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CM_FeroCM_Fero Member, Administrator Posts: 3 Community Manager
Hello Captains,

After many years of community discussion on the forums, we've made the decision to migrate our resources to where most players are now actively communicating. We will be migrating our official Star Trek Online community discussions to an Official Discord this summer. We want to thank everyone for your feedback, creativity, and passion that have helped shape the forums all these years. Stay tuned for more info and an invite to the official Discord. We look forward to seeing you on Discord!
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Comments

  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,708 Arc User
    Will the forum remain available in a read-only format?
    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
  • risian4#5049 risian4 Member Posts: 190 Arc User
    Well, it's not like this place was very active anymore. It's practically a ghost town, compared to earlier years.

    I assume the regular website will be maintained?
  • eazzieeazzie Member Posts: 4,500 Arc User
    Hold on who is the Community Manager is it Sunna or Fero ? Or do we have two ?
  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 6,085 Arc User
    It would make sense to get away from the increasingly political X and move that mainly announcements portion of the communications to Discord or Bluesky because a lot of people are actively avoiding X nowadays.

    However, it makes less sense if they mean to shut down this relatively lightweight online forum and move entirely to Discord since while it is an excellent third-party chat system it simply does not have the necessary topic organization and archive functions of a real forum system. And it is a bit of a resource hog for older systems so not everyone runs it while the game is running, which is probably why TeamSpeak is used so much in many fleets.

    Not long ago there was an attempt to move this forum to a different forum platform that didn't go over very well (to say the least) because it had the same sort of difficulties with keeping threads organized that Discord has even more of.
  • sthe91sthe91 Member Posts: 6,371 Arc User
    edited May 8
    I am going to miss these forums and the people here, past and present. I will join this Discord though when the invite is given.

    With that said will the forums be fixed before this migration since there are posts from users that got rendered Unknown and that this content has been removed? I don't want those comments to be lost to the ether.

    Also, will spam be dealt with that is present on the Champions and Neverwinter forums?

    Will it at least be made read-only as questerius mentioned?

    As for Twitter/X, they already post on BlueSky mainly but I like having choice so I don't want that option taken away regardless of who owns it. I am against cancel culture and I saw the ugly even before the name change. There is still good there even in the midst of the dirt.
    Post edited by sthe91 on
    Where there is a Will, there is a Way.
  • fred26291#2759 fred26291 Member Posts: 1,441 Arc User
    edited May 12
    I left discord last year for reasons that do not concern the game.
    However, I cannot return to discord cause of the reason I left.
    I also will not chase down any social media sites for updates either.
    I will keep up with the news feed on playstartrekonline and give up on the forums.
    Having examined the forums for another game on Discord, I am discouraged that this is a usefull move for the forums.
    Post edited by fred26291#2759 on
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,167 Arc User
    edited May 8
    I'll be honest: I wasted way too much time in stupid debates on these forums over the past 17 years (since beta). But hey, it was entertaining... I think? I don't actually play anymore, but I just wanted to wish any old timers well. I know the game itself isn't shutting down, but since I'm not playing anymore, maybe we'll see each other again in the next Trek MMO! LL&P!

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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  • foxman00foxman00 Member Posts: 1,540 Arc User
    I'll be honest: I wasted way too much time in stupid debates on these forums over the past 17 years (since beta). But hey, it was entertaining... I think? I don't actually play anymore, but I just wanted to wish any old timers well. I know the game itself isn't shutting down, but since I'm not playing anymore, maybe we'll see each other again in the next Trek MMO! LL&P!

    Indeed, I remember a lot of the old names, the old debates and historic threads. I have just retired from STO myself. I wish everyone the best in the new discord channel.

    GrandNagus, may the Great Material Continuum flow greatness your way in your travels :)
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  • rattler2rattler2 Member, Star Trek Online Moderator Posts: 59,174 Community Moderator
    eazzie wrote: »
    Hold on who is the Community Manager is it Sunna or Fero ? Or do we have two ?

    Word from on high, Fero is an Arc employee who has also assisted with Blogs since before Kael left. Sunna is still our CM.
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
    normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
    colored text = mod mode
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,865 Arc User
    edited May 8
    It will be quite a loss if all the existing posts evaporate like what happened when Bethesda deleted its forums. So much knowledge and history was lost.

    "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."

    Discord is fine for chat, but there's nothing like our Academy where you can look up torpedo builds or how to gear a SCIENCE! ship :(
  • qawsadaqawsada Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    Yeah I am very concern if many of the posts are going to get deleted or not.
  • talgeezetalgeeze Member Posts: 199 Arc User
    edited May 9
    After seeing many games move over, Discord is an absolutely terrible tool to replace forums especially for long form discussions. It's completely closed off so it's not indexed by search engines (while its built-in search works like 1/5 of the time) and you need an another account on top of your game account to read it, you can't bookmark threads or post or can't back up stuff on The Internet Archive in case it disappears...

    We all know the real reason is just to save money but TBH if it's the same mods as here, there's no point.
  • husanakxhusanakx Member Posts: 1,673 Arc User
    Not a fan of discord. No thanks.
    Guess I'll just be less informed.
    Not a fan Deca. o7
  • This content has been removed.
  • eazzieeazzie Member Posts: 4,500 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    eazzie wrote: »
    Hold on who is the Community Manager is it Sunna or Fero ? Or do we have two ?

    Word from on high, Fero is an Arc employee who has also assisted with Blogs since before Kael left. Sunna is still our CM.

    Thanks. Title change should be made then as it is misleading. Maybe Arc Games Admin ?
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,708 Arc User
    Thanks for the update.

    As for the move to Discord, maybe it is a generational thing but i prefer the format of a clean forum over the clutter from Discord.

    Maybe i will be active there as well, but i mostly avoided discord until now due to its chaotic nature.
    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,326 Arc User
    This feels like partly a mistake. There is no new post function on Discord so it cannot be used like a forum. For other games that use Discord I find I miss 90% of the posts and no longer engage with the wider community.

    Reddit and forums have a new post or all post option so you can browse a list of threads. Unless I missed that, Discord doesn’t work the same as so doesn’t make a good alternative.
  • live8evillive8evil Member Posts: 148 Arc User
    edited May 9
    Can't say for sure, since I never used Discord (and thus don't know, how many people use it as an alternative to this forum), but this decision doesn't seem like a partial mistake, but a tottal kick in the dark.

    Same reason as the decision to post game updates on X and other social platforms. This game is its own ecosystem and making people venture outside of it seems like a bad idea in any case. Also it's another condition a player has to fulfill, to be informed or make his/hers voice be heard by other players. Now I need to install discord for this single game and for the sole purpose, to be a part of the forum... we'll see, doesn't seem likely i'll do it, TBH.

    And I don't wanna be pesimistic about the situation, but stuff like this makes me feel like the game is going to hell.

    edit: not saying, that it definetly IS going to hell, just my personal gutt feeling about it.
  • quepanquepan Member Posts: 542 Arc User
    while i use discord , its good for more smaller communities and is better served as a more secure space for communities , its not a real good open door community like you have for games and there "forums. thats where the issues lie in discord . joining a open discord just asking for all sorts of trouble opening you up to all sorts of spam and phishing attacks ..
    ive been on here on and off and usually when looking for answers to technical issues or to see if a bug is just me or a wider issue . if i get a issue i can search here to see if its been discussed , thats something Discord cant do real well . maybe a better route might be to just open a official deca sto reddit at least then youll be able to do a proper search for things .
    i understand the need to trim things this forum is old and maintaining it might be difficult . i remember the merge with perfect worlds system it was a nightmare for the ARC team , so i get the need to lose the forum as it is now . just that discord isnt the answer i feel
  • jennycolvinjennycolvin Member Posts: 1,101 Arc User
    I haven't been around these parts in a long, long time - and for good reasons - but I am saddened by this move, tbh.
    Forums and Discord servers are not intercheangable. Not to mention that the forums is freely viewable even by non-logged in people and those that don't have an account, while Discord servers are not.
    Good luck to everyone that will switch over.
    kv1Ohsx.png
    Not agreeing with someone doesn't give you the right to be an TRIBBLE.

    Ci sono tre tipi di giocatori:
    - quelli a cui non va mai bene niente... e vanno sul forum a trollare;
    - quelli che sono talmente imbesuiti da credere a qualunque cosa i dev dicano, perfino che la luna è fatta di formaggio... e vanno sul forum a trollare;
    - quelli che credono a quello a cui è giusto credere, sono d'accordo con quello con cui è giusto essere d'accordo e sono critici con quello che non va;

    Ai giocatori dei primi due tipi, gratis in omaggio un bello specchio lucente su cui arrampicarsi. E una mazzata in testa per la loro poca intelligenza e compassione verso gli altri giocatori che non la pensano come loro.
    Agli appartenenti al terzo tipo, invece, dico grazie. Anche se non sempre si riesce a mantenere la calma, siete quelli per cui vale la pena incazzarsi.
  • CM_FeroCM_Fero Member, Administrator Posts: 3 Community Manager
    Hi everyone!

    A couple of things that I can answer:

    Will the forum remain available in a read-only format? - No, when our partnership with Vanilla runs out, the forums will not be accessible anymore.

    I assume the regular website will be maintained? - Yes, everything else (website, socials, launcher etc.) remains as is. This is only about these forums.

    Hold on who is the Community Manager is it Sunna or Fero ? Or do we have two ? - Sunna is the Community Manager for STO (at DECA). I'm still involved with STO as well on the Arcgames side :)
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,708 Arc User
    I decided to take another look at the reddit sto forum.
    It holds a lot of info, but it was the same chaotic vibe as discord.

    I'm worried that in-depth discussion will also become a thing of the past as headlines are recycled swiftly and even topics from one day old can be tedious to find.
    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
  • eazzieeazzie Member Posts: 4,500 Arc User
    Bad move due to the chaotic nature of Discord. But with that said if the partnership with Vanilla is coming to an end it's either sobeit or look at an alternative forum format. People here leave very usual helpful threads and friendships have been built over the years. I hope that @baddmoonrizin @darkbladejk and @rattler2 will be modding on discord as they are invaluable to the STO community.
  • thay8472thay8472 Member Posts: 6,376 Arc User
    Lol is this a result of someone asking the devs to post more on the forums? I guess that's one way to tackle it.
    zx2t8tuj4i10.png
    Thank you for the Typhoon!
  • leemwatsonleemwatson Member Posts: 5,602 Arc User
    edited May 9
    CM_Fero wrote: »
    Hello Captains,

    After many years of community discussion on the forums, we've made the decision to migrate our resources to where most players are now actively communicating. We will be migrating our official Star Trek Online community discussions to an Official Discord this summer. We want to thank everyone for your feedback, creativity, and passion that have helped shape the forums all these years. Stay tuned for more info and an invite to the official Discord. We look forward to seeing you on Discord!

    What an absolute cop-out! You couldn't ask the players on the forums about this first??

    Discord?? What were you thinking? It's as bad as Reddit! I stopped using Discord years ago because of it's chaotic nature. Looks like I'll get my news from FB.

    How are we supposed to log Bug reports, Feedback etc. now so the Dev's have an nice an easy format to follow??

    "You have brought chaos.....to order!"
    "You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 11,441 Community Moderator
    eazzie wrote: »
    Bad move due to the chaotic nature of Discord. But with that said if the partnership with Vanilla is coming to an end it's either sobeit or look at an alternative forum format. People here leave very usual helpful threads and friendships have been built over the years. I hope that @baddmoonrizin @darkbladejk and @rattler2 will be modding on discord as they are invaluable to the STO community.

    😉
    GrWzQke.png
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  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,865 Arc User
    edited May 9
    leemwatson wrote: »
    CM_Fero wrote: »
    Hello Captains,

    After many years of community discussion on the forums, we've made the decision to migrate our resources to where most players are now actively communicating. We will be migrating our official Star Trek Online community discussions to an Official Discord this summer. We want to thank everyone for your feedback, creativity, and passion that have helped shape the forums all these years. Stay tuned for more info and an invite to the official Discord. We look forward to seeing you on Discord!

    What an absolute cop-out! You couldn't ask the players on the forums about this first??

    Discord?? What were you thinking? It's as bad as Reddit! I stopped using Discord years ago because of it's chaotic nature. Looks like I'll get my news from FB.

    How are we supposed to log Bug reports, Feedback etc. now so the Dev's have an nice an easy format to follow??

    "You have brought chaos.....to order!"

    It's not that bad if the Discord server is organized properly.

    Bethesda discord has sub-channels by game, split further into chat, suggestions, announcements, modding, etc. so if you want to make a suggestion it goes in the suggestion channel instead of being lost in the real-time chat stream.

    Owlcat (Rogue Trader, Pathfinder) is similar.

    It's true that's not as easy to use as forums because conversations are all mixed together in each channel. So an Academy channel would mix together posts about building a torpedo boat and how to gear up for ground TFOs instead of keeping them as separate topics. It might not be too bad for STO because in the current forums there's often only 2-3 active topics at a time.

    To me the real loss is not being able to search for existing answers in the Academy. It's a little sad to lose the overall history but I only look for old posts in General Discussions once or twice a year if that.
  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,326 Arc User
    CM_Fero wrote: »
    Hi everyone!

    A couple of things that I can answer:

    Will the forum remain available in a read-only format? - No, when our partnership with Vanilla runs out, the forums will not be accessible anymore.

    I assume the regular website will be maintained? - Yes, everything else (website, socials, launcher etc.) remains as is. This is only about these forums.

    Hold on who is the Community Manager is it Sunna or Fero ? Or do we have two ? - Sunna is the Community Manager for STO (at DECA). I'm still involved with STO as well on the Arcgames side :)
    How is bug reporting going to work since the devs removed bug reporting in game and directed everyone to the forums?
  • risian4#5049 risian4 Member Posts: 190 Arc User
    pottsey5g wrote: »
    CM_Fero wrote: »
    Hi everyone!

    A couple of things that I can answer:

    Will the forum remain available in a read-only format? - No, when our partnership with Vanilla runs out, the forums will not be accessible anymore.

    I assume the regular website will be maintained? - Yes, everything else (website, socials, launcher etc.) remains as is. This is only about these forums.

    Hold on who is the Community Manager is it Sunna or Fero ? Or do we have two ? - Sunna is the Community Manager for STO (at DECA). I'm still involved with STO as well on the Arcgames side :)
    How is bug reporting going to work since the devs removed bug reporting in game and directed everyone to the forums?

    That's a very good question.
  • risian4#5049 risian4 Member Posts: 190 Arc User
    I'm also saddened by the news. It's not totally unexpected - as I said above, the number of people posting here as well as the number of threads and posts have been dwindling for years now. But it's sad news, nevertheless.

    Unfortunately it seems to be a trend that forums are disappearing and social media taking their place. While I'm on X, I generally don't go there to interact with STO players or Devs. The medium just isn't - and social media in general aren't - very suitable for maintaining a community.
    Things quickly get messy and oversight is soon lost, if you use the same account to also follow all sorts of people and organisations and when you're participating in very different discussions. Switching between accounts all the time isn't very practical either.

    I'm not familiar with Discord, I've only tried it once and it was very confusing, much more so than this forum, which is very user friendly. All of this means that I probably won't move to any (new) platform. So you guys will have to miss my Jellyfish complaining, calls for nerfs, notifications that 'I haz Vulcan Lirpa - there are many like it but this one is mine' and requests for Voth content and playable species.

    For myself, I'll mostly miss the various threads that were created to share your in-game experiences. The very old 'worst PvE experience' thread (I honestly don't even remember its name), the threads where people shared their character biographies and the screenshot threads.

    It's a sad thought that all of this will soon be lost.
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