2021 Forum Renovations

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Moderators: Neamara, Koa

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Total votes: 15

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Neamara
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2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Neamara » Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:47 am

Since the Discord server went public, the forum has seen less use. We recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each platform, so we'd like to see if we can achieve a balance allowing both to coexist together. Starting with the forum, we completed the first stage of reorganization yesterday.

Changes:
Spoiler
Show
ARCHIVED (locked/read-only)
- WolfQuest FAQ
- User Guides- The Game
- User Guides- The Forum
- Wild Canid User Artwork (non-wolf media can be shared via Discord)
- Wild Canid User Writings (same as above)
- Get To Know Each Other

NEW ADDITIONS
- Your Pack (the equivalent of Discord's #wolf-characters channel)

RENAMED (with description updated)
- WolfQuest News, Announcements, and Contests > New and Announcements (Contests in desc)
- WolfQuest 3 and Tower Fall Developer's Blog > Developer's Blog (active projects already in desc)
- User Artwork > Wolf Artwork
- User Writings > Wolf Writings
- The Wild and You (category) > Other Animals
- Other Canids > Other Wild Canids
- Nature & Wildlife > The Wild and You
- Nature & Wildlife Photography > Nature Photography (removed contest mention from desc)
- Pets & Domestic Animals > Domestic Animals
- Avatars & Graphics > Avatars and Art Requests
- General Other Topic Discussion > General Discussion
- Other Video Games > Other Games (more broadly applies to videogames and tabletop games)

MOVED
- Pack Central is now a subforum under Your Pack.
- WolfQuest Screenshots & Videos is now a subforum under Your Pack.
- Wolf Multimedia is now a subforum under General Wolf Discussion.
- Wolf Writings is now a subforum under Wolf Artwork.
- Take Action is now a subforum under The Wild and You.
- Avatars and Art Requests is now its own standalone forum under the Other Topics category.
- Other Games is now a subforum under General Discussion.

MERGED (deleted, with content moved to next best match)
- Wolf Conservation (topics moved to General Wolf Discussion)
- Domestic Dogs (topics moved to Domestic Animals)
- Zoos and Other Wildlife Parks/Preserves (topics moved to The Wild and You)
- Sports, Adventure & Travel (topics moved to General Discussion)

Note: if you think a topic belonging to an archived forum should still be available for discussion, you can either recreate it, PM a mod, or report an existing topic and request for it to be moved in your report reason. We have bits and pieces left to figure out.


As is the nature of fossil forums, the process did have some technical hiccups. If you notice anything weird, please let me or any other moderator know. The next stage will involve reviewing and relaxing/revising rules. Stay tuned!

A huge shoutout to Koa for kickstarting the reorganization, and to -Wolfdog- for starting this topic. Special thanks to those who contribute towards improving either platform. While we may not be able to carry out every requested change we receive, we do appreciate the feedback! ^^

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Sambhur
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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Sambhur » Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:53 am

Super exciting! Thanks for the hard work mod team, I'm looking forward to being able to continue contributing in any way I can. :)

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by rowantobias » Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:51 pm

this change was a long time coming, TBQH! i'm glad to see things getting dusted off and moved. i think with the new organization, people will be encouraged to post a bit more often than once a week. i really am excited to see how it plays out!

i know it is out of the budget but i feel like it'd be great to see the forum have a different appearance - the layout hasn't changed since launch of 2.5 and it kinda shows, haha! not that it's a bad layout, i just think it'd be great if it got a new coat of paint. (totally understand that it's not as easy as asking though...)

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Neamara
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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Neamara » Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:14 pm

Classic Dark was always intended to mimic the old style- Classic Light was based more on the Latte style, and was supposed to be temporary. I never did get around to finishing the Modern Light style, though; the other part of the challenge is making the style compatible with both desktop and mobile devices. :(

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DaniBeez
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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by DaniBeez » Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:43 pm

Thanks for your efforts. Curious: what does the implied the second stage entail?

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Neamara
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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Neamara » Thu Jul 29, 2021 3:14 pm

DaniBeez wrote:
Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:43 pm
Thanks for your efforts. Curious: what does the implied the second stage entail?
Revising forum-specific rules, and reviewing the Forum Guidelines.

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by DaniBeez » Thu Jul 29, 2021 6:08 pm

Gotcha. If we have specific feedback or suggestions, is this thread an appropriate place to make them?

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Neamara » Fri Jul 30, 2021 4:35 pm

DaniBeez wrote:
Thu Jul 29, 2021 6:08 pm
Gotcha. If we have specific feedback or suggestions, is this thread an appropriate place to make them?
Yup, this thread is open to all feedback regarding any part of the renovations we have made or will be making. ^^

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by DaniBeez » Fri Jul 30, 2021 10:18 pm

Ok!
  • Open Wolf Artwork to include more species (Nature Artwork). The boundaries could still be "no humans" and "keep subject appearances realistic" (i.e. no anthros or unnatural colors and markings). I think it goes without saying that many of us who are interested in a forum revival draw creative inspiration from many different things from nature. This suggestion could also apply to writings, "Nature Writings".
  • Modify the three words or less = SPAM restriction. For example, to not affect posts that quote another's words. Or even nuke it; the early years of this forum permitted less words, and I did not find it took away from things when reading, personally.
  • Double-posts should be allowed in Tips, Hints, and Help to reflect new updates, similar to the posting of new chapters in User Writings, or on Info topics. To me it seems equivalent to "delete + add + repost" in terms of adding information to a post, and you get timestamps. I don't think the current userbase cares about post counts anymore (perhaps the old motive for the rule, which was addressed by making certain forum areas not count towards user post counts).
  • Image tags allowed in the Longue, maybe even anywhere once permission is applied for and granted. I wanna react with MEMES
Those last three probably fall under the planned forum rules/guidelines revisions previously mentioned, so I'd like to re-emphasize the first one. If the goal of this revival is to boost forum engagement, I really think there needs to be willingness to consider widening the scope of the creative/engaging areas. This forum has (always) had the potential to create a sense of art/writing community that is lacking on larger platforms like DeviantArt, Twitter, and Instagram. This might be the last opportunity to do so. As well, I did not find the real-time chat method of the Discord appealing for viewing and interacting with art, but that opinion may be influenced by my bias towards more gallery-oriented platforms like DeviantArt.

EDIT: I added one more at the end.

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Koa » Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:07 am

All good suggestions that I agree with. Although, I’m not sure if you’re on our Discord specifically, but the reason why we don’t have an expansion of things allowed for Wolf Art/Writings is that the Discord #media-sharing channel is pretty active in sharing non-wolf art/writings as it is. In that sense, the channel is already difficult to compete with and I actually don’t think expanding art options here would make much of a difference in activity because sooooo much non-wolf art is easily shared in that channel. I’d like to maintain the forums as a space for wolf art/writing only so people who don’t want their wolf artwork/writing to get buried can share it here (which is appropriate considering WolfQuest is primarily about wolves). Part of trying to also help that out is redirecting people from posting in the #wolf-characters channel to the forums and if they want to specifically post their artwork or stories for their characters they can do so in the art/writings forms. On the moderation side we noticed people’s wolf artwork in that channel getting buried, too. So, it’s nice having a space still dedicated to only wolf art and writings on the forums.

Only other one I’m a bit iffy on is the less than three words rule. If people want to chat like that or not say a whole lot they can go to the Discord. That’s why GTKEO is gone. In my opinion, the forum is now more for substantial discussion that you may not find (or be able to keep up with) on the Discord.

These revisions were made with the Discord in mind. I know there’s certain elements of our server that the forums can’t compete with (like the speed and instant gratification that comes with the #media-sharing channel [which some seem to like]). There are also some things we acknowledge are better met on the forums. The challenge is maintaining a unique space for the forums and using its differences from the Discord as an incentive for people to come here.

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by twinlinskis » Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:54 am

loving the new changes so far. in truth, i only came back because @sambhur told me about the overhaul on discord. it’s so good to see a favorite online haunt of mine getting some much needed TLC. :^)

thanks to all of the team for all of your hard work and dedication!

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Windstrider » Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:48 am

I think the changes are a good thing for the forum; I'd like to see the forum be used more again, and when I logged in today and checked stuff out, it looks like there's a new burst of activity going on now which is really nice to see. I haven't seen that much going on here in a while! I'm sure there's a good number of other people who will be more active on here too if other people are on more and talking about stuff/interacting more with each other. Thank yall for your hard work! I think this is a new breath of life that will definitely help the forums.

Edit: Typos whoops

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alethe
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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by alethe » Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:03 pm

I do like the changes, however, that said, I'm not sure they'll revive the forums to be like they used to be. Forums are pretty much dead in style in general, and while it's good to see old users returning a bit, I feel like this site might once again fade into internet obscurity and memories.

I'd love to be proven wrong, however.

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by Sambhur » Tue Aug 03, 2021 7:51 pm

alethe wrote:
Tue Aug 03, 2021 1:03 pm
I do like the changes, however, that said, I'm not sure they'll revive the forums to be like they used to be. Forums are pretty much dead in style in general, and while it's good to see old users returning a bit, I feel like this site might once again fade into internet obscurity and memories.

I'd love to be proven wrong, however.
No one's expecting the forum to go back to how it used to be, especially with how the current internet culture is. I believe the main goal right now is to give some priority back to the forum and give it a firmer place alongside the Discord server that utilises the strengths of both platforms, rather than having them compete with each other like before.

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Re: 2021 Forum Renovations

Post by DaniBeez » Wed Aug 04, 2021 11:53 am

That's fair Koa; there would be a lot of overlap between the two platforms if the scopes here were expanded.

I see what Redtail is getting at: the forums may fade back into near-obscurity despite the changes. So we may as well enjoy them while they last 🙂.

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