how about you quit your bitching :)

its fine as is, if they changed it would just be plain wrong. although a search feature would be nice when looking for older posts

I can do that. Just trying to be constructive. It really isn't that hard to set up a good useful forum. This one's a turn-off for a newbie trying to investigate this game and site.

when i was a newbie i didn't look at the forum for a while it would have been to much of a distraction. but as i got ore immersed in the actual game i learned how the forum worked as well.

there are things that could make it worse but it isn't anywhere close to some of the forums i've seen

and i was just poking fun, i usually don't get mad on this sight, but you can find out things like that for yourself :)

heh, this is more of a blog then a forum. I've gotten used to it, but it isn't the most efficient forum out there. :D If they do upgrade, I hope they still keep this one too, because I like it. It makes it easier to make (or get) a quick reply to a topic.

You can offer your skills and talents to develop these improvements and they may be accepted. I agree I would like 3 Categories. (Game Announcements, Strategy and Tactics, General Discussion). But I don't have time to learn a new language and implement it, so if it happens great, if not I still like it.

We've specifically had a petition *not* to change the forum before:

http://www.webdiplomacy.net/forum.php?threadID=451106#451164


The forum works well. Game adverts do better for not being separated from other posts- if you had a "game adverts forum", it would do no better than the game listings do anyway- why would you go there.

"Spam/Useless" type threads occupy a couple of slots only on the front page, and are quicker to skip over than to go into a separate forum to avoid.

"Political/Discussion" type threads are more popular for the fact that people can read the intro even when they aren't specifically looking for that kind of thread, so you'll get more contributers than just the hardcore few who are always commenting in them.

A "Questions" forum would hardly be one people frequented, yet when they see a question here, they take the time to help out because they've had no choice but to see the question.

And site news that doesn't deserve a place in the top banner gets plenty of airing through bumping the thread etc. this way too, without having to be "global".

By not having categories, we can probably actually *save* time for a medium sized forum. We also make sure that there is only the one community. Having the 4/5 line intros is better than just a subject line. Finally, it fits into the site better than a phpBB forum would. No to phpBB!

That said, it would be nice to not have to reload the whole page every time you open/close a thread, and some formatting might be quite nice too.

In conclusion, I'm going to sit right behind this forum all the way barring a few minor modifications.


Ghost

Note: Search feature would be one such modification. However, for now you can just use google with site:webdiplomacy.net added on the end of the search.

This is actually my favourite forum, and I've frequented many a forum and moderated a couple. Less is more. =)

I haven't played Diplomacy since I was in college (a long time ago). I told my son (who is in college now) about the game and how much fun my friends and I used to have with it. He found this site and sent me the link. I didn't even remember all the rules. I came to the forum first to browse around a bit before I entered a game. I found the forum to be non-conducive to that purpose. But I have since found and read a lot of stuff about the game and feel ready to play.

@TheGhostmaker: I see what you mean and I understand your reasoning much better now. Thanks for that reply. (and sorry for being the preachy, clueless noob right off the bat :P )

Don't worry. You've got nothing on some people in this forum if that's your best at being annoying.

I agree with TheGhostmaker about the current format, I just sometimes wish that we could have a single section for Diplomacy specific threads, and this one for general, overall discussions.

Anyway, it's great hearing about someone rediscovering the game! Welcome to WebDip! We're all ready to stab you in the back, but in the good way! =]

From the FAQ: http://webdiplomacy.net/faq.php

"Feature Requests

*
Better forum
o A better forum would be good, but getting it to fit in and appear as part of webDiplomacy, rather than just a separate site, is difficult, and would likely use more server resources than our efficient but lightweight built-in forum.
At the moment we are trying to improve our existing forum in small incrememnts."

There are some additional reasons for the forum the way it is. One is that forum posts need to tie to the player profiles the way they do now. Any off-the-shelf replacement forum would need to be able to be integrated like that. If it won't integrate, then it's not going to happen.

I think it also needs to be relatively lightweight doesn't it? Server access seems to be a fairly important issue since this site isn't for profit and is only paid for through donations and Plura. That might be a potential issue for adding search functionality.

And then there is the fact that improvements done to this site are done on a volunteer basis when time permits and forum improvements aren't necessarily as high on the todo list as other stuff.

i see what dingle was saying abotu this kinda post often coming up

Denigo - you're absolutely right. It would be lovely to have a real forum here instead of this bizarre substitute.

And as for Ghostie, he is clearly wrong and it's not like his opinion counts for much around here anyway :P

tell that to your next months ghost rating ;)

I don't like sites with too many categories. It is too easy to miss interesting threads. I wouldn't mind it though if we had two categories: one for general discussion and one to advertise games, but I don't see a need for anymore categories.
The reason I think we need a section for game advertisments is the large number of live game ads pushes the interesting discussions off the page where they can't be seen (unless you look for them). We used to have a lot more crazy discussion here about lots of disparate topics - I don't think we have as many these days, alas.

@TGM: "you can just use google with site:webdiplomacy.net added on the end of the search. "
That's a good tip. Thanks.

As Ghost pointed out, what's the point of a separate game advertisement forum when you can already see the new games and such on the games page? Posting in the main forum gets it in front of people's faces, but if you move it to its own category then it loses that value.

Better to do as some have suggested which is allow game ad posts to be tagged as such and then have a checkbox or something at the top of the page which when checked causes those posts to not be shown. That way people that really don't want to see them can make them disappear, but otherwise they'll be there for everyone else.

Are people really so idle that its worth spending server resources on saving them from scrolling past a game advert?

From what was said above, it isn't the scrolling, it is having interesting threads with unread posts fall to the second page where they don't see it without having to click the previous page button.

Personally I check the forum a couple times a day and that is enough that unread posts don't usually go to the second page. But when they do it isn't that big a deal to me.

Yes I agree with TGM. Very true.

I probably signed that petition too lol lemme check

YES! Keep the forum as is, with the addition of a search bar.

The one thing I'd like to see is the ability for mods to lock threads and/or make them stick to the top. But other than that, keep as is. ;-)

Yes, Alderian is right there^^

Noooo, as much as I would LOVE to lock the last person to post thread, I think one of the great things about this forum is its uncensored nature.

Well, that's up to the mods to choose what deserves locking. I was thinking in terms of locking a sticky post with general information that you don't want people responding on that thread.

While we are keeping it as it is, I do have one other thing I'd like. When I open posts in multiple tabs, all the tabs say "Forum - webDiplomacy". I'd rather it say the title of the thread, such as "Forum - How about a..." and "Forum - LAST PERSON..."

And same for when I have the game pages open in tabs. The tabs all say "Board - webDiplomacy". But other than that, let's not change the forum.

Well, if you don't like the forum here, I can think of one easy way for you to avoid the inconvience of being on it...