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Forum Consolidation - Thoughts
ambassadorkael
Member, Administrator Posts: 2,679 Community Manager
Hey folks,
I've been giving some thought to our forum set up and how it currently works. It's a bit cluttered for new users (and for some veterans), so I was thinking of doing some reorganization and consolidation. No content would be deleted, but since it's your forum first and foremost, I wanted to see what you thought. Let me know.
I'm proposing to change it the forums main page will only show four main forums. These would be GALACTIC NEWS NETWORK, STAR TREK ONLINE DISCUSSION, TEN FORWARD, and SUPPORT. Everything else would become a sub forum, so it would look like this:
• GALACTIC NEWS NETWORK
o Starfleet Media Corps
o Release Notes
o Rules and Policies
• STAR TREK ONLINE DISCUSSION
o The Academy
o Fleet Recruitment
o The Foundry
• TEN FORWARD
o I might make a forum games subforum
• SUPPORT
o Test Servers
o Feedback (Do people use the Feedback forum? I find most of our feedback happens in General discussion.)
Let me know what you think.
I've been giving some thought to our forum set up and how it currently works. It's a bit cluttered for new users (and for some veterans), so I was thinking of doing some reorganization and consolidation. No content would be deleted, but since it's your forum first and foremost, I wanted to see what you thought. Let me know.
I'm proposing to change it the forums main page will only show four main forums. These would be GALACTIC NEWS NETWORK, STAR TREK ONLINE DISCUSSION, TEN FORWARD, and SUPPORT. Everything else would become a sub forum, so it would look like this:
• GALACTIC NEWS NETWORK
o Starfleet Media Corps
o Release Notes
o Rules and Policies
• STAR TREK ONLINE DISCUSSION
o The Academy
o Fleet Recruitment
o The Foundry
• TEN FORWARD
o I might make a forum games subforum
• SUPPORT
o Test Servers
o Feedback (Do people use the Feedback forum? I find most of our feedback happens in General discussion.)
Let me know what you think.
0
Comments
My big concern is that by putting everything in subforums, it becomes difficult to see how active a particular forum is because a post in another subforum could overshadow the recent posts in a primary forum. Case in point is the current Faction forums and Fleet subforums; because of the way they're set up, a post in a Fleet subforum also appears as the recent post in its respective Faction forum when looking at the forum overviews, thus skewing the appearance of forum activity in the Faction forum.
^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Yeah, any current subforums would still exist.
Still waiting to be able to use forum titles
I don't navigate the forums from the main page or go into each subforums from the main page.
Besides....what does "Feedback" even mean?
This current description is wishy washy: "Do you have feedback about a uniform? Perhaps a ship's hull plating? Or you noticed a Vulcan design on a Romulan building? Share your feedback here!"
The description for "Feedback" needs to state: Disscussions on PVE Content, PVP Content, Ship Builds, Ground Builds, Fleet Holdings, DOFFing/Admiralty/R&D/Rep, Control/User Interfaces and Art of Star Trek.
What would "forum games" subforum under TEN FORWARD mean?
I thought the whole idea of TEN FORWARD was it is all fun and games and NOT related to STO at all.
A subforum for TEN FORWARD: "Star Trek Discovery" ..... because there is so many of those that I want to avoid and want to MUTE that folder.
Fleet Recruitment needs subfolders for PS4 and XBox and PC. Fleet names and intros usually differentiate between factions, anyways.
THE FOUNDRY needs it's own Forum Folder just like it is, now. It is a totally separate thing with its own separate issues. Including their own bugs to report.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Then
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I have read people stating, "If you didn't want my comments, why did you post this in General Discussion?" as if it excuses them from being vitriolic.
If you want to attract more helpful people back into this forum, "FEEDBACK" should be at the top of the listing on the main page....."GENERAL DISCUSSION" should be at the bottom.
P.S. One more thing before I spend the rest of the night grinding for Omega Particles....
New players are blocked from starting posts in the forums. They who may have the most questions can not post. Can "THE ACADEMY" be adjusted in a way so new players can post their questions there. Or have one of the moderators start a "New Players Post" in THE ACADEMY folder so they have someplace to go?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
champions online has such a subforum, and it works very well there
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
I'd be all for streamlining things a bit, as I'm one who sometimes finds things a bit confusing.
This may point toward a problem with instruction to the moderation team. Posts are not being moved to appropriate categories/subforums. And they are all piling up in General Discussion.
And ALL this points back to descriptions are not very clear on the subforums themselves...as to what goes in which subforums.
Cutesy Star Trek sounding titles are nice...but when people don't know what they stand for any more. What is the point?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
I believe it would be things like the Ban thread.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
Ken aka
Rabb family and
Nick Blackwood
That's most probably because most people only read General discussion. No point in posting anything to a place that has much lower traffic.
U.S.S. Buteo Regalis - Brigid Multi-Mission Surveillance Explorer build
R.R.W. Ri Maajon - Khopesh Tactical Dreadnought Warbird build
My Youtube channel containing STO videos.
In my estimation, the current feedbakc forums are mostly useless. Low traffic, probably because they are split up in subforums you can only access by basically clicking on the last forum on a long list of forums.
The only one I still see value in is the Art forum, but mostly because of the the Epic Screenshot Thread. I figure the PvP forum also has its fans.
And what's the difference between Star Trek Online Discussion and Feedback anyway?
• GALACTIC NEWS NETWORK
o Starfleet Media Corps
o Release Notes
o Rules and Policies
• STAR TREK ONLINE DISCUSSION
o General Discussion & Feedback
o The Academy
o The Foundry
o Art
o Player vs Player
o Ten Forward
o Fleet Recruitment
• SUPPORT
o Bug Reports
o Test Servers
And I agree about the current placement of Fleet Recruitment being subfora of faction fora being troublesome. You can't see at a glance what IS being discussed in the Faction Feedback, because the Recruitment threads show up as the most recent thread in both places, though they aren't really part of Feedback at all. The three Fleet Recruitment fora should be moved out of Feedback to General - they really aren't providing feedback at all, and their current placement is certainly part of why the Feedback forum (or at least the Faction parts) may seem useless to the Ambassador. It also plays a part n why the faction fora are less active than they once were.
Just my 2 EC.
Rules and policies should go, I want total anarchy!
I'd like it if Fleet Recruitment could remain a thing of its own. So that would make it five forums.
I think there are many players who don't visit the forum all that often, except for fleet recruitment. It is one of those things that have a simple yet important function for in-game activities, while General Discussion usually isn't of immediate importance to what happens in-game.
I never use the Feedback section, indeed that's what I use General Discussion for. I guess that one could be removed / merged with General Discussion.
It would be nice if we could have a separate subforum (within Star Trek Online Discussion for example) for media-heavy posts. There have been some contests that were organised by different fleets and in-game channels such as TSC and the DPS ones. There is usually not much to discuss here and most of the threads consist of images. You should probably ask those who organise such contests though.
Especially in General Discussion there are many of them and they're usually about things like the latest episode that people will talk about in regular threads anyway.
Also, move the "feedback" section higher up. The off-topic area should be at the bottom i feel as the priority should be the actual game related discussions.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Main forum on left, sub-fora after dash...
GNN - Patch Notes, Media Corps. Rules & Policies stickied as post #1 in GNN "main", possible subforum for discussion of rules/policies
Feedback - Test Servers, Factions
Academy & Support - factions (note, reason this is Academy & support is that if we're already supporting build/playstyle/game questions here, why not include the technical issues here along with the gameplay ones\
Fleet Recruiting - Factions (no posting in "main" fleet recruiting allowed, just Fed/KDF as a KDF can't join a Feddie fleet, so no "total game recruiting" can occur)
STO General - PvP (for STO related stuff not listed above, PvPers get their alcove in here so they can be noticed)
10 Forward
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/