The Lifestream & 2015

[Lex]

SEO is something I've been pushing and I did leave instructions in a thread for authors, people have been putting that in their articles. When we change to a new wordpress theme we'll be on the latest version and the SEO will sort itself (and I'll write another guide, because there's an SEO section in each article edit below aswell). I do think something might be slightly wrong/ it's not working somehow or we're being blocked by google or something, because it's set so that we should appear with any mention of FFVII.

You have to register with google news, which is something I think Yop did complete a while ago (it was asking for a webmaster's address).

As for the site redesign, we're going for a theme that we can play around with to find the right balance for us, and that's going to be changeable in future. Wordpress themes are fairly easy to work with as long as you know basic CSS, and anyone can learn basic CSS, so at this time I don't really see the need to hire a third party to do something like that for us. In terms of layout, we'll have a malleable theme, and in terms of graphics the colour scheme/banner etc. will remain the same or similar, and any graphical changes can be made by Pixel and/or Flint. The front page is the most important job, but the tedious part is going to be migrating and skinning a design and functionality we all like on entirely new forum software (Xenforo).

We're not going to be able to please everybody, but it's all for the sake of making the place that little bit shinier. The most important thing is that we'll still be dark, we'll still be green, and we'll still be The Lifestream. No matter what software or foundations we're using.

EDIT: One thing we really need to do soon is a Donation "event" or "drive", and I'll leave the organisation of that up to Flint. But I was thinking an event like "VII in a day" again or something similar to get up views, attract people to the site and drive donations for the upgrades.

 

[Flare]

I was curious about the search engine thing, so I typed up 'Final Fantasy VII fan sites' and TLS is the second one that popped up.
Typing just 'Final Fantasy VII sites' shows TLS as the 10th suggestion, so it's still on the first page.
'FFVII sites' has TLS again as the 2nd suggestion.
'FF7 sites' has TLS as the 7th.
'Final Fantasy VII news' has TLS on the 2nd page of suggestions.

Okay basically I had fun typing this stuff up in different ways, but the gist is that if you get a little bit specific TLS actually shows up fairly quickly. But just typing up FFVII (spelling it out all the way or not) doesn't reveal anything for at least a few pages, from what I could see.
IIRC, the first time I stumbled on this site years ago was by accident as I searched for FF info, either that or I heard it from my cousin and looked it up. Since then, after seeing all the stuff on here, I tried to come back and check it out periodically. I think I'd forgotten the site name once shortly after discovering it, but after some searching found it again.
Er, I guess my point is, I was interested in this site because I'm a nerd for FF, and once I found this site, I remembered it, even when I forgot the name. And eventually I found it again because I was determined. So anyway I think this turned out to be sort of unhelpful and basically nothing to do with finding new members/readers/viewers unless they're super nerds as well and search for this stuff like I did. So I'll be going now.

 

[Joe]

This makes me think of FCF, and I'll have to call on Joe (and Omega or Road if they still arse themselves around here).... do either of you remember way back when FCF was early and we had that self made wiki attached to the site? Seamless, fun, user friendly and engaging and applicable to anything...

I do, though I can't say I ever found my way on to the main site often. That does take me back though, jeez. I think it was a pretty fun thing then but FCF wasn't really about anything whereas we have a very definable slice of the internet here.

There's nothing more frustrating than a wiki that doesn't have the information you want; I feel we couldn't accomodate a wiki that covers all topics and we're already discussing the prospect of creating a guide for FFVII.

 

[vaderSW1]

Doesn't even have to be a Patreon, just a general donate button seen somewhere on the forum would help, I think. No shame in that.

Personally, I feel like a Patreon would work best because it is an ongoing fund. When a person signs up to donate to a Patreon they make a monthly contribution of whatever amount they agree to.

We're redesigning the site? But it's so pretty.

I don't think the color scheme is going to change any time soon at all. I just think there are things that can be done to clean up the interface and make the site a bit more user friendly. There's also things that can be done to make the site and forums more mobile friendly.

This makes me think of FCF, and I'll have to call on Joe (and Omega or Road if they still arse themselves around here).... do either of you remember way back when FCF was early and we had that self made wiki attached to the site? Seamless, fun, user friendly and engaging and applicable to anything...

I don't think I ever visited FCF previously so I'm not very familiar. I'm not saying that TLS should become a full on Wiki style site. I'm saying that it would be an awesome addition to have a Wiki style portion of the site that could be a database for FF and related collectibles and games. Give users the chance to track their collections and add to our knowledge and database.

This is true.... even searching Final Fantasy VII doesn't bring up TLS in the top searches...

Yeah, I'm not sure why it is this way but we are definitely missing out on site hits because something is not right.

SEO is something I've been pushing and I did leave instructions in a thread for authors, people have been putting that in their articles. When we change to a new wordpress theme we'll be on the latest version and the SEO will sort itself (and I'll write another guide, because there's an SEO section in each article edit below aswell). I do think something might be slightly wrong/ it's not working somehow or we're being blocked by google or something, because it's set so that we should appear with any mention of FFVII.

You have to register with google news, which is something I think Yop did complete a while ago (it was asking for a webmaster's address).

I'm not much of a knowledge on SEO but I am curious, why would upgrading Wordpress make a difference? It seems that in some of the limited web design work I've done that the difference is often in the words used in the header of the site in HTML. I could be wrong and I might not be remembering correctly.

Lets say that upgrading WP does straighten out the SEO for articles posted to the front page. What about any of the TLS projects, such as the translations or the forthcoming FFVII walkthrough? How about fixing the iTunes searching for the podcast?

As for the site redesign, we're going for a theme that we can play around with to find the right balance for us, and that's going to be changeable in future. Wordpress themes are fairly easy to work with as long as you know basic CSS, and anyone can learn basic CSS, so at this time I don't really see the need to hire a third party to do something like that for us. In terms of layout, we'll have a malleable theme, and in terms of graphics the colour scheme/banner etc. will remain the same or similar, and any graphical changes can be made by Pixel and/or Flint. The front page is the most important job, but the tedious part is going to be migrating and skinning a design and functionality we all like on entirely new forum software (Xenforo).

We're not going to be able to please everybody, but it's all for the sake of making the place that little bit shinier. The most important thing is that we'll still be dark, we'll still be green, and we'll still be The Lifestream. No matter what software or foundations we're using.

I understand why you would want to stick with WP and the ability to use CSS. I do, however, feel adding a Wiki style piece of the site for users to help us build a collectibles/games database would be an awesome addition. We could even have a widget on the main page that randomly shows a collectible/game of the day and another widget that shows off a given user's collection daily. This would surely help drive up site engagement.

EDIT: One thing we really need to do soon is a Donation "event" or "drive", and I'll leave the organisation of that up to Flint. But I was thinking an event like "VII in a day" again or something similar to get up views, attract people to the site and drive donations for the upgrades.

I know I'm saying this for the umpteenth time in this thread but, Patreon is the way to go. We just, as a staff, would need to come up with some incentives we could offer for the Patreon donors. Surely, that wouldn't be too difficult. Patreon would do away with the need to have a one-time donation drive.

I was curious about the search engine thing, so I typed up 'Final Fantasy VII fan sites' and TLS is the second one that popped up.
Typing just 'Final Fantasy VII sites' shows TLS as the 10th suggestion, so it's still on the first page.
'FFVII sites' has TLS again as the 2nd suggestion.
'FF7 sites' has TLS as the 7th.
'Final Fantasy VII news' has TLS on the 2nd page of suggestions.

Okay basically I had fun typing this stuff up in different ways, but the gist is that if you get a little bit specific TLS actually shows up fairly quickly. But just typing up FFVII (spelling it out all the way or not) doesn't reveal anything for at least a few pages, from what I could see.
IIRC, the first time I stumbled on this site years ago was by accident as I searched for FF info, either that or I heard it from my cousin and looked it up. Since then, after seeing all the stuff on here, I tried to come back and check it out periodically. I think I'd forgotten the site name once shortly after discovering it, but after some searching found it again.
Er, I guess my point is, I was interested in this site because I'm a nerd for FF, and once I found this site, I remembered it, even when I forgot the name. And eventually I found it again because I was determined. So anyway I think this turned out to be sort of unhelpful and basically nothing to do with finding new members/readers/viewers unless they're super nerds as well and search for this stuff like I did. So I'll be going now.

Flare, thanks for helping to illustrate the point I was making about the SEO. You are EXACTLY right! Unless you are a FFVII fan, it is very difficult to find TLS. We need to fix the SEO so that we can bring in the general gamers and light/new FF fans as well.

I do, though I can't say I ever found my way on to the main site often. That does take me back though, jeez. I think it was a pretty fun thing then but FCF wasn't really about anything whereas we have a very definable slice of the internet here.

There's nothing more frustrating than a wiki that doesn't have the information you want; I feel we couldn't accomodate a wiki that covers all topics and we're already discussing the prospect of creating a guide for FFVII.

You actually bring up a very interesting point Joe. TLS is, indeed, a niche website as we are primarily a FFVII based website. However, I think it is dangerous to corner ourselves into being exclusively FFVII related. We should be willing to branch out. I feel like TLS does a pretty decent job of reporting FF news on the whole, especially with the podcast. I think we could do a better job of reporting FF news on the main page though. The point, I'm getting to is we shouldn't be afraid of covering all Final Fantasy games. Open ourselves up to a broader spectrum of the fanbase. We can still be FFVII-centric but we can also be expansive to the other games.

I think, personally, it would be amazing for TLS to eventually offer its own walkthroughs for every numbered FF game. It's a huge task, yes, but it doesn't have to be done tomorrow. There is so much FF knowledge amongst the members of TLS already. Imagine what we could pull in with being a bit more expansive!

To that end, I have actually been looking into getting in touch with SE to see about the possibility of TLS obtaining an advance copy of FFXV so that we can offer a review of the game before or coinciding with its official release. By that same token, hopefully, getting on good terms with SE so that we might have the possibility of doing interviews with the creators and voice cast of the various FF games. I feel like these would be HUGE for TLS and would help drive some serious traffic to TLS.

 

[Lex]

I'm not much of a knowledge on SEO but I am curious, why would upgrading Wordpress make a difference? It seems that in some of the limited web design work I've done that the difference is often in the words used in the header of the site in HTML. I could be wrong and I might not be remembering correctly.

It's a little bit more complicated than that re: how google indexes sites. Our wording is absolutely fine, it contains "Final Fantasy VII" in the title, the description, and there are a load of FF related keywords that should be bringing us up in searches. Upgrading WP should make a difference because the SEO plugin we're using is also outdated.

Lets say that upgrading WP does straighten out the SEO for articles posted to the front page. What about any of the TLS projects, such as the translations or the forthcoming FFVII walkthrough? How about fixing the iTunes searching for the podcast?

I don't know what you mean here. SEO is set by article/page, not by the site as a whole. Searching for FFVII translations specifically will bring up our articles on the first page of any search engine. Also, SEO is for web search engines and will have absolutely no effect on iTunes. iTunes has a search function, but it's not a search engine. Consider adding Final Fantasy VII to the title of the podcasts for increased visibility.

I understand why you would want to stick with WP and the ability to use CSS. I do, however, feel adding a Wiki style piece of the site for users to help us build a collectibles/games database. We could even have a widget on the main page that randomly shows a collectible/game of the day and another widget that shows off a given user's collection daily. This would surely help drive up site engagement.

All of these things can be added without a wiki though. There are forum plugins that allow a user's game collection to appear as little icons under their username (we'd keep them VII specific). I'm not entirely sure how regular Wiki's show off users collections? Elaborate please?

I know I'm saying this for the umpteenth time in this thread but, Patreon is the way to go. We just, as a staff, would need to come up with some incentives we could offer for the Patreon donors. Surely, that wouldn't be too difficult. Patreon would do away with the need to have a one-time donation drive.

I'm again confused as to how this is different from having users donate here through PayPal with our own events and incentives. This also eliminates the cut of pledges that Patreon would take.

 

[vaderSW1]

I'm not much of a knowledge on SEO but I am curious, why would upgrading Wordpress make a difference? It seems that in some of the limited web design work I've done that the difference is often in the words used in the header of the site in HTML. I could be wrong and I might not be remembering correctly.

It's a little bit more complicated than that re: how google indexes sites. Our wording is absolutely fine, it contains "Final Fantasy VII" in the title, the description, and there are a load of FF related keywords that should be bringing us up in searches. Upgrading WP should make a difference because the SEO plugin we're using is also outdated.

Lets say that upgrading WP does straighten out the SEO for articles posted to the front page. What about any of the TLS projects, such as the translations or the forthcoming FFVII walkthrough? How about fixing the iTunes searching for the podcast?

I don't know what you mean here. SEO is set by article/page, not by the site as a whole. Searching for FFVII translations specifically will bring up our articles on the first page of any search engine. Also, SEO is for web search engines and will have absolutely no effect on iTunes. iTunes has a search function, but it's not a search engine. Consider adding Final Fantasy VII to the title of the podcasts for increased visibility.

I understand why you would want to stick with WP and the ability to use CSS. I do, however, feel adding a Wiki style piece of the site for users to help us build a collectibles/games database. We could even have a widget on the main page that randomly shows a collectible/game of the day and another widget that shows off a given user's collection daily. This would surely help drive up site engagement.

All of these things can be added without a wiki though. There are forum plugins that allow a user's game collection to appear as little icons under their username (we'd keep them VII specific). I'm not entirely sure how regular Wiki's show off users collections? Elaborate please?

I know I'm saying this for the umpteenth time in this thread but, Patreon is the way to go. We just, as a staff, would need to come up with some incentives we could offer for the Patreon donors. Surely, that wouldn't be too difficult. Patreon would do away with the need to have a one-time donation drive.

I'm again confused as to how this is different from having users donate here through PayPal with our own events and incentives. This also eliminates the cut of pledges that Patreon would take.

Hey Lex, maybe we can talk about this in a Mumble or Skype chat? I think it might be easier to talk through some of this stuff then try to type it out and explain it. Let me know if you have some time this weekend and we can chat a bit.

 

[Cthulhu]

I have no faith in a donation drive; the only successful one we've had was when we got vB erm... six or seven years ago. A designer will cost at least $30 / hour, and redesigning the site will take several days if done right. Besides, a donation drive will just be a temporary measure; all things considered, I'm still well over €1000 in the minus with the past seven years of hosting costs (if my math the other day is correct). Which is fine, off course.

I'd rather see a more sustainable form of income; ads have been pretty good lately (€20 / month ish), it'd increase a bit if we add them to the front page. I'd rather see a subscription model of sorts though, 50 cents / €1 per month per person would already help out a lot (we'd break even if we had 20 - 30 people doing that - although TBF I doubt we've got that many).

SEO is also bullshit; just use proper markup (headings, text and links) and get people to link to your content (cite as sources and such), that's what SEO boils down to nowadays. We probably could do with some more blurbs of text on the front page though, right now it's mostly titles and only the featured article has text - we'll want a paragraph or a short blurb for the main articles / content on the front page in a redesign, I think. But, I know nothing.

 

[Pixel]

Patreon could be the way to go, but would we be offering incentives? Maybe the podcast early access... I can't really offer anything audiobook related, since those are nearly finished.

 

[Ami]

There are designers who are available for relatively cheaper than that on Fiverr. Some other services available and they have a lot of user reviews, too.

*sneaks out*

 

[Pixel]

Fiverr is a bit hit and miss tbh. We don't really need a designer, we can do it all ourselves.

 

[Flintlock]

^ Can we interpret that as you saying you're definitely going to help out?

I agree about Fiverr. I'm not the best graphics designer but even I would probably expect more than £5 for a whole site redesign.

 

[Pixel]

^ Can we interpret that as you saying you're definitely going to help out?

Haven't we already been over that? Im pretty sure my involvement in the design has been discussed. :/

I agree about Fiverr. I'm not the best graphics designer but even I would probably expect more than £5 for a whole site redesign.

Most design stuff on there is pre-composed stuff, just customised. You can customise gigs with extras to get more, but its still going to be pre made to some extent.

All we need is dimensions for graphic-y bts. Then we can design everything with input from everyone, like we did with the original skin.

 

[Flintlock]

The last I heard was a maybe, and I'm not sure if it was in a thread or just through talking to other staff members. But if you're saying that you're on board, then great.

 

[Lex]

I have no faith in a donation drive; the only successful one we've had was when we got vB erm... six or seven years ago. A designer will cost at least $30 / hour, and redesigning the site will take several days if done right. Besides, a donation drive will just be a temporary measure; all things considered, I'm still well over €1000 in the minus with the past seven years of hosting costs (if my math the other day is correct). Which is fine, off course.

The money stuff is obviously down to you Yop, and Flint always has good ideas for community events (and that other one he had a while back that we discussed in the chat about the subscription-style thingy), really whatever works. Hopefully we hit a stage where unobtrusive ads are present on the front site and we're getting enough traffic that you at least break even.

A donation drive would more be to cover upfront costs of the software we're about to buy so you're not immediately out of pocket. I understand that you're willing to do that and it's great, but there are plenty of people (myself included) willing to donate towards a chunk of it to spare you any excess cost.

SEO is also bullshit; just use proper markup (headings, text and links) and get people to link to your content (cite as sources and such), that's what SEO boils down to nowadays. We probably could do with some more blurbs of text on the front page though, right now it's mostly titles and only the featured article has text - we'll want a paragraph or a short blurb for the main articles / content on the front page in a redesign, I think. But, I know nothing.

The way it's working with the site right now is that we're having to fill out the SEO box to make the link, tags and description appear properly in internet search engines. Using "proper markup" as you call it (which we do and always have done) shows the preview as bare with no title for pages etc. You'll likely know more about this stuff than me though. The only thing I know is that everywhere screams that SEO is the MOAST IMPOARTANT TOOL FOR COMING UP IN SEARCH RESULTS EVAARRR and having worked with other places that used it, I remember it working quite well (or at least differently).

 

[Cthulhu]

Ah yeah, the metadata is still important; I'd consider that part of markup too, I guess. Don't bother with the 'keywords' field though, no search engine uses that anymore.

I should get to working on the new server again. I should be able to restore an older backup on there today so we can check if everything works, then we can set a date. We'd have excess server power for hosting other things again too - irc or some other chat system, preferably integrated with a shoutbox. Oh shit I was working on a shoutbox too, herp.

 

[Claymore]

On the subject of the new site / forums, could we have a couple of skins to go with it right off the bat? The same green lifestream colour but with pure white text? The current 'mute grey' can be difficult to read at times - and that's without any all other colour options popping up in different posts.

 

[Flintlock]

We were discussing a lighter font colour in IRC the other day, as it happens. I think it would be good idea, though white white would probably be too bright.

You can disable custom post colours in the User CP if they bother you. I've had them switched off since the day I got here.

 

[Claymore]

You can disable custom post colours in the User CP if they bother you. I've had them switched off since the day I got here.

Oh, didn't know that! Will check that out.

 

[Cthulhu]

We'll probably want a solid 'one true' skin to begin with; I don't think I'll be trying to port all existing skins over, cba. Any help in that regard will be much appreciated, if only a list of color codes to use; I'm no designer myself, I know nothing.

 

[Channy]

This makes me think of FCF, and I'll have to call on Joe (and Omega or Road if they still arse themselves around here).... do either of you remember way back when FCF was early and we had that self made wiki attached to the site? Seamless, fun, user friendly and engaging and applicable to anything...

I do, though I can't say I ever found my way on to the main site often. That does take me back though, jeez. I think it was a pretty fun thing then but FCF wasn't really about anything whereas we have a very definable slice of the internet here.

I don't think I ever visited FCF previously so I'm not very familiar. I'm not saying that TLS should become a full on Wiki style site. I'm saying that it would be an awesome addition to have a Wiki style portion of the site that could be a database for FF and related collectibles and games. Give users the chance to track their collections and add to our knowledge and database.

The actual main site of FCF was a bit of a lark, but the wiki was fun. The main thing it was used for was establishing forum history with members, shipping, etc. And it was tucked off to the site yet easily accessible from the main menu, same as the Chat is here.

I understand why you would want to stick with WP and the ability to use CSS. I do, however, feel adding a Wiki style piece of the site for users to help us build a collectibles/games database would be an awesome addition. We could even have a widget on the main page that randomly shows a collectible/game of the day and another widget that shows off a given user's collection daily. This would surely help drive up site engagement.

There's nothing more frustrating than a wiki that doesn't have the information you want; I feel we couldn't accomodate a wiki that covers all topics and we're already discussing the prospect of creating a guide for FFVII.

How could we, as a collective, not be able to cover all the topics within FFVII? I mean, if you really wanted, you could have branch offs for the other serials but we would have a kickass compendium of all VII compilation information. With previous translators with Ultimanias, current enthused people partaking in ongoing discussions, I think it would have tons of info for people looking into VII.

Doesn't even have to be a Patreon, just a general donate button seen somewhere on the forum would help, I think. No shame in that.

Personally, I feel like a Patreon would work best because it is an ongoing fund. When a person signs up to donate to a Patreon they make a monthly contribution of whatever amount they agree to.

I know I'm saying this for the umpteenth time in this thread but, Patreon is the way to go. We just, as a staff, would need to come up with some incentives we could offer for the Patreon donors. Surely, that wouldn't be too difficult. Patreon would do away with the need to have a one-time donation drive.

True, and the donation is just imo. Patreon's are good for people who have the steady income to donate the 5-10-15-20 every month and it doesn't hurt them, but there are incentives. Like Pixel mentions below, just not sure what that would be here. However, adding an additional donation option offers people the choice to donate the odd larger sum if they've come into money and felt generous at a certain point. (i.e. a bonus at work or sold something on ebay, whatever).

You actually bring up a very interesting point Joe. TLS is, indeed, a niche website as we are primarily a FFVII based website. However, I think it is dangerous to corner ourselves into being exclusively FFVII related. We should be willing to branch out.

I don't look at this as a bad thing though, I think this is something we should embrace. I mean, having been gone for a few years, I don't know, but was it ever often talked about to try and cover more non-VII things, either FF or SE involved?

We cover a very marketable game, being made relevant again with the remake. We should definitely capitalize on that.

To that end, I have actually been looking into getting in touch with SE to see about the possibility of TLS obtaining an advance copy of FFXV so that we can offer a review of the game before or coinciding with its official release. By that same token, hopefully, getting on good terms with SE so that we might have the possibility of doing interviews with the creators and voice cast of the various FF games. I feel like these would be HUGE for TLS and would help drive some serious traffic to TLS.

That's pretty risky though, no? I mean, if it worked out well, it would no doubt be positive for the site and the members... but I also think about... who would that advance copy go to? Who would be entitled to that? How do they share? Skype? Private Twitch? How do you know someone's not going to leak it out to others (in someway that it would be bad, though given a possibility of ARC reviewing it, it'd still be good, but yeah)..

Also, would SE be on board with that? Would they want anything to do with us? Would they like what they see?

I mean, I frequented a FF collectibles website that at one point was approached by a member of SE NA during Christmas where they started chitchatting with people and pitched a graphics contest for some merch. It was fun to interact and actually see someone on the other side.

Eventually, someone who did a lot of custom Play Arts, went to events, etc, got cherrypicked and now works for SE merch division.

irc or some other chat system, preferably integrated with a shoutbox. Oh shit I was working on a shoutbox too, herp.

I knew you forgot...

We were discussing a lighter font colour in IRC the other day, as it happens. I think it would be good idea, though white white would probably be too bright.

You can disable custom post colours in the User CP if they bother you. I've had them switched off since the day I got here.

But my beautiful red

 

[Flintlock]

Sorry.

Regarding the potential review copy of XV (and, hopefully, the eventual VII remake), I would rather have someone, anyone, on our staff team get hold of it than miss out because we can't decide who should get it. I think it would do TLS a world of good, and I trust in the other members of our team to have similarly unselfish attitudes. Though if I worked for Square Enix, I probably wouldn't give us a copy of XV at the moment - VII is a different matter, since that's our speciality, and since we'll (hopefully) have a more professional-looking operation going here by the time that swings around.

Speaking of VII, we did decide at the beginning of the year that we'd branch out into covering the series as a whole, while keeping our VII focus. That was before the remake announcement, of course. I think everyone realises, even without it being explicitly stated, that covering the remake will be our absolute #1 priority from now until many years after its release (when I put it like that, I can see why Shademp decided to step down ). That's not to say we can't cover other stuff as well, but it will have to take a back-seat whenever there's remake news.

 

[Cthulhu]

Actually, I think it wouldn't have to take a back seat as long as we've got enough people writing articles. I'm sorta reading "I don't have time to write about XV because I'm too busy with VII", but if we had people going "I'll do the XV stuff, you can focus on VII", it'd help everyone. I think.

 

[Flintlock]

That'd be good, but I was more referring to the attention we'd give those respective articles on our front page. One thing I really want to see in our new WP theme is the ability to prioritise certain posts over others, rather than just making the newest story the most prominent. If we have massive news about the remake and then some relatively minor news about XV (or whatever), the massive news should stay at the top. There's probably algorithms for that kind of stuff - give every article a starting priority, which will decay over time. If not, we could hard-code something, though that wouldn't be ideal. But I'm getting into more detail than is arguably necessary right now, so I'll save it for another time.

 

[Claymore]

You mean, this theme doesn't even have a 'sticky option' that enables you to keep important articles at the top? Oh wow. But yeah, with any newer theme will come options for that - including sticky / featured, or the ability to set tailored eye catching articles into sets and such (i.e remake related, FF news, podcasts, audiobooks, etc...)

 

[Lex]

Actually, I think it wouldn't have to take a back seat as long as we've got enough people writing articles. I'm sorta reading "I don't have time to write about XV because I'm too busy with VII", but if we had people going "I'll do the XV stuff, you can focus on VII", it'd help everyone. I think.

We kind of have that already, and it's not working. The new titles were created exactly for that purpose, and while it worked for a short time after the staff rejig at the end of last year, we've just fallen back into whoever's available posting whatever's relevant.