Chris Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Remember when we last re-arranged the forums some of you started to complain that having virtually all of the forums shown on the forum index means a LOT of scrolling? Well I've decided to re-think the layout of the forums, and have been considering adding a few more subforums to allow us to expand, and to split up some crowded forums. Some of these changes I will definitely be going ahead and doing with immediate affect, some I'll wait for comments from you, and the new subforums will be trialled to see how much discussion we actually get out of you. i.e. if no one uses them we'll get rid of them and go back to how we originally were. The news and announcements forums and all the forums on the GTA games are all staying the same, there aren't any changes to be made to them, the changes concern the rest of the forum, and I've outlined what I plan to do below. First of all, changes I am making right now: The gang forums aren't used by everyone, and secondly, they aren't the main focal point of the forum, though they are of some importance to the community. The gangs category will be organised as such Public Gang Chat - this will house Gang System Announcements, Trading Stalls, Gang Recruitment and Gang Chat Private Gang Chat - no changes here, it simply holds discussion forums for the big official gangs RP and WarZone - again no changes, used for flamewars and for gangs to RP, and well as normal members to RP Changes to the General Discussion forums. I've had a few thoughts about these, and I'm sort of reaching a compromise between two thoughts I had. Splitting these forums up into two or three main areas. Making it appear like so... General Discussion The Lounge - for general chat about anything that doesn't belong in any of the other forums Serious Chat - For more important topics regarding politics, current events, environment, the world and what have you. Fun and Games - forum games and other random spammy stuff [*]Creativity Graphics - for showing off your works of art, things you've made in photoshop, or paint... Writer's Lounge - for those of you who write fanfic's and such, show them off here. [*]Lifestyle Gaming - games other than GTA Music - for discussing your interests in all things music TV and Movies - for discussing TV programs and what's on at the movies, the films you've seen etc. Sport - so most of you are lazy gamers, but you have interest in some sports right? I'm sure you watch them on TV, you can talk about them here Vehicles - here we are all fans of Grand Theft Auto, most of us have an interest in vehicles in real life too, just take the amount of cars in our download database, people love getting real life cars in the game, so I'm sure this forum will be of great interest to many of you. The forum will contain discussion about real life vehicles and motoring. PC Chat - for everything hardware and software, programming etc. it all goes here NOTES Writer's Lounge - this new forum will be made to split up the creativity forum which currently has both writing and graphics, two great forms of expression, but very different. The split would make it easier for members to find what they are actually there for. Splitting the Entertainment forum - this forum has a lot of topics in it. A lot of interests flying around for all different mediums. We think it would be better to have dedicated forums for Music, and TV & Movies. This would make it much easier for members to find topics on specific things Sports forum - not many topics in the entertainment forum revolve around sporting events, or sports in general. But it's a pretty large thing that is in nearly all of our lives whether we take part or just watch. This is a trial forum. We will see how much people use it and decide in a couple of weeks or so whether it is needed. However, with the split up of other forums, The Lounge would seem the only appropriate place to keep the topics that are posted in... so it would actually be easier to keep it anyway... then again if it really isn't used, this won't be too much of a problem. Vehicles forum - This is another forum I am creating just to trial it and see how it goes, I expect it to be more popular than the sports one above, and the reasons for it I like I said in the descriptions. We are all fans of Grand Theft Auto, most of us have an interest in vehicles in real life too, just take the amount of cars in our download database, people love getting real life cars in the game, so I'm sure this forum will be of great interest to many of you. The forum will contain discussion about real life vehicles and motoring. And that's about it. So what we have is a splitting up of the General Discussion area into 3 separate areas, each with a few subforums in, so the discussion is more channelled. Please give us your comments, I want to know whether you like or dislike the changes, and hear any other thoughts you've got on the matter. Please don't leave it until after we've made the changes to voice your opinion... that would be stupid wouldn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Glad to see you suggesting some changes. Although you forgot PC Chat and Gaming Chat. Sorting the gangs into public/private/warzone is a good way of doing it, allowing for full access as well as not too much on the board index. The Sport forum is the one I'm not sure would work. After a few searches, it seems we don't have many sport-related topics. I can see us having a few discussions about different sports around the world, and a few topics about the well-known sports, but there really isn't that much we have in common internationally. A discussion about Premiership football would leave most non-Britons out in the cold (as well as a lot of Britons). No offence to the gaming community, but I don't see sport being one of the main things we talk about. Having said that, the sport category is very diverse, ranging from ball sports to raquet sports to athetics to motorsports and other such stuff, so everybody should have something to talk about, but I'm just not sure whether there's much to talk about with other people. Would be interesting to find out, so I think it's worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bossman Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Yeah, I like the new changes that'll be made, especially the Writer's Lounge and Sport area. TBH I don't mind it how it is now, but change is mostly for the better. If it keeps things tidy, then I have no problems with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red_91 Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Oh they are some good idea, I would definetly like to see a Sports sub forum because I am a big football fan and want to talk about the big matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TM™ Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 I like this, much better. Atleast I won't need to scroll that much now. But also I might make a fanfic on the Writer Lounge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas. Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Great Idea Chris. Yeah at least we dont need to Scroll as much. Great Job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Its a very good idea, I think a sports section is good as I find it annoying when looking at topics and there is endless talk of sports. If its in its own section I can thne ignore it. It will look so much tider and is a great idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted April 16, 2007 Author Share Posted April 16, 2007 Ok that's cool, all of you seem to like the idea so far. The gang forums have now been re-arranged. I've also added the Sports and Vehicles forums. I also just spent ages going through the lounge and entertainment forum moving all sorts of topics around, I found quite a few relating to sports, only a small amount for vehicles though, so get posting about some nice cars! Entertainment will be split shortly into Movies & Tv, and Music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 I don't think Ents needs to be split - If you take away the "What are you listening to right now?" topic, there are only 3,045 replies in that subforum, making it even less popular than the graphics subforum. I also think PC Chat should be extended to include other aspects of technology, discussion about phones, mp3 players and stuff as well as modern/upcoming technology etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted April 16, 2007 Author Share Posted April 16, 2007 Hmm... I'll leave it as it is for now then. Not sure what would be best at the moment. EDIT: Had another thought... a Tech + Gadgets section, for that sort of discussion, while PC chat remains for computer related chat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerard Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 No need for separate imo, PC Chat is least popular general subforum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted April 16, 2007 Author Share Posted April 16, 2007 All right, will rename PC chat now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.O.D Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Yeah, much neater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Worked out very nicely, top job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little_homer Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 I think thats better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickDeath Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Sorry Chris but i hate this, i honestly do. Whats the use of less scrolling if i have to click like hundred times to see if something is going on in for example in ''the Lounge''? Back in the good old days it took me only a glimpse at the general forums page to see that there are new posts in many forums. I hope you understand what i mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas. Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Much better Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted April 19, 2007 Author Share Posted April 19, 2007 Sorry Chris but i hate this, i honestly do. Whats the use of less scrolling if i have to click like hundred times to see if something is going on in for example in ''the Lounge''? Back in the good old days it took me only a glimpse at the general forums page to see that there are new posts in many forums. I hope you understand what i mean. I do understand what you mean, but it's only 1 additional click. Also, the other members who have commented on this have all regarded the change as positive, so I'm afraid you're a minority as it stands. We also hope that by making this change, members will be more encouraged to actually check out the other subforums, as they tended to be neglected before with people just scrolling past, or only looking in the lounge for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bossman Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Sorry Chris but i hate this, i honestly do. Whats the use of less scrolling if i have to click like hundred times to see if something is going on in for example in ''the Lounge''? Back in the good old days it took me only a glimpse at the general forums page to see that there are new posts in many forums. I hope you understand what i mean. I disagree - if you look BELOW the main title heading, you'll see you can click on the lounge, entertainment etc as before, it just looks neater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOYA Posted April 21, 2007 Share Posted April 21, 2007 I agree with what QuickDeath said. You could see all the new posts in the individual forums and in what topic those posts were made. That said, it's no great loss, especially as most people seem to like the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evabin2libertycity? Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 this isnt good for a forum. this think fills my history. it complicates things so much. i hate it. i dont go to the forum as much now. is there an option to change it back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbanoutlaw Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 If you've already covered this, kindly disregard. How practicle would a "Bookmarks" option next to "My controls", "View Unanswered Posts", etc. Would make it easier to keep track of threads that have fallen off of new posts. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Bookmarks is the function all board software has always been missing. If Chris is interested in it, I would love to code something up myself, would be a nice project for my holidays coming up. Up to Chris though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted June 12, 2007 Author Share Posted June 12, 2007 this isnt good for a forum. this think fills my history. it complicates things so much. i hate it. i dont go to the forum as much now. is there an option to change it back? Explain how this complicateds things and fills your history. To everyone wanting bookmarks, WTF, just use the thread subscription tools, that's what they are for. It's a function nearly all board software has. If it's different then please do explain how your bookmarking would work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evabin2libertycity? Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 (edited) that sounds good. but still it feels dumb. scrolling is just something a forum needs. but everyone seems to like clicking on every individual post for some reason. there cant even be a "next" and "previous" button? Edited June 12, 2007 by evabin2libertycity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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