Games forum re-merge

Jazzy

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Lies, I remember from the moderator forum that it was your way or the highway. It was the reason I had to step down. :pac:

that and you needed more time to blow menenfag iirc

Retr0gamer

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Lies, I remember from the moderator forum that it was your way or the highway. It was the reason I had to step down. :pac:

You call it bullying. I call it lebensraum.

Kinetic^

Jazzy wrote: »

that and you needed more time to blow menenfag iirc

I needed time off from your poor trolling as well.

johnny_ultimate

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's possible and I'm sure if it isn't a good portion of code in the site needs to be written to impliment it. I think that ut'sutterly pointless though. This move isn't excluding anyone. We are still discussing the exact same thing just in a different place with a wider audience now. There's no exclusion there. Really, is moving to this forum really that big a deal or are people just being awkward. As far as I can see there'smaybe 5 people in a vocal minority that have expressed concern about this move and a hell of a lot of troublemaking for the sake of it from the rest. This move wasbrought in because the mods saw overwhelming support from the users to get rid of what was a totally unwanted change to begin with and what was seen by the old school postersand what I think was all over the moderators as damaging and unneeded change to boards.

Now this wasn't solely my decision, far from it, I'm only giving my opinion so I don't want people jumping down my throat thinking this was all my fault. this was discussed with all the moderators and then passed on to the admins to discuss as well. I'm sorry to the genuine vocal minority but the saying you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs comes to mind. If there really is a massiveamount of posters totally unhappy then speak up and there might be cause for concern but as I see it there's none/ All I can say is try out the new arrangement, it works in every other site, why not here. It's a lot better than when the console forums were created where the thread about them had almost every user of the boards here totally against them and talking about how every time it cameup it was unaminously shot down. I thought that the change would be a bit of a mess but in my opinion it's been totally smooth sailing and pretty much an unmitigated success with little to no trouble.

I should point out that I really like the changes too, it may just be me but even smaller games like Super Meat Boy are getting more discussion than they usually would. I'm digging it, I must say, and have and shall continue to be a supporter of "Games forum = games discussion".

But you are probably the most vocal moderator discussing this at the moment, and while I agree with your points for the most part, I think outright ignoring the pleas of an admitted minority isn't fair! I wouldn't like to think we've actually lost posters as a result of this, and if there's anyway to at least compromise I'd personally be glad to hear suggestions out! While you hated the console specific forums as they were, others didn't, and there the ones we shouldn't lose. Because, after all, as was evident on the morning of change, there were quite a few shocked posters seeing the whole place changed, as they hadn't seen this thread as it wasn't located in their forum of choice.

All for the change, and it's running smoothly, but the least we can do is listen to concerns and try and act on them!

Grumpypants

Generally i think its gone okish no real confusion although it has killed the playstation forum which makes me sad as it was my favourite section of the whole site, so i would be speaking from a very biased point of view. I was used to the people who posted there so i would know who to listen to with regards game recommendations etc. The playstation section is my quick link on my browser so if i was coming onto boards at all it was to that section, then xbox, then games then bargain alerts and then gone.. Now its games bargain alerts and gone.

The games forum has gotten a bit of a boost guess it will just take time for it to all settle down. I just worry that if all the small sections are closed too it will get too busy and threads about smaller titles would get lost in with all the other threads.

I think at least having PSN or Live games aloud in the console forums would give them some life back.

But hey its not going to put me off posting.........worse luck i hear some of you say

Grayditch

I found the insane amount of daily technical problem threads ruined the PS section, but it was great in it's own way.

Retr0gamer

Well I'd like to hear suggestions too but I believe moving any games discussion back to the console forums is going about it completely the wrong way. There'll be confusion over what to allow, exceptions made and before you know it we're back to what we had before and then instead of the minority being appeased we also have the a largemajoirty unhappy and back to square one.

Honesty, answer me this. Is moving your the console game discussion to a Games forum that discusses genreal gaming with a much wider mix of gamers, which isn't so busy that threads are lost, isn't full of snobby PC heads, etc. really that tough or really that different or are some people just not giving it a chance and being awkward.

As for not mentioning this change to users of the other forums, I'll admit that wasn't handled the best and I brought it up with the other moderators that we should have made a thread linking to here about what was going on. We're sorry about that.

RolandIRL

i'm happy with the changes. i'm more of a lurker here as i don't keep up to date with buying new games but i still like reading the threads. good to see that there's more viewpoints being shared between all platforms

johnny_ultimate

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Honesty, answer me this. Is moving your the console game discussion to a Games forum that discusses genreal gaming with a much wider mix of gamers, which isn't so busy that threads are lost, isn't full of snobby PC heads, etc. really that tough or really that different or are some people just not giving it a chance and being awkward.

Sure, all the threads are just going to be about PC mods and hardware now anyway :P As I said before though, I definitely think the 'mixing' thing is to be encouraged in my eyes, but there'll always people who'll buy format specific mags over general ones. I think what we learned is that there were communities on the console forums - Playstation and Xbox mostly going by users in here - that were happy with things the way they were and who now feel a little left out. It is, as you say, just a shame we didn't post threads in the format specific forums about the change, and tbh I can see why some of the ill feelings have come from.

I don't know if there is a suitable compromise, but if there was anyway of pleasing both groups it would be great - that compromise doesn't exist yet, though. I just wouldn't like to see any sort of elitism kicking in over which group has superiority, leaving regular users of some forums in the lurch. There are plenty of small forums on boards with little communities - Arcade and Retro, for example - and the place would be far duller without them. If the old PS and Xbox regulars do indeed miss the forums as they were a week or two ago, well definitely I'd encourage them to speak up about it!

Retr0gamer

If there was such an active community though I'd expect way more negativity and way better reasons for it. Anyway I very much doubt there was any community in xbox, that forum was absolutely appalling, maybe some bit of comraderie in the PS forum though. I know there'd be a lot more backlash for even tiny forum communities like arcade and retro and JRPG if they were gotten rid of. Sure it's also not like we are closing down where they can talk about their niche subject anyway because firstly you can talk about it here and secondly it's not a niche. I was expecting a hell of a lot more backlash from the move in all honesty and it so far hasn't materialised.

Tallon

quarryman wrote: »

So I see some of the smaller unused forums are still around.

What's the plan in culling them?

Wolfenstein (No posts in 2 1/2 months)
Unreal
MGS
Resident Evil

Surely these could be much better served with threads here in the Games Forum.

Elder Scrolls
The Sims

No reason for separate forums for these.

Ok look, i'm not here to cause an argument, but since this thread has started I have said that it seems like your protesting to get the forums you don't like removed!

Now, phase1 is in operation, and while i'm not 100% happy about it, it somewhat seems to be working and i'm 100% sure the mods know what they're doing so i'm closely watching it to see how it pans out.

However, you keep coming in and asking what about the inactive forums etc etc.

I mean just leave it!

quarryman

Tallon wrote: »

it seems like your protesting to get the forums you don't like removed!

However, you keep coming in and asking what about the inactive forums etc etc.

I mean just leave it!

quarryman wrote: »

So I see some of the smaller unused forums are still around.

Elder Scrolls
No reason for separate forums for these.

oh really?

Me "liking" the forums has nothing to do with it, please don't suggest otherwise.

Tallon

I fail to see what that has to do with my post above?

quarryman

Not sure I can do much for you so. I quoted the relevant parts of both our posts, highlighted the key part and linked you to my favorite game.

ntlbell

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm not sure if it's possible and I'm sure if it isn't a good portion of code in the site needs to be written to impliment it. I think that ut'sutterly pointless though. This move isn't excluding anyone. We are still discussing the exact same thing just in a different place with a wider audience now. There's no exclusion there. Really, is moving to this forum really that big a deal or are people just being awkward. As far as I can see there'smaybe 5 people in a vocal minority that have expressed concern about this move and a hell of a lot of troublemaking for the sake of it from the rest. This move wasbrought in because the mods saw overwhelming support from the users to get rid of what was a totally unwanted change to begin with and what was seen by the old school postersand what I think was all over the moderators as damaging and unneeded change to boards.

Now this wasn't solely my decision, far from it, I'm only giving my opinion so I don't want people jumping down my throat thinking this was all my fault. this was discussed with all the moderators and then passed on to the admins to discuss as well. I'm sorry to the genuine vocal minority but the saying you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs comes to mind. If there really is a massiveamount of posters totally unhappy then speak up and there might be cause for concern but as I see it there's none/ All I can say is try out the new arrangement, it works in every other site, why not here. It's a lot better than when the console forums were created where the thread about them had almost every user of the boards here totally against them and talking about how every time it cameup it was unaminously shot down. I thought that the change would be a bit of a mess but in my opinion it's been totally smooth sailing and pretty much an unmitigated success with little to no trouble.

Hey Retro, I just wanted to make sure there's no misunderstanding, I'm in no way trying to create any trouble at all. I'm very happy with the changes, I was just agreeing with Enter and felt it was a good idea, but there'll be no toys getting thrown out of the pram here

Retr0gamer

ntlbell wrote: »

Hey Retro, I just wanted to make sure there's no misunderstanding, I'm in no way trying to create any trouble at all. I'm very happy with the changes, I was just agreeing with Enter and felt it was a good idea, but there'll be no toys getting thrown out of the pram here

Don't worry I know you and Enternow aren't causing trouble and your suggestions are welcome. I'm only giving my opinion on the move here and it's not the official stance on boards. The other moderators are reading this and taking on the suggestions and it's not entirely up to me either and if they don't agree with me then I'm happy to go ahead with any changes they make aslong as it's popular with the users.

Myrddin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I was expecting a hell of a lot more backlash from the move in all honesty and it so far hasn't materialised.

But without with abrasive here, just because nobody has got on to moan about it, doesn't mean viewing/traffic trends haven't changed. It's a bit arrogant to assume otherwise, and a bit short-sighted too. Again, I'm not directing this at your Retr0, it's just my unimportant view on it ok For all we know, there's loads of posters who just arn't arsed about fighting the case, and have moved on elsewhere. Those would be important, if even they are new members, because the 'boards bug' may not have bitten them yet & for all we know they may have become good regulars/contributers.

Its really only the admins now who can see the trends, and do some number crunching to see if the traffic has balanced out. As I said before, if we've lost traffic/users, then this will have been a step in the wrong direction - despite how 'tidy' it has made things. If the traffic/volume has balanced out, then people like me can shut up because we've lost nothing in that case.

Retr0gamer

Well the other side of this is how can we tell if people aren't happy if they don't speak up about it? Going by my experience, any time there's been a shake up here, even a popular one we get a lot of negative feedback and this change has been far and away the quietest.

johnny_ultimate

Well, I must say this is encouraging :

Myrddin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Well the other side of this is how can we tell if people aren't happy if they don't speak up about it? Going by my experience, any time there's been a shake up here, even a popular one we get a lot of negative feedback and this change has been far and away the quietest.

Yeah, I suppose thats a fair point. There's only so much pre-empting that can be done really, & if the opposition doesn't speak up...well is there much more to say on the point

Johnny that looks good doesn't it! But throw us a Playstation one for the laugh I think I'll quit rambling on the topic now, but to summarise, yes I agree with the merger, provided we havn't lost users/posters.

Retr0gamer

The biggie was not posting on the other forums tolet them know and that's the moderators fault I hope the PS regulars do migrate over because there was definitely so good discussion over there and most of them were on the ball and we don't want to lose any of them.

RolandIRL

Would it be too late to stick a thread in there now? Yes there's an announcement there but noone really notices those things. Better late than never

Grumpypants

whiteman19 wrote: »

Would it be too late to stick a thread in there now? Yes there's an announcement there but noone really notices those things. Better late than never

I was thinking the same, something that just explains what has happened and where everyone has gone.

Then we leave the set up as it is now as changing it back would be a messy affair.

Retr0gamer

I'm on it guys just running it past the other moderators.

Polar101

Just some observations.

- The console subforums seem pretty dead now, previously the Playstation forum had some interesting discussion going on and I spent more time there than on the general forum.
- Games forum has way too many threads. Previously it was possible to read "everything", now threads that might be interesting disappear so fast that finding them is a bit of a lottery.

So I'm not sure if this is an improvement to the way things were before, even though there were too many subforums. Let's see what happens.

cherryghost

Polar101 wrote: »

- The console subforums seem pretty dead now, previously the Playstation forum had some interesting discussion going on and I spent more time there than on the general forum.
- Games forum has way too many threads. Previously it was possible to read "everything", now threads that might be interesting disappear so fast that finding them is a bit of a lottery.

1. The subforums look far from dead to me.
2. Boards has an AMAZING feature that allows for a user to search for threads.

I love the fresh feel to this forum. I'm actively involved in far more threads across all platforms, and seeing posters I've never seen in my life. Loving it!

Magill

cherryghost wrote: »

2. Boards has an AMAZING feature that allows for a user to search for threads.

I dont mind the whole thing in fairness... but threads such as the demonsouls one which was active in the playstation forum for a long time have now disappeared and are about 5 pages down, nobody from the xbox or nintendo community gives a flying **** about it. I really dont get why exclusive games were put into this big pile of **** all in one forum.

Retr0gamer

The Demons Souls thread kept disappearing in the Playstation forum as well and kept being ressurected. Oh look the Demon's Souls thread is back on the first page just like it used to be in the PS forum.

There's no reason the interesting discussion in the PS forum can't migrate over here.

There's also the follow thread feature that you can use to keep track of any interesting threads.

The games forum isn't that busy. I went away for the entire lonf weekend and when I came back all the new threads were still on the first page.

Dyr

cherryghost wrote: »

1. The subforums look far from dead to me.
2. Boards has an AMAZING feature that allows for a user to search for threads.

I love the fresh feel to this forum. I'm actively involved in far more threads across all platforms, and seeing posters I've never seen in my life. Loving it!

Not to mention the sinister and arcane art of following a thread, lord preserve us :pac:

Sisko

Mr E wrote: »

We have started the first phase of the Games Category cleanup. Games threads from the first 3 pages of the Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation forums have been moved to the main games forum, and threads have been merged where appropriate.

We'll give this a few weeks to bed down before the next phase.

What is the next phase? I sure hope its not killing communities like the Fighting games section and the tactile shooter section :eek: