Updating The Forums

[danielrbischoff]

Hi everyone!
So there are a handful of things that we'd like to do on the forums, many of which have gotten their own topics here in GRandmasters. I don't want to continue discussing those things. I want to bring up the possibility of updating the forum code so we can have fun with all sorts of new functionality.

This would be a concerted effort between the mods and admins here, as well as the tech team at GR, and well... all of you.

There is a very real chance (likelihood in all honesty) that everyone's accounts will be deleted. This might not be true, we honestly just don't know. Running this risk would mean we'd need all of you to reregister, remember your post counts, join dates, etc.... This isn't a huge deal. In fact, we could run an announcement thread for a month asking everyone who cares to check in.

I don't know.

What do you think? Would you stick it out with GR and the crew here on the forums if we update the code so we can do all sorts of new fun things?

 

[De-Ting]

I'm all for this, but I just have one suggestion, for now. Keep the current forum intact. Lock everything, and put a link to it in the new forum Archives section. This way, everything is preserved, and you can even accurately restore everyone's post counts, details etc. if the switch does in fact require us to make new accounts.

 

[UghRochester]

Similar to what De-Ting said. If all the accounts are deleted, I would worry about returning "old skool" users. They wouldn't know their information that much. Also, there's some like Rainemaida that can only join the forums, because he has his account set to "Remember Me." So, if we did update everything and lost everything, he would be gone.

 

[Sightless]

No, screw it! Kill everything and start fresh. I'm tired of all y'all talking about your sexy relationships with GR and everyone being GR-older than me.


I don't really care. Just as long as this "functionality" is literal, by which I mean actually functional.

 

[GRColin]

The forums kinda need to be brought out of the dark ages. I say do it. I'll gladly change users join dates and post counts....If they accurately record them and PM me.

 

[used44]

Go for it.

 

[NickKmet]

I agree. It might be nice to no longer have my real name in my username too. I've started to shy away from that. Too much effort to change that here now, though.

 

[MattAY]

...You just have to BELIEEEVE...

 

[Affen]

But we hate change.

Right?

 

[maca2kx]

Last time the boards were updated Joeblow sent me a zip file with every user file containing join date, post count, signature and a bunch of other information so I could sort out details for returning posters on request.

As for changing now, I'm fine with it so long as you listen to what the posters want. Not much was changed between the old boards and the current ones but looking at the population of posters enthused enough by the colours you don't hear many saying they prefer white. Yes, it's a small thing but it does bother enough posters for it to it to be an issue for however many years it's been.

The forums have always been a place for a small community; the vast majority of visitors to the site, I'm assuming, don't come here so there doesn't seem to be much point in catering to the wants of the majority when it's the minority making use of the boards. Maybe it'd be worth making a topic in misc asking users what changes they want.

 

[used44]

If black vs white is the main reason somebody wants to do this, then I'll kill myself.

Ooh ooh, make it gray!

 

[Green_Lantern]

Well the plus side of a board revamp....We could have 4 or 5 different forum color palates! No more bitching!

 

[used44]

I'm of the personal opinion that white on black looks incredibly dated. A palette swap option to appease the dummies would be acceptable though.

 

[maca2kx]

If black vs white is the main reason somebody wants to do this, then I'll kill myself.

Ooh ooh, make it gray!

I only use that example because it's the one which keeps cropping up and so it takes less effort for me to think about it. There are a whole host of tangible benefits to upgrading but I'm too busy playing Hitman to actually think of any.

 

[used44]

Speaking of dated. I tried playing Blood Money the other day and I was having trouble deciphering all the odd functions and controls. Which are you playing?

 

[maca2kx]

The very same. I do have the Sniper Challenge on my hard drive and I could improve my score on that but I'm giving it a break for a while. Blood Money came into the store last week so I figured I may as well pick it up to get ready for Absolution later this year.

 

[used44]

I spent ten minutes in the tutorial struggling to throw that fucking coin.

 

[maca2kx]

The coin mechanic makes no god damn sense but the only time I've used it is in the tutorial. I'm glad games have moved on but I don't think context sensitive buttons were much used before Hitman so as an early attempt it's ok. Plus I love executing perfect hits.

 

[Rainemaida]

Thanks @Ugh, what could you possibly need to add to the forums to go through the trouble of deleting all the accounts? We already went through this one time. We have polls, wtf else do we needs?

 

[danielrbischoff]

Yes, this is not about white on black, but the palette choices would be a nice benefit. In regards to majority of users and minority that use the boards, the board folks are the ones eager for black background.