Author Topic: Board Consolidation  (Read 9263 times)

Offline Carl

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Board Consolidation
« on: March 31, 2016, 04:33:58 PM »
Forums can be clunky, and it gets worse the more boards you have. It is excellent for organization but has the opposite effect on usability, especially for members who are new to the entire concept of using our Forum. The more boards you have, the less active a community becomes.

MrsFlynn and I came to a discussion about improving the usability of the site, and the biggest thing that came to mind was our number of boards - some of which can go weeks without posts. We have talked this out with staff and it's clear something will be done, thought things are not 100% ironed out yet and we're waiting on more opinions. You can share them here, and all will be considered.

The main thing we do not want to do is confuse people by making radical changes overnight. So, over coming weeks things may be moved around a bit but primarily merged. Links will stay the same though changes I make here are irreversible, so we're proceeding with caution. Some boards will get merged into one board 'Sims 4 (or 3) General Discussion & Gameplay Help'. Our search would facilitate finding something on specific emotions or skills, as these moves will not alter search in any way. We are not going to merge Expansion boards into this, though we may do something later.

I will update this post with changes so that people know where things are going. Later in the month if you find something under General missing, you can check here to see where I've placed it or do a search. For now, the only thing changing is miscellaneous help has become a part of general discussion. This seems less confusing, as many posts could fit into either/or. It is one simple, obvious change to make. Technical help is the place to go for computer/origin/crash issues, while anything gameplay-related goes into the main board.

We would like to have most topics about the base game as part of this one board, with more specific discussion taking place elsewhere. A more active general board is better for everyone. Questions are more likely to be answered (misc help) and posts will be seen more often. That, along with reducing confusion for new members, is our main goal.

Challenges and stories boards will not be touched, in case anyone wonders.

Offline Deklitch

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2016, 05:33:20 PM »
Thanks @Carl and @MrsFlynn for not only telling us about these changes, but explaining the need for them.

Also thank you for not making the changes overnight without telling us about them. There are forums on which administrators make changes overnight, without warning or explanation and who basically tell their membership "take it or leave it" or that the reasons are for unspecified 'technical issues'.

The friendly way you administer this forum is greatly appreciated!

May I also thank the staff who help out with topic maintenance, you guys don't get thanked enough, but I know your work behind the scenes is appreciated! :)



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Offline MrsFlynn

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2016, 06:48:32 PM »
Along with board consolidation, we're trying to organize some of the stickied threads.

And you're welcome. We're trying our best to have our forum be a user-friendly forum for both us long-time members and newbies. :)




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Offline _Annika_

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2016, 07:44:20 PM »
I don't think anything looks cluttered or confusing - it's more that we have two pages smooshed into one - Sims 3 and Sims 4. If they were separated, it would look easier to navigate.

Personally I use the recent unread topics links at the top of the page under my profile picture, more than anything else.

I know the forum has seen a lot less traffic than it used to. Gone are the days when we'd argue about coke or pepsi in the Babble thread. I don't think we'll see that kind of activity again, but it would be good to improve the use-ability of the forum for new members so that we can welcome a new generation of simmers.

Offline KRae

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2016, 12:45:40 PM »
Like Annika, I use the recent unread topics and update to posts tabs at the top of the page more than anything. I miss them already.

Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2016, 12:01:47 PM »
@MrsFlynn had proposed that we do something to help new members understand how Forums work during the registration process. Get them directed at some of the info threads we have here that help with using the boards. This is something I will look at when I am back from a break from development that I am taking.

@Deklitch thank you for that. Have always tried to get the community's opinion on things, because it affects a lot of members when we make big changes. We're not all knowing and cannot even pretend to be. Making sure plenty of people think something is a good idea is important. Without the community this would be pointless :)

@KRae Definitely won't do anything to affect the recent topics and replies areas of the Forum. I think those will be completely unaffected by this. Honestly if everyone knew to use those, it wouldn't matter where things were.

@_Annika_ Yes we certainly have seen a reduction, and it really should've been more expected. When I started the Sims 3 site it actually grew popular pretty fast, but yet we had a somewhat slow Forum for quite a while. The boards really exploded around mid-2012 I expect it to be somewhat cyclical and that things may pick up a bit more over time, but that it may never see such a level of popularity due to the spread of other social media types. It is likely to do the same thing with the next Sims game.

One issue I see (and I admit I was wrong on) was in the creation of the Babble Board. When we had dozens online at a time, it made more sense. Now it's slower, and may be too much. I've realized this for a while now. It was not as bad when we didn't have organizational issues (Babble was right there in the Sims 3 section on general discussion). Now it's in the middle of the member zone and kind of missable, and really the one thread is the main attraction for discussion there.

It definitely posed some problems to have two game forums in one, but I think things may have been much worse in terms of membership and moderation duties if we had split them.

We know that from a technical viewpoint, too many boards can apparently cause some sluggishness in loading, but it is more a concern when we have more people actually online.

Hopefully if I can find a new design, the line between Sims 3 and 4 categories on the forum are more obvious. I wonder how many people know to collapse the other section using the minus sign to the right (inside the green bar) if you're only here for one game! It even persists when you reload the site.

Offline Deklitch

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2016, 04:57:03 PM »
I use that functionality and collapse Sims 4. However the problem comes for me with the building competition. By collapsing Sims 4, I tend to forget it as being for Sims 3 with it sitting in the Sims 4 boards. It is an issue for me to solve, however.



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Offline Tigerskin

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2016, 06:56:22 PM »
In regards to the babble board: the one topic that always seems to have the most recent topic is the birthday thread and might be overshadowing other topics?

I know it's always showing as a new topic when I'm on the board....admittedly I ignore the birthday thread myself.

But because I go via the main board it's the topic that shows as a new topic, so I don't tend to go into the babble board.

I hope that makes sense and I'm not... Babbling!  ;)

Offline oshizu

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2016, 09:29:08 PM »
I think board consolidation is a great idea if it makes the forum friendlier to new members.
Personally, I've never really found the forum organization confusing--just look through the main categories and there's always Google search.
Like the other members, I always start out at "Replies to your posts" followed by "Unread posts," then my bookmarked threads.

I really love the way @MrsFlynn has been creating indexed links of the most important board topics--organizing all that information into a few posts is helpful to all forum members, I think.

I'm not sure how I feel about a harder separation between Sims 3 and Sims 4, since I follow several really great TS3 story threads even though I don't play TS3 myself. But since I've bookmarked them, I guess that wouldn't be an issue.
Regarding the number of threads, I'd like to apologize for adding to the confusion surrounding the Spring Challenge. Since I've always regarded the Member Zone Announcement boards to be for, well, announcements, I created a new topic about the Spring Challenge growfruit and we ended up with multiple threads repeating some of the same information. Just for future reference, may I ask whether I should have posted on the Announcement thread?

I spend most of my time on the forum reading gameplay questions and story threads. I've only peeked at the Babble thread a few times. And although forum participation may have dropped, I typically see 250+ people online at this forum during my daylight hours. I was mentioning that for a reason but I forgot where I was going with that.

Just wanted to chime in other members posting in this thread to say that I appreciate all that Carl and MrsFlynn are doing behind the scenes to improve the forum experience of all.

Offline _Annika_

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2016, 10:20:32 PM »
@Carl  Yes, I think the member's zone could be consolidated, and remove the babble board. You could move the individual babble thread and birthday thread to the member zone, and send the other threads to the graveyard.

I hadn't actually seen that board collapse button on the RHS (right hand side), so that's a great tip! I use both though, so I won't likely use it.

The Sims 4 packs could all be combined into one board, too, I think.

The challenges and contests could go in the member zone - you do have to be a member to participate, however keeping them on their own board could be good too, because they could attract more simmers. Every time it has been the challenges that have renewed my interest in the game. (Do we have a guide page that points to the challenges? That could help improve traffic)

Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2016, 06:03:58 PM »
Today I just did something simple that will help performance going forward. Only our Moderators can see the graveyard. Discontinued stories are still stored there so that they can be resurrected should someone wish to, it is our recycle bin, since anything deleted on the Forum is gone forever. However with those situations being rare, we will rely on a person just asking us to bring the story back rather than having that board visible and showing 'new' posts.

People writing stories can still request stories be moved to the graveyard in case they'd like to pick them back up later.

Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2016, 08:44:38 AM »
@Carl but what about those of us who want to read the "prequels" to some of the stories? I've only just started reading about @Nettlejuice's Kessy and I would really like to go to the Graveyard and read the failed stories...
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Offline sdhoey

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2016, 09:07:53 AM »
@Carl but what about those of us who want to read the "prequels" to some of the stories? I've only just started reading about @Nettlejuice's Kessy and I would really like to go to the Graveyard and read the failed stories...

I have a lot of stories bookmarked. Even some that are moved to the graveyard and I still have access to them. I love the bookmark for all my favorite stories active or not. Thank you Carl for taking my suggestion on that one a few years back.

Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2016, 11:33:04 AM »
But what if I didn't have them bookmarked before the big move *sobs*
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Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #15 on: April 09, 2016, 05:05:11 PM »
I just flipped the switch so that regular members can see it, but guests cannot. This is a solution until we sort things out :)

Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #16 on: April 09, 2016, 11:52:22 PM »
Thanks @sdhoey

Thanks @Carl I feel bad whining about it, but half the fun of some of the stories is finding out the background behind them, which often comes from failed challenges! Maybe you could give us an "opt-in" option? Like we could PM you or the Team to get access, and the rest of the time it's hidden for everyone else? Or is that too labour intensive?

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Offline MrsFlynn

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #17 on: April 10, 2016, 12:23:38 AM »
@Magpie2012

I absolutely love the "opt-in" option idea!! And then remind writers to link to their older stories. Just in case others want to still read their previous stories.

I don't think it would be to much to ask.

Great idea!! :)
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Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #18 on: April 10, 2016, 02:53:23 AM »
Cool ;-D it would cut down I think because most of us have been around forever and read some of the back stories, and we could also have an opt-out option too. So that when we're done, we don't clutter up the servers (or whatever, tech stuff is over my head lol) by having too many people having access to it. I know I'd probably only use it for Kessy, and then maybe not need to use it for months. Would seem a bit silly to retain my access in a case like that!

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Offline Nettlejuice

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #19 on: April 10, 2016, 06:47:01 AM »
I love the opt-in idea and I'll link my failed stories to my current one too ^-^ Thank you @Carl !
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Offline KRae

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #20 on: April 12, 2016, 10:58:43 AM »
I've just read all of Rica's failed Artie dynasties in order to be up to speed on her current one. So, yes, I too think opting in would be good.

Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #21 on: April 12, 2016, 01:09:37 PM »
While it makes me a liar for saying we weren't thinking of stories in the OP, something that came up in Moderator discussion to give stories more visibility while cutting down on number of boards is to make boards for: in progress stories of two types: Challenge/Legacy Stories and Misc. Stories and Projects, as well as Completed Stories for those who prefer to read only those that are done. We could let authors indicate the type of challenge they're pursuing in the title and/or first post. I personally like the idea, and a few Moderators have indicated they agree. As we get more challenges, it will just grow and grow and this would prevent that.

Additionally, with people posting on only three boards, and browsing only three boards, the hard work that story authors put into their creations would be more likely to be noticed.

At the moment we have 2 boards for every challenge type. Titles could be like, "Name of story - an Immortal Dynasty Challenge" if desired, or just noted in the posts. A lot of people are interested more in the stories themselves, but also to see how people completed certain challenges so it could appease both crowds.

Since this affects members most, I do not want to do anything without hearing people's thoughts.

Since the Stories Graveyard is already separate from the other graveyard threads, we could add an additional board: Stories graveyard, that way the backstories are right there, and the remainder of the graveyard could be off-limits.

This process is moving slowly as I'm taking time off from development and spending time with my loved ones, but I wanted changes to happen gradually anyway in order to avoid confusing people with too much at once. Please share your opinions one way or the other, we kind of assume people who hate an idea are more likely to speak up but would love to see some feedback from both sides. Thanks, gang!

Offline Shewolf13

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #22 on: April 12, 2016, 02:40:09 PM »
I think that idea is a great one, as far as only having a couple of story boards.  It would definitely cut down on the type of boards, plus having just a stories graveyard would solve the backstory problem as well.

Just wanted to pop in and say thank you to you, @Carl , of course, but also all the Mods for all the work you do!

Offline sdhoey

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #23 on: April 12, 2016, 03:16:19 PM »
I like the idea of the Story Boards @Carl and most certainly enjoy your time with your loved one's.

Offline Deklitch

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #24 on: April 12, 2016, 04:04:57 PM »
Great idea @Carl and team. I see why we pay you the big simeloens! :)

Offline Nettlejuice

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #25 on: April 12, 2016, 05:40:10 PM »
I'm in with the new plan  :D
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Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #26 on: April 12, 2016, 06:38:00 PM »
I love y'all for hopping in with opinions on this, it makes things so much easier. Even if someone disagrees, it may shape how we do things in a positive way. I definitely like the ideas of story authors getting more visibility by everyone being in a smaller area. Some of you work harder than I do, and definitely deserve it.

Even if the outcome isn't exactly as desired, it will make things less cluttered :)

Offline Shewolf13

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #27 on: April 12, 2016, 10:15:54 PM »
@Carl

Just out of curiosity, what is the character limit for titles?  I only ask because titles might get longer if we have to include what challenge (if it isn't already part of the title).

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #28 on: April 12, 2016, 10:42:10 PM »
@Shewolf13 

It looks like there between a 50-60 character limit in the subject line. However, you can always put what kind of story it is, whether it be some kind of challenge, project or misc. story in the introduction to the story. Which can be posted in the first or 2nd post of the story.

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Offline Shewolf13

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #29 on: April 12, 2016, 10:47:40 PM »
@MrsFlynn

Thanks! Very true. It was just a thought I had for people who may look for specific kinds of stories.

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #30 on: April 13, 2016, 12:18:12 PM »
Just noticed this thread,  I also like the idea of consolidating the story boards and separating the stories from the rest of the graveyard.

Edit: also, would it be possible to put topics affecting all Simmers (the building contest springs to mind) into a 'General' area - maybe renaming the current 'Member Info and Sims Announcements' area - or just to add links?  I have a feeling that the low level of Sims 3 players' participation in the building contests may be because of a lack of visibility.

Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #31 on: April 15, 2016, 04:23:09 PM »
I love that idea above and also the idea for the Story Boards!

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Offline reggikko

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #32 on: April 17, 2016, 02:51:07 PM »
The thing about the Graveyard is that past Tournament Challenge threads have a ton of great strategy tips in them. I refer back to those threads quite a lot to refresh my memory. I guess I'll go in and copy/paste the relevant posts so I have them as reference. If they can't be viewed in the future, though, I kind of feel like newer challenge participants will miss out on some great tips. Then again, maybe I'm the only one who pores through old challenges to get tips. I'm a little obsessive like that. ;)





Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #33 on: April 17, 2016, 03:46:22 PM »
Reggi, you have a valid point there! I've been so worried about the stories, that I forgot about the amazing challenges and all Nutella's strategies!

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because... Math *Pippin The Most Tenacious Simmer*

Only 2 things are infinite... The universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe. *Albert Einstein*

Don't believe all the quotes that have been attributed to me. *Albert Einstein*

I can't ignore ALL of the voices in my head - Some of them actually make sense! *Blayzen*

Offline oshizu

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #34 on: April 17, 2016, 04:39:11 PM »
The thing about the Graveyard is that past Tournament Challenge threads have a ton of great strategy tips in them. I refer back to those threads quite a lot to refresh my memory. I guess I'll go in and copy/paste the relevant posts so I have them as reference. If they can't be viewed in the future, though, I kind of feel like newer challenge participants will miss out on some great tips. Then again, maybe I'm the only one who pores through old challenges to get tips. I'm a little obsessive like that. ;)

No, you're not the only one! I imagine anyone's whoever participated in a tournament challenge, even once, realizes the wealth of wisdom those old tournament challenge threads hold.
I have a couple from last year bookmarked and one I've pasted into an Excel file of general game data.  So very, very useful.

Will we get a timeline for when the Graveyard will be definitively closed off?

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #35 on: April 18, 2016, 10:19:14 AM »
@reggikko I actually had a thought about the challenges in graveyard thing. I think they shouldn't be so buried, given all the work that went into them and that plenty of people would like to try to beat previous scores even if on their own time. We'll look into perhaps adding them as a child board to challenges, which would be read-only instead of hiding them permanently!

@hazelnut This is definitely worth considering. We're moving somewhat slowly but will see how we can improve visibility. Cutting down on board totals should give every board a bit more visibility, it will be less noisy, but you're definitely right!

@oshizu nothing is on a timeline, I have realized there's no rush on this and more gradual changes can't hurt especially since it gives more time to think. Waiting has resulted in some good ideas coming up, so I'll be sure to say something if there is going to be a big change in that area. It's obvious we should try to make things that are useful available to people here :) I'm glad I reversed course on the graveyard change.

That said, I think that this Friday or so, I will move forward with the story board consolidation. Our default of 60 topics per page should keep people's stories from sinking off the first page too quickly.

We will then talk about whether we need careers, skills, and emotions boards when all of that pretty much fits under gameplay. When those are separated out, we have less activity on the actual gameplay board. Our two search functions are far more efficient than going down a page of 60 posts looking for one in particular, so there's that as far as finding things, and I may be able to draw more attention to those functions. Three of those boards have gone almost 2 weeks without a post. The only one I feel iffy about is building, but looking at the post list, it's pretty bad how far back you can go without a new post. These things being separate are especially annoying for mobile users.

Without separating out individual parts of gameplay, all gameplay talk would go on one board and people's posts are more likely to be noticed. Additionally, we may be able to just fit expansions as children of gameplay and keep it all in one area. Whatever we decide, it is clear mixing in EPs on the same board as gameplay would be annoying, people would be asking which addon something comes from, and general confusion would ensue.



Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #36 on: April 19, 2016, 09:02:47 PM »
We've chosen to make Announcements have a greater purpose, combining it with EA announcements (and thus combining them). News will come out on this board (such as the upcoming child SP/restaurant content) and link to discussion threads on the gameplay discussion board. Even if you're just browsing there, they should be easy to find given they will be hot topics when they are first announced. The regular announcements board is stagnant when there isn't new content, so this gives it a greater purpose.

I'll merge the now-locked EA board to announcements when I do the stories consolidation. Just want to explain in case it is noticed that it's gone!

I trust our snail's pace on this is giving people time to figure out what's going on, myself included :D

Offline Shewolf13

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #37 on: April 20, 2016, 01:03:56 AM »
@Carl

Looks great! The consolidation is doing a lot for visibility already, at least in my opinion ^^ Thanks soo very much for all your hard work!

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #38 on: April 20, 2016, 01:06:33 AM »
Thanks @Shewolf13 The community and staff working together on this is something I am grateful for, because we can feel more confident about these decisions. Many are irreversible so we have to be cautious. Move all those posts to another board and they're stuck there unless you move them back manually!  What a mess that'd be...

Offline Shewolf13

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #39 on: April 20, 2016, 01:08:32 AM »
--shudders-- yeah... I'm a mod on another forum and I know how that goes, so I'm glad it's a bit easier here and taking it slow is definitely the best way to let people get used to changes ^^

Offline CuriousSim

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #40 on: April 20, 2016, 01:10:02 PM »
Hopefully, things don't become so consolidated, that they are less useful. I know that it is frustrating searching for an issue on Google, being careful to specify which game edition you need help for (Sims (X)) then you find the thread and read it with interest, only to find out it is actually for Sims (Y). That seems to happen a lot for some Sims discussion boards, that support all the versions, but are more consolidated.

Just a thought

Offline MrsFlynn

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #41 on: April 20, 2016, 08:27:29 PM »
Just to be clear we are not changing the forum layout in that we're not taking away sections of the forum.

Meaning we'll still have separate sections for Sims 4 / Sims 3 / Other Sims Games and our Membership area. This will not change.

What we're trying to do is consolidate some of the lesser used childboards into the main boards. So we can help the forum become more efficient and easier to use.
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Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #42 on: April 20, 2016, 08:59:54 PM »
What @MrsFlynn has said is accurate. I would hate to make things too hard, we'll always keep Sims 3 and 4 categories separate. Keeping them separate allows a person to click categories when in the Forums search (from the navigation bar, next to help), and eliminate the one they do not want. This is especially handy for the gameplay elements that are shared between the two titles (Such as both having children/ghosts).

Google search in the top right does both categories, as well as both guides, and that is where it could very possibly be confused.

I may relocate the Forum search button to be first in the list and stand out more, but overall I don't want people to have to 100% rely on search and not be able to browse and find things

We'd like to put all vanilla gameplay on that one board, and make EPs the children there instead of the separate categories of gameplay. From an organizational standpoint, it's nice, but having all gameplay on one board would be of help to mobile/slow internet users, while increasing the chance a request for help is seen through more activity in that area.

Offline Shewolf13

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #43 on: April 20, 2016, 10:10:04 PM »
@Carl

Just out of curiosity, for the rules for player-made challenges, will they be separated somehow? It's not a big deal, either way, just wondering, especially as we get more challenges posted up here. Would they go to live with the forum challenges? Or would they stay in the story board?

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #44 on: April 20, 2016, 10:18:58 PM »
I think I can answer this one:

The storyboard will look somewhat like this:

Sims 4 - Stories and Projects
ChildBoards: Completed Stories / Challenge Stories / Misc. Stories and Projects /

With rulesets for Projects and Challenges out in the main board so these can be all in one thread. :)

Rulesets for Project/Challenge Stories
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,26304.0.html
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Offline Shewolf13

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #45 on: April 20, 2016, 11:03:40 PM »
Ah ok! Thanks @MrsFlynn I guess I wasn't thinking about the fact that there would still be child boards, just far fewer XD

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #46 on: April 20, 2016, 11:12:32 PM »
We won't be taking away *all* childboards. As some of them are needed. We're just pairing them down so there isn't so many of them, and it will help forum performance in the way of loading faster.
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Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #47 on: April 23, 2016, 01:00:43 AM »
I'm glad we are talking so much about this before making any decisions. Sims 3 is well-covered on this Forum, and as you can see in my last post, it seems silly to break its extreme organization now. The gameplay areas don't get many posts at this point. We did need to cut down on children and some Sims 3 boards in the stories section (like 5 of them) had only 2-3 posts. Consolidating those made sense, but with Sims 3 gameplay elements, they should stay untouched since there are so many topics there. It will help long-term members find things faster when someone new has a question that has already been answered.

Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #48 on: April 23, 2016, 03:15:24 AM »
I was just taking a look, and the building challenge for 3 and 4 only show up in 4 for me. How will the 3 players that are new, know where to find it, or even that it exists at all?

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Offline Deklitch

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #49 on: April 28, 2016, 03:01:11 AM »
I was just taking a look, and the building challenge for 3 and 4 only show up in 4 for me. How will the 3 players that are new, know where to find it, or even that it exists at all?

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We'll just have to hope that someone points it out to us.

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #50 on: April 28, 2016, 10:50:24 AM »
We're aware that there isn't a 3 Sims Contests and Challenges board anymore. It was moved to the graveyard sometime ago. However when Carl gets a chance, probably on Friday he'll move it to the Challenges board.
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Offline Deklitch

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #51 on: April 28, 2016, 05:26:00 PM »
Mrs Flynn, we're talking about the 2016 Building Contests and the ease of access to it. We're not talking about the Sims 3 Contests & Challenges Board.

The title of the board is 'The Sims 3 & Sims 4 Building Contest. And is described as: A board to conduct the 2016 Sims 3 & 4 building contest.

The path to get to it is through Carl & Pam's The Sims Community > Sims 4 > The Sims 3 & Sims 4 Building Contest.

There is no path to it from the Sims 3 boards, even through there is currently a child board of the Sims 3 -Swap Shop - Share and Download Sims 3 Content board called 'Sims 3 Building Contest'.

Maybe a comment on that child board along the lines of "Looking for Sims 3 Building Contests? Please go to the 2016 Sims 3 &4 building contest board for the current contest', with the board title as a hyperlink would be helpful.

Respectfully,

Dek

Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #52 on: April 28, 2016, 08:32:28 PM »
Thanks guys. That's something I shouldn't go slowly on and will try to have it fixed as soon as I'm able :)

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #53 on: April 28, 2016, 10:57:39 PM »
MrsFlynn has put up a post to make it more obvious. Additionally that board can stay until we figure a way to make contest locations more obvious. Thanks for bringing it up,  would've been a bad move to graveyard the board. :)

Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #54 on: April 28, 2016, 11:09:26 PM »
Np lol I think that's probably the problem with having contests spanning 3 and 4 in the same thread. But, given the quietness of the TS3 boards, I can understand the reasoning of having it only on 4 initially

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Offline MrsFlynn

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #55 on: April 28, 2016, 11:36:31 PM »
@Deklitch and @Magpie2012

Is this what you guys were talking about?

Looking for Sims 3 Building Contests?
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=26481.msg441930#msg441930

Thanks Dek for taking the time to explain what was being asked.
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Offline Deklitch

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #56 on: April 29, 2016, 12:57:08 AM »
Hi Mrs Flynn,

Yes, that was what I was meaning. Thank you for that.

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #57 on: May 01, 2016, 05:03:33 PM »
Yup, that was it ;-D sorry, been crazy here and I guess my explanation talents took a turn for the worst lol now, imagine that in a corporate atmosphere lol and you'll have my week O_o

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #58 on: May 01, 2016, 10:22:20 PM »
I am really dismayed to see that the "XX residents with pictures" thread has been not only unstickied but dismantled.
Now, instead of bookmarking a single Townies and Townie Info thread, I've bookmarked all three threads.

Now that I have them all bookmarked, it's not an issue for me but I just want to say that the traits/aspiration/age/career info on the premade townies is super crucial for players engaged in dynasty challenges, tournament challenges, and other challenges which require looking for a spouse/housemates/friends.

Well, just my two cents.  :)

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #59 on: May 02, 2016, 03:24:25 AM »
I just heard from Playalot that the Townies Info threads are reunited and exist as a child of MrsFlynn's Informational Links thread.

So I just now bookmarked the new thread and deleted the three thread bookmarks I'd made yesterday.
Without knowing where to find the link or having the link bookmarked, I feel the information is not easy to find but I'm grateful that it's reappeared!

Thank you very much @MrsFlynn. All my sims and I thank you.

Offline Carl

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Re: Board Consolidation
« Reply #60 on: May 02, 2016, 08:20:51 AM »
Aye, my fault as we would've had way too many stickies on general. I was a bit stressed at the time and forgot that would even be a problem!  :-\ For others who wonder about this, the wonderful @MrsFlynn put them all in a post, which I've edited to a more descriptive title so that people might realize that's the easy route to those threads. Thank you as well to @Cheezey for making the resident lists, and justproud2b for maps :)

All planned changes are done, so there shouldn't be more to get used to. The only additions will be moving the challenges from the graveyard to a more obvious place, to encourage players to try them just for fun :)