Posted By
Mike
on 2002-09-09
|  My $0.02
Okay.... first sorry.... I don't mean to stand on toes here... 
Theres a few things I don't really like about the current forum. I don't read most of the messages here, since they are to do with game maps, playing x,y,z game, hardware problems etc. The only ones I like to read are emulator ones, ideas, and project things.
The reason for breaking things up is to allow people to sort through the stuff better. I found a message I should have responded to, but didnt because it got lost in the noise..
Also, I like having the messages in the reply section to refrence. I also like having all the bells and whistles for editing. Smilies, Bold, Fonts, Links etc.
The Section/Thread is also very nice. It breaks up things into nice groups - I never read off-topic for example... but here I have no choice...
Its also nice that when a message is replied to, it goes to the top of the heap so you can see its a "new" message
Also, I don't mind the unite or the keep them seprate... but theres a BIG reason to keep them seprate and to have many places.... if you don't grow...your shrinking. And to keep a scene alive, and to attract new people, you have to grow. Getting a one huge site isnt bad when the scene is large, and has lots of other smaller sites.... But when there arent that many sites, it always seems like its the last dying gasp... which isnt true of the Plus4 scene. The more the better.....
To me, this has always seem like a BBS. Just messages listed on a board... and find themyourself. With the "normal" forums that your DOOM one and the one I've got, you have a more profesional feel.
As for modrators. I see a few reasons for them... The first is to keep noise down in a forum. As youve said, this isnt a real problem in this scene. Second is to administrate the forum. Move off-topic stuff into the right place etc. And perhaps most important, generate interest, and messages. If someone likes a topic, hes likely to speak a lot in and about it. Theres not much chance I would speak a lot about Projects for example. But those who love to see new things appear would post news and items in there for others to see.
The current topics are just for starters. Im sure they will get more refined as time goes on. The ones I really want are games,emulator problems, programming. But I know you need a general for say hardware faults/querys, and an off topic for funnies and misc is always a good idea.
I post on lots of forums, and thats not to say I would like just the one set, just as you wouldnt want all DOOM and plus4 message all mixed in.
Im sure I'll think of something else 
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