*Suggestion* Forum Redesign

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Scrutator

Scrutator

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This was brought up ages ago and I think it's important to consider redesigning the forums layout and to seriously cutdown the amount that we have. We have 58 forums (not including subforums) now which is a ridiculus number to have since most other sites I've seen have 20 at the very most, it's a pain to scroll though them all and for new members joining the forums it can appear very daunting. Some are completly worthless as well like the Dirge of Cerebus: Lost Episode forum which has only one topic and unlikely to ever see another.

I'd like to put this out and see it being looked into. Other peoples suggestions or views welcome too of course.
 
I know exactly how often this topic's been brought up, actually, but we always get a final response from Josh saying that he's not budging. It's worthy a shot, though ;)

One thing might be to make a category for the games, then make a forum for each series, then add sub-forums to that, so it'll look like the following:

[Category] Square-Enix:

- [Forum] Final Fantasy
----[Sub-Forum]Final Fantasy I
----[Sub-Forum]Final Fantasy II
----..... etc.

- [Forum] Sequels and Spin-Off's.
-----[Sub-Forum]Dirge of Cerberus/Advent Children/Chocobo Series, etc]

- [Forum] Kingdom Hearts
---- [Sub-Forum] Kingdom Hearts

So on and so forth. That'd certainly cut down the majority of the site.
 
I've been wishing for a clean-up ever since I got on this site.

I agree with FF having its sub-board.
But I think KH and Spinoffs should be all thrown into a Other Square-Enix thread. That'll cut down more on lack of activity in each board.

We also dont need 3 spam boards.
 
The site already comes equipped with "minimize" buttons. If you don't post in the RPG section or the Spira section, as is the case with me, just minimize those sections.

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Its not just trouble navigating though. Its the fact that we have dead areas of the board. No traffic makes us look bad. If they're not being used or not used often, they should be done away with/merged somewhere else.
 
There're loads of folk who just go in and out of forums, though. I even scroll down the "last post" table all the way down the page, looking for something interesting to post in. So that doesn't work for me, nevermind a Global Moderator :P
 
Some things are just redundant. Film and Television would fit perfectly in Related Series. Minimizing is fine and dandy, but why have unnecessary boards when you can combine them?

It's like i learned in English: if you have two short sentences, combine them. Same could be said for small inactive boards.
 
Holic 5 Spam boards. One for reg spam. About members spam. Love spam. game spam. Voting booth? why does that even need all its own boards?
VengefulRonin love spam? wtf o_O
Warbourne xD
Holic Computing and Tech could go into PC Gaming
VengefulRonin i luv j00 holic!!!1!!
Holic oh, I forgot. School spam
VengefulRonin oh lord -__-;


And that's just Costa Del SOL! There's a lot of unneeded sub-boards around here.
There's really not all that much activity in the Creativity Section it looks like cause all of the dead sub-boards. Why not make them broader?
One Creativity Section. Clubs, Art, Writing, GFX become sub-boards.

Idk, maybe its because these are the sections I look at and mod that it bugs me a lot.
 
In the Creativity Inspiration forum you could form the Tutorial, Resource and Help subforums into one since they all link into each other, the Battle Square should become the SotW forum and the Sig Requests one stays the same. Turn 5 forums most of which are redundant into 3 that would work fine.

The main FF series should be split into FF G1 (I, II + III), G2 (IV, V + VI), FFVII and the entire compilation should have it's own forum followed by FF PS (VIII, IX, X, X-2 + XII), XI and finally the XIII series. That's 6 forums instead of 20-odd.

All the Tactics games could be grouped together, organizing Spam is pretty stupid. There's plenty of ways that it could be simplified and cut down so it benefits and makes it easier for everyone, apart from the poor sod that has to do all the work of course but they've gotta have something to do. :monster:
 
This is a spot on idea. It's so annoying having to scroll so far to get about. I know it isn't exactly physically demanding, nor does it take a great deal of time out of my life but if a forum looks as messy as this, it's going to scare people off.

I'm liking Scrutator's idea of things. Have the earlier FF's in one forum; the next-gen ones in another, but a separate forum for the compilation of FFVII, and a future-FF forum. It saves a lot of clutter.
 
I want to try and keep the FF sections very out in the open. This is an FF site and if we have to minimize much, it will be all the spam sections, and duplicate RPing areas where we have like 4 different ones for ORPG's and URPG's.

Check out what I've tried to ring up so far...

What we have now:
Red = Forums that will be changed/moved/deleted
Blue = Reasons for change
Current Layout and what should be done to each section said:
Site Forums
 - - News & Updates
 - - Square Enix News
 - - Competitions & Events
 - - Information HQ
 - - - - Help Desk
 - - - - Feedback & Suggestions
 - - - - Ban Log (Link)
 - - - - Award Log (Link)
 - - Seventh Heaven Inn

 Main Series
 - - Final Fantasy I
 - - Final Fantasy II
 - - Final Fantasy III
 - - Final Fantasy IV
 - - Final Fantasy V
 - - Final Fantasy VI
 - - Final Fantasy VII
 - - Final Fantasy VIII
 - - Final Fantasy IX
 - - Final Fantasy X
 - - Final Fantasy XI
 - - Final Fantasy XII
 - - Final Fantasy XIII
 - - General Discussion
 - - - - Final Fantasy Fun
 - - - - Help Booth

Sequels & Sidestories (Move to sub-forums for main series games)
- - Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
- - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
- - Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII
- - Dirge of Cerberus: Lost Episode -Final Fantasy VII- (Merge with DoC subforum)
- - Final Fantasy X-2
- - Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
- - Final Fantasy Agito XIII
- - Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Spinoffs (Combine into a FF Village Forum under related Series)
- - Final Fantasy Adventure
- - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
- - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers
- - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
- - Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
- - Final Fantasy Tactics
- - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance

Film & Television
- - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Move to sub-forums for main series games)
- - Last Order: Final Fantasy VII
- - Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals
 - - Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
 - - Final Fantasy: Unlimited

 Related Series
- - Chocobo Series (Remove-Discuss in general gaming)
- - Kingdom Hearts Series
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts I
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts II
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts III
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts: CoM
 - - - - KH Help Booth
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts Fun
- - The World is Square(Merge with General Gaming in Gold Saucer)
- - Square Enix Music(Merge into FF Village)

Midgar
 - - Costa del Sol
 - - - - Spam Coliseum
 - - - - Sector 7 Slums
- - - - The Meeting Room(Merge into the Spam Coliseum)
- - - - - - Advertising Board (Remove-members can advertise in their sigs)
- - - - The Pagoda
 - - - - Voting Booth
 - - - - Computing & Technology
- - - - BalambGarden(Merge into The Pagoda)
- - Gold Saucer
 - - - - Playstation
 - - - - Xbox & Xbox 360
 - - - - Nintendo
- - - - Handheld (Removed-PSP to Playstation category-DS & Gameboy to Nintendo)
- - - - PC Gaming
 - - - - Classic
 - - Mako Reactor
- - - - Ye Olde Mako Reactor (Delete and just have one debate forum in Costa Del Sol)
- - - - Religious Debate
- - Entertainment Daily
 - - - - Anime & Japan
 - - - - Home Theatre
 - - - - Music Studio
 - - - - Blitzball Stadium
 - - - - Books & Literature
- - - - The Finalbahn(Cars can be discussed in Costa Del Sol)

Spira
 - - Members Bar
 - - - - Final Fantasy Character Clubs
 - - - - - - Anti Character Clubs
- - - - Other Final Fantasy Clubs (remove)
- - - - Pairing Clubs (remove)
- - - - General Clubs
- - - - Bishie Corner (remove)
- - Your Talents
 - - - - Artist Cafe
 - - - - Writers Boulevard
- - - - Cosplay Corner (Remove - Never Used)
- - - - Miscellaneous
 - - Creativity Inspiration
- - - - Tutorials (Combine with Resources)
- - - - Resources
- - - - Request
 - - - - - - Signature Shops
 - - - - Help & Discussion
 - - - - Battle Square
 - - Role Playing Central
 - - - - Hall of Warriors
 - - - - The Coliseum
- - - - CosmoCanyon (ORPG Discussion?) - Combine
- - - - World's Gate (ORPG Put into action?) - Combine
- - - - Gaia (URPG Discussion?) - combine
- - - - Alexandria(URPG Put into action?) -Combine

RPG Realm
 - - RPG News & Updates
 - - RPG Cafe
 - - Training Stadium
 - - Battle Arena
 - - Marketplace
- - Clan Factions (Will these ever be used?)
- - - - Clan Recruitment
- - - - Clan Information HQ
- - - - Clan Competitions
Farplane
 - - Zanarkand Ruins
 - - - - The Drama Guide
 - - - - The History Books
- - - - The Magazine Rack (Delete-have no Post Count Archive)
- - - - Final Fantasy Archive
- - - - Midgar Archive (Delete-have no Post Count Archive)
- - - - Spira Archive
- - - - - - Signature of the Week (Remove following 4 - no need for archive subforums)
 - - - - - - RP Graveyard
 - - - - - - Creativity Inspiration Files
 - - - - - - - - Discussions Archive
- - - - No Post Count Archive
- - - - Clubs Archive (Delete-have no Post Count Archive)
- - - - RPG Archive
Click to expand...


What it would end up looking like:
Revised/Condensed Layout said:
Site Forums
 - - News & Updates
 - - Square Enix News
 - - Competitions & Events
 - - Information HQ
 - - - - Help Desk
 - - - - Feedback & Suggestions
 - - - - Ban Log (Link)
 - - - - Award Log (Link)
 - - Seventh Heaven Inn

 Main Series
 - - Final Fantasy I
 - - Final Fantasy II
 - - Final Fantasy III
 - - Final Fantasy IV
 - - Final Fantasy V
 - - Final Fantasy VI
 - - Final Fantasy VII
 - - - - Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
 - - - - Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII
 - - - - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
 - - - - Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Lost Episode -Final Fantasy VII-
 - - - - Last Order: Final Fantasy VII
 - - Final Fantasy VIII
 - - Final Fantasy IX
 - - Final Fantasy X
 - - - - Final Fantasy X-2
 - - Final Fantasy XI
 - - Final Fantasy XII
 - - - - Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
 - - Final Fantasy XIII
 - - - - Final Fantasy Agito XIII
 - - - - Final Fantasy Versus XIII
 - - General Discussion
 - - - - Final Fantasy Fun
 - - - - Help Booth

 Related Series
 - - Final Fantasy Tactics
 - - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
 - - FinalFantasyVillage (Final Fantasy Adventure, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, & Final Fantasy: Unlimited, & FF Music)
 - - Kingdom Hearts Series
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts I
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts II
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts III
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts: CoM
 - - - - KH Help Booth
 - - - - Kingdom Hearts Fun

 Midgar
 - - Costa del Sol
 - - - - Spam Coliseum
 - - - - Sector 7 Slums
- - - - Mako Reactor
 - - - - The Pagoda
 - - - - Voting Booth
 - - - - Computing & Technology
 - - Gold Saucer
 - - - - PlayStation
 - - - - Xbox & Xbox 360
 - - - - Nintendo
 - - - - PC Gaming
 - - - - Old School Gaming
 - - Entertainment Daily
 - - - - Anime & Japan
 - - - - Home Theatre
 - - - - Music Studio
 - - - - Blitzball Stadium
 - - - - Books & Literature

 Spira
 - - Members Bar
 - - - - Final Fantasy Character Clubs
- - - - - - Anti Character Clubs
 - - - - General Clubs
 - - Your Talents
 - - - - Artist Cafe
 - - - - Writers Boulevard
 - - - - Miscellaneous
 - - Creativity Inspiration
 - - - - Resources
 - - - - Request
 - - - - - - Signature Shops
 - - - - Help & Discussion
 - - - - Battle Square
 - - Role Playing Central
 - - - - Hall of Warriors
- - - - The Coliseum
 - - - - CosmoCanyon (ORPG & URPG Discussion)
 - - - - Alexandria (ORPG & URPG put into action)

 RPG Realm
 - - RPG News & Updates
 - - RPG Cafe
 - - Training Stadium
 - - Battle Arena
 - - Marketplace

 Farplane
 - - Zanarkand Ruins
 - - - - The Drama Guide
 - - - - The History Books
 - - - - Final Fantasy Archive
 - - - - Spira Archive
 - - - - No Post Count Archive
 - - - - RPG Archive
Click to expand...

You may think this is just as big, but it's actually narrowing down a bunch, getting rid of unnecessary forums, and making the site easier and shorter to scroll down on.

It's at least a start and if we narrow it down this much, we can then step back, take another look at it, and see if anymore needs to be done.
 
Last edited:
I'd seriously preform sexual favors on anyone who could get Josh to minimize the forum the way Busta has presented it.

I've brought up 'minimization' in the staff section myself, but Josh said a big fat 'No' almost immediately :(
 
It would be awesome if the site could get redesigned to minimise it. But i doubt it will go through, i remember when Judge Rulia was Administrator and her one big Decision was to try and do something like this she had a vote and everyone agreed...but then DB said no.

So while i would LOVE it if this happened..i doubt it will.
 
I'd be much happier with that layout, I'd still suggest getting rid of the Battle Square forum or giving it for the SotW. SotW really pretty much covers the graphics competitions.
 
Looking at it, it seems like a comprehensive enough list, and I agree that the Meeting Room should just be in spam. Is The Voting Booth even needed at all? You can just make poll threads in Costa del Sol if the need arises.
I disagree about removing The Advertising Board. You say that we can advertise in our sigs, which we can, but we cannot give a description of what the forum is and what it is intended for in them. I still think that's needed, even if it doesn't get much activity.

Also, is there any word on the suggestion of a news section? That was received quite well a while back, but nothing came of it.
 
For the Advertising Board you could make it part of the Computing and Technology section and just rename the forum to suit it's new purpose.
 
All in favour of Busta's idea, say AYE.

Although if you're sticking the debating in with Costa Del Sol (please DO keep a religious forum open, as they're often different ;)) then you might as well condense the Gaming forum and stick that in with Entertainment Daily. Sure, there're many platforms, but there're also many bands and sports, too.
 
This was my baby, my main goal when I was back on staff. MY baby.
 
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