DISCUSSION: Forum Consolidation

[Cyanist]

ID was just me being hopeful. Seriously, no matter what people think, more moderation isn't going to change that it's just a forum for a handful of people. :\ The "majority" of those who voted don't even post there.

Yeah, I'm guilty.

I notice we seem to be talking about forum sub-divisions. I, too, consider it of high import to have the perfect layout in order to attract more members (it's like a business, right?)
I don't agree with bunching the arts and musics, though. I think we should expand on those. I think maybe if good art were displayed more often, people would think we're cooler and more populated than...well, than we are.

How about putting all FFVII related fan-art in with the FFVII forum, and so on (or we could just feature one really good drawing somewhere visible every month)? Also, could we possibly put mini-forums of certain music threads into their corresponding game sub-forums? Like FFVII themes in the FFVII forum (and consequent discussions) ...etc?
Heheh, it's just an idea, though. I'm not devoted toward them or anything. I just came up with them on the spot, actually and I'll totally understand if they get trashed.

[SOLDIER #819]

Maybe a compromise. Instead of grouping two generations together, group them separately. That would make it easier to see what was posted in and what wasn't, but still consolidating the forums.

I think that's what Loco's original idea was. He isn't all-or-nothing like me, haha.

Yeah, I'm guilty.
...
I don't agree with bunching the arts and musics, though. I think we should expand on those. I think maybe if good art were displayed more often, people would think we're cooler and more populated than...well, than we are.

How about putting all FFVII related fan-art in with the FFVII forum...

To each their own. You joined later on, but we had a similar debate on ID back in late 2010. We have the exact same issues being brought up and the exact same solutions for them are. I'm just jaded because people can't see that. =P

As for fanart... I think people usually post their fanart in their own threads, right? If we had a thriving fanart community with lots of people drawing stuff for every FF that'd be something to do... but as it stands people rarely do it. Fanfics are about as rare, and music is even rarer. And we'd still have to have another forum for works that aren't related to FF and the like, so we wouldn't really be consolidating at all.

This is why there's "New Posts" in the bar at the top of the screen. So you don't have to spend time with useless clicking and scrolling. And there's also the "Today's Posts" in the Quick Links Drop Bar (also located at the top of the screen).

These are both search queries and bandwidth hogs. Further, the fact that I have to use a search to easily navigate the forums is a problem. I should be able to easily see that there is a new post from the index. As it stands, having to scroll through each and every forum on the index to find the few new posts TFF has in a day (or week) is silly. It's like finding a needle in a haystack.

The way things are right now make things easier for newer members to join in on everything at TFF.

I disagree. I think that it makes it harder.

Having forums grouped together would make things look cleaner on the outside, but if a person is wondering about whether Final Fantasy IV is a good game for example....

This seemed like an issue to me at first, but around half of the most recent threads are well marked. Many make a habit of it regardless of whether or not the threads are categorized into forums, and people will adapt once the forums are reorganized. An admin or mod could probably fix up two pages worth of threads in 10-15 minutes easy.

I realize that you don't like the idea of consolidating the FF forums, and if this were 10 years ago I'd understand, but as it stands we have as many forums as we have new posts on some days. The board layout has changed little since I joined, but the number of posts we have is small fraction of what we used to receive. If there weren't search functions, I'd have an easier time navigating 4chan than here. It's really sad.