[Feedback] Sub-Community Problems

Sir ArmaMalum·12/25/2013, 6:47:23 AM·1 votes·47 views

Sub-communities, or in other words the sub-forums in this Beta, will never be perfect and there will always be gray area posts that can be relevant in several at the same time. However, I feel in my opinion that they are a weak area and can be improved. I have a few points here with current issues with another list following with potential solutions.

  1. Sub-Comm Confusion

As can be plainly seen in the New Community Feedback Sub-comm, a lot of people are either confused or lazy when it comes to posting in the correct area, causing a lot of unrelated posts that can be really constructive and overall a great idea.....but is in the wrong area and either not seen or immediately dismissed as spam.

  1. Sub-comm Access

It's really easy to get to different sub-comms as soon as you enter the Community Beta Site. And that in itself is not a bad thing, but for the increasingly large amount of new posters, it's very easy not to notice what Sub-comm you are currently in.
To clarify, say I wanted to post a Skin Idea, in the current Beta I would click Community Beta off the main site header and be dumped to the front page, where I could post my idea right away. The 'Create Discussion' Button is right there, why not make it here on the front page? Unfortunately, this leads to people posting in the first possible Sub-comm: New Community Feedback. And this leads to all of those un-related posts that don't get their fair view.

  1. Sub-Comm Limitations

The current listing of Sub-communities is a good start. The basics are covered and you get the individual sections filled with good, wholesome posts having to do with the section even though there is a small audience. End of the day, they get the job done. As such, this problem isn't a high priority but imho it will become one soon, as the Community Beta....community.... grows.
To clarify, the current topics in the sub-comms are very general and will quickly get overrun by pertinent but different sub-topics. For example, Fan Creations can involve skin concepts, Champion concepts, Fan art, Fan music and cosplay. All of that filling the sub-comm will quickly bury even the newest posts by sheer volume.


The Solution List:

These are ideas I personally like and wouldn't mind implemented, but are by no means catch-alls. Feel free to post your ideas to fix the above problems in the comments.

  1. Sub-comm Confusion meets Mouse-over Descriptions

So the idea is simple, mousing over a sub-community link will give a very brief description of what is usually posted there. You could probably recycle the descriptions used in the old forums, they've worked well imho.

  1. Sub-comm Access meets Required Funneling

I'm sure there's a better name for it, but what the old forums do is require you to navigate a 'cover page' of sorts to direct you to a specific sub-forum before you see any posts and before you're able to post. Granted once you;re past that you can hop over to any sub-forum you want, but it's much harder to post in the wrong area accidentally. It also gives the added benefit of showing the sub-forum's brief description before one can post in it.

  1. Sub-Comm Limitations meets A 3rd Tier

Sub-sub-communities. Yes, I think that's actually a good idea, albeit a tongue twister. As a few examples Fan Creations can link to Champion Concepts, Skin Concepts, Fan Art, and finally Fan Videos.
Memes &Games can be re-named to something along the lines of Forum Funnies and link to Memes, Games and Jokes. Those examples aren't probably the best, but I hope it gets the idea across.

Thanks for reading, please upvote and comment if you want to have this post viewed more! Happy Holidays!

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