This board really needs a makeover

from GalCiv2 Forums
For years now many people have been asking for this discussion board to be revamped.

The main problems are that this board doesn't have near enough granularity and the front page post listings don't show near enough threads. Also the search function doesn't seem to work very well (that might be user error, but if so, the instructions aren't very good). Finally, kryo does a great job on the board, but I think he could use some volunteer help to keep things more organized.

Eveything gets buried (off the first page) pretty quickly. This causes three problems. First, it's hard to find topics on an existing thread so the same topics end up being posted over and over. Second, it makes it harder to get a question answered. After something rolls off the first page the chance that it will be answered is almost zero. Finally it causes very disjointed, duplicative and incomplete discussions of the issues because of the reposting and burying.

Here are a couple of specific examples of problems I have had or seen with the board:

In the bugs forum, gameplay bug reports get quickly buried by memory leak reports, ctd reports and other such stuff. Recently I reported a gameplay bug that had already been reported. If I could have figured this out I could have just added my post to existing thread. With that folder in the shape it's in, I really wonder how much Stardock can get out of it.

I had a fairly easy gameplay question that was buried is less than a day and never got answered. I guess I could have bumped my own post or started a new thread.

With regard to the complaint about too much political talk, I personally wouldn't touch those topics with a ten foot pole, but those sorts of discussions really need their own place. I have seen many boards with several completely off-topic folders (e.g; other games, everything else)

Anyway, here are my suggestions:
1. Have at least three times the number of thread listings per page
2. Have more topic subfolders. For example, DA and DL are really two separate games, but the posts are all lumped together.
3. Have better descriptions for the folders (Where do those political discussions belong? Where will DA 1.6 beta strategy posts go?)
4. Consider offering a few esteemed posters (like Mumblefratz - please don't curse me Mumblefratz) some sort of moderator power so that they could at least have the ability to move off-topic posts to the right place. You could also look for a volunteer or two to compile the curently unreadable bug folders into a stickied list so we don't keep reporting the same thing over and over.
5. Have a better search function or improve the instructions for the current post search.

GalCiv is a great game, but this discussion board is far from great. I think that its lack of structure and not-so-great design have contributed to the confusion and complaints of new customers, and end up reflecting poorly on your company. Please consider making these changes, especially the first one.

Thank you.


16,237 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"... a popular quote among the 'handyman' crowd that actually holds true. Your points are understandable, but 'most' of the forum users here have 'learned to adapt' to this forum, more than the forum adapting to us. I have no problems searching the forums, nor do I find confusion in anything forum related.
There. Now at the very least, you can say that 'someone' responded to one of your threads.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
For years now many people have been asking for this discussion board to be revamped.


Just last year the entire forum system was completely rewritten and replaced based on user comments.

The main problems are that this board doesn't have near enough granularity and the front page post listings don't show near enough threads.


Which front page listings are you talking about exactly?

One thing that you have to keep in mind is that this same system is used across a number of sites and is subject to some very big amounts of traffic. Currently the All Recent Posts page shows 25 topics per page, and even at that amount, due to the shared load of all our sites, the database can't always keep up (Ever looked at that page and got a blank list, or open a thread only to be told it doesn't exist? That's why.). Increasing the amount of threads listed, multiplied by the number of people viewing those pages, could cause a far greater pull on the servers.

Eveything gets buried (off the first page) pretty quickly... After something rolls off the first page the chance that it will be answered is almost zero.


While i generally try to leave strategy and similar questions to other users to answer (better for the community when everyone helps each other with their own experiences, I feel), I go through ALL (yes, all) of the recent posts every morning and answer anything needing my attention. Usually there are two to three pages of posts to go through, and that doesn't stop them from getting answered.

Recently I reported a gameplay bug that had already been reported. If I could have figured this out I could have just added my post to existing thread. With that folder in the shape it's in, I really wonder how much Stardock can get out of it.


New posts are actually preferable most of the time--it's a lot easier (IMO) to sort through the forum with a topic for each bug than it is a single thread many pages long with a great assortment of reports and unrelated issues. In some cases if someone makes a bug report, there's really not much to be said about it (as opposed to those having non-bug technical issues that can be solved). But rest assured they do get read.

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
kryo,

Just last year the entire forum system was completely rewritten and replaced based on user comments.


I was thinking it was a little over two years ago. My, how time sometimes doesn't fly. I'm sorry.

Which front page listings are you talking about exactly?


Excuse my lack of computerese. By front page, I mean the number of post topics that appear on page one of a folder. I understand your response, and I understand now that performance is an issue. I guess you could get better servers/more bandwidth, but that gets into your financial decisions. I'll stay out of that.


Actuarian: Everything gets buried (off the first page) pretty quickly... After something rolls off the first page the chance that it will be answered is almost zero.

Kryo:While i generally try to leave strategy and similar questions to other users to answer (better for the community when everyone helps each other with their own experiences, I feel), I go through ALL (yes, all) of the recent posts every morning and answer anything needing my attention. Usually there are two to three pages of posts to go through, and that doesn't stop them from getting answered.


I'm not faulting you at all. I appreciate your efforts very much and you shouldn't have to answer every post. Let me lay out a scenario so you'll see what I'm talking about. Say someone posts to try and figure out what the optimal population level is for a planet, and the variables that should go into determining it. Let's say this generates ten responses, then scrolls off page one. Then a week later the same question pops up and generates fifteen more responses some of which contradict the previous thread, some of which duplicate the previous and some of which are new material. Someone may link to the previous thread or maybe not. This type of thing does happen frequently. The point is that the combination of short page one post lists and expansive folder topics make it difficult for us players to sift through the forum to resolve inconsistencies and get the full picture of an issue.


Actuarian: Recently I reported a gameplay bug that had already been reported. If I could have figured this out I could have just added my post to existing thread. With that folder in the shape it's in, I really wonder how much Stardock can get out of it.

kryo: New posts are actually preferable most of the time--it's a lot easier (IMO) to sort through the forum with a topic for each bug than it is a single thread many pages long with a great assortment of reports and unrelated issues. In some cases if someone makes a bug report, there's really not much to be said about it (as opposed to those having non-bug technical issues that can be solved). But rest assured they do get read.


For bugs, I'll take your word for it, and I'm willing to double post bugs if you don't care. However, for strategy or gameplay discussions it helps to have everything in one place (see above).

I still think this board is harder to navigate and follow relative to other boards, doesn't have enough granularity in the folders, and you should grant some experienced posters with super user or moderator ability.

I hope I got these quotes right.

Evil Stormbringer, Your actually aren't the first person to respond to one of my posts, but thanks for the reply. I think you're just upset that I didn't say you would make a good moderator. I now feel more impotent... I mean important.







Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think you're just upset that I didn't say you would make a good moderator.




Moderation is not in my vocabulary, in any of it's forms...
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
A large part of the problems you point out could be dramatically improved by the posters themselves. A lot of folks come up with obscure title’s that may be humorous but shed little light on the content of the thread (not the case with this thread at least). I think that if people in general gave their threads a more descriptive title it would certainly help people know whether or not the topic was one they were interested in or had something to contribute to or one that they wouldn’t want to touch with the proverbial ten foot pole. Also it would certainly help for folks to give a little forethought to which folder they’re posting to.

I also agree about the search function. An improved search function would probably address the main crux of everything you’ve pointed out. It would definitely help to have some improvements there. I don't know what the technical limitations are, I'm sure the quantity of posts to search are immense. But there does seem to be a limit on how far back the search will go. It would be nice to be able to use both author and keyword simultaneously to narrow the search somewhat. Also maybe it’s me but I’ve never had much luck trying to use multiple keywords. Some search capability within a thread would be good as well. The ctrl-F “find on page” function in your browser works OK in single page threads but is useless in the multi-page threads where it’s most likely to be needed.

As far as response to questions, problems or whatever, to me it’s almost scary how quickly these things get answered most of the time. Also note that a lot of times a direct answer isn’t required and the issue just gets fixed without comment. For example, last night at 10:11pm EDST I made a post and requested it be made sticky. By the time I had posted it and edited a spelling mistake, it had been made sticky, had a reference converted into a web link and had an external link added to it. That’s what I mean about scary.

In any case, thanks for the esteemed poster reference. I do try to keep an eye out for posts where I can help someone out. I’m by no means the only one that does this, but the time that I spend on these forums is very limited compared to the amount of time that Kryo spends. For me to have the ability to move a post or make one sticky is such a minor thing that I doubt it would make the minutest difference. I’d be as likely to screw something up as to provide any real benefit.   
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
A large part of the problems you point out could be dramatically improved by the posters themselves.


Sometimes. Sometimes posts are obscure just because the conversation changes over time, and how a thread starts is not how it finishes. We were guilty of this, for instance, in NLC's and Industrial Sectors broke my economy.

To really understand what the threads are about, I find you typically actually have to read through them all, especially as they get longer than 20 replies or so.

I'm not saying, btw, that I think the boards need to be changed. But I don't think the situation will necessarily improve that much even if posters tried to start policing themselves.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Of course long threads can morph into other topics over time. I'm also not suggesting that all possible confusion will be eliminated simply by choosing better titles for our posts. But to take a few examples (no offense to the posters of these).

"Is it just me or..." really isn't very helpful as a title. While I think I have a good idea what "Influence/Morale Bonus Wrong on Planet Summary Screen for Bonus Titles" is about.

I just think there is an opportunity for folks to be a little clearer in their selection of the title. Perhaps the words "dramatically improved" were a bit of an overstatement.
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The quality of a discussion board is based on a combination of how it's designed and its functionality, who is in the community, and how it is moderated.

I guess I was thinking of player-moderators more in terms of people willing to keep us unclean masses organized in a friendly manner, not a police job. You would definately need several willing volunteers.


Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Mumblefratz, when you see really bad topic titles that would be a great time to step in with some friendly advice, and with your shiny silver "Galactic Grand Who-ha" badge you get for moderator duty, everyone will bow down before you and assimilate into the GalCiv2 board culture. At least that's how it's supposed to work.
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It is worth noting that we used to have volunteer user-moderators. Unfortunately (well, not for me, anyway!) all the others didn't really do much of anything. Drengin was the only active one aside from me, but there was a bit of a kerfuffle and he lost his mod powers. Peace Phoenix has mod powers as well but he largely keeps to helping French users (none of them have posted here much lately).

Really though, you can't rely on people when they're not under any obligation to to the job.
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I often use Stardock Central to navigate through things, it's much faster.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The only thing I see "bad" about the forums, is that it can be REALLLLLY slow at times. other then that, I have no issues.
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Mumblefratz, when you see really bad topic titles that would be a great time to step in with some friendly advice, and with your shiny silver "Galactic Grand Who-ha" badge you get for moderator duty,

Again thanks for the vote of confidence but if I can't simply inspire by example giving me a badge probably won't help.   

Badges! Badges! We don't need no stinkin' badges!   

For those of you that think there's much that goes on here that SD doesn't notice here's a prime example.   

I often use Stardock Central to navigate through things, it's much faster.