Specialist Arms Forum

Specialist Games General Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dave on April 27, 2009, 08:37:20 PM

Title: forum suggestions
Post by: Dave on April 27, 2009, 08:37:20 PM
Not to be pushy (I know the forums haven't been up for too long yet), but could the links that appear on the dark red background (the breadcrumbs and the page numbers in threads/forums) be changed to light gray/white? They're rather hard to read at the moment.

Also, any idea why the people's post counts are all 0?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Lex on April 27, 2009, 10:24:34 PM
Not to be pushy (I know the forums haven't been up for too long yet), but could the links that appear on the dark red background (the breadcrumbs and the page numbers in threads/forums) be changed to light gray/white? They're rather hard to read at the moment.

Under advisment/revision   8)

Quote
Also, any idea why the people's post counts are all 0?

Yup, that one is easy: like we did it on the old forums, we dont want people to post for Rank, and have the forums filled with one-liner replies stating "I agree"......
So all sections have their counters blocked.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Marlinspike on April 28, 2009, 12:26:03 AM
Not to be pushy (I know the forums haven't been up for too long yet), but could the links that appear on the dark red background (the breadcrumbs and the page numbers in threads/forums) be changed to light gray/white? They're rather hard to read at the moment.

Under advisment/revision   8)

Quote
Also, any idea why the people's post counts are all 0?

Yup, that one is easy: like we did it on the old forums, we dont want people to post for Rank, and have the forums filled with one-liner replies stating "I agree"......
So all sections have their counters blocked.


I agree.

In that case is it possible to get rid of the post count under our names? I'm a fan of keeping things as simple as possible and all these new nibs and bobs are rather distracting. For all its faults, the old SG forums software did have a sort of simplistic elegance to it.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CyberShadow on April 28, 2009, 09:56:08 AM
Not to be pushy (I know the forums haven't been up for too long yet), but could the links that appear on the dark red background (the breadcrumbs and the page numbers in threads/forums) be changed to light gray/white? They're rather hard to read at the moment.

Also, be aware that the link colour is universal across the boards. For example, the black text which clicks orange as a link is at the top of the page, where it is difficult to read. But, exactly the same setting is used for the 'Quote' link at the top of each post. So, if I change the black text to be easy to read on a red background, it becomes difficult to read on the pale blue/grey colour in the post box.  :P
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Black_Omega on April 28, 2009, 10:13:51 AM
^
Adding a grey box behind the link tree would solve that.

In that case is it possible to get rid of the post count under our names? I'm a fan of keeping things as simple as possible and all these new nibs and bobs are rather distracting. For all its faults, the old SG forums software did have a sort of simplistic elegance to it.

Continuing that. The 'Member' tag and stars aren't needed and the online graphic could be moved down to the bar with the other graphics to save space.

Could we get bigger avatars?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Dave on April 28, 2009, 02:41:22 PM
Do you have the option of adding custom CSS rules CS?

div.nav a, td.middletext a { color: #eee; }
div.nav a:hover, div.nav a:focus, div.nav a:active,
td.middletext a:hover, td.middletext a:focus, td.middletext a:active  { color: #fff; }

That should do it without changing the other link colors.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Dwarf Supreme on April 28, 2009, 04:00:56 PM
Is there anything that can be done to separate better visually separate posts, like a border around posts?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Dave on April 28, 2009, 06:36:52 PM
The old boards used to have different background colors for odd and even posts I believe.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Dezartfox on April 29, 2009, 01:26:06 AM
All that should be possible I believe, I know I've messed with things like that on my forum.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: pw on April 29, 2009, 11:01:39 AM
What about a trades thread? With SG stuff now rather fiddly to buy direct (and with some of it unavailable) it might be a useful addition.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Chaos_Rabbit619 on April 29, 2009, 10:05:49 PM
What about a trades thread? With SG stuff now rather fiddly to buy direct (and with some of it unavailable) it might be a useful addition.

i think that would only work if the site accepts PayPal  like eBay does, otherwise i worry about scams
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: azrael71 on April 29, 2009, 10:12:08 PM
Warseer manages without paypal ???
We are on about trades not for sale ads aren't we?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: pw on April 29, 2009, 10:17:34 PM
I was thinking of something along the lines of the trades section on The Warhammer Forum/Warseer - i.e. something to hook people up rather than centralising sales through the forum.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Lex on April 30, 2009, 12:15:46 AM
WE WILL TAKE THIS UNDER CONSIDERATION
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Black_Omega on April 30, 2009, 10:14:02 AM
Can we do anything to help? Like somebody could help finish the html on the fanatic online page?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Lex on April 30, 2009, 10:24:19 AM
I know Cybershadow, as Admin, is checking the forums too, so that would be up to him.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Black_Omega on May 03, 2009, 07:28:16 PM
No progress? ???

How about a house rules forums? Or is that what the experimental rules forums are for?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CyberShadow on May 03, 2009, 07:38:33 PM
Hi. Sorry, but I am not sure what you mean by 'no progress'.

Thanks for the offer of help. Right now, the mechanics of putting the articles online is fairly easy, and it is just a matter of setting some aside to do this. I will look back at this shortly and get a few more articles made available.

Lex will be able to give a more definitive answer to the question of house rules, but my understanding is that 'pure house rules' should go in the various 'discussion' boards (leaving the 'rules questions' for comments about the current rules, and the 'experimental rules' board for discussion of the next set of proposed community modifications to the core and additional rules).

All the best, and thanks again.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Black_Omega on May 03, 2009, 09:39:50 PM
^
Thank you for replying Cyber Shadow. By 'no progress' I mean forum things suggested here like collapsing forums but also site and information. This site could be the best for filling in what the GW site stopped doing like where are the player aids? Each game can be given a section on the site like the old SG site with a small introduction and links to the new player aids and fanatic resources which you can have listed in each game forum for easy updates. We need information on what's happening with the games because we haven't been told anything like the GW site has stopped hosting some rules so we need a list of whats official. Pit slaves arent on the GW website so are they not official anymore? Are the FAQs here not official anymore? I know we wont be told about inside GW news on the games but whats planned here?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CyberShadow on May 03, 2009, 11:11:33 PM
I see. Sorry. OK. I have been looking through the various forum upgrade threads. The collapsing boards is an issue with the specific skin that we have used here. Collapsable boards is a standard feature of this forum, but the current skin doesnt feature it. So I am chatting to the skin creator and others in the know for a quick fix on this. There are a couple of other things such as making the 'black on red' text more readable and so on, and these will be dealt with shortly.

Future plans of the site and boards specifically is something that will need consideration. When Lex and I initially chatted about this idea, we agreed that we just needed the forums up to serve as a rallying point for SG players. Once this was done (is almost completed now) then we could look at expansion ideas and so on. Personally, I would be very happy to have each game have a 'resources section', and other ideas have been thrown around, which I wont go into just yet.

As for the 'behind the scenes' stuff, then we dont actually have any further information. My philosophy is that there are two ways of looking at this. You could say that the original material was removed, the games abandoned and cut down to only their essential minimal parts. Or, you could say that GW really doesnt gain much by allowing us to get together here, and certainly dont need to be so accomodating and supportive to what we want with their games.

Currently, I have been given permission to make the old Fanatic Online material available again. This was the specific request made by me, and was agreed by SG at the time. Nothing beyond this material was covered by this. I am not saying that we cant make more material available, but that I am unwilling to 'push' the developing relationship between this site and GW/SG by going beyond this agreement without express permission.

Finally, as with the question of 'official status' this is still something that (I think) the community should look at. Take your favourite game, and discuss it here. SG games have a mold-breaking history (within GW) of being largely in the hands of the community of players. Sure, having the material available is a first step, but the guys here for the games are really the best people to discuss 'official rules' with and set out a list if available.

As for what is planned here.... What would you like to see? At this stage, some ideas and suggestions may be a good idea. What would you like from a site like this? And, critically, do we have volunteers to get involved and organised. The people behind this place are not GW. But, if something was agreed and declared official, I would guess that the default view would be that this status would remain.

All the best.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Black_Omega on May 04, 2009, 01:27:32 PM
Thank you for your very explaining reply Cyber Shadow! Sorry I thought this site was more officially supported by GW. I'm glad things are being planned and worked on.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: azrael71 on May 04, 2009, 03:47:03 PM
... And, critically, do we have volunteers to get involved and organised...

Count me in.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Chaos_Rabbit619 on May 04, 2009, 04:41:00 PM
 ??? hmm...i guess i thought of this site as "official" for  history we had here  ( is that gone now?)  of semi actual involvement of the guys from across the pond  that were actually part of the GW staff (Andy Hall) is that no longer the case? i mean i see him as part of the member files, but does he not get involved like he used to?  does anyone from GW? i mean they used to post a monthly (somewhat)  little news letter on the home page, has the lack of support for SG  even ground that to a halt too?

Personally, i think that is one of the short commings that GW needs to some how wake up to :  they fail to realize that they  have an interest  that could generate income for them if they would just take advantage of it, and this forum could be a really great way to be used as market research on what  dirrection they could take thier  future production...but in my oppion both of these are very much under utulized and not taken to thier fullest potential.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: redsimon on May 04, 2009, 07:11:56 PM
??? hmm...i guess i thought of this site as "official" for  history we had here  ( is that gone now?)  of semi actual involvement of the guys from across the pond  that were actually part of the GW staff (Andy Hall) is that no longer the case? i mean i see him as part of the member files, but does he not get involved like he used to?  does anyone from GW? i mean they used to post a monthly (somewhat)  little news letter on the home page, has the lack of support for SG  even ground that to a halt too?
You got it. It did. They don't have time for that now. And if they had, they probably were not allowed to.
Quote
Personally, i think that is one of the short commings that GW needs to some how wake up to :  they fail to realize that they  have an interest  that could generate income for them if they would just take advantage of it, and this forum could be a really great way to be used as market research on what  dirrection they could take thier  future production...but in my oppion both of these are very much under utulized and not taken to thier fullest potential.
GW's opinion is that it would not help them and cut sales from main systems.

I don't want to start to rant, I'm just surprised what you expected the reasons were. If GW thought they would benefit from supporting SG games, they would do so in no time.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Black_Omega on May 05, 2009, 11:32:41 AM
Newsflash: GW hates SG!

Not a shock was it. ;D
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ant on May 05, 2009, 11:55:08 AM
I'm not sure it's quite as simple as 'GW hates Specialist Games'. GW have been losing revenue since 2005 and traded at a loss in 2007. They've managed to get back on track but only due to heavy cost cutting, big campaigns (Apoc, WotR) and price hikes across the range (they've just released a box of 10 plastic Empire Greatswords for £25). Compare last years pre-tax profit of £1.1m to a £19.6m pre-tax profit in 2004 and you can see GW are somewhat under the cosh at the moment.

GW knows Specialist Games are a gateway drug for new players (hence the rerelease of Space Hulk) but expanding SG is last on their to-do list and is still a potential risk that they can't really justify to their shareholders. I'm sure once GW is back on a more financially stable footing we'll see some glimmers of hope (I've heard rumblings that in the not too distant future you'll be able to buy SG minis individually again, starting with Blood Bowl), but right now GW is contending with an economic storm so we just need to batten down the hatches until the blue skies appear. I'm sure we can keep ourselves busy with all the fan created content until then (which this shiney new website can aid with ;)).
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Lex on May 05, 2009, 12:45:16 PM
Concerning the last couple of posts.....  WRONG THREAD !!

and although we ar eno longer running in a GW sponsored environment, we still hope to we can get some "official presence" on board (in Adition to Andy Hall who already is part of Moderating Staff !), so please no discussions of GW (business) policy, there is plenty of other places to do that !!
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ant on May 05, 2009, 01:23:49 PM
Okay, okay... back to forum suggestions.

Since there's no chance of the official rules being updated for the foreseeable future, which means solving problems with house rules will become more important, perhaps the Experimental Rules forum could be broadened out into a forum to place fully formed house rule articles for feedback (i.e. substantial articles such as new gangs rather than small house rules)? It would make it easier for new players to expand their games rather than them having to search through the general discussion. Similarly the Rules Questions forum could be nested inside an Official Rules Debate forum so again new players can immediately see and solve any immediate problems with the official rules.

*disclaimer: I haven't given the above ideas more than 5 minutes of thought and are specifically in regard to Necromunda (I don't know what's going on in the other forums).
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Lex on May 05, 2009, 01:51:22 PM
Okay, okay... back to forum suggestions.

Since there's no chance of the official rules being updated for the foreseeable future, which means solving problems with house rules will become more important, perhaps the Experimental Rules forum could be broadened out into a forum to place fully formed house rule articles for feedback (i.e. substantial articles such as new gangs rather than small house rules)? It would make it easier for new players to expand their games rather than them having to search through the general discussion. Similarly the Rules Questions forum could be nested inside an Official Rules Debate forum so again new players can immediately see and solve any immediate problems with the official rules.

*disclaimer: I haven't given the above ideas more than 5 minutes of thought and are specifically in regard to Necromunda (I don't know what's going on in the other forums).

Up to the specific Forum moderators, but as you should be able to see there is a publications forum already in place........
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Chaos_Rabbit619 on May 05, 2009, 04:42:09 PM
Concerning the last couple of posts.....  WRONG THREAD !!

hey no need to shout....
Please do consider that forums threads, like real life conversations, sometimes do drift off topic as varrious points are brought up and the conversation itself evoles. If the topic itself is strong enough and people do feel strongly about it, the conversation/ thread will eventually work its way back to the orginal topic of interest.

Quote
and although we ar eno longer running in a GW sponsored environment, we still hope to we can get some "official presence" on board (in Adition to Andy Hall who already is part of Moderating Staff !)

personally, i  hope for more chance of involevement by  them, becuase frankly there are quite a number of forums out there to discuss SG, it is the membership of actual GW staff is why i belong to this one and take a more active roll here

Quote
, so please no discussions of GW (business) policy, there is plenty of other places to do that !!

Respectfully sir,  i would like to bring up a point, there is a differnce to just sit in a forum and say "GW sucks" or "GW products cost too much". However,  sometimes things about bizz policy needs to be brought up to explain a point. Also,  since the policy can spill over to affect the hobby/ game aspects sometimes again it needs to be brought up. Granted i dont want to sit here and read post after post of "GW bites"  but i honestly also think that just sitting around burrying our heads in the sand and ego stroking GW  dont accomplish anything, sometimes people need to be told whats wrong or how things could be better for things to get fixed.


Also, last i checked i didnt see any place on this forum for a "complants against GW" section (maybe we need one)
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: horizon on May 05, 2009, 07:31:32 PM
Alas, I do think SG gets more promotion now then during the days of the former SG forum last year. SG now nicely features on GW's frontpage with all relevant pdf's etc.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CobaltEarthgem on May 07, 2009, 01:34:56 PM
BTW the collapsible sub boards look great!
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Black_Omega on May 07, 2009, 01:47:11 PM
Yay! Collapsing boards! ;D Nice job!
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CyberShadow on May 07, 2009, 04:56:19 PM
That was actually Ant who did this for us. So, thanks Ant!  8)
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Martini Henrie on May 07, 2009, 07:43:49 PM

, so please no discussions of GW (business) policy, there is plenty of other places to do that !!

Respectfully sir,  i would like to bring up a point, there is a differnce to just sit in a forum and say "GW sucks" or "GW products cost too much". However,  sometimes things about bizz policy needs to be brought up to explain a point. Also,  since the policy can spill over to affect the hobby/ game aspects sometimes again it needs to be brought up. Granted i dont want to sit here and read post after post of "GW bites"  but i honestly also think that just sitting around burrying our heads in the sand and ego stroking GW  dont accomplish anything, sometimes people need to be told whats wrong or how things could be better for things to get fixed.


Also, last i checked i didnt see any place on this forum for a "complants against GW" section (maybe we need one)

We probably don't, that sort of thing can be taken up on other forums, lets try to keep on the positive side of things, eh? 

Just wanted to say that the house rules thread idea is a good one, but with one caveat.  It should be the mods that decide what goes from discussion piece and then into a separate thread for playtesting and tweaking from there.  It's pretty labour intensive, but should sift the gems form the...

Like I said previosly, there are too many places of insipid negativity.  Lets not bring this forum down to their level.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ant on May 08, 2009, 10:39:18 AM
Is there any plans to update to SMF2 once it goes gold (it's on it's first release candidate at the moment)? I wasn't hugely impressed with the update until I saw the new Curve default theme that comes packaged with it (link (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=293556.0)). It does look very swish indeed.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CyberShadow on May 08, 2009, 11:33:03 AM

As a general rule, I usually perform updates when the next full release version has been available for at least a couple of weeks (depending on my schedule!  :P ). So, yes, I do plan on keeping up with releases of the boards, unless there is a good reason for not doing so, as it also helps with security. I also run backups on average twice a week, just in case.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Steve54 on May 09, 2009, 06:24:25 AM
Alas, I do think SG gets more promotion now then during the days of the former SG forum last year. SG now nicely features on GW's frontpage with all relevant pdf's etc.

Except the Epic Chaos armylists which still haven't been added >:(
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Brad on May 12, 2009, 01:31:07 AM
Could the child fora please have the standard [GAME] tag added to their names?  I go straight to the "unread posts since last logon" bit and if I see a post in a "House Rules" forum I have no idea if it's house rules for Bloodbowl, Necromunda, BfG, or any other game.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Master on June 20, 2009, 02:16:24 PM
Quote
Also, any idea why the people's post counts are all 0?

Yup, that one is easy: like we did it on the old forums, we dont want people to post for Rank, and have the forums filled with one-liner replies stating "I agree"......
So all sections have their counters blocked.


He is lying, he just wants the highest post count.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: horizon on July 08, 2009, 04:19:53 AM
Activate the post count to increase activity on this forum. Activity means interest means new people will sooner join. Not many join quiet forums.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ravendas on July 08, 2009, 05:17:54 AM
Activate the post count to increase activity on this forum. Activity means interest means new people will sooner join. Not many join quiet forums.

Not everyone posts to see postcount++

But these forums are really slow, since the official forums were down so long everyone moved to other forums. Currently there isn't a whole lot of reason to move back. Would be great if GW allowed the release of all the pdfs, so they could easily be hosted on here. Then people would have a reason to get directed to here.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Chaos_Rabbit619 on July 08, 2009, 09:24:38 AM
i agree. i didnt know that this site was up , no announcement ( an e-mail saying :hey we are back up and running " would have been nice)  so i joined another site, then i discovered this one was up and going  and didnt even bother to go back to the one i joined.  However,  i dont see a lot of activity here as compaired to what we sused to get.

As for as the whole debate about post count -- i agree with both sides of the issue.
Some folks do abuse the system and become "ditto-heads" typing short simple agreement answers just to boost thier count, while others for some reason think that having a larger post number some how makes them better than other folks here, but on the same token if we use that line of logic then having any type of record such as what date a member joined should also be removed because some might use that as a way to say that since then been a member longeer they have more "rights" or are some how better than others.

Now also to play Devil's advocate, i also agree with the post count system in other ways, becuse yes, as was pointed out it does offer some type of a reward system to encourage  members here to get more activly involved and contribute more to the forum.

Maybe instead of numbers posted by our names ther might be a system in place of rewards for the members for involvement, but the requirements are not posted, for example, maybe if you post so many times small icons or images appear near your name and avatar.

Start so many forum topics and maybe the imperial eagle appears , do more and maybe a skull get added.  They could be game related (Epic gets titans, Space Hulk gets terminators etc) or topic related . Also maybe if you reply to so many u get another image etc.

Basicly a cool way  that isnt so  far as an actual numbers that can be used  as an edge against other members but still a carrot on a stick to get folks to get off thier duffs and do more.

yeah i know i  havent posted that much as of late, but  i have been working on a vechile for a certain forum meber that has been taking up some of my time....

(anyways, i hope you kindda get the jist of what iam saying .)
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: horizon on July 08, 2009, 12:45:25 PM
Are all the other forums with post count that bad then?

Of course you will have an occassional post pumper but these things will regulate themselves through reactions of others and such.

Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Lex on July 08, 2009, 01:11:02 PM
taking the issue of post-count under discussion, we know we can set-up some "reward" system, but need to think this out.

concerning not sending all listees of the previous forum a letter, this was asked of GW, as they had the user-data for the original opt in/opt/out letter. We contacted them, but hey were adamant that they could NOT send more letters, nor give us that Data;  "...  to protect the rights of the listees that dont want (commercial) use of their data..."
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: horizon on July 08, 2009, 02:03:15 PM
They did really say that? Oh my...
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: spiritusXmachina on July 10, 2009, 07:53:11 AM
Concerning post counts:
Don't know if that's too complicated - but is there a way to count the number of words in the postings? This would surely be a way to reward postings with content and give less weight to spammers.
Also, posters that open a new thread could be rewarded some extra points (of course that can be abused).

At last I would'nt publish the criteria of poster-rating - so it's not too easy to adopt... ;)

Even if I understand the reason against post-counts - I think generally it adds flavour.

Greetings,
Gerald
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ravendas on July 10, 2009, 02:45:44 PM

Also, posters that open a new thread could be rewarded some extra points (of course that can be abused).


I'd rather punish people for that. There are too many repeat threads from people that are too lazy to use a search function. There are also people that might have 3 different questions, and open 3 threads, one for each question.

Let's not try to reward spam :D

I think the best way for a 'reward' system would be allowing people to vote threads 1-5, depending on how good/entertaining/informative/whatever it is. Just like the somethingawful forums, where there are gold threads and gassed threads. People that post good threads get 'points' or whatever, and people that post crap lose the ability to make threads for awhile (probation).

Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: horizon on July 14, 2009, 04:14:17 AM
Why all these obscure methods?  ???

Post count works on million other forums and spamming / post pumping is regulated by itself. Why wouldn't it work here?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ravendas on July 14, 2009, 06:03:59 AM
Why all these obscure methods?  ???

Post count works on million other forums and spamming / post pumping is regulated by itself. Why wouldn't it work here?

This is just a forum suggestion thread, so we are just making suggestions.

Anyways, I don't think post spamming isn't really self regulated. If someone is called out on it, it just makes the thread spiral into idiocy, while increasing everyone's post counts in the process. What makes it self regulating?

But these seem to be pointless questions, at least for the Necromunda board, where the only action there in the past 2 weeks was from myself and maybe a handful of others. Abysmal. The real question should be 'What would attract other communities to these new forums?'
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: azrael71 on July 14, 2009, 08:34:29 AM
I agree.
The warmaster forum has regulars on there but it is very quiet.
There is more activity over in the yahoo group than here :(
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CyberShadow on July 14, 2009, 10:55:23 AM

I think that this is the key. Its not about whether we have a post count or not (and the people who post because we do have a post count are generally the reason not to have one), but about drawing more general traffic here.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ravendas on July 14, 2009, 03:58:54 PM
I think one of the key things is that we need something here that isn't available on the other boards. Namely: The pdfs. Get all the files together in one place for each game system on these forums and people will come here. There are so many new people, or people coming back but lost their pdfs, that ask where to get these things. Right now, the easiest way for Necromunda at least is to go to the Warseer forums, where the main ones were compiled in a post. So newbies get directed there. Would be better if we could direct them here.

But I also realize that isn't a problem with the forum operators, but a problem with GW saying 'ok' to you listing them on here.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: horizon on July 15, 2009, 01:46:20 PM
A reinstated fanatic online would help. Get the moderators together, let them approve 3-4 articles each month to be published online at this SG website.

...still post count should be on. I disagree with all the naysaying. In worst cases ban spammers for a week.

Biggest issue with members is also the fact we all got an opt-in mail (still got it) but no one ever got a mail saying this forum is up. Many people do not know about this site.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ant on July 16, 2009, 03:04:10 PM
Reinstating Fanatic Online would be an attention grabber, but it's not a great way for developing fan rules since you're up against a deadline and once published you can't edit it. Some sort of SG news blog might be more useful as long as it was kept active by a group of writers that basically just linked to interesting articles, discussions, showcases and events.

As Rav mentioned, it's content that will draw people, but I do think consideration for the forum environment is needed. It doesn't help for example that you can't see links in posts or the link trees and forum titles due to bad CSS and the messy user details next to the posts. You can't link directly to the category like you can at Warseer (example (http://www.warseer.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=98)) which is very annoying visiting as a guest (here's (http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=486) a mod to fix it). And what's happening with the rest of the FO articles? It's just little things like this that makes the site feel a little less cared for and unfinished.

Btw the Necro Rules Development forum is still a bit of a mess. ;) I'd post some of my articles in there to help fill it out a bit but I'm not sure where to post it.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Chaos_Rabbit619 on July 17, 2009, 12:35:16 AM
taking the issue of post-count under discussion, we know we can set-up some "reward" system, but need to think this out.

concerning not sending all listees of the previous forum a letter, this was asked of GW, as they had the user-data for the original opt in/opt/out letter. We contacted them, but hey were adamant that they could NOT send more letters, nor give us that Data;  "...  to protect the rights of the listees that dont want (commercial) use of their data..."


Waaaaa????


wait a second it was ok to use the data to ask us to opt-in  but NOT to use the data of those that opted -in to say "hey its online"?   wtf?  

no offense, i know you are just the messenger, but to me this sounds like more corporate clown thinking where the  due to a necktie it cuts off the oxygen to the brain.

id like to hear GW explain away THAT

look i dont mean to come across as kindda gruff. but to me this site is nowhere near it was in its former glory days. i think the inaction has caused it to almost die.

in the world of the net time  is everything...it goes by quicker here and people lose interest quicker.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Darkson on July 17, 2009, 09:15:23 AM
wait a second it was ok to use the data to ask us to opt-in  but NOT to use the data of those that opted -in to say "hey its online"?   wtf?  

no offense, i know you are just the messenger, but to me this sounds like more corporate clown thinking where the  due to a necktie it cuts off the oxygen to the brain.

id like to hear GW explain away THAT

The opt-in email was when the SG forum was still up and running on the GW servers. I believe the problem was that GW felt (legally? morally?) they couldn't pass that info on to a third-party (Cybershadow) to use.

Of course, it does beg the question why GW can't/don't/didn't use the opt-in list to email, from their server, those that opted-in to tell them this site is up and running?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Madness on July 17, 2009, 11:32:09 AM
Just posting to say I'm a professional web developer, and would love to help with any css/html/php necessities. Like fixing the unreadable bits or misaligned rollovers.

REPORTING FOR DUTY SIR!
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Ant on July 17, 2009, 05:44:46 PM
I think this whole 'mass email' thing is a bit of a red herring. Most SG players have probably found this place by now and even for those who haven't there isn't much here to link them to.

Oh and one other thing I would definitely do is buy up the specialist-games.net domain name and use that to make full use of the unique link this site has with GW.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Hena on September 05, 2009, 06:57:09 PM
Could something be done with the colours. I'm having real problems in seeing the thread "tools.". Meaning the 'Reply', 'Notify', 'Mark Unread' and so on links. Those should be white text or possibly font with white outline.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Stomm on September 05, 2009, 09:13:42 PM
Actually on the subject of forum colours, the slate grey thread text at the top really doesn't work well with that 'dark flesh' background colour. It makes it almost impossible to read, especially on a laptop...
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: CyberShadow on September 06, 2009, 12:39:41 PM

Sure. Ant has been been sending me a few changes which will address the issues with these forums (many thanks, Ant), and the hold up right now is me. Once Tactical Command is back online, I will work on these. Keep your suggestions coming.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Darkson on September 06, 2009, 08:06:50 PM
Could something be done with the colours. I'm having real problems in seeing the thread "tools.". Meaning the 'Reply', 'Notify', 'Mark Unread' and so on links. Those should be white text or possibly font with white outline.

I'd have thought white letters on a light-grey background would be harder to read than the current black ones?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Hena on September 06, 2009, 08:45:18 PM
Could something be done with the colours. I'm having real problems in seeing the thread "tools.". Meaning the 'Reply', 'Notify', 'Mark Unread' and so on links. Those should be white text or possibly font with white outline.

I'd have thought white letters on a light-grey background would be harder to read than the current black ones?
I have red background ... see pic on what I mean.
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Darkson on September 06, 2009, 11:03:32 PM
I have a grey one.  Is there a theme option somewhere?
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: Lex on September 06, 2009, 11:06:56 PM
I have a grey one.  Is there a theme option somewhere?

There is an option to override with a member team......   but as cybershadow said before, Ant and some others have been wroking on some of the glitches and we will upgrade as soon as it is feasable
Title: Re: forum suggestions
Post by: wmchaos2000 on February 27, 2010, 06:48:17 PM
Hi.
This is an old thread, but i believe my question may fit in.
When reading in the Warmaster parts and wanting to get back to Warmaster-top, there is a "bar" down below where one may jump.
But this does not get you to the Warmaster-top, you go to Specialist Games General Discussion-top.
It is not a big problem, but to be honest a little annoying.
Does anyone else se this "problem"?
I think all other parts(Necromunda, BloodBowl etc) also have this "problem".

Best regards /ola