Forum Changes

[zapiy]

Normally I post this in the staff area but I think the feedback from all the users in this regard is best.

Forums I feel need to constanly revolve, I think we may need to streamline the amount of boards, merge a load of them and hope this entices more to post.

[TrekMD]

You have to wonder if that is what is keeping folks from posting.  Is the number of boards too much?  Or is it something else?

[zapiy]

Not sure, eitherway I do now think streamlining is the best option but I would like some feedback.

[Shadowrunner]

There are a lot of boards, but after taking a quick look I'm really not sure how you could change it. I suppose you could combine all the retro console and computer sections into just one for each and remove all the individual topics.

[AmigaJay]

Not sure cutting down on threads will help (maybe it will who knows) personally i visit and if i see something i can contribute to i will, again from my point of view most of the regulars are Atari fans, so unless its the Lynx, i havent owned any of their other machines, and if its Amiga talk i tend to just keep to EAB.

Its not just this retro forum that has talk drop, all forums in general have, i used to post loads in the Retro Gamer forum, but its been quiet for the last couple of years and only mostly the dweebs hang on that people got annoyed with and left! And just a sign of the times that more groups have opened on FB too.

Have you thought about opening a FB group? Might seem sacralege to some, but maybe something like what Indie Retro News do, have a group but post links from the main site into the group, so the site remains but the chat side gets moved?

Just an idea, personally i’ve come off all SM sites now, but i’m one of the dying breed, but i dont care, i would rather die happy and ignorant!

[zapiy]

I am hearing ya mate, I think your right, we have groups on facebook also, I am just not the type to sit on there either, I guess I am old fashioned that way..

[DeadVoivod]

Like me, I’m not on FB, have never been and probably will never be.

The thing what I do, basically with any forum, just click on the unread messages, I don’t even know how many subcategories there are, although I know there are quite many. Perhaps overwhelming.

Btw, makes me ask one question. After submitting my post in the forum, it takes me back to forum category you are posting in. I find that quite annoying, as I’m always reading my post after I submit it, and this way, I always have to go to that thread again, scroll down, etc. can you not change that? So that after submitting my post, it’ll stay in that thread which I posted in instead of leaving.

[zapiy]

Let me see if thats possible fella.

[zapiy]

Test as made a change.

Fixed.

[Cryptic33]

Hi,

I won’t say too much here but I was a bit shocked by the email. By that, I mean it saddened me to hear about the deterioration of health. I started chemo on the 19th of November 2018, yeah two weeks ago and it ain’t nice. I’ll leave that subject there, just saying sorry about the news.

Ok, let’s move on. I see a number of posts above with interesting suggestions regarding the future of the forum. I can only give a personal view which is, for some time I was a bit overwhelmed by the volume of topics and number of boards. That said, most forums are the same. Would I streamline? On balance, no, because forums are the way they are. I have never classed myself as a “gamer” but an enthusiast. I have an interest in several areas but obviously, I am much more interested in Jaguar topics on the whole.

So, what does this mean going forward. I think that I and many others have come to view RVG as an invaluable resource that I can visit as and when I want to read more about something I probably saw on SM and feel reassured that the staff and members here are exceptional in their knowledge. One thing you can’t get away from is human nature. SM has boomed because most people are inherently lazy, I include myself in this. Thus, if we can get almost instantaneous answers to questions with little effort, then that is the option we choose. Let’s face it, how many times have you seen a question posted which we know could have been answered more quickly via a google search or wiki than posting on a forum.

I believe, you have some incredible archival topics, interviews etc, that make this site worth preserving in some form. I looked recently, via a google search, at the well known AA forum for a little info on pro controllers. Sure enough, google did it’s job. I did not post on the forum as I didn’t want to get involved in a conversation, just a couple of points I wanted clarified. So, you see a lot of people will blatantly use forums to glean information. It is for that very reason that some topics are accessible only to members. Which magazine do the same thing. Maybe this is the inevitable future that RVG will become a resource library of sorts, I don’t know.

Again, it is also clear from the email that some members are loyal to this site and you simply can’t put a price on that. I have always been grateful for the support and wonderful work that is published here. This is why I have problem supporting this site with a contribution each year (you’d have to remind me though) to help keep it going. Your mass mails remind me that I haven’t been here in a while and prompt me to make an effort and will do what I can.

Good luck with whatever decisions you make, you have my full support.

[Greyfox]

Okay, thought id jump in here too, been speaking Lorfarus on messages about the conferlidity of the forum with all its sections on the forum which is simply choking the ease ability of the site.


So outlining a list of points for consideration here. Rough draft so to speak.

First there is too many sections with subcategories that people will not post in, these section should now be unified into one, so Retro gaming consoles / one thread per machine (Megadrive) / snes and so on as well with home computers, no more sections for each machine, have them as posts. Archive the rest

Dump threads more than 12 months old from the site or created an archived section for them, so that recent and present content is found in the other section of the forum.

Simply just breaking down the sections is what we feel the main problem here. I also think that front page need what's been post recently, maybe it's there already? I don't know?

I just that 30 plus sections need to be now about 15, but we need to work out what gets archived or stays put.

Hope this helps in the decision for the new push on the forum.

[HomerRamone2084]

I keep promising myself to visit more but then forget 

I'll put a better effort in - every little helps right ?

There are indeed a lot of topics and subtopics - but is this is the really reason for lack of activity though.
Looking down the list all subsections have activity this year. But possibly this is a little misleading.
Looking deeper again in retro console for example at a glance all subtopics have activity here too.
However a closer look at the last post in each shows they are not as busy as it seems.
Using the last post and counting those this in 2018 we see:
Atari - lots.. a page full in fact !
Coleco 4 topics.
Mattel 3 topics
NEC 2 topics
Nintendo 9 topics
Sega 14 topics
SNK 2 topics
Xbox 6 topics
Other 8 topics

Could look in the other areas and maybe trim them - but its hard to say wether or not this will promote activity.

[TrekMD]

Cryptic, I know chemo is tough but you'll pull through.  Hopefully, it does the job and you'll be OK after it.

[zapiy]

Thanks for posting you lot, yeah life has been hard but we keep ticking, just kinda finding it difficult knowning the forum was fading.. action is needed, lets see what we can do.

[Spacedeck]

As others have pointed out, the forum is cluttered and needs looking at.  I like the archiving old threads idea if they haven't had a response in 12 months, if someone posts in the thread while archived, move it back over to the main section.

Myself, I do visit the place, albeit not always logged in.  Plus I don't play retro games all that often at the moment, so that plays a part in why I have nothing useful to add to any threads.