Feedback: Official Forums

[BootsWasBossy.9315]

I think these forums are a great idea, nice to share information :)

[Blude.6812]

> @somewhatobsessed.6309 said:

> I find the new forums to be a massive downgrade compared to the old version. Visually cluttered, post width is much too wide to read comfortably, avatar/author name is unnecessarily large, too many lines between names/bodies of text -- very unpleasant experience overall. I used to visit the forum multiple times a day to keep up with news/discussions, but I will make it a point to **avoid** the official forums now if this is how it's going to be.

>

> Pretty much agree with everything in [this post](https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/682/the-new-forums-are-a-step-back/p1 "https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/682/the-new-forums-are-a-step-back/p1").

>

> I also think purging the older forum content without archiving it somewhere is a **HUGE** mistake. I still find a lot of useful information and resources in older posts and discussions, and it would be a shame to lose that.

 

I have to agree with all you said ,as well as the post you quoted.

[rapthorne.7345]

With regard to notifications, is it possible to consolidate reply notifications to something like " [username] and [x] other people have replied to [thread name]", rather than getting an individual notification for every single reply to a thread? right now I have 196 notifications for a total of about 5 threads

[Gaile Gray.6029]

Looking at this thread, and at the many other threads that have popped up, it appears that placing this feedback thread in the "Bugs" forum wasn't the best of ideas. :) I'm going to move it to GW2 Discussion, since that seems to be where the conversation is happening, for the most part. Thankfully, with these new forums, we can leave a redirect so that everyone who has been posting in the Bugs forum--where the thread originally was placed--can follow to the new location! =)

[Zephyria.6103]

I like the new forum, and the thumbs up and thumbs down option. ..it's a nice way for people to put their opinion in without simply typing in a 'disagree' or 'agree'. They can click a button and be done with it. The 'helpful' option is wonderful too. It'll be interesting to see how the forum changes as features get tweaked for effectiveness over time.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @rapthorne.7345 said:

> With regard to notifications, is it possible to consolidate reply notifications to something like " [username] and [x] other people have replied to [thread name]", rather than getting an individual notification for every single reply to a thread? right now I have 196 notifications for a total of about 5 threads

 

Oh goodness! I found I had so many notifications I disabled virtually all of them. Because the notifications are about individual replies, I don't know that they can be consolidated, but I certainly can ask about that!

[Baltham.8796]

Looks great on mobile, but lousy on a desktop. I know changes are still coming though, so I'll reserve final judgement until then.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @Stalkingwolf.6035 said:

> @Brigand.9502 said:

> > The "auto-logout" time is way to short. Please consider extending the time.

>

> or remove it. In the german forum there is no auto logout.

 

Hello,

 

We just made a change to the auto-logout system. Although we need to have a log-out system for security reasons -- and that means it will be extended to all language forums -- the time has been bumped considerably and it's not likely you'll find yourself out, looking in, nearly as much in the future.

 

Thanks for your feedback on this!

[Rauderi.8706]

Bit of a Forum QoL please:

 

Can we get an indication of posts we reacted to? I've gone to :+1 a post because I wasn't sure if I :+1 'd it before, and then the count goes down and I have to :+1 it again. Silly me. ^^

 

Also, the old forums (RIP) had an indicator for posts that I had replied to. Is there a way to mark those on the new forums? I realize I could use the bookmarks to track ones that I like, but then there's a lot of turning those notifications on and off as they become useful or quiet.

 

[JustTrogdor.7892]

If there is an option that will allow users to choose to hide avatars please consider enabling it. They make the forum way too cluttered and spaced apart for my liking so I'd like the option to hide them.

[Ashen.2907]

After a bit of deliberation I think that I like the new forums.

 

I like having a search function.

I like having a means of quickly expressing agreement or disagreement with a suggestion without having to repeat or quote my numerous past comments to the same effect.

I would like to see more avatar customization. Perhaps restricted to loading screen character pics.

 

The new forums load much more quickly for me, on phone or PC.

 

Thank you.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

Thanks for all the feedback so far -- we really appreciate it!

 

I'm creating a spreadsheet that will track all your input for internal review. I'll quantify input so that we can track feature requests and change suggestions. As you know, we've made some significant changes already, based on our own review and your feedback. There likely won't be a lot of additional changes in the very near future, but we appreciate knowing what you like and what you'd suggest we add or alter for a more long-range consideration.

 

On one topic, I'm confused. I seem to be seeing comments citing "too much vertical space between posts" and a those citing request for "not enough vertical space between posts." Now, a divergence of opinions on a forum is nothing new to me. ;) However, I may be misunderstanding some of the feedback on that particular topic. So those who commented on the issue of **vertical white space**, could you please choose one of the following as it relates to the **PC version** of the forums:

 

1. I believe vertical space between individual posts should be _reduced_.

2. I believe there vertical space between individual posts should be _increased_.

3. I believe the vertical space between forum posts is good as it is now.

 

I'll use comments below this inquiry as the basis for my data on this particular topic.

 

As for future feedback, one suggestion I would make is that bullet lists help tremendously in gathering data, as opposed to narrative commentary. You should post as you're most comfortable, of course. But if you're equally comfortable with both forms of post, a bullet list is great.

 

Thanks again for all your feedback.

[Jak.4523]

Would be nice if we could transfer over the threads from the old form.

[JustTrogdor.7892]

1. I believe vertical space between individual posts should be reduced.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

Oh, and since I'm gathering feedback, I want to make a special plea: Please do not make multiple posts to express the same opinion(s). If you have a new opinion, feel free to share it in a new post. But please don't post on Pages 3, 6, 8, and 11 about the same topic. Doing so makes gathering accurate input much more time-consuming and it does not influence decision-making on any change request. (IOW, no attempts at ballot-box stuffing. =) )

[Tanuk.7961]

> @JustTrogdor.7892 said:

> If there is an option that will allow users to choose to hide avatars please consider enabling it. They make the forum way too cluttered and spaced apart for my liking so I'd like the option to hide them.

 

This would also go a long way to help lower confusion levels. With the small avatar pool to pull from, it just makes everyone look the same at a glance. I'd rather just see the usernames if the option was available.

[Vikkela.7261]

Downvoting is a horrible system. The total amount of thumbs down even shows up in your profile It will discourage open discussion and scare people from posting.

Not to mention people are more likely to press downvote on anything they dislike even the slightest where as average and good posts will get much less activity from thumbs ups.

[LadySilverHand.6841]

3. I believe the vertical space between forum posts is good as it is now.

 

(I suspect this is an issue with something system wise, i.e. different browsers, systems, screen sizes, etc.)

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @Vikkela.7261 said:

> Downvoting is a horrible system. The total amount of thumbs down even shows up in your profile It will discourage open discussion and scare people from posting.

> Not to mention people are more likely to press downvote on anything they dislike even the slightest where as average and good posts will get much less activity from thumbs ups.

 

I understand your input. It is shared by many forum members, where others point to benefits of a full reaction system. As I said previously, we are likely to be making some changes to the system next week.

[PookieDaWombat.6209]

From a graphic design standpoint, the spacing between posts can be problematic when the eye is attempting to track from line to line. Imagine reading a book where the paragraphs had random breaks, no indentation and distracting broken lines segmenting the page. Sure it gets easier to see large paragraphs, but when you have one or two line paragraphs it gets harder to track. The only posts that really jump out are the Anet staff posts because of the LARGE color bar that defines where that post is and who it is. Maybe offsetting the post margin inward from the Icon/name of the poster and bringing the start of it closer to the bisecting line of their post might better define a post for people to read/track.

[MithranArkanere.8957]

All I want is for that pesky "Draft saved at h:m" message to stop appearing right over the words I'm just typing.

 

Oh and to use a proper 24h time format. Not that am/pm nonsense.

[LadySilverHand.6841]

I'd also love to have the "draft saved" not pop up directly over my typing area.

[Gaile Gray.6029]

> @DakotaCoty.5721 said:

> Hey Gaile, would it be possible to have a post count somewhere on the forums? I'm sure it's been asked before but it would be great.

 

Hi there,

 

While I'm gathering feedback I thought I'd reply to this request, as I've seen in a few times. I've been a forum professional in three decades: 90's, 2000's, 2010's. And in that time, I've seen little benefit to post count, but a lot of pain points from offering them. Post counts -- PC's -- while they can show the energy and the enthusiasm of members, have a downside in that they attract meaningless posts simply to bump someone's PC. For that reason, we won't be adding a visible post count to the forums.

[Lyp Sao.1375]


 

Inline images :)

[joneirikb.7506]

General:

* Night Mode, please save my eyes, or Boo will become an orphan.

* Edit time seems to be fixed, thank you.

* Glad you removed the cluttersome icons, but miss a way to see who up/down voted. (Transparancy, less anonymous voting)

* Mark all topics (in sub forum) as read. (I haven't found it yet, might exist)

* Preferences: set option for break page at 25, 50 topics etc.

* Perfectly fine with pre-set avatars, or if possible mug-shot from in-game as avatar.

* Going to have to wait until people can use signatures, but suspect that might mess up the post-coherency even more.

 

Layout:

* Would like some cleaner and more structured layout for posts, username, avatar etc. (old forum did this very well)

* Separation line between posts, not between name and post.

* Make better use of the horizontal on the pc browser version:

* Name/Member/Date etc on the left with/over avatar, lets the posts flow/read easier together.

* put the Report/Quote/Helpful/Up/Down bar as icons in the right side (Similar/closer to old forum)

 

Edit: Quickly gobbled together an image in mspaint to show some of what I meant:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/12qww82hoy9ql2q/temp2.png?dl=0