Off Topic: Any chance of getting a threaded forum system in here?

from Stardock Forums
For the record, I'm really impressed by this game. However, I am wondering if there is any plan to get a more flexible threaded forum system in here at some point? This thing is getting harder and harder to sift out the signal from the noise due to the linear nature of the forum structure.

With the popularity of GalCiv growing so fast, I can see swamping coming fast. It would really be helpful to have some categories (especially for beginners looking for suggestions and clarifactions).

If I'm the only one with this observation, I'll just shaddap. ;)
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
http://www.aspin.com/home/webapps/bbs Site admins! Please look at this link. Over 70 .ASP based web forum scripts available. A new forum will soon become a requirement, we need categories, a search function, email notification, etc. We ARE outgroing this forum!

Please investigate!

Folks, if you agree that we need a new forum system here, please post. Let's keep this up at the top.

After all, I'm at work... I can't play... All I have are these forums and a few newsgroups, and I'll be willing to bet I'm not alone. (:(

idle
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
BTW I recommend the Snitz Forum software if you require ASP forums :)
http://forum.snitz.com/ (forum.snitz.com)

Otherwise, the best forum software is PHPBB :D
http://phpbb.com/ (phpbb.com)

idle
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
I agree. It would be nice to have different sections like Gameplay/Strategy, Bug Reports, etc.
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Great idea! An improved forum would cut down the noise and and make this much more usefull.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
Great idea??? No offense, but OBVIOUS IDEA. For such a polished game, this message board is amateurish.

(The only explanation I can think of is that perhaps they're constrained by having to be compatible with their stardock stuff. Just a guess as I haven't used the program.)
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
For the record, I completely agree. At the very least, have a search function. I'd hate to ask questions or bring up topics that have already been addressed simply because there is no way to search. (Please correct me if there IS a search function, but I can't find it).

~SDC~
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
I Agree... More functions in the Forum.

I don't imagine it would be that hard to achieve either... as the forum data is being pulled from a database for both the website and within SDCentral, all they would have to do to create extra forums is list more 'subscribing' options in SDCentral... Which would put more tabs like 'GalCiv Forum' and 'GC Strategies' in the toolbar up top.

~SDC~
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
If anyone is interested, there's a very nice board for galciv at the orion sector:

http://forum.orionsector.com/

It has all those nice forum goodies and is easy to tell which topics are new for you and which ones you've already sifted through.
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
Heh, glad to see I'm not the only one... ;)

I have administered a few UBBS sites, and like that software, but there's a TON of good code out there. If it's a question of administering, I get the impression that there are a number of veterans here that might be persuaded to moderate various forums. I'll be interested to see what the Avatars have to say about it all. :)
Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top
There is a strategy forum already. Look at the left.

~SDC~
Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top
I would recommend using SDCentral, you'll find that it makes browsing the forum much more efficient. Throwing away our forum system is not an option. Sorry.

~SDC~
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
Hm... Don't suppose you care to give us a little tutorial on SD Central?

It does not *appear* to have that solid a relationship to the forum seen here. I am having a hard time getting it to show the most recent posts first, and unless I'm missing something, it is only showing a fraction of the total posts available. Is there a way to search? I'm baffled... :notsure:
Reply #15 from Stardock Forums Top
No offense, but this forum, with or without SDC, is severly lacking the capability of sustaining the group. :(

Brad, Your comment made it sound like the current forum software will stay, regardless. If that is indeed the case, I hope the team will invest some time in adding the necessary features to this board. :notsure:

idle
Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top
Why can't you change the forum system and use some "standard" stuff ?
This one is nice, ok, but now that traffic increased 500% or so it's becoming a big mess, I support the general opinion than a more flexible, threaded forum is needed for the community...
Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top
I quit using SDCentral for the discussions due to the following problems:

1. There is no help on how to use it. It took me 2 weeks to discover you could right-click the forum button and "Catchup" to mark all articles as read.

2. I don't know how to sort new posts to the top. I tried clicking on the column heading to sort and it did sort them in some wierd order I could make no sense of.

3. It does not have all posts. I posted a new thread using SDC and could never see my thread. I had to come to the website forum viewer to see it.

4. I can't tell which threads are sticky in SDC. Are they sticky in SDC?

5. There still is no search function in SDC.
Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top
In #3 above, I want to add that I waited hours for it to show up. I restarted SDC, I told it to refresh. Nothing worked. When I came to the website, not only was my post there, but there were replies to it.

6. There is no edit function in this forum, either using SDC or the web-based forum. That is annoying.

7. bbcodes for bold/italic are sure nice. I wish we had them.

Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top
"Throwing away our forum system is not an option. Sorry. "

I guess this is the first poor decision I've seen these guys make. What a shame. If a year worth of updates is one of their selling points, it's too bad their forums have become a gigantic mess after only a month worth of posts. :CONGRAT:

I, for one, would happily migrate to an off-world forum if it has enough traffic. Hopefully, they'll utilize the comments of their customers (for their updates) regardless of where they post. Anyway, I think I'm off to check out this Orion sector site...
Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top
I just checked the orion site. Eh.. not bad, but nowhere near the traffic we have here.

idle
Reply #22 from Stardock Forums Top
We will be adding features to these forums over time. As beta testers can tell you, a lot has been done already.

But don't take this the wrong way but the idea of tossing out months of work on the forum system we have here because some people don't want to take the 10 minutes to learn to use the forums on SDC is not going to be very popular with the people I'd have to make work on this stuff.

The forums via SDC are very very fast, easy to use, and have instant changing from the general forum to the strategy forum.

There are also forums as Apolyton and Orion Sector you can use that we frequent as well.

Let's try to look at the big picture:
What do you think the average user's view would be if we told them that rather than doing an expansion pack for GalCiv we put that effort into redoing the forum system. Especially given the fact that for many of us, the forums via SDCentral totally rock.

I can think of 4 main features I want us to add here.

1) Search
2) Subscribe to a thread
3) Quoting
4) Editing of ones posts made within 5 minutes.

These kinds of features will get added and it's a heck of a lot easier to add these features in time than starting ove rwith a completely different and generic forum system.



~SDC~
Reply #23 from Stardock Forums Top
Yes, I'd like to see a threaded forum system. With an easier to read font and colour scheme
Reply #24 from Stardock Forums Top
Frogboy, don't forget some documentation on SDC and how to learn to use it "in 10 minutes". I've spent more than that amount of time and have not gotten past some of the issues I mentioned above (sorting new posts, not seeing some posts using SDC , etc)...
Reply #25 from Stardock Forums Top
Ned: "Jed, that there horse is dead."
Jed: "Well then why am I still beatin' it?"

As much as I am a forum junky, I would much rather have game updates than a brand new, fancy pants forum. Even though I am on the forums more than in the game (:(

I am eagerly awaiting the additional features for this board :)

idle