[CnC] Forum Restructure

With the constant reminder that RuneScape (our primary focus currently) is dying slightly; I looked at how we could restructure the forums to suit all games as equally as possible.

In my proposed layout:

• We can give games their own sections as they grow out of "other MMO's" or "Other games".
• We can combine discussion and market in the same place (view the sub-section spoiler at the bottom) with game-specific moderation. This promotes growth because the games are all near the top and all the sections relating to said game are in the same place.
• We have the streaming/media/sandbox area near the top, promoting participancy - we can find moderators for this section from the CDT list possibly. By coupling this with a current CDT idea/brainstorm to sponsor streamers with competitions (rather than a blackmarket forum in general), and generally advertise more, hopefully this will be an eyecatching addition to the top of the forum to keep people here.
• This layout is actually smaller than the one we have now viewed at the homepage.
• We can incorporate section-specific mod ranks to move away from RuneScape.

You can find sub-forums in the spoiler at the bottom. Feel free to suggest your own or offer your thoughts on mine.


Community Mod Gaming Mod RuneScape Mod League of Legends Mod [COLOR=#c333]Market Mod[/color] Off-Topic Mod Support Mod Graphic Mod

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RaSc Redirect[/color]

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Spoiler: Full Layout

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_____________________________________________

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______________________________________________

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________________________________________________

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________________________________________________

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Livestreaming above the RS market should never be a thing. The RS market remains the largest incentive for individuals to visit the site and, as such, it should always be at the top.

 

The problem I encountered with that was that the Livestream/competitions part ended up near the bottom. The problem we have with that just now is nobody sees it; and if we plan to advertise competitions on twitch and so on; it'd be most effective at the top. If we put Livestreaming/competitions at the top, it's such a little section that markets are still relatively near the top. Not to mention; the redirecting banner tabs we have on the homepage header could be use for "Market" and so on.

 

Why would a streamer want to be associated with a black market site? Maybe certain game streams can posted here, but games like RS, LoL, WoW won't wanna really post streaming info here. Just shows they might RWT and such.

 

I'd support the new suggestion. Sand box is pretty dead, not many people really use it. Hopefully moving it would help. Also, I don't even see a livestreaming tab anywhere 'o.o

EDIT: Found livestreaming. It's very hidden and hard to locate. Would definitely support moving it to be much more noticeable if it is to help boost the community. If its just for people to livestream, I think it should stay down there.

 

Why would a streamer want to be associated with a black market site?

That's what we're currently discussing; it's just a brainstorm for now. Feel free to chip in alternatives

Ideally this thread just gets the wheels in motion, something needs to change.

 

The problem I encountered with that was that the Livestream/competitions part ended up near the bottom. The problem we have with that just now is nobody sees it; and if we plan to advertise competitions on twitch and so on; it'd be most effective at the top. If we put Livestreaming/competitions at the top, it's such a little section that markets are still relatively near the top. Not to mention; the redirecting banner tabs we have on the homepage header could be use for "Market" and so on.

I think that livestreaming and Twitch are an untapped goldmine. There's no doubt that they're growing in popularity, but I still think the vast majority of visitors on Sythe are going to instinctively seek out the RS market first.

Perhaps livestreaming should be placed below the RS market, but still at the top, if we are looking to use it as a means of advertisement for competitions.

 

I mean; small alterations aren't really the most important thing initially. I do see where you're coming from; just my organisation OCD wanted all the games in a chunk

Once we decide whether this kind of layout fits better, we can fine-tune the order and so on, I guess.

 

[Shin]

I really prefer this layout opposed to the current one.

By having the market section essentially dismembered and re-incorporated across all sections, it may cause discussions for those particular forums to increase in activity. Having the market section as this "big bulky forum" really takes away from the other aspects of the site and makes it more of the main "focus", which is most likely why the community participation currently looks like it does.

I haven't looked through the entire layout yet and compared it to the current layout, but it's a great idea and a very good start.

 

[SuF]

This is a very interesting approach and I believe you've hit on the right sort of approach for reform. I'm not sure that it is going to help Sythe as much as it needs to.

For instance, live streaming is basically a completely inactive section with only a handful of threads active in the last couple of weeks.

What is the purpose for the gaming media section? I'm not sure I understand the intent or what sorts of things would go in there.

I like the idea of the sandbox being higher but I'm not sure that it necessarily fits with the sections its grouped with. Is there a larger theme for that section that I am missing that makes it more clear?

My first thought about the RS section was the lack of any discussion forum. I only found the sections once I had opened up the subforum view and saw numerous places for discussion. Are the different Runescape games so distinct as to require their own sections now? I haven't played since the week '07 came out so I really have no idea. Perhaps a tagging system for threads would be more beneficial so that people could view all the discussion threads in one place instead of having to go to multiple?

I know nothing at all about LoL but the sections all seem very active currently so I think you've made the right choice in making them all front page sections. That really should stress those sections more which is exactly what we want.

I'm not particularly fond of having WoW be on its own as I recall us removing the discussion forum for being dead long ago (and it had been dead for a long time but Verts and other WoW players thought it was good to keep it so we did for quite awhile).

 

[Superfluous]

Livestreaming above the RS market should never be a thing. The RS market remains the largest incentive for individuals to visit the site and, as such, it should always be at the top.

Agreed. While it's fading a bit, it's definitely not gone. Can we possibly get things structured such that we can collapse large portions of the homepage? That way stuff doesn't end up as "close to the bottom" as it currently does. Or even letting us personally reorder them with a sort of "drag-and-drop this section above/below that section" sort of setup. I'll think more about what should go where later... could take average posts/day and hierarchy it roughly like that

> Sythe
>> Sythe.org News
>> Community General
>> Donor Lounge
>> Suggestions
>> Feedback
>> Dispute Forum

> Market
>> RS stuff
>> LoL stuff
>> etc

> Off topic
>> whatever
>> goes
>> here

> Anti-scam
>> RaS
>> RaBE

 

[SuF]

The problem I encountered with that was that the Livestream/competitions part ended up near the bottom. The problem we have with that just now is nobody sees it; and if we plan to advertise competitions on twitch and so on; it'd be most effective at the top. If we put Livestreaming/competitions at the top, it's such a little section that markets are still relatively near the top. Not to mention; the redirecting banner tabs we have on the homepage header could be use for "Market" and so on.

I'm not even sure what is supposed to be placed in the Livestreaming section. A few people have advertisements for their streams but that's about it. Is there something I'm missing since that doesn't seem like it can really spur any sort of discussion or activity?

 

[SuF]

Agreed. While it's fading a bit, it's definitely not gone. Can we possibly get things structured such that we can collapse large portions of the homepage? That way stuff doesn't end up as "close to the bottom" as it currently does. I'll think more about what should go where later... could take average posts/day and hierarchy it roughly like that

> Sythe
>> Sythe.org News
>> Community General
>> Donor Lounge
>> Suggestions
>> Feedback
>> Dispute Forum

> Market
>> RS stuff
>> LoL stuff
>> etc

> Off topic
>> whatever
>> goes
>> here

> Anti-scam
>> RaS
>> RaBE

That would be really swell but I'm not sure its possible with Vb without some modding or losing some of the front page sections that we want and cluttering up a few massive sections. Perhaps it could be put on the wish list?

 

[Donald Duck]

Why do you propose the sandbox move? Doesn't really fit in "gaming" imo.

 

[SuF]

Just a thought: Can we just remove this silly section? Feedback is dead and "Community input" is feedback. Extra clicks, less visibility, less feedback. Also it makes me open more tabs so I am more liable to accidently close it without looking.

 

[Shin]

I'm not particularly fond of having WoW be on its own as I recall us removing the discussion forum for being dead long ago (and it had been dead for a long time but Verts and other WoW players thought it was good to keep it so we did for quite awhile).

The new expansion for WoW was recently released, as well as CS:GO's new campaign. Path of Exile will also be having a content update around 5 days from now. I think keeping on top of these things should be important as well, as you can potentially use it to direct traffic to the website during greater times of game activity if you re-organize the forums appropriately.

 

[SuF]

I'd support the new suggestion. Sand box is pretty dead, not many people really use it. Hopefully moving it would help. Also, I don't even see a livestreaming tab anywhere 'o.o

EDIT: Found livestreaming. It's very hidden and hard to locate. Would definitely support moving it to be much more noticeable if it is to help boost the community. If its just for people to livestream, I think it should stay down there.

I've never understood what the Sandbox was for that the spam forum didn't already fill.

 

[Superfluous]

I'm not even sure what is supposed to be placed in the Livestreaming section. A few people have advertisements for their streams but that's about it. Is there something I'm missing since that doesn't seem like it can really spur any sort of discussion or activity?

There's been CDT discussion about looking to get more involved with streamers (not sure if I can disclose what we talk about in there publicly?), so I think it's a result of that?

 

[SuF]

The new expansion for WoW was recently released, as well as CS:GO's new campaign. Path of Exile will also be having a content update around 5 days from now. I think keeping on top of these things should be important as well, as you can potentially use it to direct traffic to the website during greater times of game activity if you re-organize the forums appropriately.

Doesn't WoW get a new expansion every other second? I feel like they come out all the time. The market seems plenty active right now but discussions have never magically appeared when a subsection has, so I'm hesitant to think that it will this time.

 

You know I believe that gaming is the future of Sythe, and I'm pretty much in complete support of this. I agree with Farcast that Streaming/Twitch are a HUGE market right now, and we're wrong to not be there. Sythe T-shirts for streamers, referral programs, contests sponsored by streams where they (And us) both retain profit. There are so many ways that we could benefit, the only problem is the stigma of our site being a ToS-violating group of scammers.

Overall, it's a good idea. SOMETHING needs to be done. Roary if you're in need of assistance, let me know. I restructured the entirety of Tribot, i should be able to be of some use.