Forum Changes

[Vegas]

As you have undoubtedly noticed, we are updating and reorganizing the site. All of the bittorrent forums have been centralized in the Discussions & Review section. All of the non-torrent forums were placed in the Off-Topic section.

Since spam is one of the biggest complaints, we also created an Entertainment forum in the Off-Topic section. The plan is to move any frivolous threads that attract spam into the Entertainment forum. When the sorting as been completed we will disable post counts for that forum. That should help to reduce spam and increase real discussions throughout the rest of the site.

To help show our appreciation for the countless hours that intro workers put into supporting T-I, we also enabled post count for the Accepted Intro forum. That means intro workers will start to see their post counts increase as completed intros are moved into the Accepted subforum.

Here are some other ideas that are still being considered:

1) Combine the Help and Suggestion forums into a single section
2) Combine the giveaway forums (Area 51, Low, Mid, Trusted, etc) into a single section called "Invites & Giveaways"
3) Move Tutorials back to the forum home
4) Allow iGivers for Avatar & Signature giveaways
5) Sync Low, Mid & Trusted forums with 10%, 33% & 55% usergroups. Mid-Level is the only forum that doesn't match with a usergroup.

So what do you think? Are there any other changes you would like to see? Should any of the forum names or descriptions be updated?

[Mman17]

My only change would be the Graphic Corner, it deserves a better name than "Give Avatars". Something better would be Graphic Corner, Graphic Designs, Design Spot, and a better description as well, something like : "Here you can post or offer your services in design related problems. This can include logos/avatars/signatures etc"

[forbidden]

1) Combine the Help and Suggestion forums into a single section
Well I think they are good the way they are as both are completely diff. thing we need to seprately see who is making suggestion and that rejected and accepted was a gr8 initiative staff has taken.it's making all suggestions been seen by staff.so I think OLD way is better.



2) Combine the giveaway forums (Area 51, Low, Mid, Trusted, etc) into a single section called "Invites & Giveaways"
Awesome idea.as for some people like me who don't like invites to have catagory will be really glad to see it.

but still if you are making this change why not to have a seperate forum for complete"1000posts and some rep's" as it will make a diff. forum where they can have fun and also share some invites if they want but the forum will mainly focus on Fun part as a reward for sticking with site for long.


3) Move Tutorials back to the forum home
Nice idea.it will be nice to see it on top again as this is a real important part of a tracker invite forum.

4) Allow iGivers for Avatar & Signature giveaway
Simply awesome.. <3 <3..As this will make our community part more strong...

[TangoSeeder]

I am not keen on seeing igivers given out for avatars/graphics as it would mean at a glance someone could have a huge igiver score but has never even given out an invite.

Perhaps we could have a separate "igiver type" system for graphics. eg "Artist score" or something similar - I still think this would still encourage ppl to do more graphic/avatar work as forbidden stated.

[dj187]

1) Combine the Help and Suggestion forums into a single section
I think its best to leave them like they are. They are different topics. The old way is better.

2) Combine the giveaway forums (Area 51, Low, Mid, Trusted, etc) into a single section called "Invites & Giveaways"
I dont think its such a good idea. Everyone will have access to the forum then. I dont like the idea of a user with 5 post in the trusted section.

3) Move Tutorials back to the forum home
This a good idea. It'll give the site a nice look. Tutorials add to the site's repute.

4) Allow iGivers for Avatar & Signature giveaways
Not in for it. I think igivers should remain like they are. But we can have rep points given to creator or as TangoSeeder said, create a new rep type for the artists.

[Majid]

Well first off i would like to thank staff for taking these changes as i could only see them help advance T-I. Now my ideas about each of the points mentioned.

1) Combine the Help and Suggestion forums into a single section.
I'm all with forbidden on this one, they are different in my opinion and should be separated, unless one is a subforum within another.

2) Combine the giveaway forums (Area 51, Low, Mid, Trusted, etc) into a single section called "Invites & Giveaways"
Good idea aswell, i like it but then the only problem is then how would the ranking work and the advancements through the site, these will have to be recreated or modified. Also a security risk for the members giving away invites. I think its good in theory but unfeasible in practice.

3) Move Tutorials back to the forum home
Good idea, would work well and i don't see it taking up to much space, and it is a vital part of the site, so i agree to bringing it back to the front.

4) Allow iGivers for Avatar & Signature giveaways
I 100% agree with this one, i have always wanted to show my respect for graphics designers and the members that dedicate their time to making me and use the wonderful avatars and signature, so +1 from me. Also agree with Mman17 on the section name change and description.

[McLovin]

1) Combine the Help and Suggestion forums into a single section
I think its best to leave them like they are. They are different topics. The old way is better.

2) Combine the giveaway forums (Area 51, Low, Mid, Trusted, etc) into a single section called "Invites & Giveaways"
I dont think its such a good idea. Everyone will have access to the forum then. I dont like the idea of a user with 5 post in the trusted section.

3) Move Tutorials back to the forum home
This a good idea. It'll give the site a nice look. Tutorials add to the site's repute.

4) Allow iGivers for Avatar & Signature giveaways
Not in for it. I think igivers should remain like they are. But we can have rep points given to creator or as TangoSeeder said, create a new rep type for the artists.

Dude. I totally agree with you here in all. Glad you wrote this before me, you completelly read my mind xD
I don't think iGivers should be sent to who does avatars/signatures. This is a invite forum so it should remain like this.
Maybe give a new status for who makes avatars/signatures / or rep. Something new, different

McLovin :001_smile:

[Eschaton]

Are we going for a more compact main forum look here? It looks like the point of this change is to reduce the amount of topics in the main forums and have more sub forums now in order to have an overall cleaner/tidier look.

I like the idea of more topics in the main forum since ongoing topics pop up on the main page and are more accessible - hence are read more and responded more to.

I just went through all the topics and thought this grouping and order would be appropriate, just a suggestion -

The Couch -

Announcements & Bittorrent News (can be clubbed since all these are published on the home page)

Introductions

Tracker Reviews & Tutorials

Bittorrent Discussion

Seedbox Reviews & Discussion

Help

Suggestions

Staff Recruitment


Area 51 -

The Exalted

VIPs Only

Give Invites (Sub forums are - Open Invite section that clubs low + mid level sections, Competition Invites, Trusted Section & Tracker Recruitment)

Give Bonuses

Give Seedboxes

Request Invites

Open Trackers

GFX Zone


Off Topic - (this adds on as an extra section, like we had before)

General Discussion

Brain Stew

Computers

Movies and TV

Games

Music

Mobile Phones

Sports

Bargains

(Shift FIFA World Cup thread to Sports.

Remove the 'Entertainment' sub topic since everything appearing here is covered by other sub topics/General Discussion. The problem here is there are 2100+ threads in the 'Entertainment' section, so what do you do with those? It's gonna be a heck of a job to shift it and I'm sure you don't want it to be deleted. Maybe we could keep the section but lock the ability to create new threads, so members post new ones in already present sub - sections and the existing threads remain?)

Or arrange the Off topic section like this if we'd like it smaller -

General Discussion

Brain Stew

Entertainment (with Movies & TV, Music, Games, Sports as sub categories with existing threads from Entertainment section uncategorized; new threads locked)

Electronics / Hardware & Software (Computers & Mobile Phones sub categories)

Bargains


The Grill -

Chopping Block

1) Combine the Help and Suggestion forums into a single section

I'd like this, but how will it work? Do we click 'Help and Suggestions' and stumble across 'Help' & 'Suggestion' sub - topics? 'Cos that would result in a useless extra click. How about having tags like [Help] & [Suggestion] in each thread title?


2) Combine the giveaway forums (Area 51, Low, Mid, Trusted, etc) into a single section called "Invites & Giveaways"

I'd say combine Low + Mid, let the Trusted be there. I know it's up to the invitee to choose which section he/she'd like to give invites in, but I think it'll be a good idea to have certain trackers that should be given only in the Trusted Section and above. Keeping the Trusted section with not so accessible invites will give new members something to strive for. For this to work no one should be allowed to give said tracker invites in the other (now mid & lower level) section.

If we can't do this, then club all sections to one. Have only the Tracker Recruitment section with higher rep requirements for access.

4) Allow iGivers for Avatar & Signature giveaways

I know a lot of work goes into creating these, and the designers deserve the thanks and rep they get for these and sometimes more, but I feel iGivers must be limited to what our forum specializes in - giving invites to various trackers, bonuses for trackers and seedboxes!

[Sasuke]

I agree with all of suggested changes but about point number 2 is that means the several invites forum will be categorized to separate advancements but inside one single Invite & Giveaway forum or won't.

Although I won't have objection about it because the inviter can put requirements (posts or even rank) in OP to avoid spam if all will be warped into single entity.

[dj187]

I think the the section should be in this order under -the couch

Announcements

Introductions

BitTorrent News

Discussions & Reviews

Staff Recruitment

Off-Topic

Suggestions

Help