Who Here hates this current forum design.

alphaomega1500 · July 2015

This current forum design looks like it should be a pre-set or a placeholder for STO's forum. Than the actual forum setup it currently is.

Did they chose this design to save money. By making it ultra bla.

ltminns · July 2015

You should have done a Poll, then they would close it right up for you.

comrademoco · July 2015

Yay finally a thread like this one that doesn't involve a poll... kudos to you OP.

And in my case I totally hate a web version of the forums. The mobile version works really nicely btw. But thanks to several individuals there is an extension that allows for a much neater web version!....

>..<

rezking · July 2015

I like the dark format.
Features are better for this one but there wasn't much wrong with the old forum.

The real question is, do we have a choice?

angrytarg · July 2015

I didn't like it. Then I discovered a certain user script and... I'm a believer now

Seriously - PWE should hire the people making those. Their own attempts at making this forum better could never compete.

But the default one is terrible.

freakium · July 2015

The format I might be able to get used to with time. I like having multiple tabs open though and I hate how this new forum forces the Arc banner down your throat. Now all my tabs just say "Arc Games" which needs extra overhead to figure out which thread I'm currently on.

angrytarg · July 2015

valoreah wrote: »

If we have to rely on third party scripts to make this side useable/readable, then there is a problem.

Oh absolutely. Don't get me wrong. But I kinda lost hope for PWE to come up with something and the user script can only leave any official improvement in the dust. Seriously - they should just pay the guys.

The user scripts can also only help on the surface and offer a number of QOL improvements. The terrible forum underneath stays the same - private messages are STILL public and no fix is in sight and no official word has been given...

virusdancer · July 2015

Outside of a scant few differences, the forums look just like they did before. Sure, the quote bit is a bit harder to read - the avatars are a wee bit smaller - and...hrmm, yeah, that's pretty much it. There's functional stuff like not having the pagination at the bottom as well as the top...the way it scrolls or doesn't scroll...Search is terribad...etc, etc, etc - but I'm at a loss at what folks are talking about with regard to the design. They must have been running all sorts of third party customization out the wahzoo. It's not meant to come off as an appeal to authority here or anything in the least, but er...yeah, post count, I spent a wee bit of time on the forums, eh? I just don't get what folks are talking about...

kittyflofy · July 2015

The new forum is awesome and players love it. There is nothing more to say. -end.

peterconnorfirst · July 2015

Compared to the last one this forum is really reduced in quality. I think I like it though because it feels more in line with the direction STO is going the past year...

psycoticvulcan · July 2015

Between the lack of a Devtracker and the fact that you can't browse without clicking into a bunch of subforums anymore, this is a huge step back from what we had.

pottsey5g · July 2015

I still hate the way the forums don't scale to resolutions. Who wants to read a tiny strip of text that makes up 50% or sometimes only 25% of the screen?

sabrevt1100 · July 2015

What? No Poll. Dangit. Well I hate the new forums too.

virusdancer · July 2015

valoreah wrote: »

virusdancer wrote: »

Outside of a scant few differences, the forums look just like they did before. Sure, the quote bit is a bit harder to read - the avatars are a wee bit smaller - and...hrmm, yeah, that's pretty much it. There's functional stuff like not having the pagination at the bottom as well as the top...the way it scrolls or doesn't scroll...Search is terribad...etc, etc, etc - but I'm at a loss at what folks are talking about with regard to the design. They must have been running all sorts of third party customization out the wahzoo. It's not meant to come off as an appeal to authority here or anything in the least, but er...yeah, post count, I spent a wee bit of time on the forums, eh? I just don't get what folks are talking about...

There are quite a few things that even the most beginner coder would know about basic web design. Hyperlink color is the same as the text, you have to scroll way too much, quoted text is near identical to regular text, etc. The list goes on.

This is a link to http://www.google.com, which will take somebody to Google's site.
This is a link to http://www.google.com, which will take somebody to Google's site.

The URL color is only the same if somebody decides to make it the same.

Could they have setup the CSS for link, vlink, etc? Sure, they probably could have done that - is it pressing? It's not difficult for somebody doing a post that's concerned about the URL being more visible...say they were doing a link like the following for Google where the http/etc wasn't visible. Maybe want to make it a little more visible for some folks? Well, we could drop our Google link out with some underlining, yeah?

It's just an opening and closing color tag - same BBCode we had on the old forums. With the [ and ] brackets wrapping the tags, it's just color=somecolor before and /color afterward. But, but, but...underlining? How, there's no underline button on the editor. Hrmm, if B is bold, I is italic, then just maybe U is underline. And yeah, it's something that even the most beginner would know...unless it was these forums, where folks complain about things at the drop of a hat.

Other than that, hrmm, yeah, I mentioned the scrolling and how the quotes stood out better before...you quoted it.

kristaswift · July 2015

ltminns wrote: »

You should have done a Poll, then they would close it right up for you.

How true...
No page on my mobile device
No real search capability on forums
Fonts are horrible
Only thing I like the best is the polls

storules · July 2015

alphaomega1500 wrote: »

This current forum design looks like it should be a pre-set or a placeholder for STO's forum. Than the actual forum setup it currently is.

Did they chose this design to save money. By making it ultra bla.

Its so ugly...its not funny anymore

belidos · July 2015

virusdancer wrote: »

Could they have setup the CSS for link, vlink, etc? Sure, they probably could have done that - is it pressing? It's not difficult for somebody doing a post that's concerned about the URL being more visible...say they were doing a link like the following for Google where the http/etc wasn't visible. Maybe want to make it a little more visible for some folks? Well, we could drop our Google link out with some underlining, yeah?

All they need to do is go into the existing CSS and change:

a {
    color: #ddd;
}

to:

a {
    color: #0CF;
}

to make it a nice pale blue colour instead, it's about 30 seconds of work.

Whereas it's an extra 10 or so seconds per link to add colour every time we want to post a link.

It's unnecessary extra clicks for us for the sake of someone changing a single line in the CSS.

Edit: oh looky the CSS for the code BBCode is all ballsed up too.

kristaswift · July 2015

and NO poll

mustrumridcully0 · July 2015

angrytarg wrote: »

I didn't like it. Then I discovered a certain user script and... I'm a believer now Seriously - PWE should hire the people making those. Their own attempts at making this forum better could never compete.

But the default one is terrible.

Indeed.

I don't think we need to be coy about the name or the source of the script. I doubt applying a different style sheet to a website can break any EULAs or Terms of Use.

I just forgot the name. And the exact links. So post it again, so I can pick up the newest version, since the version I use has an annoying tick that it will not scale down images that get to wide...

eiledon · July 2015

See Asterelle's Enhancment Add-On in my signature below for most of the usability fixes, new emoticons, font, size and color picker in editor and themes (different color themes and STO and PWI specific ones people have created)

(Also if you want a nice panel with useful game links (and arc profile/zen/support links) see my Game Panel add-on also in my signature)

solardynamo · July 2015

I spent time on the other forums too and if you think there is no difference, then you're missing something.

At the bottom of a thread, where is the pagination? I have to scroll all the way back up.
On mobile the pagination is messed up
Login takes you to the form and then back to square one from anywhere
There is no STO home for example. Home shows all game forums
Recent discussion shows all game forums mixed
Mobile layout is slightly wider than the phone so you need to downsize it to see the full width (iPhone 6+ screen)
Does search exist?
All links from Google are broken (No redirect table built on migration?)

That is just on the casual glance. Don't get me started on how "keep me logged in" actually doesn't, especially on mobile and you need to get an ARC Defender pin multiple times a day for the forums. If Defender was an option I'd turn it off and take my chances.

Edit - Oh yeah, and I'm not downloading any add-ons. I shouldn't have to.

captaintrueheart · July 2015

The dev tracker was all I really used from the old forums and then would browse STO General Discussions... now I just hang out on reddit because these new forums are just... awkward

alphaomega1500 · July 2015

You didn't have to hunt through seveal pages of forums to find the basic subject forum to begin with. (I.E. Neverwinter,STO,ECT) STO had it own forum and the other games had their own forums. So you could access your games forums from the game launcher.

Now you can't WHY ???

kristaswift · July 2015

Flag system is broken...at least from what I see....whats the use anyway?

tehbubbaloo · July 2015

sopwithsnipe wrote: »

kristaswift wrote: »

Flag system is broken...at least from what I see....whats the use anyway?

The Flag feature isn't broken.

The problem is that

PWE never employed enough people to respond to Flags,

and the few Mods we do have are:

1. Unpaid volunteers doing the job in their free time.
2. Restricted in what they can do. They have to kick serious issues up to people like Trendy to get suspensions/bans given out.

People like poor Trendy can only get to Flags when they aren't busy with their other work.

doesnt vanilla have some sort of infraction system? cos that would be the ideal way to handle a case of staff overwhelm. create half a dozen different kinds of infractions, assign each a point value, and when the point threshold is met issue a temp ban and kick it up to trendy. easy peasy.

tehbubbaloo · July 2015

sopwithsnipe wrote: »

tehbubbaloo wrote: »

doesnt vanilla have some sort of infraction system? cos that would be the ideal way to handle a case of staff overwhelm. create half a dozen different kinds of infractions, assign each a point value, and when the point threshold is met issue a temp ban and kick it up to trendy. easy peasy.

And who is going to review the reported infractions to verify their validity? PWE isn't paying people to do it now, so what makes you think they'd pay vanilla employees to do it?

Or do you want some sort of automated feature that could be easily abused by clowns like the rentals who would take great joy in disrupting the forums with petition flag wars.

the moderators would issue infractions, and when a certain point threshold was met the offenders would be temp-banned and trendy could deal with them from there.
its a great system that most of the high volume boards are using. they ran something sorta like it at the vB sto forum, but the systems modern boards use are even better. theres no good reason for people you trust to function as moderators to not have access to something like that.

mustrumridcully0 · July 2015

tehbubbaloo wrote: »

[theres no good reason for people you trust to function as moderators to not have access to something like that.

When did lack of good reason ever stop any company policy?

kawasakizx10rr · July 2015

I to dislike the current design, It is to plain and lacks the feel of a game forum. Just some nice sto art and such to the side,s of the body would make it more appealing. and the dark text boxes are quite dull

Who Here hates this current forum design.

Comments