Re: Forum Changes
 

i don't like the changes they use too much space.

Re: Forum Changes
 

That just makes the situation 10 times worse. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

A collapsable press release bar would probably be best... just as forum categories are collapsable, why not the press release bar?

I never thought I'd see the day when Shrapnel Games was what caused me to bring Proxomitron out of retirement... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Re: Forum Changes
 

Personally, I think the side bar sucks big time. I want all the horizonal space I can get. I subscribe to the Shrapnel press release newletter so I don't need and do not want the side bar. Why not make it an option one can set up under their forum profile or something?
--
TAZ

Re: Forum Changes
 

Right side or bottom makes no sense. No one would ever see it. Same with options to see or not see it. Those all would work as well as "let us post what we want without topic forums because we jump straight to SEIV and never see the other stuff"

Re: Forum Changes
 

Okay guys I want to respond to a few things brought up here today.

First off this isn't as much an attempt to get folks to see "ads" as it is to put into place a common nav area across the site. We have various community oriented projects coming down the pipe and we want a common top and left bar for those.

If we really wanted to put ads in, and force folks to see them, we would do as one poster pointed out and just put ads in every third post or so. That's fairly easy to do.

For instance most folks missed that we now have links back to other parts of our site above our press release area, which is something (along with an area to see what is going on with our company) that has been requested by quite a few folks.

Even though we tested this for awhile on our test board we have missed a few items, and you'll see a new version of this setup later tonight. Once we have the version up I think it will be a fairly good compromise between some of the concerns some of you have raised.

Again thanks for the input, we always will endeavor to find common ground between the needs of all of our friends here on the forum.

Re: Forum Changes
 

Perhaps add a few pixels of spacing between the left cell and the forum cell? It'd help to reduced the smushed look of text against the border of the left cell and make it look less cluttered.

Re: Forum Changes
 

NOTE: The latest changes broke the Proxomitron filters I provided. I'll post the new one only if someone asks for it.

Re: Forum Changes
 

I also wanted to post this about the whole thing.

I am not trying to say that the banners on the left are in no way some form of advertising, in fact everything we do is advertising. In fact this entire board is adverising in one shape or fashion as it generates sales by discussion of the merits of our games.

The only reason I made the distinction is because I think there is an automatic reaction to see a side bar and say "Man more ads" especially since the original bar looked somewhat like a typical google ad area.

The links on the left talk about games we are releasing, patches being released, new scenarios for games we currently sell, and games coming off of back order. They are informational and yes they may lead to sales, however they are not the same as the banner ads on the top of our pages.

So don't take it as us trying to avoid a question, because we all very well know that the left bar is a form of advertising like any press release is, but to chalk it up to us wanting to bypass filters or put more ads up for the sake of putting ads up is silly.

We have been trying to find a good balance of not adding confusion to the board experience, while making sure we let new folks to the board know how they can reach other parts of our site and what is happenning with the titles they currently have. This seemed like the best compromise.

Re: Forum Changes
 

Richard:
The new images for the press releases make the text hard to read. The background colors change too much behind the white text, and black on darkish colors isn't very readable, especially for the ones where the text is directly over the darkest blue parts.

What is wrong with text links? It serves the same purpose without making the site really awkward looking. The blue does not match the rest of the color scheme very well IMO.

Re: Forum Changes
 

Well than I will ask for them.

Also the new "press release" design is better but I would still like an option to turn it off since I subscribe to the newsletter and read the front page. Oh I just got a brilliant idea! Maybe you should allow people that are signed up for the newsletter to get a special option to turn off the "press release" thing.