[Fineus]

Having reviewed the feedback of the forum changes survey, I've created the attached diagram of the revised forum layout.

Most of it should be self-explanatory. Points of note are as follows:

• Support forum moved to its own dedicated section, along with Administration (of no concern to most people) and Feedback.
• This will leave just the Announcements at the very top - then FreeSpace.
• The creation of a support forum for FreeSpace and another for the SCP. Neither will be for bug reporting for the SCP - these are to sort out FreeSpace/SCP related problems such as "I have this system, and a clean FS install - why can't I hear sound?". Bug reports still belong in Mantis.
• "Archived" section in Hosted Projects. I'm still not sure about this and the whole Archive might be kept where it is.
• Off Topic Discussion section created containing The Pub (renamed to General Discussion, we felt "Hard Light" implied that general discussion was more the focus of the site than modding etc. is. General Discussion is a good all-round name for this section). Gaming/etc will also all be put in this section.
• Contents of "The Classics" - although reemerged with General Discussion - will be documented and may be submitted somewhere else on the site at a later point as a list of links to these topics with perhaps a short description about them.

Please note that all these plans are still being finalized and that is the point of me posting this up - to get some feedback. Please note two things..

1 - General Discussion won't be moved back to the top, so don't ask. You all have "end" keys on your keyboard and can skip to the bottom of a web page quite easily.

2 - General Discussion won't be renamed Hard Light. I know some people feel nostalgic about this but you'll have to cope I'm afraid.

Aside from that, what do you all think? Obviously if things aren't working out further down the line they can be changed - this isn't "the only layout possible, ever" but it seems to be the best possible use of space and a good maximization of options for everyone.

I'd appreciate as much feedback as quickly as possible - I'm quite anxious to get this sorted out while I still have the time to. Thanks

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Wanderer]

Modding section could be placed closer to SCP as it doesnt seem to get much FreeSpace (as the game) related stuff any more..

Or perhaps something like a totally new section

FreeSpace Open
 - Modding
 - Fredding
 - other related stuff

[Fineus]

That's a tricky one really... I'd rather keep the modding as a subsection of FreeSpace as it technically can still be modded on its own.

Therefore it makes more sense to keep it where it is - even if most if not all of the modding that happens to it is based around the FSO engine.

I hope that makes sense?

[Snail]

Just when I was getting used to the old one.

Well I have no objections. I don't think that FreeSpace and FreeSpace Open should be cut up, however.

[CP5670]

I don't see much point of having two different FS-related support forums. Even one might not be active enough to justify keeping it. The other stuff looks good.

[Fineus]

FS and FS Open aren't be cut up? Unless you mean the support forums...?

There has been some discussion about the support forums on the staff forum to be honest, but I do feel that having both is the right move.

Problems regarding FreeSpace doesn't necessarily mean it's an SCP related problem - or your stock version of FS might work fine but the problem might lie with getting the SCP working. Given FreeSpace is our focus I think that sort of focus between potential support is important. Or - if not and we only have one support forum - where does that belong? FS or with the SCP? All FS problems might not necessarily include the SCP - and all SCP problems might not necessarily relate to it being a problem with a FS install.

[achtung]

I'm glad to see a dedicated FS/SCP general support board.  That was needed a long time ago.

[karajorma]

We had it a long time ago. People abused it because they didn't like using Mantis/Bugzilla.


I'd suggest moving the gaming, art and hardware forums above general discussion to make it clear that it's for anything else that doesn't fit.

[Fineus]

Part of both support forums will be a sticky with guidelines for support as well as basic support advice (update drivers etc. - all the obvious stuff) - any threads that should be submitted to Mantis/etc should be locked with a relevant link to Mantis and a short message asking them to use it.

[Black Wolf]

What exactly is the reason for keeping the Meeting Hall hidden? Surely  all that that does is decrease the amount of use it gets?

[Fineus]

The meeting hall is being closed and re-merged to the General Discussion forum. That seemed to be the conclusion of the people who responded to the poll I posted there.

Posts should most likely remain off for the General Discussion forum. I doubt we'll recalculate post counts to reflect that though, it'll just be something that is left as it is.

[Fineus]

Also note that I've started making some of the more basic changes. I'm leaving the Meeting Hall as well as the Support forums for a while though pending some discussion on the staff forum and to try and collect some more input here.

Unless there's a real collection of people wanting something different though, things should go ahead as they are.

[CP5670]

FS and FS Open aren't be cut up? Unless you mean the support forums...?

There has been some discussion about the support forums on the staff forum to be honest, but I do feel that having both is the right move.

Problems regarding FreeSpace doesn't necessarily mean it's an SCP related problem - or your stock version of FS might work fine but the problem might lie with getting the SCP working. Given FreeSpace is our focus I think that sort of focus between potential support is important. Or - if not and we only have one support forum - where does that belong? FS or with the SCP? All FS problems might not necessarily include the SCP - and all SCP problems might not necessarily relate to it being a problem with a FS install.

Well, FS and the SCP are not really two different things. Almost everyone uses an SCP build to play FS these days and any newcomer to this place will be directed to get 3.6.9 before playing. I think two forums will just make things confusing for people who have questions. For most support-type requests, it isn't going to be clear to them whether the problem is more closely related to FS or the SCP.

There is also the fact that there aren't that many support threads in the first place, so we'll essentially end up with at least one of the forums being fairly inactive.

[diceman111]

Looks good I must say, Also I think that the support thread for scp should say "Freespace SCP support" or something similiar since it can be hard to guess where to post.(That is if you dont read the text beneath it )

So good work Kalfireth 

/Dice

[Fineus]

Cheers guys,

CP5670 - if we were to go with the one support board idea - where would you put it? In the support section at the bottom? I feel that's a bit out of the way... but I'd like it to be quite a universal thing as well so that both SCP and FS problems can be handled equally.

The point being that if someone new comes to the FS forum with a problem, I don't want them to post it in the FS General section because they didn't see that there was a support forum for FS and SCP related stuff elsewhere.... I hope that makes sense?

Edit: Also note that I'm trying to edit all forum descriptions so that they only take up one line using normal text sizes on a 1280x1024 screen. I'll be looking at further ways to trim / save space after everything has been moved to its "final" location.

[karajorma]

Actually between BtRL, WCS, TBP and SoL (once that gets its demo release) there's a fair chance we'll be having a fair few people using the SCP who haven't ever played FS2 (and maybe even have no wish to).

[Fineus]

That seems to be an argument in favour of split support forums? I'm really not sure which is the best way to go with this so far. I've started up the FS forum and called it a shared one between FS and SCP - but that can easily be changed...

[Xelion]

The diagram is looking good

Fantastic job on the forums so far Kalfireth They look much more streamlined now.

[karajorma]

That seems to be an argument in favour of split support forums?

More an argument for making it clear that technical support for campaigns/TCs is also permitted there.

The TC's own forum should be the first place of call for tech support but often they have to say "Go to forum X and post there for help" and it would seem odd for WCS to be sending people to "Freespace Support" for help.

[jr2]

I still think there should be a "start here" page... & how about an "about us" page?