Forum Moving/Merging
This is all for the better. The site had too many forums on the front page and was too overwhelming. Thanks to the merging, things are clumped together to allow for easier searching and so forth. Regardless, you all forgot to make mention that the new mixed JASS/AI/GUI section now has prefixes that distinguish which type of thread. I'm glad Ralle took this suggestion, because ultimately it will allow for internal indexing of an awesome degree in those forums.
You also need to recall that this is a modding site, so off-topic discussion should be kept to its own isolated area (Refer here). This change is better because it tells users that "Hey, this is a modding site, but if you insist on discussing random things, there's a corner you can do it in." This makes the site appear more professional in its primary use.
Rearranged Staff RanksLoss of Colored Names
The only purpose the colors served was to make you feel special when you got promoted or something stupid like that. The reality is that the only legitimate value of colors was on the main page (Not main forum page) so you could browse profiles according to staff rank. Really, though, this served no actual value as that is why these forums exist.
Anyone that makes up complaints to the color being removed is just bitter because they feel like they aren't as cool anymore. Get over yourselves, this is a website that has to be run in an organized fashion, not a God damned popularity contest.
Staff Rank Titles Being Image and Linkless
Moot point, I say; the links would have been a valid point if they linked to the forums that were being moderated themselves. However, though, the links were just to the staff list, which makes no sense and doesn't help users at all. If you are so worried about new users being unable to find the link at the bottom of the forum page that says "View Forum Leaders," then you should just provide an additional link in your signature. Still, though, it's incredibly easy to add the html links into the staff titles without making it an image, so losing links really doesn't constitute a problem in the first place.
The images are just a similar issue as with the colors above. I mean "Ooooh, cooool, he's got a WYVERN ICON AMG!" is ridiculous. They served no purpose whatsoever, and the logic behind the titles being text is infallible. The titles as text allows users to see exactly which forums the specific moderator moderates. This is valuable because then they can know exactly who to turn to when they have concerns in those forums. Additionally, this allows the administrators to delegate certain responsibilities to the moderators within specific forums. God forbid the moderators might actually have to do something now.
Other than the mistakes and sheer mass of forums that some users moderate, the new method is unquestionably superior to the old method.
Now I guess I have a list of random concerns that people had that I have to address somehow. Great, well, if all you cared about was my opinion on the topic at hand, stop reading now.
frostwhisper said:
I still believe that some moderators should be restricted of higher powers (infraction giving for example) to prevent power abuse. Because we all know it's going to happen sooner or later.
If they would abuse power like you suggest, they should be removed as moderators in the first place. This goes along with the need for the staff to be purged in order to come full circle in a total staff reconstruction.
brad.dude03 said:
Sooner or later. I think that some of the Resource Mods are not qualified to have power in the forums, which is why they were RESOURCE mods and not FORUM mods in the past.
What you need to understand is the following: All that has been changed is the nomenclature. The forum mods and resource mods were virtually identical in purpose before anyways. If a mod isn't qualified to have power in a certain forum, then
don't give him power in that forum. It's a very simple solution, one that goes perfectly along with what I was saying earlier: the staff needs to be purged and redone entirely. Some people are terrible representatives of the site and the staff, but they do moderate resources pretty well. That is why the mini-mod rank still exists, because it allows people to help in the resource moderation without having the power to totally screw things up. Bingo, perfecto, exactly what you wanted in the first place.
frostwhisper said:
Also, by handing global powers over to the resource mods, one might say he simply brought the boundaries between the areas in need of moderation. Forum and resource moderators had different jobs. Now... it's all just a big mess.
One might also say that you're falling into the identical trap that Brad did. They
still have different jobs, all that has changed is the nomenclature. Separating resource mods from forum mods in the infrastructure of the website is a ridiculous notion, but of course it makes sense that some people are better qualified to moderate forums than resources and vice versa! You'll notice that there are some users that indeed do only moderate resources, though they are called a moderator! Clear your mind of the fallacies with which you're thinking and it'll make perfect sense!
raft_pi said:
Most new users won't bother with selecting proper prefix. This is gonna create lots of chaos and mess.
I also wanted to discuss this a little bit..
Consider that whether a question has to do with GUI or JASS or AI has little actual impact on what the
solution to the question may be. In reality, these prefixes aren't even needed because now people will probably yell at each other for using the incorrect prefix. Regardless, though, consider that a GUI question may have a JASS answer, or that a JASS question might result in an answer that makes more sense to the user in GUI! The very distinction between a trigger question in GUI and a trigger question in JASS is blurred in the first place, so by virtue of
splitting the sections up you have
limited the range of given solutions to the problem! Now by putting them together, suddenly you've created a world where GUI and JASS are not so different; Were they ever? They're both programming, just one is less intimidating and the other makes lots of stuff easier for those that know it. Regardless of that discussion (Wrong place, as far as I'm concerned), this blurring makes things infinitely better in the long run, every other concern should be taken with a grain of salt.
So please, consider that these changes are for the better regardless of what you might think currently. With a little more focus and a lot more support from the users and the staff, the hive may yet become better still; but ultimately, this cannot happen if the users do not support the admins. Please, for the site's sake,
support them.