Site Direction: Everyone Get in Here

[Airling]

While I'm on fire with this, where do we go with the podcasts?

Bi-monthly, or perhaps even quarterly updates seem the most reasonable to me. We're all busy, some of us perhaps with creating content, and finding time to do this, and establishing recording times that suit everyone is no mean feat. Are we going to line up regulars that always do it, or going to stick with the (fabulous IMO) model of anyone joining in and mixing things up?

As to the possible moving/removal of forum content, should we perhaps put it to a poll? Although most of us (myself included) seem to favour not deleting and moving things around.

 

[Pixel]

Not to sound like a pissy little bitch, but don't overhaul the graphics just because you fancy a change. As far as I was aware, most people were perfectly happy with the graphics. We all gave input as I made it.

 

[Octo]

^I've always liked the unique look - and lets not forget we get still quite a few people who used to visit ACF/AC.net - I think it's kind of good that theres a nod to ACF's old design, and that might jog people's memories and/or encourage them to stick around.

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

I'm not in the business of changing design because a change is fancied. I could point out plenty of reasons why some changes might be needed, however. I assure you they train us adequately in design school to discern acceptable design from better design and to know the reasons why.

 

[Lex]

I think what we need is a change of layout and content structure rather than the graphics side of things though. Or have I misinterpreted the last few pages? :/

 

[Flintlock]

I don't think so. While there are many things I'd like to change about the layout, I really like our graphics, and if we're going to stick with a dark theme, our colour scheme is pretty spot on too.

 

[Ⓐaron]

The graphics are mostly nice but there are some elements that are dated (gradients are generally regarded as passé now for example). I don't know if a complete overhaul is needed but there might be things that could be updated.

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

The current color scheme is fairly hard on the eyes, also. That's the thing I'd be most interested in changing. Not the colors themselves, necessarily, but the way in which they're used.

 

[Lex]

Our colour scheme is kind of our signature though, and again something we talked about changing last time and ultimately decided not to. I guess this isn't a bad time to consider it again, but like I say, I don't have a problem with our graphics (I was kind of including our colour scheme in that). I find it more readable than most other places, but that could be because I don't have the world's best eyesight.

I'd like to see posts from the following people:

X
Mako (lol fat chance, no snark intended where is he)
Avec
Dark and Divine
Ryu
Tets (who also deserves a shoutout for writing a few articles this year)
Force
Jiro (still around?)
Tennyo
MOG

I'm not naming and shaming (I swear) it's just that you all have WordPress access privileges, so I particularly want to hear what you think about the staff review thing because you're all going to be affected by it. I wouldn't be comfortable moving forward with any of that unless I heard from at least a majority of you. And ideally I don't want to have to run around sending you all PM's

 

[Ravynne Nevyrmore]

Our colour scheme is kind of our signature though, and again something we talked about changing last time and ultimately decided not to. I guess this isn't a bad time to consider it again, but like I say, I don't have a problem with our graphics (I was kind of including our colour scheme in that). I find it more readable than most other places, but that could be because I don't have the world's best eyesight.

Same colors, different uses. I do understand branding. :|

And not for nothing but I wouldn't have spent what I did on my degree if any old non-designer was just as proficient at making graphic design decisions and doing what I do.

That said, it's one thing for me to have to convince someone why they should pay me to do work for them. It's an entirely different level of insult for me to have convince someone why I should do them the favor of offering my work for free.

 

[Octo]

That said, it's one thing for me to have to convince someone why they should pay me to do work for them. It's an entirely different level of insult for me to have convince someone why I should do them the favor of offering my work for free.

Just because you offer something doesn't mean people have to accept it. I have a degree in Art but I'm not going to get offended if a friend doesn't want me to paint their portrait or something

Anyway, I don't see a problem with you submitting an example of your design, and then we could put it to a vote?

 

[Lex]

That said, it's one thing for me to have to convince someone why they should pay me to do work for them. It's an entirely different level of insult for me to have convince someone why I should do them the favor of offering my work for free.

I'm sorry you feel that way, but we're having a discussion about whether the majority actually want it to change or not. Surely it saves you hassle if the consensus is no.

Anyway I think this thread has had enough chat about site design, further discussion should move to either a new thread or the one we had the last redesign discussion in (which I can't find right this moment). This thread is more content, writing and staff centric and I don't want this to turn into another snippy back and forth, because there are still a lot of staff members we need to hear from.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Just because you offer something doesn't mean people have to accept it. I have a degree in Art but I'm not going to get offended if a friend doesn't want me to paint their portrait or something

Anyway, I don't see a problem with you submitting an example of your design, and then we could put it to a vote?

To add to this, if it's something you feel strongly about but you don't want to go to the trouble of making something that illustrates what you mean without knowing if it would be adopted, you can try to describe what you're visualizing. There are other people here who would understand the concepts you're talking about (I'm not one of them, but other people would).

 

[Telcontar]

I read Lex's post but TLDR'd the rest.

How about Drupal-ing the site? Make the site and forum, one. A Sirum. Or Foite. Or Sifoiterum.

Oh wait! I got it! A Life-sirum. Geddit?! Lifesirum!!! Read it out really fast!

 

[The G'randiest' Daddy]

I have no words for this! hehehe....

 

[Lex]

I'd like to see posts from the following people:

X
Mako (lol fat chance, no snark intended where is he)
Avec
Dark and Divine
Ryu
Tets (who also deserves a shoutout for writing a few articles this year)
Force
Jiro (still around?)
Tennyo
MOG

I'm not naming and shaming (I swear) it's just that you all have WordPress access privileges, so I particularly want to hear what you think about the staff review thing because you're all going to be affected by it. I wouldn't be comfortable moving forward with any of that unless I heard from at least a majority of you. And ideally I don't want to have to run around sending you all PM's

Just wanted to reminderpost this since by default standards we're now on a new page

EDIT: I'm going to have to start PM'ing people aren't I ;-;

 

[Blade]

Oh, um... since we are talking about re-organizing sub-forums, making separate sections for other generic games, I just wanted to point out an observation.

I've made topics in the Generic Games section that went by largely ignored, though I don't know if its because people weren't interested or what... but that might be something to take in consideration when re-organizing. So people can actually tell when a topic shows up.

 

[Geostigma]

The graphics are mostly nice but there are some elements that are dated (gradients are generally regarded as passé now for example). I don't know if a complete overhaul is needed but there might be things that could be updated.

Passé or not how many people actually know that?
If you come to me and tell me a 3 button jacket is very 90's hey you know what I may upgrade my wardrobe.

If you come to me and tell me my site is very 2010. lol.

The fact of the matter is your average lurker isn't going to pick up on the subtle design meta, much less how much of it this site may or may not be lacking.The average lurker wont notice it. The average user who already signed up does not care. The average loyal member here probably loves the design to death.

Yes an argument can be made for the subconscious factors of design but the current TLS themes already factor that in.

Furthermore its not what your site looks like (to an extent of course). It's why it looks the way it does. I love function over fashion and 100% believe that it will always be the deciding factor in someone signing up and sticking around over someone hitting X. There is a reason why sites are designed around 3 clicks before they are designed around a theme


TLS getting an overhaul is unnecessary and if anything only attempts to remedy a symptom not the illness. It's like taking homeopathic remedies when you need antibiotics. You might feel well temporarily but ultimately you're kidding yourself.



TL;DR. Dont be a Halo4 chasing the CoD crowd by ditching your loyal crowd
as long the site does not look like this we are fine

http://www.theworldsworstwebsiteever.com/

edit:

btw still reading through thread just wanted to chime in prematurely regarding something i'm most familiar with. I know you wanted to move past the design chit chat lex, sorry for dragging it up again lol

edit:

Also yes im reading the thread from ending to beginning. Thug life.

 

[Geostigma]

Poast 2 because the last one is formatted horribly enough already.

So what you're saying is.......it will probably take 120 years. It's probably impossible to finish in our lifetime

Would still be finished before the compilation

Focus?​

This question should not be answered with generic "I think we should only talk about FF7/ I wanna talk about all FF!".

It should be preceded with the following questions "What kind of member do I want to attract to TLS"

Do I want the front page to only get hits from FF7 mega-fans? General FF enthusiasts googling random FF7 info? ect.

Do I want more hits on the front page/members signing up.
Thats the point of focusing and refocusing right? Its not about the content you put up its about the demographic you want to appeal to.

If you want new. You cant expect to do something old for something new. Yes doing FF7 stuff will eventually get us new members and hits. But if you want more. Significantly more you have to cast a wide net.

Lets get real here. FF7 is not making any new fans and by extension it will not be netting TLS many new members. The rate at which FF7 can garner new hits for TLS obviously correlates to how much content we can create about it. Especially more so now that SE is doing little to nothing with the content.

I know this is painfully obviously I'm just laying it out lol.

TLS has always sat on the fence regarding focus on the front page. Sometimes we branch out.. sometimes we dont. Sooner or later we just need to flat out decide. Having a clear focus leads to clear vision. if we know what we want to write we dont have to have to ask questions like this.

I know I take a ton of breaks so I may have missed it.. but for the amount of times this question gets asked I cant think of a single time a poll was actually made to finally just answer this question and move on.


We haven't scratched the surface of FF7 content. There's a lot of stuff that can cater to the megafan out there. But that takes a lot of work and we only have 1 mega fan here to do it

Something to consider : There is a shademp for every FF game out there and if we primarily only cover FF7 finding him wont be easy

My personal opinion is that FF7 should be the forefront but we should definitely acknowledge other SE work much much more. More content > More members > More content. Thats the way it works.

FF7 is niche. And we can still primarily cater to its niche crowd without keeping TLS as a whole niche.

Sections/Design​

Definitely keep GD hidden. As an example I've shed some light on my past in there which honestly I cba to find and delete all of (though I have done a decent job of clearing some of it :monster). Having it on the open web would suck. There are many ex-members here who aren't able to go through there post history to delete stuff like that...

Gaming/Entertainment could be alright being public though. They should also be on the main index. Not really much else to say about it lol.

RP - If it doesnt start up again. Archive it imo. It's been just there for a very long time now even if starts up being active again due to fear of closure I bet my bottom dollar it will die out again.

In that same vein ; as much as it hurts me; Archive l33tgfx as well. Tennyo and I are the only posters left who do that sort of thing and I only do it when I feel like dorking around with that style of graphic work.

i already went over redesign in the last post. TL;DR extremely unnecessary.
Could it use some sprucing up? Yeah. All sites could tbh, doesn't mean it needs it and honestly there are more pressing matters at hand. The design is fine.

Misc stuff​

usergroups/titles.

Idk whats going on there but I propose its about time someone just puts me in the great old ones usergroup.

Lettucebecereal here. Im old and pretty damn great.

edit:

lol formatting still trash. GGwp im out.

 

[Lex]

Great old ones is a post count thing, technically not a usergroup

But I like all of what you said Gabe, thanks so much for taking the time to make that post <3. Especially re: content.

 

[Geostigma]

Great old ones is a post count thing, technically not a usergroup

Gutted

 

[Lex]

Here, haff link

 

[Flintlock]

Motion to create a special post count group/status for 7777 posts

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Now you're just making too much damn sense.

 

[Octo]

Motion to create a special post count group/status for 7777 posts

But how long would that last? Until they made 7778 posts? Or until they reach Great Old One?

In all seriousness it would be good to have another post count group in between Legendary and Great old one.