Why have we lost so many forums?
by Ian Smithers · in General Discussion · 01/16/2009 (6:23 am) · 9 replies
I cannot fathom the logic behind this. Yes I agree the old forums were confusing, but that was because your forum software was pretty bad. It showed all parent and all child boards at once.
Now we have a single forum for ALL art issues?! :o Why fracture everything like this, I don't get it. :/
Now we have a single forum for ALL art issues?! :o Why fracture everything like this, I don't get it. :/
#2
01/16/2009 (6:43 am)
Condensing the forums should lead to the forums appearing more active (by way of no longer having so many low-traffic forums). Active forums attract more activity, so I see it as a good thing. Maybe it needs some tuning, but I think it was a change for the better. 
#3
01/16/2009 (8:39 am)
Part of the explanation was that newcomers were confused and/or overwhelmed by all of the forum categories (too many choices) and didn't know where to post. Unfortunately that theory doesn't bear out with the new condensed forums because I still see posts made in categories that don't make sense or are irrelevant for the particular forum they are posted in -- which could lead to an even greater navigational mess in the long run. 
#4
01/16/2009 (10:41 am)
We're trying things to solve the issues that have been brought up. Keep in mind we're all about finding what works, so keep the feedback coming as constructive (like this) as possible :)
#5
If you wish to create a community, and indeed a functional one, I would like to suggest having forums dedicated to all the various assets for Torque. When someone things, "Hmm, I wonder how I do that?" their first stop should be GG, not an offsite location. I can understand what you mean about how confusing it was before, but I thought that was more a product of the forum software, in that it displayed all parent and child boards at once. Here we have better software and that problem has gone away, but it seems we've also lost the many areas too.
Ideally, it would be great if there was something like this:
General - Your average discussion forum.
Code - Math, Scripting, AI, Torsion, etc etc subforums.
Art - ShowTool, Max, Maya, Blender etc etc subforums.
Pretty much what you had before, just neater. :)
01/16/2009 (9:52 pm)
Ok well for my two cents:If you wish to create a community, and indeed a functional one, I would like to suggest having forums dedicated to all the various assets for Torque. When someone things, "Hmm, I wonder how I do that?" their first stop should be GG, not an offsite location. I can understand what you mean about how confusing it was before, but I thought that was more a product of the forum software, in that it displayed all parent and child boards at once. Here we have better software and that problem has gone away, but it seems we've also lost the many areas too.
Ideally, it would be great if there was something like this:
General - Your average discussion forum.
Code - Math, Scripting, AI, Torsion, etc etc subforums.
Art - ShowTool, Max, Maya, Blender etc etc subforums.
Pretty much what you had before, just neater. :)
#6
I understand that some of the forums were light on traffic. But to take dozens of topics and merge them into a single place shows a reckless lack of respect for the community.
This single act really has me torqued off. :(
01/16/2009 (10:04 pm)
As someone that was both familiar with the old forums, and used the sub topics to navigate months and sometimes even years old topics - this new format has destroyed my ability to find anything efficiently. I understand that some of the forums were light on traffic. But to take dozens of topics and merge them into a single place shows a reckless lack of respect for the community.
This single act really has me torqued off. :(
#7
DTS (everything non-export specific goes here)
|_ ShowToolPro (probably doesn't need a sub-forum?)
|_ 3DSMax
|_ Maya
|_ Milkshape
|_ more..
DIF (same as above basically, replace apps with DIF apps)
|_ Constructor
|_ Quark
|_ Hammer
|_ more...
Hrm, maybe i'd break up sub-forums of DTS a bit differently, as
|_ Making DSQ
|_ Vehicles
|_ Characters
|_ Other stuff
Yep it is tricky. The forum should go with a keyword system and a list of well chosen keywords which are relevant and only available to each relevant category. And make it pretty much insult anyone who fails to choose appropriate keywords for their topic, or let viewers "tag" topics with keywords voluntarily.
01/25/2009 (4:21 pm)
Artwise, how about...DTS (everything non-export specific goes here)
|_ ShowToolPro (probably doesn't need a sub-forum?)
|_ 3DSMax
|_ Maya
|_ Milkshape
|_ more..
DIF (same as above basically, replace apps with DIF apps)
|_ Constructor
|_ Quark
|_ Hammer
|_ more...
Hrm, maybe i'd break up sub-forums of DTS a bit differently, as
|_ Making DSQ
|_ Vehicles
|_ Characters
|_ Other stuff
Yep it is tricky. The forum should go with a keyword system and a list of well chosen keywords which are relevant and only available to each relevant category. And make it pretty much insult anyone who fails to choose appropriate keywords for their topic, or let viewers "tag" topics with keywords voluntarily.
#8
All those threads, along with comments and crits, are now gone. It really doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy when I'd have to re-upload EVERYTHING. There really isn't a place to put free content if we wanted to; all I see is links to "for-pay" art. It appears that Free media creators aren't welcome here anymore?
In my opinion; these forums are much harder to navigate than the old ones. What happened to the "What's New" art images in the top-left corner? Gone, it appears. The old way had everything right where we could find it...on one page.
Is there something I'm missing here???
-Keith
01/29/2009 (5:45 pm)
What happened to all the Free media threads we donated our art to??All those threads, along with comments and crits, are now gone. It really doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy when I'd have to re-upload EVERYTHING. There really isn't a place to put free content if we wanted to; all I see is links to "for-pay" art. It appears that Free media creators aren't welcome here anymore?
In my opinion; these forums are much harder to navigate than the old ones. What happened to the "What's New" art images in the top-left corner? Gone, it appears. The old way had everything right where we could find it...on one page.
Is there something I'm missing here???
-Keith
#9
Second.. I understand the old forums were never ending with several areas where no one would post for weeks at a time. But.. having everything this condensed is overkill. It's more than overkill.. its counter-productive.
Third.. You need to have an "featured art" area again. It was nice to see what others were doing; helped motivate myself and others.. and I'll tell you a secret. When I was looking to buy the engine, I was not impressed with what GG showed the engine could do, but with what the community showed the engine could do. Just something to think about. Right now.. there's nothing that flashes out at people; its all been removed.
01/29/2009 (7:53 pm)
I find myself ignoring the majority of the forums now because at any given time.. most of them are collapsed, and when they aren't.. they soon will be automatically. The collapsing forums is a neat effect. But it's functionality is terrible. Second.. I understand the old forums were never ending with several areas where no one would post for weeks at a time. But.. having everything this condensed is overkill. It's more than overkill.. its counter-productive.
Third.. You need to have an "featured art" area again. It was nice to see what others were doing; helped motivate myself and others.. and I'll tell you a secret. When I was looking to buy the engine, I was not impressed with what GG showed the engine could do, but with what the community showed the engine could do. Just something to think about. Right now.. there's nothing that flashes out at people; its all been removed.
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