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Post by ReliantLion on Feb 28, 2015 13:10:46 GMT
i would agree with bloodchoke and @rouseau, the forum would probably just need to be restructured to be made clearer on what the boards are and what's to be posted on each. Like bloodchoke (and probably most of us), when in doubt, i tend to post in General Crafting, as it has the most activity and is more likely to be read, and as for anything miniature related, i post them on Community Miniature Gallery. I thought about bloodchoke suggestion on how to restructure the forum and made a few changes to it. So here's my suggestion based on bloodchoke's: FORUM (replaces front desk): Where we could find technical informations about the forum. A. Help B. News CRAFTING: The place to post pictures, videos, etc. A. Terrain, decor and accessories B. Miniatures C. Contests (with two sub-board for World of Craftwar and MiniWar) D. Wish list RESOURCES: Self-explanatory. A. Traps and Puzzles B. Hooks, Adventures and NPCs C. Q&A D. Tips and Tricks MEMBERS ONLY: Off-topic and technical talks. A. Welcome Wagon B. Dragon's Den C. Systems and Rules D. Gridless DM's Craft Videos: Fine as is, no changes to be made to this one. As Rouseau and bloodchoke said, there's nothing wrong with the forum, it is fine as is, but if restructuring is the way to go, this is how i think it should be done. This is just my humble opinion, and i don't think it's in any way perfect, feel free to comment on how it could be improved. Edit: Moved the Gridless section to the Member Only board . Added the DM's Craft Videos section. Added sections' links. I like this except that there is a section called "MEMBERS ONLY". Sounds to exclusive, and may keep people away. It doesn't take much to keep someone out of an Internet forum. Maybe just call the whole section "Dragon's Den - DM Resources and Discussion" and move Welcome Wagon back to the top. Resources and DM section might as well be combined. So it would look like this: FRONT DESK: Where we could find technical information about the forum. A. Forum/Site Help/Rules B. News C. Welcome Wagon CRAFTING: The place to post pictures, videos, etc. A. Terrain, decor and accessories B. Miniatures, Figurines, Minis Minis is listed here to improve hits on Google, not everyone searches the same.C. Contests (with two sub-board for World of Craftwar and MiniWar) D. Crafting Q&A E. Wish list RESOURCES: For DM's with questions or solutions or both! A. Traps and Puzzles B. Hooks, Adventures and NPCs C. DM Q&A D. Tips and Tricks E. Dragon's Den F. Systems and Rules G. Gridless DM's Craft Videos: Fine as is, no changes to be made to this one. I think this overall order of things will be what people naturally expect. I don't think most people who find this forum come just for anything in the Resources section, for instance, it's a nice bonus. People expect forums to have the three topics listed in Front Desk to be at the top of the list, followed by the meat and potatoes of the site, followed by the extras. I think what is important here, is making it easy for NEW users.
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Post by daveyjones on Feb 28, 2015 13:44:18 GMT
here's a random thought:
1 new board dedicated to 'lists'. the rules would be that people may start a thread with a description of what kind of list is to be built, and subsequent posts may not contain anything but an item in the list.
the result would be a board that kind of serves as an index of the most useful stuff, both on and off the forums.
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Post by voduchyld on Feb 28, 2015 15:52:27 GMT
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 28, 2015 19:21:20 GMT
Reliant has it cool, but he forgot that the board do not allow guesses to see the whole forum ! thats why a members only section has to be done. because there is a forum for guesses, those who are not logged in, and those who are logged in. those who are logged in see the whole forum, those that aren'T see only a few sections.
does this makes it exclusive, yes it does, does it take a whole lot of stuff to get exclusive, not at all. its as easy as filling up the profile and then confirming your address. if the people aren'T interested in being part of the community, i dont see why they should see it in its entirety. thats why the members only section make senses.
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Post by ReliantLion on Mar 1, 2015 0:11:42 GMT
What can't guests see? I just logged out, and it looks like the whole site is visible. Is it sub-forums? Also, why would there even be hidden parts of the forum from non-members (besides admin discussion areas)? And even with hidden forums, that would just be transparent to guests who can't see them anyways.
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Mar 1, 2015 2:09:32 GMT
Might also work to add a sections for more straight up DM advice and work. From custom rules to adventures and the like...
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Post by daveyjones on Mar 1, 2015 2:48:42 GMT
What can't guests see? I just logged out, and it looks like the whole site is visible. Is it sub-forums? Also, why would there even be hidden parts of the forum from non-members (besides admin discussion areas)? And even with hidden forums, that would just be transparent to guests who can't see them anyways. the contest area is blocked to guests.
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Post by firehigh38 on Mar 13, 2015 9:46:48 GMT
I feel like the lines are beginning to blur between the Craft war and the Mini war. Maybe the craft war itself should be about a location or setting like a cavern, shrine, thrown room, torture chamber, tavern, etc. And the mini war based on characters, monsters, or npc. I also think a 3rd category might be nice for accessories like a wagon or well or banner etc. This month seems weird to me because the banner subject is not really a mini but a set piece, and the main craft war is for a machine which could be any of the above. Any thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2015 10:41:13 GMT
mmmm good point, and yes, that does make a lot more sense. I shall call for a vote!
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Post by ashrothedm on Mar 13, 2015 19:23:12 GMT
Late to the party, but personally, I never use the current organizational structure when looking for posts. "New Posts" or "Search"
I've always been a fan of tag-based smart-folders, but I'm pretty sure that's not really an option.
The closest would be to use general forums for topics. (Showcase, Tutorial, Rules, etc.) with categories to sort them. (2.5D Next, 2.5D, etc.) Something like that. Or, sub forum including the type, and the style is the category, or the miniature/terrain/prop is the category.
Few forums, few nests, increased searchability. Unfortunately, although I've administered numerous forums, I've never done it with proboards, so I'm not sure what tools you would have at your disposal.
In any case, hopefully the feedback helps to some degree.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Mar 14, 2015 4:48:50 GMT
so... not that its a bad idea, but how do you classify dioramas then ? i mean if i make a terrain that simulate a fight between two warriors for a machine. how would that fit into these categories ?
thing is, crafting is a vast thing. and dioramas aren't always just terrain and miniatures.
as for the forum itself, i alreadygave my two cents, but im gonna add one more. not everyone looks at all categories. the forum which i am an admin at, uses vB so i dont know if you can do this. but we added those collapse/expand arrows tot he sections. so if someone isn't interested in one section they can simply collapse it and the option will save as is on their profile. so that way everytime they get in, they dont see the colapsed stuff. only what they want to see. and if one day they want to see more, they just expand it back and thats it.
thats how we solved that. the forum still would need cleanup sometimes though. but thats another story.
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RotW
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 2
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Post by RotW on Apr 2, 2015 22:03:39 GMT
mmmm good point, and yes, that does make a lot more sense. I shall call for a vote! Just curious. I was about to "introduce" myself to this forum, and I started reading this thread. Why is a new thread started for everyone that wants to say "Hello". Why not just one, where you introduce yourself, maybe get a few "Welcomes", then the next person (lets say me) just follows the same thread and introduces themselves. Maybe that needs to be edited. The number of threads could be consolidated and trimmed. My depreciating currency RotW (Rob of the West)
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Post by Erasmas on Apr 2, 2015 23:15:59 GMT
Also, I know that it is probably asking a very tall order, but...
What about coding a die roller, so that we could play some Play-by-Post games here with one another?
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Post by DnDPaladin on Apr 4, 2015 5:52:59 GMT
oh that would be cool, play games on the forum, that would be awesome. just one point though, this forum is mostly about crafting, so i do not know if this would be possible.
but i'ddefinitely play agame on the forum.
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leolad72
Paint Manipulator
I am a DM; it isn't in my job description to "kid around"
Posts: 147
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Post by leolad72 on Apr 6, 2015 5:03:21 GMT
On the "old" forum, there was at one point a Java(?) based chat application: similar to the old chatrooms, where you could chat realtime with other forum members as opposed to having the shoutbox, I had thought that would have been a great way to run a game. Did ProBoards do away with it or did we not pick it as an option when the new forum was set up?
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dmgreg8
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 22
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Post by dmgreg8 on Jul 16, 2015 4:59:38 GMT
needs to be a better insert images system...
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Post by Erasmas on Jul 16, 2015 14:32:41 GMT
The system that they have is actually pretty easy, especially compared to some boards I have been on before. The problem with hosting images on the site itself is that it imposes a storage and bandwidth problem... both of which would cost them money. And, since they aren't charging us anything to be a part of this community - I, for one, would feel bad with them having to foot the bill any more than they already are.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Jul 16, 2015 15:53:59 GMT
erasmas... they have publicity on the board. that means they have an income. if you ask me, this is proboards. so its not like DMScotty was hosting the board. that said he probably has a limit to what he can allow.
i dont think space is a problem per say. but i do think having images on the site wouldn'T help either.
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Post by Admin on Jul 17, 2015 15:17:45 GMT
There is no income whatsoever (that I'm aware of) coming from this forum. It's a free (version of the proboards) forum and there is limited use of things when using the free version (how else would they make their money ). Anything above and beyond what we have now will cost. For example we had storage space up to 200mb for free but that was quickly filled, we could up that to 500mb at a cost of $3 per month, not much you might say but how quickly would that fill up? We could go up to 800mb for $6 per month but again that would quickly fill up as member upload more and more images. It's space that will quickly fill and even if we go for the top package at 1gb for $73 per month, what happens when that is eventually filled?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2015 1:35:03 GMT
What the Admin said.. the storage space of this free forum is only 200 meg and it has been full of images that people uploaded directly when the forum started up again, external image hosting is the way to go (and the reason I have an instructional signature on my posts, so often was I asked the question of how to upload images to the board). Any advertising on the forum is how Proboards makes it's money DnDPaladin, Scotty derives funding through Patreon, possible some small funding through Youtube (but probably not very much at all).
We do it for the love and the lols.
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