Your Help in Cleaning up the Forums

BeyondtheTechBeyondtheTech Member Posts: 809
edited November -1 in Introductions
It's been mentioned a few times that the forum here is not quite as intuitive or functional as other bulletin board systems such as vBulletin and phpBB, but until it changes, we as a community should really do our part by not making it worse. As someone who used to run bulletin boards all the way back to the days of dial-up and PCBoard running on DOS boxes, here are some tips on making your forum experience a positive experience, not just for you, but for everyone else who uses the forum as well.

1. `SEARCH FIRST.` It may be a known fact by now, but even I was scratching my head the first few months I was here - `the magnifying glass on the upper-right corner of the website gives you the ability to search for anything on this site, including the forums.` By searching first, you can quickly find out if the topic you are looking to post has been discussed already or is currently being discussed. By searching first, you will...

2. `REDUCE REDUNDANT THREADS.` With new posts of repeatedly answered questions, wish lists and feature requests, and having one post of your game, then another post of an update of your game, I think we all can appreciate less threads to trudge through. Especially when most people stare at the "Latest Discussions" section and the threads are just shifting down like crazy, especially when people don't...

3. `USE DESCRIPTIVE TOPICS.` You do have a whole line (it even word wraps!) to put something eye-catching and descriptive, so please refrain from naming your topic something completely useless like "Question..." and "Help, please!!!" Also, if your topic is something that's directed toward someone, write them on their wall, or go to their email or website and contact them through there. But, if you want others to chime in also, leave out their name on the topic and place it in the body of the topic instead. With these practices, the board doesn't end up look like a crazy IM chat history, but a bunch of informative, useful topics, full of discussion, hints, tips, and input from everyone in the community.

Just think twice before you hit that "Send Post" button to make sure you've gone through the 3 simple steps above.

I'm sometimes guilty of this, too, so I hope this serves as positive, constructive criticism for everyone here, as we all continue to develop really cool games and apps under GameSalad, help each other get the most out of the engine, and lastly continue to help GameSalad grow into the engine we all want it to be.

Comments

  • VmlwebVmlweb Member Posts: 427
    It would be nice if you could edit your post and poll after you posted after more than an hour.
    This way Updates of games could be added to the same post
  • rebumprebump Member Posts: 1,058
    @BtT: I have been adhering to those principles since day one of me joining!
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    >> It's been mentioned a few
    >> times that the forum here
    >> is not quite as intuitive or
    >> functional as other bulletin
    >> board systems such as
    >> vBulletin and phpBB

    Why don't they use vBulletin?
  • BeyondtheTechBeyondtheTech Member Posts: 809
    Hey, I've even offered to set up and host a site. I could easily register GameSaladDevForum.com or SaladDevs.com or something similar within minutes.
  • thishirtbonethishirtbone Member Posts: 2
    As a PURELY HYPOTHETICAL question, who would win in a fight:

    bbPress, vBulletin, phpBB, or the Enterprise?
  • CobraCobra Member Posts: 160
    As a PURELY HYPOTHETICAL question, who would win in a fight:

    bbPress, vBulletin, phpBB, or the Enterprise?
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    This guy would win hands down.

  • CobraCobra Member Posts: 160
    Just those four please. You know the rules, and so do I. ;)
  • JGary321JGary321 Member Posts: 1,246
    =)
  • synthesissynthesis Member Posts: 1,693
    @Cobra
    Any forum board that allows image attachments and view scores would be great.
    I vote for anything openSource. We use vBadvanced (were UNIX/Apache based).
    http://www.vbadvanced.com/

    Were at 565,000 posts/5800 members/32000 threads and still running strong without a hitch.
    www.mdshooters.com is our top used forum (of the ones that are active that is)

    @JGary...That is funny as *#!{}!!#.

    @Cobra...
    POST A STICKY POLL!!!
  • PhoticsPhotics Member Posts: 4,172
    The Enterprise? ...as in Star Trek?

    A PHP script doesn't seem to be much of a match for phasers.

    Of the remaining three... I think vBulletin destroys the remaining two. I use it at http://guildwars.us as my blogging, cms and forum software. I've tried many different systems.

    Here's a good site to test out the various open source platforms...
    http://php.opensourcecms.com/

    But once again... I prefer vBulletin. For a large community, I think it works much better.
  • BeyondtheTechBeyondtheTech Member Posts: 809
    Hey, thanks for making this a sticky.

    I see that it didn't help much, as we still got "question for ya" threads and "tshirtbooth, help!!!"

    Oh well.
  • quantumsheepquantumsheep Member Posts: 8,188
    I know it's not quite in the spirit of things but...

    Any chance of an ignore button?

    ;)

    Dr. Sam Beckett never returned home...
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/Quantum_Sheep
    Web: https://quantumsheep.itch.io

  • CoreJayCoreJay Member Posts: 17
    I just think the category titles and descriptions could be a bit more clear.

    Here's a question. . .

    If I have a question about rules and attributes in GameSalad, does that go in "Game Design" or "Working with GameSalad"?

    I'm guessing the latter, so what's the other one for?

    I put in a suggestion to rename/redescribe the categories here:
    http://gamesalad.com/forums/topic.php?id=5188#post-32277
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