@panther said in Suggestion: removal of sub-forums:
It was about GeneralDiscussions/Politics actually.
I did not want to hurt your feelings, just separate different topics from each other. Simply the moderator’s job. :wink:
Ya. I get it
Why are we migrating to new forum software?
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Gargantua brought up the question, why move to new software?
- SMF (the current software) has terrible software design.
- It is very difficult to make changes to the theme and UI
- It is very difficult and sometime impossible to install plugins
- Plugins are not actually plugins, they directly modify the code (very bad)
- Plugins sometimes make updates impossible - We’re currently stuck at 1.x and going to 2.x wouldn’t be worth the time
- SMF doesn’t update very often, this is a security risk. Luckily that risk is offset by the lack of popularity of SMF.
- SMF is not mobile ready
- It would be very frustrating to make this happen on SMF
- Google penalizes sites that are not mobile ready - SMF has problems with setting up moderators; just ask any mod, the first few days they usually can’t do something until I track down the right setting
Discourse benefits
- Mobile ready out of the box
- Addresses SEO, Search Engine Optimization (this means more or the same amount of Google traffic)
- Has a great plugin system with a ton of officially supported plugins we would use
- Ads plugin
- Discobot, a forum bot for dice rolling and other fun stuff like a tutorial for the new software
- Reply to a post via email :-o
- A good moderation/moderator system
- I find it fun so I’ll be hanging out on the forums more often
- Very good integration with Wordpress
- I’ll be able to take some of your awesome posts and publish them to the Wordpress side of things
- A comments plugin so that all the post comments will live on the forums - An API to make it easier for TripleA to integrate
- Posts can have multiple categories (no more of “this doesn’t belong here”)
- Drafts
- Bookmark a post or reply
- Like a post or reply
- Browser notifications (if on Android, then you also get push notifications)
- Endless scrolling for posts
- IMO a very well thought out user interface
Finally, TripleA was also using legacy forum software. If they would like to chime in as to why they moved to NodeBB, that would be appreciated.
- SMF (the current software) has terrible software design.
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There is a risk of losing people to offset that risk. I will try to bring in new members and hold existing members by having a monthly giveaway.
Basically, if you’re active on the forum, you’ll have access to announcements about the monthly giveaway. I’ll probably run 8-10 giveaways.
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David,
First most - thank you for making a separate thread about this - I really appreciate it.
Second - i want you to know that the A&A.org deeply appreciates your longtime stewardship and progression of the site. We are glad you are with us and host us.Third - I know you are a tech savy/loving guy, who’s ahead of the curve and living the dream in the city by the bay. Please do not be offended by any of my jurassic comments below; they are just personal opinions; that I think represent a decent cross section of users here.
Overall - my take is that there is no tangible net benefit to the end user from these changes… I’ve commented on why below.
I know you had a “test” site up at one time, and maybe we do that again? and then have a poll if people want the change? whether you care what they think or not… I guess you’ll get to decide to be Axis or Allies on the matter :)
- SMF (the current software) has terrible software design. (not concerned)
- It is very difficult to make changes to the theme and UI (not concerned - it’s not like these would be welcome anyways, as the vision for the site was basically white space when I asked.)
- It is very difficult and sometime impossible to install plugins (not concerned - is there some plugin we need that dont have?)
- Plugins are not actually plugins, they directly modify the code (very bad) (again not concerned)
- Plugins sometimes make updates impossible**(Again this does not effect the end user - not concerned)** - We’re currently stuck at 1.x and going to 2.x wouldn’t be worth the time (What difference will that make for us?)
- SMF doesn’t update very often, this is a security risk. Luckily that risk is offset by the lack of popularity of SMF.
- SMF is not mobile ready A&A.org Works fine on my phone - and quite frankly I hate it when my phone goes on to a “mobile” site, or a “download app” site. Just give me the regular site when I request it. Mobile sites in general are terrible, and lack the features of the regular site that a user like me wants; I end up forcing my phone to just look at the normal site and it’s a pain.
- It would be very frustrating to make this happen on SMF (not concerned)
- Google penalizes sites that are not mobile ready (not concerned - when you google axis and allies - you get a&A.org as #3); an the main site outside of the forums seems mobile ready anyways - SMF has problems with setting up moderators; just ask any mod, the first few days they usually can’t do something until I track down the right setting (not concerned - we did fine with no moderators for YEARS - and the new ones are doing a great job)
Discourse benefits
- Mobile ready out of the box (+0)
- Addresses SEO, Search Engine Optimization (this means more or the same amount of Google traffic) (+0.5?)
- Has a great plugin system with a ton of officially supported plugins we would use (Can you specify a plug-in us dinosaurs would use?)
- Ads plugin (Is this not the same item as before?)
- Discobot, a forum bot for dice rolling and other fun stuff like a tutorial for the new software (sounds interesting, but +0, is this really a benefit?)
- Reply to a post via email +2 would be welcomed
- A good moderation/moderator system (in place now?)
- I find it fun so I’ll be hanging out on the forums more often +3 would be welcomed, but you could just do this :)
- Very good integration with Wordpress Maybe this would drive more article traffic, but I’m not really sure it would be all that used.
- I’ll be able to take some of your awesome posts and publish them to the Wordpress side of things
- A comments plugin so that all the post comments will live on the forums - An API to make it easier for TripleA to integrate Need more info - so far everytime we have changes tripleA suffers for a brief period
- Posts can have multiple categories (no more of “this doesn’t belong here”) Dinosaurs gun git confused
- Drafts we have preview function?
- Bookmark a post or reply browser does this
- Like a post or reply we have +1-1 now - and had to modify because of abuse already
- Browser notifications (if on Android, then you also get push notifications)
- Endless scrolling for posts what a NIGHTMARE - no one will ever be able to look at the FAQ thread or threads like it. PLEASE DO NOT IMPLEMENT THIS; there’s nothing I hate more than endless scrolling and I dont believe I am alone.
- IMO a very well thought out user interface well that’s nice…?
- SMF (the current software) has terrible software design. (not concerned)
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No offense taken.
The primary benefits:
- Easier for me to maintain the community
- Easier for moderators (a hypothesis but other Discourse sites have seen this to be true)
- More traffic
- More users (a hypothesis)
For most of your “not concerned” answers.
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It’s terrible when I need to update something, like HBG ads or the “Buy Axis & Allies” section to the right. They may not directly affect the end user but they affect the operation of the site. I had to spend half a day on vacation last year updating HBG’s ads when they went gold.
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It’s a huge security concern. This definitely affects the end user. Back in the early 2000s, the forums was hit by a hack and we lost everything including an awesome thread with Larry Harris (who has not posted here since).
Mobile ready
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With Discourse, you can simply switch to desktop mode, just like any other site but Discourse does make it slightly easier.
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It almost doesn’t matter what the end user thinks, we play by Google’s rules. If Google says you must do mobile, then we must do mobile otherwise we lose traffic. Traffic is partially how people find us. We’ve already taken a hit in traffic because this has not been addressed earlier.
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The expectation from most Millennials and Plurals (Generation Z) is mobile ready, if we want new, younger people, it must be mobile. Gen X is either ambivalent or resists change and Boomers definitely resist change. I think the Greatest Generation just struggles (unless they were in tech in the 60s and 70s but even then still struggle).
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A huge 43% of our traffic is on a phone or tablet.
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Bounce rates are 50% on mobile compared to only 34% on desktop. (A bounced is when a visitor visits one page and leaves under a certain amount of time indicated they were not interested).
Moderator
- It’s hard work and I would like to give them better tools for their important work.
Ads
- We don’t have good ads on mobile, which is a lost revenue opportunity. I could potentially drop contributor prices if Google/Amazon/eBay revenue goes up.
Wordpress
- I would be using this plugin to post to the blog. It would get used at least once a month. Until recently there’s been zero posts on the blog.
Drafts
- If you start writing a post and your computer shuts off. Go back to the thread and voila! your work was not lost. It’s awesome.
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@Dave - Most of your reasons align with why TripleA moved from the old SourceForge forum and warclub form to the new NodeBB based forum: https://forums.triplea-game.org/
We had an additional reason of wanting to combine the 2 forums and neither of the existing ones were that great so it made for an even easier decision. It also aligned from a technical standpoint as we moved code/maps/website away from SourceForge already.
Overall, its been a mostly positive experience. We’ve had some folks initially complain about the new layout/style/etc but its mostly just been that its different and they end up getting used to it over time. I’m sure we lost some users along the way but most/all of those were inactive anyways.
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Im not a techy but most of it sounds good.
I can think of a few sites i prefer nonmobile because its easier to navigate.
Scrolling is great on threads with a few posts, but when going through 50 plus pages i prefer pages. I can pick up where i left of and know what page to find something again.Thanx for all your work and effort!!
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Im not a techy but most of it sounds good.
I can think of a few sites i prefer nonmobile because its easier to navigate.
Scrolling is great on threads with a few posts, but when going through 50 plus pages i prefer pages. I can pick up where i left of and know what page to find something again.Thanx for all your work and effort!!
Discourse actually will keep track of your last unread post so you can jump to it when you revisit a thread. It’s really slick.
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Discourse actually will keep track of your last unread post so you can jump to it when you revisit a thread. It’s really slick.
These forums do that now. Or at least my browser does.
Endless scrolling sites are still a nightmare though - especially if you ever switch between mobile and non mobile devices;
I am curious to see discourse in it’s proposed format; though I suspect it will not be as convenient to navigate - especially with the older games section, and more derelict parts of the site.
We don’t have a choice in the matter it seems. :evil:
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The search function is very nice.
Registration is close and I have not migrated anything and there’s not branding but here it is: forums.axisandallies.org
That is also not the permanent URL BTW.
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Wont let me log in.
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The search function is very nice.
Registration is close and I have not migrated anything and there’s not branding but here it is: forums.axisandallies.org
That is also not the permanent URL BTW.
Interesting - Panther says things are “clearly arranged” but I don’t see anything other than uncategorized threads. and LOL I love that one of the two threads I can see is that security is not enabled :)
I’d also like to try alternate themes - like panther - who’s correct that the white is blinding.
Can you allow a few of us to register to test things out? I’d also like to fool with tripleA to get it to post.
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TripleA is not integrated with the forums yet.
Which post about security can you see?
I haven’t set up any categories or boards on there yet. I know people are concerned about multiple categories per post but I think solves issues like “does this belong in house rules or Global 1942?”
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The search function is very nice.
Which post about security can you see?
David - you make me LOL so hard sometimes.
There are only two threads on the entire board man. :) :) :) And you have replied!
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now THIS
btw, you can @ mention people and they will get a notification.
Is an exciting feature.
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The search function is very nice.
Which post about security can you see?
David - you make me LOL so hard sometimes.
There are only two threads on the entire board man. :) :) :) And you have replied!
Yeah, I went looking for it.
I think I need to adjust some settings on the site. I’m not getting email notifications about activity on the board like I should be.
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Ah yes - lets work on/out the bugs before we migrate haha.
Else you will end up with a Canadian Pheonix Pay Scandal.
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