Time for another MASSIVE thread. ;)

To be honest, since the "big" haul-over, there have been practically no updates that affect us, the user. There has mostly been bug fixes and, hurrah, a background image for arcade. ;) It's not that we exactly need them, Nonoba, in general, works exceptionally well (excluding when the server chooses to pack up and die) and the only area that pretty much sucks and has gone ignored forever, is here.

Maybe the devs could spare some of their time for their humble users and give us what we're all complaining about? Apart from GameRise and other projects I'm sure they're working on, NONOBA still needs some love. ; _ ;

I think we can all agree that as the site has grown, the forums have pretty much held back (bar the upgrade from the old comment-like format). I propose that they are upgraded to PROPER forums - below is an entire concept which I made ages ago. :)
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Explained.

At first I was trying to make it so Nonoba wouldn't have to add anything to our user files but post-count and average score are two things I put in.
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Average score -
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(the average of all the ratings of their posts) was added so community feedback on their posts MEANT somthing.
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Difference between off-topic and discussion -
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Is that forum games and such, and really random posts would be put into off-topic. Discussion would be for anything else, basically to give any older users space to talk, and I'm not implying serious discussion. It can be anything - just ACTUAL discussion and not "OMFG TEAM WOLFCLAN!".
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Actual Concepts.

CORE changes

These are changes to the actual workings of the forum:

-Post views are counted and displayed in Thread view.

-"Sticky" and "Announce" threads that do not move, so we can post some actual notices and RULES for members to follow in the forums.

-Post counts for Users.

-Average weight/rating. The average of their post's karma/weight/rating or whatever you'd like to call it. Shown under the user's avatar along with post count or what have you.

-Scores NO LONGER HIDE POSTS, they instead just count toward the users 'rating' (mentioned above). However, hiding for spam stays the same.

Category Listing Section.

Concept Image: http://i46.tinypic.com/34q38nc.jpg

This is what you would see in the the current main page (nonoba.com/forum).

Changes Visible:

-Change the main forum page (/forum) to a page listing the Categories, with their descriptions as a subheading.

-Developers' Forum. Add it in, don't hide it in some crevice at the back of the site. Just hyperlink with #developerForums from the dev section.

-In the categories list, the most recently updated thread will be linked to the right, with when it was LAST updated and who by.

-Above the category list, have a box displaying the 5 most recently updated threads which the user is following. 'x' buttons to the right, as seen in feeds which unsubscribe the user from the thread. This addresses the problem that users find themselves subscribed to threads they don't want to be!

Thread Listing Pages

Concept Image:
http://i48.tinypic.com/2igg1ts.jpg

This is what you'd see when you click on a category.

Changes:
-Same kind of structure for listing the threads. However, align the reply count, last post by, last active time and post views(?) to the RIGHT. More usefull information on the left.

-Stickies/Announcements should, obviously, be pinned to the TOP of the list. Mark then as different to the other threads by changing the text decoration / colour or simply adding an icon.

Thread View Page

Concept Image:
http://i45.tinypic.com/28rdr2g.jpg

This is what you see when you actually VIEW a thread

Changes:
-When score is in a negative value, turn the number red. As it is, posts which do not reflect popular opinion are hidden. Obviously not what a forum is about. (this is shown in the user AgenteHalo's post in the thread example.)

-Do not hide posts based off of score. If a post has been reported as SPAM several times, hide the post. Keep the user's avatar and the like VISIBLE. Only hide the post content. Do not make the "this post is has been flagged: Show" text near impossible to see, make it the standard link colour. (this is shown in the user Twatch's post in the thread example.)

-Allow a post to be re-hidden after it's been expanded. (usefull for HUGE spam).

-Upon clicking the text "in reply to #X", expand a small box above the post in a quote-style fashion, which can be reminimized afterward. (Quotes, just like any other forum). As it is at current, having to be taken up the page, and then having to find where you were previously, is quite annoying. (This is shown by AmiAthena's post, the grey box contains the post to which she is responding. The red cross would hide the box).

-Users who have deleted their profile should not show with no avatar. Create a default/generic avatar. Somthing with the shiloette of a person would work. (This is shown by Twatch's post)

-"More Markup Help" should not require a whole new page to be loaded. Simply expand the box or use the opensource javascript greybox class to make an in-page popup.

Explanation For Changes

Most importantly, splitting the forums into sections stops people misplacing threads in sections, this is due to you having to actually CHOOSE a section before you post there so some thought process is actually put in.
Also, verticality sucks. The whole forum layout at the moment is far to large just to get to threads in another section. In fact, the forums are so unusable that most users do not even visit them. This should change along with stickies to allow some RULES to be posted.

Why not in feedback?

Hopefully, you'll agree that this is much too large for feedback. I also want some response from you guys.

Bear in mind this was written a while back, forgive the spelling errors. :)

Go, Go, go.

If you agree with this, why not send it along to Henrik, Oliver or Chris saying you agree? Or maybe not - don't wanna spam their inboxes. O_o

RATE THIS

http://nonoba.com/feedback/comments/2141

Much love.
Toby ;)

Melikes

General agreement, but not complete.

I'd remove the whole rating system entirely. Nothing like an army of alts downvoting everything in sight to keep everyone in negative ratings. If a mod system was in place to prevent downvoting abuse, then I'd change my mind here.

I'm also not a fan of post counts for users. It's a useless statistic that doesn't matter.

Keep the Developers forum away from the general public. I think this is a Good Thing.

> Most importantly, splitting the forums into sections stops people misplacing threads in sections, this is due to you having to actually CHOOSE a section before you post there so some thought process is actually put in.

No, you can't keep people from misplacing threads. No system is so well-organized that it can't be abused. I'm not even certain that it'd help.

Keep it up.
This thread highlights our problems in a posotive way which can excel our community as a whole without derriving from the point. Everything seems to be relevent, the ideas unique, yet adequate. I'd say this is very well-thought out, and you've saved the management team a job here, seein as i can pick out no faluables with your plan and i hope to see it taken into course of action. These ideas will make the community more user-friendly, while keeping our current useres refreshed and excited. Bravo.

I like post counts. Ya, it's just another way of showing one's size of their e-pen, but since the voting system is broke, you have to be able to show some-way of the people who in general put up good posts. Usually high post counts correspond with people who post good content.

> Usually high post counts correspond with people who post good content.

Please tell me you didn't just say that. On any forum that doesn't have a community standard enforced by the community (a lot like this one), a high post count means exactly that - someone who posts a lot. It's not a measure of quality at all.

The karma system Toby described would be great for a quality metric, but it'd have to be done in such a way as to minimize abuse. This is easier said than done.

This is a great idea Toby!

The forums really need some changes, and you covered them in a great manner.


Plus, now the developer forums won't be as hidden as they are now.

Yay Toby. I like it. Do it.

It was a nice idea...

RIP

:[

Ah, what could've been.

Toby, I like that idea. Because the rest of the site keeps getting a massive update, but the forum's are always the same.

Well yeah, the site USED to keep getting massive updates. Now that nothing is changing code-wise though it's pretty much at a standstill. Not much chance of new features being implemented at all.

Shame.