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Less Forum Sections

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What we need is another forums section where we can suggest what sections to remove, also a section where the stuff in the past sections can be moved to, and a section that highlights the past sections. Also, we could use a section that lists the sections.
 

Col_StaR

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The alternatives is having a nebulous maze of forum sections that the average forum user can't navigate, or having massive piles of threads that clog up generically-labelled sections.

The problem with having forums with several layers of subsections is that subsections are automatically hidden, and not everyone would understand what subsections would exist within a section. For example, before we did the latest forum change, the staff application section was a subsection of the General Support section. Build Team info behind hidden inside of the mapping section or the clan section was a very similar situation. Not everyone understood that, so we had to take drastic actions to point people in the right direction for the oft-requested Mod Applications section. Having subsections like we do now is like asking someone a multiple choice quiz, except you don't tell them all of the potential answers unless they ask for them.

The "pile" alternative... I shouldn't even have to justify. It's not organized and the cluttered mess becomes a massive problem for conveying portent information.

Here's what the forums are meant to do: organize, store, and convey information that the community can easily access. We need to take into account that not everyone who uses the forums is a poweruser who knows this place inside and out like their own house (like some of the people who have posted in here probably do). All information should be easy to access for users of all familiarity levels, and the best way to do that is with the wide-but-shallow distribution of sections (a lot of headers without too many subsections). It may take some time to scroll around and having so many headers may be unsightly, but the alternative of not finding what you need because of poor organization and accessibility is far worse in our eyes.

EDIT:
Actually, talked it over with Chad just now, and he makes a good point. The Generic Information sections such as the "MCGamer Network" and "Information and Support" need to have their information spread out.

However, we could afford to make the sections for Survival Games, Survival Games: Classic, and Survival Games: Quarter Quell their own sections with the Discussions, Clans, Tips, Maps, and Feature Suggestions being allocated to subsections. This might be especially necessary as more gametypes, such as ZedChase and MCTF2, get finalized and require their own forum section.

We'll discuss the matter at a Sr. Staff meeting.
 
Last edited:

HalfSquirrel

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The alternatives is having a nebulous maze of forum sections that the average forum user can't navigate, or having massive piles of threads that clog up generically-labelled sections.

The problem with having forums with several layers of subsections is that subsections are automatically hidden, and not everyone would understand what subsections would exist within a section. For example, before we did the latest forum change, the staff application section was a subsection of the General Support section. Build Team info behind hidden inside of the mapping section or the clan section was a very similar situation. Not everyone understood that, so we had to take drastic actions to point people in the right direction for the oft-requested Mod Applications section. Having subsections like we do now is like asking someone a multiple choice quiz, except you don't tell them all of the potential answers unless they ask for them.

The "pile" alternative... I shouldn't even have to justify. It's not organized and the cluttered mess becomes a massive problem for conveying portent information.

Here's what the forums are meant to do: organize, store, and convey information that the community can easily access. We need to take into account that not everyone who uses the forums is a poweruser who knows this place inside and out like their own house (like some of the people who have posted in here probably do). All information should be easy to access for users of all familiarity levels, and the best way to do that is with the wide-but-shallow distribution of sections (a lot of headers without too many subsections). It may take some time to scroll around and having so many headers may be unsightly, but the alternative of not finding what you need because of poor organization and accessibility is far worse in our eyes.

EDIT:
Actually, talked it over with Chad just now, and he makes a good point. The Generic Information sections such as the "MCGamer Network" and "Information and Support" need to have their information spread out.

However, we could afford to make the sections for Survival Games, Survival Games: Classic, and Survival Games: Quarter Quell their own sections with the Discussions, Clans, Tips, Maps, and Feature Suggestions being allocated to subsections. This might be especially necessary as more gametypes, such as ZedChase and MCTF2, get finalized and require their own forum section.

We'll discuss the matter at a Sr. Staff meeting.
Awesome :) Also, if things do get a bit more hidden from this change if it were to happen, you can always make a PSA about it since apparently you've been looking for things to mention in those.
 

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