Too many sub-forums?!

[Iced_Bullet]

This is becoming a joke now, no? How many sub-sections and sub-forums do we actually need?

 

Before 2009 came and I was occasionally reading the Official Atari Boards that members were complaining about there being too many sub-forums on TDU:C and they found it confusing to find any relevant information.

 

Now we have sooo many more and yes, we are able to find out information easily, because we've gotten used to all the sections and where information is likely to be held. However new members may get confused and this could have an effect on the amount of members who actually stay around here. We have all these new members signing up every month, but how many of these do we see becoming active members? Not many!

 

With no dissrespect to Admin staff, do we really need a WR2 section and a Euro Truck Simulator section (foe example)? The ETS section only has 3 threads with a considerable number of replies in. So is there really a need for a sub-forum for it? (I wont comment on the WR2 one as it is a new section, however I can't envisage it having more than 3/4 threads tops. I don't think enough TDU:C members play it to have it's own section. I understand GTA IV having one, as it is a well-played game amongst TDU:C members - or at least it was at one point.

 

:confused:

[Sponge]

I, personally, would not want to trawl through endless pages of threads just to find that ETS mod I always wanted (using ETS as an example)

 

Would you like to crawl through 100+ pages of PC gaming-related threads and then give up as it has a different thread name than you first thought? I know I wouldn't.

 

Having more sub-forums means the place is organised and everything has it's place. What are the consequences of having more sub-forums? Only two come to mind.

1) A few more KB's on the server.

2) A few seconds more to get to the sub-forum you want to get to.

 

Diablo/Baldy (I forget who it was!) Spent a lot of time organising the forum to be more user friendly and I think we should all applaud the work and effort of that man.

 

Just two rhetorical questions for you to consider, mate.

How many requests were posted in threads before the sort-out?

How many requests are posted in the incorrect forum after the sort-out?

 

That's my perspective on things, at least. Evidently yours is on the other end of the spectrum.

 

~Sponge

[Camel]

Sorry, but you moan when we don't have sub sections and forums, then you moan when we do. What are we supposed to do then?

[Pherelas]

I think its a fair point but I don't think too many sub forums are the problem, its finding them. One this I don't get is why there is a whhole section for driving games and another huge section for genral gaming with each platform in each. Also if there a way of displaying what subsections there are more clearly outside or somthing.

 

I've been looking through again, there are small things like a genral gaming section there is GTA but why isn't this is a multi-platform section with things like GRID, COD ect. Gaming in genral gives the impression it talks about the gaming industry in genral whereas in the genral driving games section there is a section to talk about the games in all the different platforms. This is just nitpicking but inconsistancys can confuse new users.

 

The clear up has certainly worked and its a better place for it but there can always be improvment. If you have people outside the forum talking about problems surly these should be at least looked at, even if the final decision is for the majority of users changes would be wrong?

[Iced_Bullet]

How many requests were posted in threads before the sort-out?

You obviously miss-understood me. We do need some sub-forums, that's a given. But not all of them.

How many requests are posted in the incorrect forum after the sort-out?

Surely proving my point further? New member's can't find the correct place to request ... Yes, existing ones can, but I've mentioned that in the first post.

 

Would you like to crawl through 100+ pages of PC gaming-related threads and then give up as it has a different thread name than you first thought? I know I wouldn't.

Fair pint, but isn't the number 1 rules of posting possibly repeated information/searching for information located [here]??

 

(using ETS as an example)

But how many mods are actually posted in there? Not many on my last count.

 

Sorry, but you moan when we don't have sub sections and forums, then you moan when we do. What are we supposed to do then?

You must be confusing me with someone else.

[Baldy]

Iced, i'll hold my hands up. I made both the ETS section and the WR2 section. Even though they may not be active there are a lot of people that play these games, and after all we are a tdu community but we also cater for other games, Both of these games fit in well with TDU.

 

I'm with Pherelas here, i don't see the point in gaming on it's own. Put all the gaming together and then create a sub board for driving games in that. Will cut down the confusion a lot more.

 

Look at the Mod Shop, imagine how much of a mess it would be without sub sections, i don't see why the rest of the forum should have to suffer the same things. Tdu is an old game, so until a new one is announced and released we have to cater for people as they move on to other games.

[Camel]

You must be confusing me with someone else.

 

That does tend to happen, so sorry if I was thinking of someone else. I'm easily confused right now.

 

But I do agree with some of the subsections. Especially the ones that only have a couple of posts made by one or two people.

[Pherelas]

 

I'm with Pherelas here, i don't see the point in gaming on it's own. Put all the gaming together and then create a sub board for driving games in that. Will cut down the confusion a lot more.

 

Is the driving games subsection even needed? There aren't different sections for shooting and rpg games. Well i suppose people here are into racing games. Still makes inconsistant and therefor confusing to new members which i think was the point point raised in this thread.

[Camel]

Is the driving games subsection even needed? There aren't different sections for shooting and rpg games. Well i suppose people here are into racing games. Still makes inconsistant and therefor confusing to new members which i think was the point point raised in this thread.

 

That's a very good point. Look at the amount of threads and views in the driving section, there aren't many. So maybe the general driving should be merged into the general gaming section.

 

It would make for a quicker and tidier forum index.

[Pherelas]

That's a very good point. Look at the amount of threads and views in the driving section, there aren't many. So maybe the general driving should be merged into the general gaming section.

 

It would make for a quicker and tidier forum index.

 

Exactly, which makes peoples first vist less difficult as there is less to look through at first glance. You can also have the same sectiosn of PC, PS, XBOX, Nintendo and Multiplatform aswell as whatever other bits like that genral gaming section thats there.

 

Also another thought is the test drive unlimited 1 section, more of a question to the admins really. Will it be cut down to a smaller section as test drive unlimited 2 grows? If the '2' section gets much bigger it will also make the index page more cluttered when most of the sections (clubs ect.) don't get used. On the otherhand I can see this is a TDU forum so can't be cut back to early.

[Eudemon]

I've been wanting to combine GDG into GG for a while but wasn't sure how you guys would take to it. From the looks of it, I guess it won't be a problem. :D

[Nodz86]

Like the new set up of the GG and GDG, looks alot better. Also like the addition of the tech forum so we can talk phones, sat navs, ipods, sky+, etc.

 

And Iced, leave ETS alone :p

[Iced_Bullet]

Well this is better thanks Diablo! the home page should be slightly easier to read now :). Even though the ETS and WR2 haven't gone, they're not cluttering up the homepage, they're in some distant corner of the forum ... jokes :lol:. (Sorry for my prejudice, maybe if I played them, it'd be different. Or maybe not. I don't know).

[KoenigseggBG]

Well, each coin has two sides. Imo more sub-sections are better, as it makes threads more organised. Personally, I think that new members that have came for ETS (for example) will find all they need in that section, rather than searching (which you have to wait 30 secs between every search :oook:). Maybe it's just me, I like things to be tidy and organised, so I see nothing bad in many (in TDU:C not that many actuall) subforums. :)

[Eudemon]

(which you have to wait 30 secs between every search :oook:).

Searching is very server intensive. Use the Google one instead.

[Iced_Bullet]

I prefer the google search 70% of the time anyway :p Seems to work better when searching specific sites for me.

[Eudemon]

The google one is great as you can really narrow down what you're looking for and also to a member.

[KoenigseggBG]

The google one is great as you can really narrow down what you're looking for and also to a member.

Thanks for the tip, never thought of trying that really. :) But what about reporting posts or posting a public message on someone's profile? You always have to wait 30 secs. Is it very hard for the servers too? =]

[Baldy]

That's to stop spambots from being able to go crazy on the forum.

[t.]

Searching is very server intensive. Use the Google one instead.

 

 

I always use the google one now, the normal forum search is slow and generally didn't ever give me what I wanted quickly.