Website layout

[Neocron]

Hi all,

Now that we have this shiny new website and forum i can't help it wonder why it isn't being used as much as we had hoped.

Is it because the layout is too dark?
Are we missing some very important features?

I would like to know because then we can simply adjust this and create a more active forum.

I will put this into a poll and of course everyone is free to post his idea's/suggestions about it.

[Kasov]

wellll heres my view on it dude

it looks nice however because of its dark theme its hard to get away with looking at it in work as you can tell a mile away its not work related.

also on the front page you used to be able to see what thread had just been replied to and who by rather than just being able to see theres a new post in that forum.

aaaaaalso my inbox gets full of emails from the site and nomatter what options ive done in my control settings my junk box is overflowing with ifa posts

you was saying that some people are having problems with looking through IE versions - some people have to look at the site through IE unfortunately due to their permissions at work and that could be another reason why the quietness.

[Nimlet]

I like the news features, although no one uses them after the first week. The site comes up on google alot more often. Having ventrillo displayed on the front page means that people check the site before logging onto vent. When they should just log on vent.

I never understood why we left the old format of the forum, it was great it did everything we wanted. Then it got changed and the people who used it all the time stopped using it. TBH alot people who used to post have stopped posting, that why the forum has got quiet. Now all we get is recruitment threads and raiding stuff, seems like the fun and life of these forums has ebbed away. Ill be honest here if it wasnt for me, Kasov, Fixaman, Cleo and Airk this forum would be completely dead. By archiving all the old posts you have a created a vast amount of empty sub forums, that makes the forum look unused and gives you a huge front page that isnt needed. I used to have forum stats at the bottom of the page telling me how many posts were made, now all i have is 82.99% php blah blah global parsing time !!!!!! I liked having the link to the last posted thread in any particular sub forum. I really really would like to have the shoutbox displayed at all times when im browsing the forum, like the old site used to.

Basically I agree with everything that Kasov says. I know you have spent loads of time working on the site, but the old phrase comes to mind. If it aint broke dont try to fix it. I hate to say it, but bring back the old forum format because the people who used this forum liked that style and if people wanted it changed well they certainly were using it then or now. I post alot to keep these forums active, but i dunno how long it will be before its just me.

I miss my donkey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJQ0EV4bWH0

[fixamann]

I just dont like the fact that its dark, as its harder to pass off as a work related website :P

I can echo a bit what Nimlet said, but I think the forum was dead before the change anyway. We've lost regular musings of Kasov and Dohsan (who is out of country now anyway!) cause of the dark theme but forum use has been steadily declining for a long time now. Especially since you can handle all your in-game organising in-game these days.

Attitudes have changed things a bit now too. I dont mean IFA's attitude I mean in general peoples attitude to WoW. We used to have debates about what rotations would be best, good talent combos, ways of playing classes a bit different but still effective, what new tactics we could try out in raids, what does and doesnt work.... Basically, stuff about the game isnt talked about anymore. Best place to level 55-60? Use QuestHelper. Need a better rotation? Look on elitistjerks theyve already done the hard work. Boss strat? Again already nailed down on EJ and other sites, no need to experiment.

What I mean is, I dont think any all-singing-all-dancing is going to get the forums moving along again. You just dont need one for WoW any more, bar for public face and recruitment.

[Cleo]

I think a lot of what Jim said at the end is echo'd here. So many new features have been implimented into the game that have stopped us using this here.

I personally like the back...

BUt hopefully changes is coming i can smell it in the wind, either that or Mrs moo has farted again...

As for tactics yeah elitstjerks done it, means we follow instead of leading.

[Nimlet]

1 week and 15 votes with a link from the front page ........ how times have changed.