Mug's quick suggestions

[Mug]

Just a quick one really. I've been around here for ages, since early 2013 when Linus finally persuaded me to get an account after persistant nagging on the livestream.

As the years went by, I keep noticing the forum getting less and less attractive for veteran users and these are my suggestions for revitalising the forum in a move to preserve its core community.

• Off Topic posts should come up in the recent topics box. Sometimes people ask important questions in off topic and sometimes don't get any replies. This doesn't help. Off Topic should become central to the forum rather than an after thought as veteran members like it.
• Fewer choices in "Forums". Why do we need so many choices? People just get confused and don't put their topics in the right category. Then people don't see the topics because they're only browsing certain subforums. Consolidating them into a few groups would mean that people can get to the posts more easily, resulting in more satisfaction. I'll give you a few examples that you could do that would do no harm and help users of the forum.
  • Everything in Consumer Electronics could easily be merged into one
  • PC Gaming, Condole Gaming, Esports, Star Citizen, Mobile gaming and Looking For Group could be merged into "Gaming"
  • Programming and Programs, apps and Websites could be merged
  • New Builds and Planning, Build Logs and Case Mods could be merged into simply "New Builds, Planning and Mods"
  • Storage Devices and Servers and NAS could be merged into "Storage"
  • Peripherals, Displays and Audio could be merged into "Peripherals"
  • Air and Water Cooling could be merged into "Cooling"

That's all really. Thanks.

[minibois]

I strongly agree with the second part of your suggestion. They have a system now which makes it so you can have sub forums in the sub forums (just like Forum Information has Forum Features and Suggestions and the Bugs section now) so why can't we make a gaming section, in which you have subs for PC gaming, console gaming, etc. and a whole lot more tweaks.

Right now there are just too many sub forums on the main page. Hot Deals IMO should be put on the top again, just like it was. It's just helpful to see the thread with the latest post on it right away, just to see a nice deal.

 

The first part I don't fully understand or haven't encountered. If someone posts a thread in Off Topic is doesn't show up on the recent topics bar on the right?

[Mug]

2 minutes ago, Minibois said:

The first part I don't fully understand or haven't encountered. If someone posts a thread in Off Topic is doesn't show up on the recent topics bar on the right?

It used to but it doesn't after the update

[TomvanWijnen]

Agreed. Also, the recent topics should be at the top for mobile users.

[mcfloxxx]

I agree.

also I think there should be a "helping" button because I want to show that it helped but i have to klick informative even if it isn't.

Sorry for my english

[1823alex]

I agree with everything but merging servers with storage. As some servers do not only store data, a lot are web hosts, game hosts and having the servers sections is quite nice.

[Godlygamer23]

18 minutes ago, mcfloxxx said:

I agree.

also I think there should be a "helping" button because I want to show that it helped but i have to klick informative even if it isn't.

Sorry for my english

I think the Helping button would be unnecessary. If we added options for everything, we would have far too many of them.

[LogicalDrm]

Here's the weird part. Most of things you suggest are complete opposite what I've seen requested most of the time.

 

3 hours ago, Mug said:

Off Topic posts should come up in the recent topics box. Sometimes people ask important questions in off topic and sometimes don't get any replies. This doesn't help. Off Topic should become central to the forum rather than an after thought as veteran members like it.

This is the first thing. It was asked weekly or bi-weekly basis in old suggestions thread that Off topic posts would be removed from Recent.

3 hours ago, Mug said:

• Fewer choices in "Forums". Why do we need so many choices? People just get confused and don't put their topics in the right category. Then people don't see the topics because they're only browsing certain subforums. Consolidating them into a few groups would mean that people can get to the posts more easily, resulting in more satisfaction. I'll give you a few examples that you could do that would do no harm and help users of the forum.
  • Everything in Consumer Electronics could easily be merged into one
  • PC Gaming, Condole Gaming, Esports, Star Citizen, Mobile gaming and Looking For Group could be merged into "Gaming"
  • Programming and Programs, apps and Websites could be merged
  • New Builds and Planning, Build Logs and Case Mods could be merged into simply "New Builds, Planning and Mods"
  • Storage Devices and Servers and NAS could be merged into "Storage"
  • Peripherals, Displays and Audio could be merged into "Peripherals"
  • Air and Water Cooling could be merged into "Cooling"

That's all really. Thanks.

Also thing that gets suggestions are more subforums.

• Request for laptops getting own subforum was quite high. Even resulting few whole threads requesting it.
• Combining gaming things would end in massive flame wars and trolling. Besides PC Gaming already gets 2 pages of active threads daily, so it would be cluttered as hell.
• Build logs should stay. But modding could be injected into either hobby electronics or new builds as you suggested.
• As Air cooling guy, not really fan of merging cooling stuffs. I bet liquid cooling guys feel same.

Rest of these I somewhat do agree.

[colonel_mortis]

4 hours ago, Mug said:

Off Topic posts should come up in the recent topics box. Sometimes people ask important questions in off topic and sometimes don't get any replies. This doesn't help. Off Topic should become central to the forum rather than an after thought as veteran members like it

This is a tech forum, so the focus is on tech. The Off Topic subforum is the largest on the site (by post count and, to a lesser degree, by topic count), but we would rather encourage the discussion elsewhere, especially when there are sometimes some very weird topics in OT.

At this time, we aren't planning to change that.

4 hours ago, Mug said:

Fewer choices in "Forums". Why do we need so many choices? People just get confused and don't put their topics in the right category. Then people don't see the topics because they're only browsing certain subforums. Consolidating them into a few groups would mean that people can get to the posts more easily, resulting in more satisfaction. I'll give you a few examples that you could do that would do no harm and help users of the forum.

• Everything in Consumer Electronics could easily be merged into one

Laptops attract a very different set of people to cameras, so merging them would make no sense, and splitting laptops out from phones and tablets was probably the most popular forum change suggestion that we got.

We are not going to revert that.

4 hours ago, Mug said:

• PC Gaming, Condole Gaming, Esports, Star Citizen, Mobile gaming and Looking For Group could be merged into "Gaming"

I do see the merit of that, but PC Gaming would massively outweigh the others. I doubt that we'll change it, but I wouldn't disagree if it was decided that we should.

4 hours ago, Mug said:

• Programming and Programs, apps and Websites could be merged

They are very different things - one is for "what program should I use" and "how do I do this thing", while the other is about writing programs. While some of the programming people might be interested in topics in programs, apps and websites, most people who use programs, apps and websites couldn't care less about the programming subforum. I would understand more if you suggested merging operating systems with programs, but the admin team decided to split them, and the rate that new topics are being started in there is pretty healthy at the moment.

We aren't going to change that.

4 hours ago, Mug said:

New Builds and Planning, Build Logs and Case Mods could be merged into simply "New Builds, Planning and Mods"

New Builds and Planning is the biggest subforum for new users, and the topics that get posted there are very different to build logs and case mods. Build logs are popular among lurkers, and it's quite a different subforum to the rest of the site.

We aren't going to change that.

4 hours ago, Mug said:

Storage Devices and Servers and NAS could be merged into "Storage"

The rational for splitting them in the first place was that there was no place for servers (and storage only works for a subset of servers), and there's quite a big difference between "what drive should I get" and "how can I set up this 100TB nas".

At this time, we aren't planning to change it.

4 hours ago, Mug said:

Peripherals, Displays and Audio could be merged into "Peripherals"

Each of those is quite different though, especially audio.

Not going to change it.

4 hours ago, Mug said:

Air and Water Cooling could be merged into "Cooling"

There have been discussions internally about merging them, but also about splitting them further. The decision was made that they should be left as they are.

 

 

I know this post is fairly negative, but we did recently consider what subforums should be changed, which led to the arrangement that we have now.

[Mug]

5 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

I think the Helping button would be unnecessary. If we added options for everything, we would have far too many of them.

For some reason, I'm finding myself agreeing with Godly. Gah! I reckon the reputation system is too granular as it is. What's the difference between the "good point" and "agree"? They're basically the same thing, doesn't make sense that they're separate.

 

1 hour ago, colonel_mortis said:

--

As @Minibois said, you could sub-catagorise them more such that they are easier to scroll through. This is more of a web design thing as anyhting else, new users to the forum are confused and veteran users of the forum quite franly can't be bothered to sift through the endless sub-forums. It's a problem that means that there's more work for moderators and therefore should be changed. As for the bit on Off Topic, having a flourishing "Off Topic" means that you retain a greater number of people that actually reply to posts (you know, the people that have been on the forum for ages) because they are enthused to visit the section. Making Off Topic less relevant does nothing but detract from everyone's forum experience.

[Godlygamer23]

6 minutes ago, Mug said:

For some reason, I'm finding myself agreeing with Godly. Gah! I reckon the reputation system is too granular as it is. What's the difference between the "good point" and "agree"? They're basically the same thing, doesn't make sense that they're separate.

During our internal discussions of the reputation system, someone brought up that "Good Point" could be used during an argument where someone disagrees, but they acknowledge the point you're trying to make. "Good point" could also be used if someone brings something up that you hadn't considered, or forgot about. While "Agree" and "Good Point" could be considered the same thing for some situations, I find "Good Point" to be more specific.

[Mug]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

During our internal discussions of the reputation system, someone brought up that "Good Point" could be used during an argument where someone disagrees, but they acknowledge the point you're trying to make. "Good point" could also be used if someone brings something up that you hadn't considered, or forgot about. While "Agree" and "Good Point" could be considered the same thing for some situations, I find "Good Point" to be more specific.

How about a "sarcastically agree" button or a "you're a mug!" button, I'd find both of them more useful than "good point". Alas, we have neither. Regrettable to say the least.

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, Mug said:

How about a "sarcastically agree" button or a "you're a mug!" button, I'd find both of them more useful than "good point". Alas, we have neither. Regrettable to say the least.

I'm not sure I support either of those options. Perhaps we'll have at least one funny reputation added in the future though.

[Mug]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

I'm not sure I support either of those options.

At least I tried, eh?

[Blade of Grass]

1 hour ago, Mug said:

As @Minibois said, you could sub-catagorise them more such that they are easier to scroll through. This is more of a web design thing as anyhting else, new users to the forum are confused and veteran users of the forum quite franly can't be bothered to sift through the endless sub-forums.

Your plan would also create more level of the forum then there needs to be and would create quite a bit of redundancy.

"Consumer Electronics" would be the sole sub forum under "Consumer Electronics" and inside of it would be all the sub-subforums for "Consumer Electronics"? That seems even messier

[Mug]

37 minutes ago, Blade of Grass said:

Your plan would also create more level of the forum then there needs to be and would create quite a bit of redundancy.

"Consumer Electronics" would be the sole sub forum under "Consumer Electronics" and inside of it would be all the sub-subforums for "Consumer Electronics"? That seems even messier

You've most certainly missed the point I was making

[Blade of Grass]

5 minutes ago, Mug said:

You've most certainly missed the point I was making

From my understanding you wanted to make the sub-forums in some of the categories sub-sub-forums, similar to how they are in "Operating Systems" and "Forum Information"  (I assumed you were proposing something different from what Mortis had already addressed). Could you elaborate on what you meant instead, if my understanding is wrong?

[Mug]

8 minutes ago, Blade of Grass said:

From my understanding you wanted to make the sub-forums in some of the categories sub-sub-forums, similar to how they are in "Operating Systems" and "Forum Information"  (I assumed you were proposing something different from what Mortis had already addressed). Could you elaborate on what you meant instead, if my understanding is wrong?

I never suggested a cookie cutter approach to this. We all know that mayn't work. Instead, for some of them to be fully merged and for some to be merged into sub-categories.

 

The point at the start was that the current layout is confusing and most people would probably agree with that.