Emergency Discuss Poll: RP Forum Categories Part TWO

What say you on this idea?


  • Total voters
    44
Status
Not open for further replies.
I don't think you understood what I was talking about, Diana. Organizing (putting in their own forums) is not the same thing as labeling (the little prefixes in front of the thread titles). Let me draw you a diagram:

2lscyex.jpg


(Arrow means "is a subforum of"). I think my model would be better even if you took out the VERY simple to handle jump-in links section, as it still very effectively handles the clutter of IC threads that no new players can join. It's no harder to search for jump in RPs within a genre than it is to search for a genre without a Jump in forum (although I'm going to be perfectly honest and say I don't like doing either), and this way the organization is still by genre.

Am I envisioning what you were describing incorrectly? Because from the OP it seems pretty clear your intent is to not organize by genre any more.
 
She's asking for opinions first, Xindaris. Relax and please don't jump to conclusions.

I like how the forum as is right now. Compared to some of the other forums I visit, things are nice and organized without having a billion boards. I'd suggest that we try to explain certain things in introduction threads before changing the layout. Explaining things might help clear some issues out first.

Just remember to all our new comrades, if you are ever confused or need help even for "basic" stuff, the staff is here to answer your questiones.
 
I don't think you understood what I was talking about, Diana. Organizing (putting in their own forums) is not the same thing as labeling (the little prefixes in front of the thread titles). Let me draw you a diagram:

2lscyex.jpg


(Arrow means "is a subforum of"). I think my model would be better even if you took out the VERY simple to handle jump-in links section, as it still very effectively handles the clutter of IC threads that no new players can join. It's no harder to search for jump in RPs within a genre than it is to search for a genre without a Jump in forum (although I'm going to be perfectly honest and say I don't like doing either), and this way the organization is still by genre.

Am I envisioning what you were describing incorrectly? Because from the OP it seems pretty clear your intent is to not organize by genre any more.
I believe that inside of the last few topics in your scheme (witch very elucidating by the way) topics wouldn't just be labeled, but instead yet another subdivision by genre, that would do the trick right.
 
As I understand this idea, it's splitting the games into different sorts of categories (the type of game they are ie. Group, Private etc.) but keeping the genre tags within these new sub-forums?

Yeah, that could work.

The RP sub-forums we have at the moment are becoming incredibly cluttered and difficult to manouver through; we have an influx of new members who are sticking around and RPing (which is good times, by the way; always good to see Iwaku growing) and a new structure should at least be tried and compared to how the old one worked.

My suggestion would be implementing this idea like we did with the Closed OOCs sub-forum; trying it out for a month or so and seeing what the community thinks.
 
JUST AS A REMINDER: WE'RE NEVER REMOVING THE GENRE ORGANIZING!
Just displaying it secondarily instead of the primary. Threads -themselves- would be marked with what Genre they are, just like in the OOCs. You would be able to easily scroll and see which threads are marked with the Genre you like, or even use the Thread Display to display ONLY the Genre you like. And since the OOCs would stay the same, the only thing that is really different, is being able to find IC threads easier. You know where to look.

People seem to think this means they can't browse the RP forums by Genre. We don't want to take away genre browsing cause that would be stupid. .__.

Browsing would be like:

-> I want to join a Modern Jump In -> Click Jump In Forum -> Browse threads marked as Modern. -> Start playing!

Or

-> I want to join a SciFi Group RP -> Click Signups Forum -> Browse Threads marked as SciFi -> Join Rp!

OR

-> I Just joined a Group Fantasy -> Where Is IC Thread? -> IC Thread is in Group RPs


Just for this, I voted Yes! As long as the genre thumbnails are there, I don't see why organizing by play style (which is kind of better considering our problem) isn't a good idea! :D
 
Personally I'm not a fan of the proposed system. I agree that if we are getting new members (which I have seen a bit of) and with all of the one on ones (which I have seen) that something must be done. I do not belive that avoiding the creation of new sub forums and keeping the labels instead is the way we should be going.

I think the form that Hades submitted if possibly the closest to what I would suggest. The problem with labeling things and then just shoving them together is that you have to scroll through and search for the thread you want. Subscribing can help with this but my past experiances of subscribing has made this something I don't want to do. Not to mention it should not come to the point where I have to subscribe to a thread in order to find it. It is already coming to this though as the search does not work properly but that is off the topic.

As I said, I would put forward that we need the forums for the indivdual genre. However I like the purposed Forum titles. So rather then drop the genre forums for labels I'd say create sub forums for them. That way if you want to see the fantasy RP threads you can go and look at ONLY the fantasy threads.
 
Fuck 'cause I'm a fan of compartmentalization and sub-compartmentalization but I'm wondering how much more abbreviation we can take before we come up with stuff that sounds more like NTSD: SUV: SD:: something or other instead of understanding it as shorthand for "Modern Sci Fi Jump In"
 
While I support adding a forum for 1x1's, I don't see how we can make this so complicated. I have no problems with the current system. It's just a couple of clicks.....won't kill you.

The subscription-system works really great in my opinion. I have about 15 pages of threads there, but no problem figuring out if a new post is made in any of the RPs I'm a part of.

WUTS THE DEELIO?
 
As an update, we've decided that we ARE going to make a One[x]One forum, no matter what. Whether we keep the current structure or change it. That's at least one of the issues that everyone is in unanimous agreement over and we can fix right away.


Meanwhile we're leaving this poll open for another week or until we get 100 members to vote - Whichever happens first.

I'd like everyone to continue giving their thoughts or even their new ideas for alternative suggestions! :D

The diagrams are very very useful. o___o Goldstars for you guys going that extra mile in explaining your ideas.
 
I think the separate One x One forum is a great idea! I'm not sure anything else needs to change other than that, at least for now. It'll definitely help reduce the clutter.
 
I have to agree with Coti, besides people whine when there's too much change.
 
Idea is fine, but it feels a bit too clusterfucked right now with all (69) the private RPs in one area; especially, with the other areas only having 5-10 RPs in it currently. For me, it'd make it look like we're more into private RPs vs. Group ones on the forum, if I were a new member joining up. It makes it seem less welcoming to me.

I'd personally keep the older Private RPs where they were, while have newer ones move there.
 
Idea is fine, but it feels a bit too clusterfucked right now with all (69) the private RPs in one area; especially, with the other areas only having 5-10 RPs in it currently. For me, it'd make it look like we're more into private RPs vs. Group ones on the forum, if I were a new member joining up. It makes it seem less welcoming to me.

I'd personally keep the older Private RPs where they were, while have newer ones move there.

This is EXACTLY why I proposed having a Group RP and Jump In main category to consolidate the other RPs in to, if so many members are insistent on having a One[x]One to throw private rps in. It's look REALLY unbalanced as it is now. (with genre prefixs to sub-organize)

We'd have 33 Group RPs and 11 Jump Ins. And numbers would grow/balance out over the next couple weeks with JumpIn IC threads being easier to find/start and some of the dead one[x]ones getting moved off to the graveyard.

I don't think members realized just how many one[x]one rps there were and have they were filling out the Genre forums with activity. >:[
 
5-10??
I just looked at the Fantasy section and saw 19, a perfectly respectable number as far as I can tell. Anyway, no amount of reorganizing is going to coax people who prefer only doing one on one RPs into the group ones, and simple math will show you that that even if everyone were in three group RPs for each single One-on-one RP they're in, there would still be at least three times as many of the latter. So balancing out is actually a thing that doesn't depend on changing forum structure at all.
 
I think the problem is more about image and how we present ourselves than what people are actually playing Xin.

This does seem a pretty tricky issue.. wish I had a better feel for the forums as they are now so i could help more.. but I've not got the best grasp of it all..
 
No matter what we do, some forums are going to be less used and other forums will be flooded out. That's just the way it is, regardless of which structure we use. Iwaku is growing fast and roleplay trends are constantly changing about which areas are the most popular and posted in.

And no matter what we do, there's going to be at least 10 members that throw down and hate the shit out of it. D: NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. Someone hates it. XD Hate of staying the same, hate of changes, hate of old idea or a different idea. Someone is always mad.


So in the end, it'll be a case of choosing what is best for the current situation and immediate future for the community as a whole... and which 10 members we're going to piss off is going to be a roll of the dice! XD
 
It's been a week! Poll now CLOSED!


I've discussed this with Rory. Thanks to a majority vote in favor and a love of taking calculated risks we're going to TEST DRIVE the proposed forum structure until the end of October.

At that point, we will post up a new community poll and ask everyone how it worked out for them. Including the ability to give new ideas or suggestions for improvement. If it SUCKS, we'll be changing everything back to traditional style.


Thanks everybody for giving your opinions and helping to contribute to these major decisions. :D We really appreciate the people that take the time to do so.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.