Forum Update and Reorg

On WF at least you aren't the oddball. Most people don't use it, which is why forum consolidation should go hand in hand with physical upgrades. No need to do one or the other. Use the change as a chance to knock out two birds with one stone.

Tapatalk sucks.

You know that most people don't use it exactly how? Are you a admin who can view the usage tracks?

On every vBulletin board I have administered the most clicked link by far is "New Posts" (do=getnew) Lanz can check and verify that himself.

"New Posts" is how I check the board.

It's how I check it, too. Leads to the occasional warning when I don't give enough of a shit to see what room I land in.

While I don't doubt people use New Posts to get around the clunky forum layout, it obviously isn't enough to overcome said clunky layout. If that were the case than the non-RR forums wouldn't be places where threads go to die, and posters wouldn't feel the need to anchor their threads in the RR by throwing around insults and expletives.

Nonsense. people use the new posts link because it saves TIME no matter how "clunky" a forum is or isn't. It is faster and alot more convenient if you want to see what is actually going on.

Have you not seen any really BAD forum layouts? WF isn't one of them. Not even close.

If that were the case then the non-RR forums wouldn't be places where threads go to die, and posters wouldn't feel the need to anchor their threads in the RR by throwing around insults and expletives.

As I have asked over and over, besides 'DON'T GO CHANGIN' NUTHIN' what is the argument against such a reorg?

Maybe nobody feels the need to reinvent the fucking wheel just to make you feel special? Could that possibly be it?

Where's the evidence of any of these assertions? Right now there are several active threads not in the RR. In fact since I have been here I have noticed where the activity is, and it seems well distributed.

A problem that ain't a problem, ain't a problem. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Is it broke?

The mobile web is leaving message boards behind. THAT is the problem.

The problem is Ancalagon assumes the other forums are quieter for some reason other than the majority of people currently on WF are too fucking lazy to leave the Red Room.

Also, calling the current layout "clunky" is simply BS. We may have a couple unnecessary forums, but it's certainly not clunky.

Personally, all we need to do, in my opinion, is roll Gray into Red, Iron, Gold and Camp Wordforge into Green and leave the rest alone.

Oh fuck facebook in the ass.

We have a facebook page, Wordforge United. Many of us are already members of that.
Many refuse to associate themselves in rl with their lives here for a plethora of reasons.

I have so far been lucky enough to not have gotten stuck with that timeine bullshit. Yet.

When I come here my way in is the Red Room, then I check any rep and respond if needed, then I myself hit new posts.

I don;t use a mobile app, I figure I spend plenty of time here already without making it a 24/7 thing.

I like the layout the way it is. Separating by posting style is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. I use new posts sometimes and others I just go from Red to Tech to Green to Media. I don't usually go into the other rooms with the occasional Blue/Helpdesk exception. Things are working fine, leave well enough alone just don't add any more rooms or it could get cluttered like a big board.

Outside of just leaving it alone entirely I see no reason that the aforementioned idea Lanz has could be the primary forums and the existing ones set under them as sub forums. This would evolve the board as he sees it to become what he desires and would leave the existing ones as they are.

Mooshing could simply be subforums under the desired header. One issue I see is the Blue Room becoming a target for search engines though and lose it's hidden status. Red and Grey should be together again anyway since it sprang from an attempt to get the "other boards" bitchfests out of the Red Room. I feel sure Faceman will crap himself though.

The forums do not have to all be jammed together to make four forums but they could be subbed to obtain the desired result of four main forums and maintain the integerity of the board as a whole. Elloquently rewrite the descriptions to match the picture you are trying to paint Lanz and there ya are.

I believe there already is a Wordforge Facebook group/page, and as mentioned before we do have a mobile version of the board.

As far as linking Facebook and Twitter to one's Wordforge account, I think it's a bad idea. The trend of being asked to sign into Facebook on every website really needs to stop, and it should definitely not be a requirement to log in to a social networking account to create an account and post at Wordforge. Doing this would probably have the opposite effect and we would lose more posters.

I consider myself fortunate to be one of the few people left who hasn't been "upgraded" to Timeline.

It's not and also wouldn't be. With the FB bridge, regular registration isn't affected and all people have the option to either use their facebook credentials or not. Choosing to use your FB credentials to register merely imports information like email address, and validates you automatically. All you need do is choose a username and password, and you're registered.

The way this gets you more members is when a FB user lands on the WF registration page, he/she will see a button saying "Register with your Facebook Account." And alot of people just do it.

But they don't have to, they can still choose the default registration method.

As long as it's voluntary, I would have less of a problem with it. I don't see the purpose behind it because it adds extra steps to registration and it links one's Wordforge account with private information in the form of one's Facebook profile.

I suppose. I don't see why we couldn't just add a link to the registration page to the Facebook page.

I'll support Lanz whatever he decides, but I'm not really a fan of making everything part of a "forge" theme. I don't know, it seems so cliche and kind of silly.

But that is just my personal taste, I guess.

There should only be one forum and it should consist solely of discussion topics pertaining to Robotech.

Okay, maybe make a temporary forum for the upcoming election... for people who care about that stuff.

Encouraging people to link their Facebook pages would seriously muddy the privacy rules as pertains to Facebook.

New people joining from there would think nothing of sharing all that personal stuff and be really confused by rules that say "link up your Facebook but don't discuss anyone else's Facebook".

It's weird enough that publicly available stuff is considered private here, that would seem downright Jeckyll and Hyde.

It does neither.

Nothing is added to the registration process other than the button giving the option to import FB credentials. It's on the same default page as the regular registration form but when clicked takes the person to a much shorter form.

The purpose behind it is to get people to register so they can comment, and FB people are quite apt to do so if the long form and the moderation queue can be bypassed, which the FB bridge does do.

NO private information from FB is made public at all, either on FB or on WF. Nobody but you has to know you signed up using your FB credentials.

Not sure where that's coming from or where it was suggested.

It kind of stinks that Anc doesn't seem to understand HE is the one who has to make the argument.

So once again, aside from Status Quo Bias (DON'T GO CHANGIN' NUTHIN') what are the arguments against. Myself and others have posted ones in favor but not only have they been ignored, no one has even offered a counter.

You are the agitator. YOU are making the argument. YOU have to make the case.

You haven't.

My understanding is that this is not what Anton is proposing. There would be no 'linking' to Facebook. All this would do is give a new person the ability to use Facebook as credentials (instead of typing in an email address). By using their FB login it would bypass the normal Spam filter so someone can near instantly sign in and start posting.

Combined with an ability to 'Share' threads easily, I can see how it could help boost traffic.

It's worth a look IMO.

People can prefer things the way they are, just because they prefer things the way they are.

I don't know why you believe anyone needs to justify that with any more than that.

If you want change, it's up to you to convince others that they want change, too.

So far, I think the majority at least agrees that we could merge a couple of the forums that are barely used and whose topics are easily integrated into current forums.

If that is what he meant, I agree.

O2C, Nick and Lanzman should check it out and consider it.

Yes, but WHY is the current setup better than something else? I've seen nothing but Status Quo Bias in response to my question.

And I've given quite a few reasons it would be better, Async and others have pointed out others, agreed. They all just ignored and DON'T GO CHANGIN' NUTHIN' gets repeated over again.

People don't like change. It's a fact of human existence. Doesn't mean stagnation is a good thing.