Slimming down the forums

Voice your opinions, concerns and suggestions on how to make the Transport Tycoon Forums better.

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What is your opinion on this?

OH GOD NO! What are you thinking?!
1
7%
Well, I'd rather we didn't change anything
1
7%
I don't really care, do whatever you please
0
No votes
Hmm.. Yeah, you might be onto something, BUT...
4
27%
Wow. This is fantastic. I totally support this
9
60%
 
Total votes: 15

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Chrill
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Slimming down the forums

Post by Chrill »

I'd suggest a trimming of the different Forum Sections in order to reduce the length of the first page. A first draft would be something like this:

Read These First
- News
- FAQ / Help Centre
General
- Forum Suggestions and Feedback
- Real-World Transport Discussion
- Off-Topic
--- Forum Games
Transport Tycoon
- OpenTTD
--- General OpenTTD
--- OpenTTD Probems
--- OpenTTD Suggestions
--- OpenTTD AIs and Game Scripts
--- OpenTTD Development
- Transport Tycoon Graphics Development
--- Graphics Releases
--- Graphics Development
--- NewGRF Technical Discussions
- Screenshots, Scenarios and Saved Games
--- Screenshots
--- Scenarios and Saved Games
- Transport Tycoon
--- Transport Tycoon (2013)
--- General Transport Tycoon
--- Transport Tycoon (Original and Deluxe) (I think this section could hold everything related to anything TT-esque from the 90s, including the General Problems section)
- TTDPatch (All these three forums have grown inactive and could be merged into one section)
Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
- General Locomotion
- Locomotion Problems, FAQs and Tutorials (could include the Locomotion Beginners section too)
- Locomotion Scenarios and Saved Games
- Locomotion Graphics, Modifications & Tools
Others Projects and Games
- Transport Empire (Does not need 4 different open sections, last post in any of these were half a year ago)
- Railroad Tycoon Series
- P1Sim
- Simutrans
- Transport Giant
- 3DTT (Trains & Trucks Tycoon)
- Zugspiel
- Transport Unlimited


This is a very quick draft, and I am hoping for your help in re-arranging the sections. Perhaps you want to see something change a bit less than I do? Please provide feedback!

The biggest change is really the merging of OpenTTD, TTDPatch and the original games into one large section with several sub-sections.
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Pilot
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Pilot »

I'm never a big fan of these changes just after they occur, however, if they were to happen, I could probably learn to live with them.
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Redirect Left
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Redirect Left »

I'd also suggest merging most of the 'Other projects & games' into one forum with a load of subforums.
Simutrans - Has their own forum, so may explain why this one is fairly dead.
Transport Giant - Relatively inactive
Transport Unlimited - Forum seemingly died back in 2004 anyway.
Zugspiel - Not used since 2011, the website also seems to have stopped being used many years ago, indeed the 'forum' link on the website goes to http://ttforums.owenrudge.net/viewforum.php?f=34
Railroad Tycoon Series - Not used since 2013
P1SIM - Somewhat inactive, and it has been hinted that development is stalled until at least 2017.

If merged into one forum with lots of subforums, that'd also chew a fair bit off the front page.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Chris »

What redirect left said
Screenshots

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orudge
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by orudge »

I'd rather not merge actual forums together, but there could be a case for making some of the top-level forums subforums (e.g., move General Transport Empire Discussion into Other Projects and Games and make the other forums subforums; make General TTDPatch a top-level forum under Transport Tycoon and make the other forums subforums). Does this sound good, or does anybody have any objections?
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Chrill
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Chrill »

orudge wrote:I'd rather not merge actual forums together, but there could be a case for making some of the top-level forums subforums (e.g., move General Transport Empire Discussion into Other Projects and Games and make the other forums subforums; make General TTDPatch a top-level forum under Transport Tycoon and make the other forums subforums). Does this sound good, or does anybody have any objections?
Perhaps something more akin to this, then?

Read These First
- News
- FAQ / Help Centre

General
- Forum Suggestions and Feedback
- Real-World Transport Discussion
- Off-Topic
--- Forum Games

OpenTTD
- General OpenTTD
- OpenTTD Probems
- OpenTTD Suggestions
- OpenTTD AIs and Game Scripts
- OpenTTD Development

Transport Tycoon General
- Graphics Releases
- Graphics Development
- NewGRF Technical Discussions
- Screenshots, Scenarios and Saved Games
--- Screenshots
--- Scenarios and Saved Games
- General TTDPatch
--- Problems with TTDPatch
--- Suggestions
- Transport Tycoon (2013)
- Transport Tycoon (Original and Deluxe)
- General Transport Tycoon

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
- General Locomotion
- Locomotion Problems, FAQs and Tutorials
- Locomotion Scenarios and Saved Games
- Locomotion Graphics, Modifications & Tools

Others Projects and Games
- Transport Empire
- Railroad Tycoon Series
- P1Sim
- Simutrans
- Transport Giant
- 3DTT (Trains & Trucks Tycoon)
- Zugspiel
- Transport Unlimited
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planetmaker
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by planetmaker »

I do believe that OpenTTD should keep staying a top heading. This is our official forum after all and it should reflect that.
The related graphics forums could become a sub-forums of that, though. As could the screenshots and savegames one (yes, I know they are meant to be a bit broader)
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Chrill »

planetmaker wrote:I do believe that OpenTTD should keep staying a top heading. This is our official forum after all and it should reflect that.
The related graphics forums could become a sub-forums of that, though. As could the screenshots and savegames one (yes, I know they are meant to be a bit broader)
OpenTTD
- General OpenTTD
- OpenTTD Probems
- OpenTTD Suggestions
- OpenTTD AIs and Game Scripts
- OpenTTD Development
- Graphics Releases
- Graphics Development
- NewGRF Technical Discussions
- Screenshots, Scenarios and Saved Games
--- Screenshots
--- Scenarios and Saved Games

Like this?
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Pilot
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Pilot »

I agree that Screenshots & Scenarios, as well as graphics, should probably come under OpenTTD. Aren't 99% of the screenshots/scenarios/graphics all to do with OpenTTD now anyway?
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by WWTBAM »

Pilot wrote:I agree that Screenshots & Scenarios, as well as graphics, should probably come under OpenTTD. Aren't 99% of the screenshots/scenarios/graphics all to do with OpenTTD now anyway?
I would oppose that since they were created to unite the previous duplication in the TT TTDP and OTTD sections of the old old home page.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by kamnet »

I'd like to make the suggestion of renaming the OpenTTD Graphics Development and Graphics Release forums as NewGRF Development and NewGRF Release.
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Chrill
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Chrill »

A new suggestion, then:

Read These First
- News
- FAQ / Help Centre

General
- Forum Suggestions and Feedback
- Real-World Transport Discussion
- Off-Topic
--- Forum Games

OpenTTD
- General OpenTTD
- OpenTTD Probems
- OpenTTD Suggestions
- OpenTTD AIs and Game Scripts
- OpenTTD Development
- NewGRF Releases
- NewGRF Development
- NewGRF Technical Discussions

Screenshots, Scenarios and Saved Games/User Creatoins/Show your work/etc.
- Screenshots
- Scenarios and Saved Games

Transport Tycoon General
- General TTDPatch
--- TTDPatch Problems
--- TTDPatch Suggestions
- Transport Tycoon (2013)
- Transport Tycoon (Original and Deluxe)
- General Transport Tycoon

Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
- General Locomotion
- Locomotion Problems, FAQs and Tutorials
- Locomotion Scenarios and Saved Games
- Locomotion Graphics, Modifications & Tools

Others Projects and Games
- Transport Empire
- Railroad Tycoon Series
- P1Sim
- Simutrans
- Transport Giant
- 3DTT (Trains & Trucks Tycoon)
- Zugspiel
- Transport Unlimited

Here, I've separated the Screenshots/Saved Games section. I don't know what to call it, but at least it stands out as the "show your own content" section. Not sure about the order here.
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lukasz1985
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by lukasz1985 »

I think, there should be some "Legacy" part of forum, because from what I see there are places, people dont care about and dont post in anymore. That would clean up things a little. This should include some of the abandoned and inactive projects, they're just hogging up the space.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Redirect Left »

I still think my previous post about merging the majority of other projects into one forum with a load of subforums has merit, given the points i made, and how much it'd shave off.
Redirect Left wrote:I'd also suggest merging most of the 'Other projects & games' into one forum with a load of subforums.
Simutrans - Has their own forum, so may explain why this one is fairly dead.
Transport Giant - Relatively inactive
Transport Unlimited - Forum seemingly died back in 2004 anyway.
Zugspiel - Not used since 2011, the website also seems to have stopped being used many years ago, indeed the 'forum' link on the website goes to http://ttforums.owenrudge.net/viewforum.php?f=34
Railroad Tycoon Series - Not used since 2013
P1SIM - Somewhat inactive, and it has been hinted that development is stalled until at least 2017.

If merged into one forum with lots of subforums, that'd also chew a fair bit off the front page.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by orudge »

Genuine question - is the length of the index page a problem for people in some way? We already reorganised a while ago to place the most active forums (OpenTTD and Graphics) at the top. Perhaps there could be an argument for moving Locomotion above Transport Tycoon (it's maybe more active these days than the TT and TTDPatch forums), but would there be a particular benefit to making some of the other further-down forums into subforums?
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by lukasz1985 »

It's not a problem for me. But we're not talking about problems but convenience, I guess.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Redirect Left »

orudge wrote:but would there be a particular benefit to making some of the other further-down forums into subforums?
Just makes it look a bit smaller, doesn't display the fact so many forums are inactive and saves a (very tiny) bit of bandwidth on the index.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Chrill »

orudge wrote:Genuine question - is the length of the index page a problem for people in some way? We already reorganised a while ago to place the most active forums (OpenTTD and Graphics) at the top. Perhaps there could be an argument for moving Locomotion above Transport Tycoon (it's maybe more active these days than the TT and TTDPatch forums), but would there be a particular benefit to making some of the other further-down forums into subforums?
Not a problem, but a preference. Aesthetically speaking, I think it would look more clean.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by Transportman »

I agree with trimming down a bit, no need to keep things around on the front page just for the sake of keeping them around.

I agree largely with the last suggestion of Chrill, although I would keep the NewGRF forums a separate section and not make it a sub-section of OpenTTD, as NewGRFs could also be for TTDPatch. But the OpenTTD section should still have a reference to the NewGRF forums as it is now.
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Re: Slimming down the forums

Post by WWTBAM »

Transportman wrote:I agree with trimming down a bit, no need to keep things around on the front page just for the sake of keeping them around.

I agree largely with the last suggestion of Chrill, although I would keep the NewGRF forums a separate section and not make it a sub-section of OpenTTD, as NewGRFs could also be for TTDPatch. But the OpenTTD section should still have a reference to the NewGRF forums as it is now.
Completely agree. Put it as I meant to in my previous post.
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