this place, easier to just go to a forum it should be in and page through it to find something related to what you're looking for. I've done it plenty of times before, thanks to well-defined forums.

#2 I believe that it will be great of the forums were better organized or defined for each version, like:

TGB 1.1 forums
TGB 1.1.3 forums
TGB 1.5 forums

Because I'm using 1.1.3 and sometimes I search for stuff that actually belongs to 1.5 and all we know that is not the same eh?

Can't wait to see the mess that will be mix TGB 2 forums with actual forums :)

There will be a TGB 2.x someday isn't?

Anyway, forums are a great place to get help and share with other

#3 Yes,
I actually believe there are too many forums at the moment for this.
Here is the list of what I see.
2D Art
Behaviors
Beta Discussion
C++ Engine
Collision and Physics
General Discussion
Getting Started
GUI Building
Networking
Particle system
Report Bugs
Show off!
Suggestions
TGB Linux
TGB Scripting
Tiles
Torque core questions
If I were to re-organize the list it would be

General
Beta
Show Off
Bugs
Tips/Tricks
Platform Specific
Or if possible, how about re-design the forum sections to take into account that the developer is only developing for specific platforms using such and such version. Something they can answer on their account side so that when they go to the forums, only certain forums appear to them unless they request addtional forums.

Example

I am a [Check Box options for Developer, Artist, Designer etc....]
Developing on [ Check Box Options for the different Platforms ]
With these Tools [ Check Box Options for the different Garage Game tools and maybe a few others like Photoshop]

Something like that.

#4 1) Because the search functionality for these forums is poor.
2) Because these forums are home grown and lack functionality that best-of-breed forum software has.
3) Because the number of TGB-centric postings is relatively low.

I say have a public TGB forum and a private TGB forum and leave it at that.

#5 I think that having version-centered forums would be a bad idea, only because versions come and go and some forums would become outdated. I like the topic-centered forums, and the current hierarchical structure is a good, logical structure.

USENet used to have a small number of newsgroups, and users were empowered to make new groups when they saw fit. While it made for a considerable amount of anarchy (remember alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork?), it also allowed users to zero in on specialized forums that addressed their needs.

The current setup of GG topic-centered forums is like what USENet used to be. I think it could be tightened up. Most of the currently active threads could be moved to the new forums.

For example, TGE, TGEA, TGB, TX could each have their own set of topics:
- Getting Started
- Artwork
- Interiors (not needed for TGB, of course)
- Objects and Characters
- Scripting
- Add-ons, mods, enhancements, plug-ins
- etc.

The SDKs could all share one section, with separate topics for:
- TGE
- TGEA
- TGB
- Linux
- Mac
- PC

Since GUIs are common to all engines, GUIs could have their own section.

Show-off topics could all be collected into a Galleries section, with topics such as:
- Interiors
- Characters
- Objects
- Way-cool special effects
- Screen shots of games in action
- General
Of course, most Gallery entries should include a teaser picture and a pointer to the user's website, to save GG bandwidth.

Other products, such as Constructor and ShowToolPro, could have topics such as
- Getting started
- "Help me solve this problem that I think is a bug, but is really just a feature of the
product that I haven't learned about yet" (also called "RTFM", and yes, we've all
been there)
- Enhancement requests

Creative Development can stay just the way it is. A Careers / Business section could be narrowed down to
- "We want to hire somebody"
- "I want a job"
- "We want to partner with somebody"
- What to study, or where to study, to get a PhD in game design (or whatever)

TDN seems to have taken over a lot of the technical content from the forums, which is a Good Thing.

GG will need separate channels to address their new initiatives like funding game development and InstantAction.com. Those are considerably different from the current product line and will require a different kind (or level) of access in order to be successful.

And finally, any general topics which are still important (based on number of posts, frequency of postings and date of last post) could be retained under a General section.

--
Regards
Ray

#6 Alt.sex.cthulhu was one of my #usenet favs.

I like the distinction between the forums now, but I also like the galleries recommendation from Ray.

#7 TDN isn't exactly taking over the technical aspect of content on the forum. I have a big problem with Wiki's, they start out with this plan that it's going to be this great resource of information. The result though is that the information gets spread around too much, not covered well and ends up losing focus.
If GG is going to get serious about the documentation which has been the chief complaint about Torque then I think they really need to tighten up control, hire some folks to tend to TDN and ensure that outdated information gets removed or updated and re-organized.
Stuff like this
tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/Torque_2D/Getting_Started/T2DParticleEditor1

#8 Please archive these forums, shut them down and start again with something that allows for proper searching. This is the worst forum on the internet. I see the same questions asked over and over, and I'm new! It's because there's no way to find what you need to know without trawling through lots of irrelevant posts and posts from forums you don't have access to.

#9 There are a lot of categories, but I am surprised to actually find most categories have posts within the last two weeks. I would be inclined to remove or consolidate certain categories receiving a limited number of new postings.

I use the link to read 'Unread Forum Posts' so I don't necessarily care about the category. I just read the subject to figure out its relevance to me.

But I am in agreement with others as to the difficulty in finding answers to my questions. I have searched over and over for one thing in particular and I don't really want to re-ask and annoy people with what may be a common question.