Can we tone down the forum moderation a little?

[DeletedUser1685]

These forums are very quiet, almost deathly solemn, so can we be a little more relaxed? A little less stiff?

The reason I say this is because I've had a couple of threads moved, but the person moving them hasn't even had time to reply to the thread, or even say why they moved the thread. If they have time to moderate a thread, they have time to type. It's not like there is a flood of threads to moderate.

This is a very minor matter. I don't really care about a moved thread, I dismiss the moved thread as a dead thread. But I am irked that there is no reason given on a dead forum.

Personally I believe General Forums would be able to handle all the traffic this forum has. And these forums would be better for it. We could all huddle around the fire of General and feel like more of a group.

This forum design is old school, so familiarity helps everyone, but other sites such as 9gag and Imgur are designed more as stream of consciousness and they seem to have a lot of traffic.

 

[Muf-Muf]

Hello,

To keep overview over the forums, we move threads if they are posted in a category where they shouldn't have been posted. This is not a problem for us to do, and it's rather minor, but it helps everyone find the thread(s) later on. Note: moving a thread is a matter of a few clicks, while replying can take a lot more time. The reason that we move threads is because people don't go looking for e.g. a suggestion in the Questions or in the General Discussions forum, and if someone has a question they will likely look through the Questions and Help forum before posting their question. If someone then posted that question before in General Discussion, it also means that an answer will be given or found later than is necessary, and that's of course not nice for anyone.

 

[DeletedUser441]

The Forum's alive !

 

[DeletedUser2324]

Please do not try to mix up Forum Management and Moderation. Forum Management is conducted along pre-determined lines to make the Forum easy to use and information more easily accessible. Moderation is generally related to unacceptable means of communication within the forum but again, these are defined within a code of conduct that all Forum Moderators abide by.

 

[DeletedUser1685]

Let me outline how I use forums.
In this format of forums I go to the busiest part of the forums, in this case General.
I have never, absolutely never, thought about going to a part of any forums to post in a particular way on a particular topic, unless, through experience, I have learnt that the moderators of that forum will move a particular type of post because of the topic.
I have used many forums over many years, and I would suggest that this style of forum management is more for the moderators than the customers and thus impedes customers, which impedes growth, and/or use of forums.
Which further explains itself in why places like Reddit can grow, because customers can post any way they please, create any forum they please and moderate themselves, if they choose, or vote on other customers, with reporting a last resort.
The word forum comes from the old Roman word for out in the open; a marketplace, an open space. By moving posts to their proper place, you build walls to communication, people have to spend more time, and more importantly more clicks on finding topics to read, or post in. And in this internet age, people make judgements in three seconds. Including judgements on whether a forum is dead, or alive.
If you look at the wildly popular places, they are all streamlined; from Reddit's easy to register access, to 9gag, Imgur, etc., allowing posts in an anything goes fashion, with a heavy emphasis on allowing easy visual content.
We can even look to the Google front page design, where Google doesn't ask you which category of question you have, you just type in a box and it all gets done behind the scenes. It's that simplicity to the customer that drives Google's success.
Perhaps if you want to start a fire in these forums, gather the kindling together so that the spark more may easily catch fire.

 

[DeletedUser3889]

San, I understand your point and in some ways I agree that the forums are indeed a bit quiet.

However, in forums like these the mods are there to keep the channels free from clutter and things that don't belong there. It's as simple as that. It's like managing shelves in the fridge, you won't keep raw chicken beside the leftover spaghetti. Instead of putting threads and topics in the irrelevant place, reading the descriptions of the channels will coordinate you where your topic will find more audience, more discussion with fellow players.

Perhaps by introducing the tag system here would help solving this, because that's how people on major social platforms coordinate and redirect each other to the content they are looking for. Tagging things in Elvenar could go like #culture #building #trade #lookforfellowship #[insert event name]2017 and such.

The forum here is a bit strange to me too, and I consider myself a forum- and social media veteran. I couldn't reply to threads when I signed up here, nor could I find the "post a thread" in any channel, which made me skip introduction and whatnot right away. I'm glad I can see the reply option here. There is indeed a bit too strict moderation here in these terms (or perhaps my account was restricted from replying or posting right away) but perhaps the mods and admins had some bad experience in forums before? I am curious about their perspective.

 

[Muf-Muf]

Once you register your account, you should be able to post in most sections of the forum. The only sections where posting is restricted is e.g. in the Announcements and Release Notes sections (which is why we always create discussion threads to discuss announcements in), and the various archives that we have for certain sections.

Should you wish to know more about posting threads and posts (also for the people who might be reading this now, without actively posting in the discussion), you can always have a look here: Forum FAQ: Getting started.

 

[Deleted User - 106219]

The main issue with posting new threads is that to do so you must press the Plus sign in the lower right corner of the page. Said sign is available only on pages where you can post new threads, and it's really easy to overlook, as it is rather away from the main part of the forum. In fact, it's rather easy to get the (wrong) impression that there is no "New Thread" button at all, as there is no indication that the "+" button is for new threads and not for something else.

 

[DeletedUser1685]

The main issue with posting new threads is that to do so you must press the Plus sign in the lower right corner of the page.

The simple things are the important things. Your point alone is worth gold.

Probably be an idea to rename that + sign to "New Post"

 

[DeletedUser1685]

However, in forums like these the mods are there to keep the channels free from clutter and things that don't belong there.
Perhaps by introducing the tag system here would help solving this, because that's how people on major social platforms coordinate and redirect each other to the content they are looking for. Tagging things in Elvenar could go like #culture #building #trade #lookforfellowship #[insert event name]2017 and such.

Too many game companies think their forums are "theirs", that they are part of a shopfront, that this "shop front" should be kept pristine.

Which is why so many game companies always have to go to Reddit, Twitter, Twitch and Facebook; because game companies don't understand forums.

Forums are part of the game, and for some players they become the game. If a game company has forums and social media; their forums have failed.

The social media sub-contractors for this forum work make money out of the game makers' misunderstanding. And game makers seem happy with that, saying that their own expertise is the game, not social networks, but games are social networks.

 

[DeletedUser3337]

I agree to: Can we tone down the forum moderation a little?
So many secrets. Shhhhh